2011
2011 June 12 AANC Board Meeting Minutes (telecon only)
1. Call to order 10:00 AM Ken
2. Roll call – Alan/Jim
Present: Ken Frank, Mike Portuesi, Alan Gould, Richard Ozer, Ed Peret, Mark Wagner, Mike Koop, Jim Head
3. Approve minutes of previous meeting (May 15)
Mark: corrections to previous minutes:
1. ABSTAINED: RO, MWDid I really abstain? Doesn't make sense, since I made the grant request. Sure it wasn't MK who abstained?2. MW; spoke about reviving Group 7Should read Group 70. 4. Treasurer's Addendum - RichardAANC domain statusRoberts Rules: No member can be compelled to refrain from voting. It's common for someone with pecuniary interest to refrain from voting, but cannot be compelled.
Moved to approve minutes. [Minutes approved.]
4. Treasurer.
A. Our website domain (http://aanc-astronomy.org) is extended to 2011 Dec 24.
B. AANC is now legal. 7 years of filing had not been done. Checks are being issued again.
Our status is: California non-profit. We have California corporation # (7 digit).
We may want to consider getting Federal Non-profit # (501C3)—would take a giant ream of paperwork.
5. Old business
A. Astronomer Request to do Talk & Telescope on (6/30, 7/7, 7/14, 7/21, 7/28, 8/4, 8/11) —get paid $120 ea event. Contact Amy Roe, Ranger at Pinecrest <aroe at fs.fed.us>
Jim Head agreed to do July 7th, 14th, Aug 4. They still need help for June 30, July 21, July 28, August 11.
http://planitarium.net/aanc/events/pinecrest-request.doc
B. Where we are with MeetUp - Mark
Mark will be contacting current and former AANC members and get them rejoined with AANC and in gear with MeetUp. TAC site is converted to AANC site. http://www.meetup.com/A-A-N-C/events/past/
Could hand out info on the Meetup at StarBQ, GSSP, ....
Would like to have clubs use and point to Meetup.
Ken: Night Sky Network calendar can be coordinated with MeetUp.
Request for donations is on MeetUp from when Mark was paying for it himself. Donations can now go to AANC.
Public can view the site, but only AANC member organizations can post to the site. Should non-affiliated amateur astronomers (like those in TAC) be able to post?
TAC could get melded into AANC as "unaffiliated amateur astronomers". Richard: it's a good idea to have an "unaffiliated" category of AANC member.
Mike K: looks like about 30% of the AANC [/TAC] MeetUp members are somehow AANC and the the rest are general MeetUp folk. Ken: there are 90 members & 3 leaders.
Mark will put together some instructions for how to join AANC MeetUp.
C. Nominations for AANC Awards from AANC member clubs - Alan/Jim
Please voice who you'd like to recognize those who are outstanding and show continuous support in distinguishing and fostering Amateur Astronomy.
- Amateur: Rogelio Bernal Andreo (http://blog.deepskycolors.com/; 14 APODs; Most active observer in the area; nominated by Mike K)
- Commercial: Ron Bissinger (Chief Executive Officer, Aplegen Inc., the company that took over sbig, Ron detected a planet using his LX200 using the transit method; nominated by Mike K)
- Professional: William Borucki, Principal Investigator, NASA Kepler Mission; Bill has spoken about this mission to many clubs over the years; In 1998 he talked at the AANC Everything under the sun at SMC; Great to see the mission evolve from proposal, to evaluation (vulcan) to implementation, to results; Has been the source of many speakers for AANC clubs; nominated by Mike K)
- Special: Dave Frey, Peter Schumacher & Doug Smith from SFSA Telescope Making class for their tireless effort teaching the art of telescope making and took over for me and John Dobson for the last 4 years; nominated by Ken F)
These awards are approved by the AANC Board (unanimous except for 1 abstention)
Plaques or certificates? Plaques are $150 ea.
Consensus is to do certificates. Ken will see about getting design for nice certificate. Template that will work for future years would be ideal.
6. New business
A. FPOA StarBQ is July 25. Jeff Van Cleve is Keynote Speaker on Kepler Mission - FPOA Rep. Please let Rick Morales <rickmorales@charter.net> know if you are coming and bring a gastronomic-astronomic side or desert. Sharpen your pencils and don't forget about the famous FPOA Quiz!
B. Another request for Astronomers, this time from Carolyn Hunt, Park Guide, Interpretation at Lava Beds National Monument, for their first annual Astronomy Day and Night Sky Event. If you are interested in volunteering your telescope and expertise please contact at 530-667-8114 or <carolyn_hunt@nps.gov> For the full info and request:
http://planitarium.net/public_html/aanc/events/LavaBedsRequest.doc
The Lava Beds National Monument is also working on becoming a dark sky park and to this end have installed many high efficiency, low glare lights.
