On the Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Park District Community Center web page you can find this information

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1 A PUBLICATION OF THE MIAMI VALLEY ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY DAYTON, OHIO FEBRUARY 2011 February Events Board Meeting 4 February 7:30pm, AO BMD Members Night - Frostbite Marathon 5 February JBSP General Meeting 11 February 7:30pm, AO BMD AO Public Program Third Friday 18 February 5:00pm, AO BMD TechFest February Sinclair Community College David Ponitz Center, Building 12 TechFest February Sinclair Community College David Ponitz Center, Building 12 TechFest is free family fun with science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Students can participate in approximately 70 hands-on experiences. The "Night Sky Network" tools will be there. Volunteers are needed. A Sign up sheet will be at the February General Meeting Future Programs Board Meeting 4 March 7:30pm, AO BMD Members Night - Messier Marathon 5 March JBSP General Meeting 11 March 7:30pm, AO BMD AO Public Program Third Friday 18 March 5:00pm, AO BMD JBSP = John Bryan State Park AO = Apollo Observatory BMD=Boonshoft Museum of Discovery February 12th By Joe Tarkany On the Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Park District Community Center web page you can find this information 2751 Washington Mill Rd Bellbrook, Ohio Stargazing at Community Center: Saturday, 2/12/11 at 6:30-8:30pm. COST: Free; for all ages. No registration required This is a return visit for the MVAS. The Community Center building is the old the ski lodge. It is heated and we will have tables set up for an indoor event if the weather does not cooperate. Miami Valley Astronomical Society Dayton, Ohio Early targets are Jupiter and the Moon. The first quarter Moon is February 11th, a day earlier. You can check the web for satellites overhead during the event &loc=Bellbrook+Park+2751+Washington+Mill+Rd&alt=0&tz=EST

The Amateur Astronomer - Miami Valley Astronomical Society Dayton, Oh. http://www.mvas.

2 The Amateur Astronomer - Miami Valley Astronomical Society Dayton, Oh. FEBRUARY 2011 Page 2 MVAS Officers & Committee Chairpersons President - Robert Connell Vice President - Jim Ventling Secretary - Joe Tarkany Treasurer - David Orth Membership Director- Carl Allen Observatory Committees - AO - Charles Shirk JB - TBD Qualifications Committee - William Trost Apollo Rendezvous Committee - TBD Events and Outreach Coordinator- Pat Johnson Librarian- / Programs- Beth Meece Astronomical League (Alcor)- Alan Zucksworth John Bryan Observatory Phone The Miami Valley Astronomical Society general meeting is held on the second Friday of each Month (except June) in the Apollo Observatory of the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery at 7:30PM. Send Articles and Comments to: Editors Joe Tarkany MVAS 2600 Deweese Pkwy Dayton, OH secretary@mvas.org Board Meeting Minutes Miami Valley Astronomical Society January 7, 2011 The board meeting of the Miami Valley Astronomical Society was held on Friday, January 7, 2011 at 7:30 pm., at the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery, Apollo Observatory, the Vice President in the chair. The minutes were not read. After the start, the president entered and was in the chair. Present at the meeting: Rick Weiss, Linda Weiss, Charles Shirk, Bob Connell, Jim Ventling, Beth Meece, Cheri Adams, Dave Orth, Dick Swan, Carl Allen. Absent: Ron Whitehead, William Trost, Allan Zucksworth 1. Vice President/Apollo Observatory -Charles Shirk Charles outlined the nominations for the upcoming election and reiterated the attendance requirements for board member participation. Transferred a donation check received from Suburu of Dayton for $250 to the treasurer. Regarding the Apollo Observatory, work progresses on collimation of the scope. Instructions for reproducing the collimation efforts are being written for future reference. Solar pod parts purchased for the museum heliostat and a March timeframe for completion is expected. 2. President-Rick Weiss Rick discussed the upcoming board elections, mentioning there will be three 3 year positions and one 1 year position up for election. We have 5 nominees: Charles Shirk, Chris Geib, Joe Tarkany, Pat Johnson, and Dick Swan. The three nominees with the highest vote tally will fill the three, 3 year positions and the fourth place winner the 1 year position. Linda will produce the ballots and tally sheets. 3. Secretary- Linda Weiss Linda went over the calendar of events for the next year, with special emphasis on the next six month s activities. TechFest 2011 has requested a speaker but no one has volunteered so we are not filling their request. We have also received a request for a Boy Scout camp in Camden Ohio so the scouts can work towards earning their astronomy merit badges. This would require a presentation to multiple groups of scouts, several volunteers and the scouts hands on access to the scopes. Date requested is May 21. Documents and hand-outs ordered for TechFest 2011.

