March CUAS meeting minutes.

 

President, Mike Matthews arrived and asked Mike Conron to handle the meeting
and he called the meeting to order at 7:00pm March 10, 2005.

 

Minutes of January were brought to the meeting and are posted with this
months minutes by Guy Hampel

 

Treasurer's report:  Phil was not there.  The club has a balance of
$2,321.02 in the bank, from March 8, 2005 board meeting.

 

Mike C. asked if we had any guests in the meeting, the club welcomed and
Dick & Ellen and later Matt Reeves from Danville.

 

Committee reports:

Observatory report:  Mike Rosenberger suggested that the dome needed
painting which would include the dome itself, the mount and pier.  Also the
floor should be reworked with all this done before the public open house.

Telescope report:  Mike C. stated that the work on the scope is progressing
and asked Mike L. to report on progress and he stated that painted forks are
to be delivered to his home after the meeting to await the rest of the
components for assembly, testing and alignment prior to placing the scope
back in the dome. Mike L. also stated that the goal for completion is
mid-April.  Guy stated that the telescope tube has had the paint removed
with holes to be filled Saturday, we are getting close to the end of this
phase of the work.  

Old Business:

Light Pollution:  Bob L. asked members to sign up to be on the proactive
committee and meet briefly after the clubs meeting.

Star Party:  Guy reported that the Miller near Oakland stated that Aug. 6
was available and he also asked about the weekends at the beginning and end
of October for alternate dates.  The later date is being used by father and
son campout but we would be welcome to join them.  More later.  What about
Allerton Park.

Dome monitoring:  Bob R. reported on additional monitoring devices that the
club requested him to last month.  The device from Hobo Logs for monitoring
(2)sets of humidity and temperature cost $199, plus about $135 ea. For
sensors and $20 for software.  

Junior Stargazers:  Dave stated that work is progressing the info packet and
showed us a preliminary version of what will be available on the club
website.  Bottonfield school in Champaign is still interested in starting a
club. The volunteers Dave L., Mike, Mike C. and Phil are the club members
that are working on it.

Under New Business:

Dome & remote Insurance:  Mike R. checked with the insurance company about
changing the coverage the board approved the $150 charge on Tuesday March 8,
2005.  The insurance company suggested that we get serial numbers and/or
photos of our equipment that we are insuring.

Dome site renewal:  The contract for use of the dome site is up for renewal
in 2006 so work is progressing on options for that contract are in the
works. Dave is looking into that.

Observation opportunities:  March 12 - Dark skies club members, March 19 -
Public, April 2 - Allerton Park (come we actually make money helping others
see objects in the sky) and April 26 - Milford school (this is a Tuesday).

The program:  Jeff Bryant presented to the lasted from Cassini, Huygens and
the Mars rovers.  If you were not there you missed great pictures and the
data to back it up.

Mike C. closed the meeting.