Learn what it takes to become a dark sky park:
http://www.darksky.org/assets/documents/dsp-international-dark-sky-park.pdf
C. Facebook and Twitter??
Would require someone to maintain it. Mike P would be willing to administer an AANC Facebook page.
7.Club reports and website updates. Please send to: adgould at comcast.net
Stockton Astronomical Society
At our last board meeting, it was decided that, after having listened to members of the Sonoma County Astronomical Society speak on their Striking Sparks program, the Stockton A.S. would attempt to duplicate their program. At this point we have three telescopes to be donated for the project. We will be starting this fall.
We continue to have once a month Friday evening public star parties at the San Joaquin Delta College Campus. Doing this allows us the use of the Cleaver Planetarium for meetings if desired. Recent changes to the planetarium have made it difficult to have standard presentations so most of our meetings are no held at the Olsen Hall on the University of the Pacific campus. Meetings are still at 7:30 PM on 2nd Thursday of the month. Our website URL has been changed to http://stocktonastro.org/ . Please update your information pages. We are also doing public star parties at the Oak Grove Regional Park in north Stockton. We also have two dark sky star parties each month, one on Hwy 4 near Copperoplis and one near the old Peddler Hill ski area. check our website for further information.
Programs for the next few months are as follows:
July - Rick Mielbrecht, a member of our club and a former astronomy teacher at San Joaquin Delta. He recently retired and has been hired to teach astronomy on various cruise lines. Talk about a dream job! He will be presenting proposed programs to our members for feedback and critique.
August - TBA
September - James E. Hetrick, Chair Physics Department, University of the Pacific, whose topic will be: Astrophotography in Stockton: my first steps and experiences.
October - Greg Wilhite who will speak on the use of Deep Sky Video Semi Live Viewing.
November - TBA
December - Share and Tell, members will talk about things they have done in the past year.
See you on Sunday at Chabot. Dennis
Mt Diablo Astronomical Society
Here are the dates for our upcoming public nights on Mt. Diablo: July 9, Aug 20, Sep 3, Oct 22
More info http://www.mdas.net/publicprogram/publicprogram.htm
Lawrence Hall of Science (UC Berkeley)
LHS now has the very best dinosaur exhibit it has ever had (http://www.lawrencehallofscience.org/) The current featured planetarium show is "Target Earth" which is about asteroid impacts and the demise of dinosaurs. For information about that show and others, see http://www.lawrencehallofscience.org/visit/planetarium
There is Saturday Night Stargazing monthly (the 3rd Saturday of each month, weather permitting). See http://www.lawrencehallofscience.org/visit/exhibits/stargazing
8. Announcements
GSSP
Only 18 days away 'til GSSP. Have you registered?
http://www.goldenstatestarparty.org/home/2010-registration
Beyond Exhibit
Smithsonian's 'Beyond' traveling exhibition at the Petaluma Museum.
Beyond T-Shirts via SCAS are for sale. If you want one let Len know. $15.00 (cost to museum is $10 each plus $5.00 mark up.
These are the best quality T-Shirts that are available. Please email Len Nelson <lennelsn@comcast.net> for AANC participation or a T-shirt inquiry.
Bay Area Science Fest
Requests on Saturday, November 5th, AANC/NSN clubs of the Bay Area to put on a public star party. This event is expected to be a huge and will be an excellent time to promote your club via free PR blurbs. Astronomy and space will be a main theme of this Festival.
There will be events all week, but the three main public festivals will be:
Saturday, October 29th at Cal State East Bay in Hayward
Saturday, November 5th at Infineon Raceway in the North Bay at Sears Point
Sunday, November 6th at AT&T Park in San Francisco.
http://www.bayareascience.org/
For the Saturday, November 5th Bay Area Wide event please let Andy Fraknoi <fraknoiandrew@fhda.edu> know that your AANC/NSN club is participating with a short description of what
facility or group you are involved with, and what you might do on that Saturday night and cc me at <kfrank@astrosociety.org> with Bay Area Science Fest in the subject line.
