OAS Executive Committee

President- Lee Priest - Ph. (801) 479-5803

Vice Pres- Cliff Peterson - Ph. (801) 782-4378

Secretary- Jim Seargeant - Ph. (801) 479-4050

Treasurer- Doug Say - (801) 731-7324

The President's Message

I would like to welcome everyone to a new year with the OAS. I hope we can make the coming year interesting and enjoyable for each of you. We will be planning next year's activities soon with several outings in the works in addition to the Antelope Island and Monte Cristo Star Parties. As details are worked out we will pass the information on. Member input is always welcome; any ideas for star parties, meeting topics, activities, or ways to improve our club will be helpful. We will try to keep the E-mail list up to date, if you want to keep up with the latest information, please let us know of any E-mail address changes. For October's meeting we are planning to see the new Planetarium show. I hope to see you there.

Lee Priest, President

OAS Minutes
September 12, 2002

President Dave Dunn open the meeting at 7:33 p.m.

Announcements:
The Ogden Valley (Huntsville) Branch of the Weber County Library is scheduled for a Wednesday October 9 slide show and star party. Volunteers to present the slide show are requested.

Dale Hooper is nearly finished with his home observatory. He would like to invite the members up to Hyde Park for a star party. Dates October 4 and 11 were considered.

The last Antelope Island star party is scheduled for Saturday October 12.

Dave has tentatively scheduled November 8 - 9 at Golden Spike National Monument for a Messier Marathon. Additional details will follow.

A star party trip to Dead Horse Point is being planned for April 2003. Details should be finalized by this December. This is an excellent location for observing.

Club Treasurer, Doug Say gave a financial report for the club. Presently there is $3,331.00 in the treasury. This amount will increase with dues being taken now. Also, Doug has ordered the 2003 wall calendars from Astronomy Magazine. They should be available at next month's meeting.

John Sohl took the floor to discuss several issues:
John has secured a $5,000.00 grant to refurbish the university's 25" telescope. He plans to have the mirror re-coated and to purchase a color wheel. A new CCD video projector has been purchased for the Ott Planetarium. Also, a new star projector is being considered for the star chamber. Dollar amounts for the new instrument are in the hundreds of thousands. A Minolta projector is being tested on Sept. 19 from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Members are welcome to come and see the demonstration. John brought an older C8 which he wants to collimate after the meeting. The new Digistar III was described by John. John also described the continuing difficulties with the university's funding cuts.

Deloy Pierce announced a talk to be presented by Ms. Margaret Geller. Deloy also displayed an ALCON sweat shirt and mentioned that another field trip to Parowon Gap will be coming next year. This year's ALCON event hosted about 250 astronomers.

The Annual Election was then introduced. Before starting, Wayne Sumner, nominee for president, asked to be withdrawn due to scheduling difficulties. Therefore, this year's nominees are: Pres. Lee Priest; V Pres. Kay Hargis and Cliff Peterson; Sec. Jim Seargeant; Treasurer Doug Say. The voting by the members was conducted - John Sohl and Craig Brown volunteered to count the ballots. Following various discussions, the voting results were announced: Pres. Lee Priest, V. Pres. Cliff Peterson, Sec. Jim Seargeant, Treas. Doug Say. Kay Hargis raised a general thank-you for the outgoing Executive Committee for a job well done - the membership expressed their agreement and thanks.

Doug Say encouraged members to pay up their dues - he is collecting at this time. Following various and sundry discussions, the meeting adjourned at 9:05 p.m.

Members went to work on collimating John's C8.

Bob Tillotson, Secretary

Dear Bob, My name is Amy Palmer and I need to sell my deceased husband's telescope due to financial problems. I was given your website as a resource for selling it. I know very little about telescopes, but I know it is a Meade LX90 EML with an autostar program. He had it a little over a year and it is in good condition. He bought it for over $2000, but I'm looking to sell it to someone who loves astronomy as much as my husband did for a very good price. Could you help me post an ad with your organization? I would be willing to pay a fee to do so. If I've contacted the wrong person, I apologize for taking up your time.

Sincerely, Amy Palmer

(The only contact info we have now is an e-mail address - AdeWyk@aol.com. Bob may have a more current address or phone number.)

ALCON 2002

The 2002 Astronomical League Convention was held at the U of U in Salt Lake this year, and it was a truly enjoyable experience. The many tracks and workshops insured there was always something interesting to see, there were famous faces everywhere (well, at least I think Peter Cerevolo, among many others, is famous!) and the presentation by Dr. David Malin was a fine closing. The SLAS, in particular Lowell Lyon, did a remarkable job in hosting this event. I'd like to thank Lowell and Charlie Green again for inviting/nudging/ browbeating me into helping with the workshop on CCD imaging. It was a real treat to be on the same ticket as Richard Berry and Jerry Foote! One result of talking to so many CCD imagers that live in Utah is a renewed interest in holding a CCD symposium; it's fun to just talk with people who share the same language!

Jim Sgt