3 The Amateur Astronomer - Miami Valley Astronomical Society Dayton, Oh. FEBRUARY 2011 Page 3 (Continued from previous page) Requested a current member list from membership, Carl Allen for forwarding to the Astronomy League, Reflector publication fulfillment. Boston s Bistro and Pub is supposed to mail a check for approximately $500 sometime in the near future. 4. Treasurer-Dave Orth Expenses for the month were $1, Income for the month was $ Current BOH $7, Year to-date totals, expenses $9,917.51, income $9, deficit is ($204.91). 5. Membership- Carl Allen- 93 members as of the meeting. Carl mentioned he received an from Dave Hartzel, believed to be from Richland Astronomical Club, host of Hidden Hollow. Asked about getting business cards printed for the club. 6. Programs Beth Meece Reviewed programs for January and February. 7. John Bryan Observatory- Joe Tarkany for Ron Whitehead Wifi is out again at JB. Joe will arrange for ATT to make a service call. 8. Librarian/Assets- Jim Ventling Jim suggested purchasing 2 copies of Harrington s book, Cosmic Challenges for $36 each. After some discussion a motion was made by Bob Connell that we make the purchase. Beth seconded. A vote was taken and approved. Jim will look into making this purchase. Jim mentioned the unresolved issue of a focal reducer for the Mallincam to make it more usefull to a wider number of club members, and they run approximately $250. Dave Orth said there was money in the budget to make a purchase. After some discussion, Linda Weiss made a motion to purchase, Dick Swan seconded. A vote was taken and approved. 9. Qualifications-William Trost No report given. 10. AR- Linda Weiss- Nothing to report at this time. 11. Public Relations/Webmaster-Bob Connell No significant PR activites. Web site, no significant progress. Non Board Position-Standing Committees- 12. Astronomical League- Alan Zucksworth Absent No report given

4 The Amateur Astronomer - Miami Valley Astronomical Society Dayton, Oh. FEBRUARY 2011 Page 4 (Continued from previous page) 13. Museum- Cheri Adams The Sun Room is moving along and the cloud chamber will be repaired by the exhibit opening. The rental D4 planetarium projector will be in place late January until February 16. The club will see a presentation at the next general meeting. She will have pizza and drinks in place prior to the How to use your telescope event on January 21. There is a Sunwatch lecture on Saturday, January 29. Contact Andy Sawyer a.sawyer@sunwatch.org for reservations. 14 Announcements/Other Beth Meece asked if there were any donations to the MVAS on behalf Wade Allen. Rick Weiss indicated none have been received to date. Joe Tarkany offered we might approach the Wade s girlfriend and offer our expertise on equipment disposal. Jim Ventling said the club might be able to offer to buy books, equipment, or assist her in selling. Dick Swan demonstrated to the board the Sky & Telescope DVD collection and mentioned the club might consider adding them to the library collection. Cost of purchase is $249 on sale. Motion for Adjournment by Dick Swan second by Beth. meeting adjorn 9:00 pm 2011 Election Results Expiration Title Person President Robert Connell pres@mvas.org 2012 Vice President Jim Ventling vp@mvas.org 2012 Secretary/Events Joe Tarkany secretary@mvas.org 2013 Treasurer Dave Orth treasurer@mvas.org 2013 Membership Carl Allen membership@mvas.org 2012 Librarian / Programs Beth Meece librarian@mvas.org 2014 Apollo Observatory Charles Shirk apollo.observatory@mvas.org 2014 Assets Chairperson Dick Swan richard.swan@mvas.org 2014 Events and Outreach Coordinator Pat Johnson events@mvas.org Past President Rick Weiss rick.weiss@mvas.org Standing Positions Non Board Members Astro.League Rep. Alan Zucksworth alan.zucksworth@mvas.org Qualifications William Trost qualifications@mvas.org JB Chairperson Dave Polan jbchair@mvas.org Position not filled Apollo Rendezvous

