Cape Fear Astronomical Society Newsletter - Editor Debbi Hayden October 5, 2003 Meeting Featuring a great speaker whom we have been fortunate enough to have as our guest a couple of times now, Mr. Steve Clemmons, who was involved in the early days of the rocketry program and the Apollo missions. He will be discussing the review board's report on the Columbia Accident. If you have not done so, please try to read the report before the meeting - it is well worth the time! The report can be found online at http://www.caib.us. As a followup to the Columbia Accident Investigation Board's final report, there is NASA's formal response; their Return to Flight Implementation Plan. Read the article, and there is a link at the bottom to the PDF that contains the entire document. There is also a summary for those who don't want to spend the time reading the details. http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/rtf_plan_030908.html Join us before the meeting for dinner at the Outback Restaurant on College Road, at 5:15 pm. This month's after-the-meeting movie will be Project Moonbase. Meeting Minutes for September 7th, 2003 by CFAS Secretary Terry Herrin President Si Cantwell called the meeting to order at 7:05pm. Under officers' reports, Doug Greene is working on updating the current member list for the Astronomical League. Under new business, Tom Jacobs talked about the Mid-Atlantic Star Party being held from October 21st to October 27th. Tom also discussed the recent report on the space shuttle Columbia tragedy. The report can be found online at http://www.caib.us. Also under new business, the Yamacraw dark sky site was discussed. The site lease is up for renewal. By unanimous vote, it was decided to renew the lease for one more year at a cost of one hundred dollars. Ronnie Hawes suggested we install some reflectors to help guide the way into the field. A small sign was also considered, if Mr. North would allow it. Alan Hilburn suggested a daylight field trip to the site for those newer members who have never seen it. A vote also passed to form a search committee to look into alternate sites. Everyone agreed the three public viewing sessions for Mars were an outstanding success! Estimates for the first viewing at Snipes Elementary put the crowd at around 100 people. For the second viewing at Snipes, numbers in the 300 to 500 range were discussed. By far the largest turnout was for the last viewing at Ft. Fisher, where estimates of the crowd approached the 1000 mark. For future large events, Becky Lewis suggested creating placards for club members' cars to aid in parking. A future public viewing session for Saturn was also discussed, as many people expressed interest in seeing the ringed planet once it rises in the evening. Continuing new business, Ronnie Hawes presented the book Jesus Christ's Meteorite Philosophy for the club library. Alan brought in a collection of books he had for sale. Rich Williams reminded everyone he still needs information for the club inventory. If you have a club owned item, please give Rich the details so he can document it. As a reminder, the club's 20th anniversary t-shirts are still for sale. Under observing reports, Ronnie discussed the viewing session at Plantation Village on 8/28/03. There were about 20 people in attendance. The group there has expressed interest in attending a dark sky session at Holly Shelter sometime in the fall. Ronnie also discussed the session on 9/5/03 at Wrightsville Beach Elementary School. He said there were 80 to 90 children and adults in attendance. The meeting broke for ten minutes at 7:50pm. Tommy Puckett then gave a presentation on his recent trip to Alaska. After Tommy's presentation Si asked if there was any other business, and having none, adjourned the meeting at 8:45pm. News Cluster Get ready for the Mid-Atlantic Star Party! This year's event is from Tuesday, October 21st through Monday, October 27th. If you have any questions regarding the activities, speakers and lectures, or door prizes, visit www.masp.org. (See article below.) It's time for our club officer nominations! Please be thinking about who you would like to have for President, Vice President, Associate Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary, and Newsletter Editor. Perhaps you are interested in one of these positions yourself? If so, please let someone know. It's getting close to that time when we should start discussing what we would like to do for our holiday social this year. Any ideas? Time for the Mid-Atlantic Star Party! MASP 2003 is the 9th annual Mid-Atlantic Star Party. MASP has been patterned after the examples of Stellafane the oldest Amateur Telescope Makers Convention which is in Vermont late summer and of the Winter Star Party which is in the Florida Keys mid-Winter. MASP exists for the benefit of its attendees and the astronomical community at large. MASP is located in the "Dark Park" South of Robbins, NC. The skies at the site are just about as dark as they can get in the Eastern US. The location affords views of many deep-sky objects including the Milky Way, some of the southern sky objects. good planetary views as well as great observing of galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters. MASP was established by John Dilday in 1995 with encouragement from Gayle Riggsbee, Jim Presley and others at Winter Star Party 1995. MASP grew from the desire to share with astronomers the fellowship that only a substantial gathering can provide. With help from volunteer attendees the MASP has continued to improve each year. MASP has become one of the astronomy gatherings to attend in the East US due to its central location, dark skies, quality speakers, professional vendors, great door prizes and Southern hospitality. Some of the prizes last year included an ETX90 telescope with tripod, some binoculars, eyepieces, an observer's chair, as well as astronomy-related pottery items and candles. There are many interesting topics that will be covered by the speakers on Friday and Saturday. Come to the Mid-Atlantic Star Party and share the experience! Come for a day, come for a night or come for the entire week. The gate will open about noon on Tuesday Oct 21, 2003. For more information, please visit the MASP website: www.masp.org.