Cape Fear Skies The Cape Fear Astronomical Society Newsletter - Editor Debbi Hayden This Month's Meeting will be: Sunday, June 6, 2004 Featuring ....to be announced Gastronomy! Join us before the meeting for dinner at IHOP on Market Street at 5:15 pm. There will be a screening of the movie This Island Earth after the meeting for those who would like to stay. Meeting Minutes for May 2, 2004 - by CFAS Secretary Terry Herrin President Ronnie Hawes called the meeting to order at 7:04pm. Under officers' reports, Ben gave the current bank balances and stated the club is operating well in the black. The club voted to reimburse Susan $27 for the club web site and Terry Herrin $95 for the new sound system. Under old business, Ronnie thanked Si and Maria Cantwell and others for helping out at the Spring Science Spectacular hosted by the Cape Fear Museum. There were an estimated 600 people in attendance. Ronnie said there was also a good turnout for the telescope clinic held on Astronomy Day. Unfortunately, the viewing planned for that night was clouded out. Under new business, Ronnie said he has the auditorium reserved for the club to the end of the year. Ronnie also mentioned that a teacher from the Acme-Delco Middle School has asked the club to give a presentation to her class. He will be following up with her for details. Terry Herrin agreed to scout out a location at Ft. Fisher for the upcoming Venus transit of the sun on June 8th. Continuing new business, Ronnie discussed the two lectures given by Sten Odenwald at DeLoach Hall. Each lasted about an hour, and the second one repeated some of the same information as the first. Comets Linear and Neat will be good viewing this month, and a club viewing on May 16th at Blueberry Hill Campground off of Highway 53 was discussed. Under viewing reports, Alan Hilburn stated that he observed the Lyrid Meteor Shower at a rate of about three per hour. The club held a viewing session at the Holly Shelter site on April 17th. Rich Williams brought out his 18" Dobsonian and Ronnie had his 14.5" out as well. There were at least seven scopes in use, from around 8:00pm to 11:30pm. The meeting broke for fifteen minutes at 7:45pm. Tom Jacobs then presented part of his extensive space exploration DVD collection, showing highlights from "Project Gemini: Bridge to the Moon." After Tom's presentation, Ronnie asked if there were any other club business, and having none, adjourned the meeting at 9:00pm. News Cluster Thank you to Terry Herrin for selecting and purchasing the new stereo system for the CFAS! It sounded great last month, and we are looking forward to getting a lot of use from it! Thank you to Ronnie Hawes for securing Bryan Auditorium for us for the remainder of the year! A quick note: There will be two instances when the meetings will actually fall on the second Sunday of the month, instead of the first, due to a holiday weekend at the beginning of those months. The meetings affected will be in July (to be held on the 11th, not the 4th), and September (to be held on the 12th, not the 5th). We will be finalizing plans to view the upcoming transit of Venus at this month's meeting! If you are unable to attend, please watch the email list or call Ronnie Hawes for the final plans. Sky Calendar June 03 - Full Moon at 12:20 am EDT June 06 - CFAS June Meeting at 7:00 pm June 08 - Transit of Venus at Sunrise! June 09 - Last quarter Moon at 4:02 pm ED June 11/12 - CFAS Group Viewing Sessions June 17 - New Moon at 4:27 pm EDT June 18/19 - CFAS Group Viewing Sessions June 20 - Summer begins at the solstice, 8:57 pm June 25 - First quarter Moon at 3:08 pm EDT June 26 - Photo Op! Mercury and Saturn are 2.1 degrees apart this evening. June 30 - Another photo op! Aldebaran is less than 1.5 degrees to the lower           right of Venus through July 8th. July 11 - CFAS July Meeting at 7:00 pm Aug 01 - CFAS August Meeting at 7:00 pm Sept 12 - CFAS September Meeting at 7:00 pm ____________________________________________________________ All content unless otherwise stated Copyright (c) 2002-2004 CAPE FEAR ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY. All Rights Reserved.