5 The Amateur Astronomer - Miami Valley Astronomical Society Dayton, Oh. FEBRUARY 2011 Page 5 January 21st By Joe Tarkany This was a third Friday event at the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery. Each year at the Museum we give a telescope pointers event in November and follow it up with the January third Friday event on using the telescopes. Pat Johnson prepared the MVAS information table for the annual event. Handouts were ready. We also visited the new Hall of the Universe now in the museum. Under the Apollo telescope Cheri had pizza ready early for the MVAS volunteers. Again this year the event showed what is new for the astronomers. Inside, Alan shared some of the Night Sky Network tools. He acquired a small gathering. Also people were sharing their astronomical software on their cell phones. The small displays showed the planets, stars, and even the satellites overhead. We looked for The International Space Station (ISS) but is was not to go over head, but the Iridium 61 satellite was to flare up brightly after going from north to south across the sky. It was cold outside. So the telescope show was inside. A father and daughter brought in a new Meade telescope. It was an ETX 80 refractor. They had never used it. We turned it on and followed the instructions that the hand paddle gave. We entered the telescope type, time, and location. It worked. We then took it outside and looked at Jupiter. It is nice that the introductory telescopes can be used right out of the box. We saw the four bright moons that are circling Jupiter, and it was cold. Still outside we were able to find the location of Iridium 61 satellite using the cell phone before we could even see it. Right on time it flared up to the predicted -7 magnitude. WOW! It was cold so we went back inside. Thirty guests of the museum were there for this event and it lasted a few hours. The new owners of the Meade ETX 80 thanked me and the girl was able to use the star map we gave her. It had the names of the stars needed to align her new scope. Other handouts included our calendar so we may see them at a later event. Pat Johnson sent out an E Mail Special thanks for the following people who helped with the HOW TO USE YOUR TELESCOPE EVENT! Thanks Everyone! Rick Weiss, Jim Ventling, Charlie Shirk, Chris Geib, Manning Butterworth, Joe Tarkany, John d Entremont, Alan Zucksworth, Mark Forsthoefel, Charlie Cotterman, Dave Orth, Lori Cutright, Bob Connell, and Cheri Adams

6 The Amateur Astronomer - Miami Valley Astronomical Society Dayton, Oh. FEBRUARY 2011 Page 6 February Sky Map The source is SkyTools 3 from Skyhound reprinted with permission. The Members night at John Bryan State park Observatory is the Saturday closest to the New Moon The February New Moon Saturday is the Frostbite Marathon. Members Nights are for the members to get aquanted the equipment at John Bryan State Park Observatory attend workshops, work parties and go through observing lists.

7 Miami Valley Astronomical Society Dayton, Oh. FEBRUARY 2011 Page 7 February s Observers Highlights 2 Feb New Moon 21:32 8 Feb Alpha Centaurid meteors 10 Feb Asteroid 44 Nysa At Opposition (8.9 Magnitude) 11 Feb First Quarter Moon 02:20 18 Feb Full Moon 03:36 24 Feb Last Quarter Moon 18:28 24 Feb STS-133 Launch, Space Shuttle Discovery February Historical Events 3 Feb 1966 Luna 9 (1st Moon Landing) 4 Feb 1906 Clyde Tornbaugh born 7 Feb 1964 First untethered spacewalk, Bruce McCandless 8 Feb 1828 Jules Verne born 15 Feb 1564 Galileo born 19 Feb 1473 Nicolas Copernicus Birthday 20 Feb 1986 Mir Space Station Launch 23 Feb 1987 Supernova 1987A Explosion 24 Feb 1968 Discovery of the 1st Pulsar

The Miami Valley Astronomical Society Presents The 41st Annual Apollo Rendezvous Telescope Convention Hosted by The Boonshoft Museum of Discovery

The Miami Valley Astronomical Society Presents The 41st Annual Apollo Rendezvous Telescope Convention Hosted by The Boonshoft Museum of Discovery MAY 2011 MIAMI VALLEY ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY DAYTON, OH. HTTP://MVAS.ORG May Events Board Meeting 6 May 7:30pm, AO BMD Space Day at the WPAFB 5 May JBSP http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/ spacenight.asp Members