| Owner | Item | |
| - | No action items--have a fun August! |
Minutes
The meeting started at 7:30 pm. (Telescope move delayed things a bit)
Approval of Minutes
The June board minutes were approved.
Trailfest Report
There was a good turnout from the general public at Trailfest.
Several people visited the booth, and some also came to the
following Saturday's star party.
The Mountaineers have approached us about the possibility of a star party at Snoqualmie Lodge. There was some question about the seeing conditions there--possibly worse than Greenlake?
Seattle Night Out
Rick Libsack noted that Seattle Night Out was being held in
early August. There is one evening where the Seattle Police
ask everyone to turn on their exterior lights at 8pm. Rick
pointed out that we might want to try to make a tie-in to
dark-sky-friendly lighting. It is too late to get involved
this year, but it was an idea for next.
VP Education Report
Mike Langley gave a brief rundown of our experiences at the
UW Observatory so far.
Ana would prefer just 1 or 2 SAS volunteers at the observatory. For one thing, it is physically a small space and there isn't much room for more people. Also, we want to make sure that we stay in a clear supporting role for the UW undergraduates.
There was a problem with one member of the SAS (not an official volunteer) who continually interrupted the SAS volunteer training and the undergraduate Q&A sessions. Ana was quite concerned and emailed Stephen Van Rompaey directly.
Steve has talked to Ana, and made it clear that the member is not a volunteer. Steve will also follow up with the member.
Mike also noted that the UW would like our help promoting and volunteering scopes for the Martian Party on September 3rd.
Speaker Ken Croswell
Rick mentioned that Ken Croswell (famous speaker on the topic
of Mars) was interested in speaking at our November meeting.
Ken demands a modest speaking fee, which is within our budget
but we typically don't pay for monthly speakers. We agreed
to try to get Ken for the January banquet, and if that didn't
work to fall back to the November meeting.
Ideas for Speakers
One common theme that we hear from many members is the desire
for more topics on practical observing, rather than the more
theoretical talks we've had lately. There was a feeling that
the topics lately have been "unbalanced" with too many "professors."
Rick noted that he was going to aim for speakers with more practical topics for the future.
Treasurer's Report
Jim Peterson reported that the SAS has $2369 in checking, and
$5719 in savings. As noted at previous meetings, S&T subscriptions
have gone up $3 per year, and Astronomy magazine is expected to follow.
Mary's Report
Mary Ingersoll reported that the SAS made a $25 profit on the
previous sale of shirts. Based on the demand, we agreed that another
run of shirts was in order. Mary will start taking orders now.
8:30 - Meeting Ends