Yosemite Dates for 2011:
http://planitarium.net/aanc/calendar/Yosemite2011.doc
Antique Telescope Society Meeting in Tucson
October 28 through October 30, 2011, the Antique Telescope Society will hold its 20th Annual Convention in Tucson, AZ, with optional tours planned for the two following days. One of the highlights will occur on Saturday, October 29, when we will take a VIP tour of Kitt Peak during the day and have optional observing on Kitt Peak during the evening. In addition, the program includes a reception on Friday evening and a banquet on Sunday which will feature a keynote address. The Convention will also have talks and exhibits. A tour of Steward Mirror Laboratory is planned for Friday, a tour of the Whipple Observatory on Mount Hopkins will be held on Monday, and a tour of Mount Graham International Observatory and its Large Binocular Telescope is planned for Tuesday:
http://www.webari.com/oldscope/
9. Adjourned 11:25am
2011 May 15 AANC Board meeting notes
Present:
Kenneth Frank, SFAA, SFSWA
*Alan Gould, LHS
Jim Head, MDAS
Mike Koop, SFAA
*Ed Pieret SMCAS
*Mike Portuesi, SFAA
Richard Ozer EAS
Mark Wagner, SJAA
(* present via phone)
KF asked JH to keep notes
RO: opened meeting
Finance summary: about $6300 in bank, funded Striking Sparks with $300
- Last year GSSP contributed $500 to AANC and this year GSSP plans to contribute to FPOA (no AANC donation).
- AANC may not be a legal entity, was suspended for some reason, no supporting docs can be found.
- states it is more work to be a 501c3 or c7, and AANC may now be registered as a corporation, waiting for a response from the Attorney General, to determine AANC's status.
- Then RO raised the issue of nobody stepping up to fill AANC positions, and then many asked what is its purpose.
MW and KF stated purpose primarily as stated on the AANC website...("The AANC was created to facilitate the flow of astronomical information among the various segments of the astronomical community (public, amateurs, educators, commercial vendors, and professional astronomers) in the Northern California area. ")
MW: Proposes AANC add the Meetup service to help make the AANC more efficient, more useful. ( http://www.meetup.com/ ), MW also offers to manage it for the AANC.
MP: suggested using Facebook and twitter too.
KF: two issues, 1) getting volunteers to help AANC, 2) getting the word out
RO: nobody showed up to receive the AANC awards last year, Meetup would be more flexible....
MW. Proposes add Meetup for a 1 year trial.
MK: AANC "Announce List" can be folded into Meetup
RO: Motion to fund Meetup for 1 year at $144
MW: Said other org's such as TAC member list could also be added
MW: Seconds RO's motion to adopt Meetup for 1 year, MW to manage it.
FOR: All responded aye
AGAINST: none
ABSTAINED: none
KF: asks RO to check AANC domain status, thinking only 1 year left. RO agrees.
KF: Grants: The following were submitted to AANC for funding:
MDOA (Mt. Diablo Observatory Association) $600 for a PST solarscope, to be used for public viewing on Mt. Diablo
SFSA $600 for atm materials
SJAA $175 for reimbursement of Calstar insurance.
Discussion followed
(no objection to MDOA and SFSA grants)
MK: Calstar wasn't even announced last year, admittedly the mistake of many, SJAA well funded, doesn't need the grant
MW: Calstar is not a SJAA event.
JH: Calstar is a regional event, and it sounds like it is more convenient for SJAA to fund the insurance, and AANC is just reimbursing SJAA.
AG: moves to approve all grants of $1375
MP: seconds the motion
FOR: All responded aye
AGAINST: none
ABSTAINED: RO, MW
KF: (goes through remaining agenda items)
spoke on:
Park closings...
Light Pollution, KF's next goal...
Speakers requested by Pinecrest area US Forest Service , pays 120 per program, seven programs 6/30 to 8/11
Bay area wide Science Fest in October and November, send plan to participate to Andy Fraknoi, and CC Kenneth Frank
MW; spoke about reviving Group 7 and getting the support of the AANC, ASP, possible national support to purchase land and provide a regional dark sky site for astronomers south of San Jose.
KF: suggested that MW make a formal proposal for solicitations.
KF: brought up the subject of awards, no changes were voted. Clubs are asked to submit candidates for Amateur, Professional and Commercial awards.
JH: why not present some awards at the recipient's club or organization.
KF; proposes next meeting June 12
RO: proposes KF be president
MW: seconds.
MK: brought up the topic of fundraisers. RO said a good way to fund was through add-on contributions on registration forms for other events, such as GSSP. All agreed that AANC should concentrate on its organization before embarking on more ambitious plans.
Meeting adjourned.
Changes/corrections? Please let Alan & Ken know.
Addendum:
Sonoma County Astronomical Society has made the 2011 Striking Sparks Telescope awards to 6 Sonoma County students. The students have been participating in school star parties and public events at the Robert Ferguson Observatory with their telescopes. We will soon be awarding the Barlow lenses that AANC donated to the Striking Sparks program. They need to participate in 5 star parties or events to qualify. Thank you for this thoughtful donation to Striking Sparks. I look forward to your continued participation.
---Larry McCune
Striking Sparks Coordinator