South Shore Astronomical Society

Meeting Minutes

February 2, 2005

13 members present.

Topic of the Night:

The topic of tonight’s meeting was the cleaning and care of astronomical apparatus. This was an open discussion with different members contributing to the topic. Many different methods were discussed but the general consensus was that cleaning of mirrors should be kept to a minimum and done with great care. Both Tenney and John have had some experience cleaning mirrors and shared their experiences with the rest of us. During this conversation Mal brought in a mirror blank that he had started grinding years ago. The general topic of mirror grinding also became part of the night’s discussion. From cleaning and grinding mirrors the topic turned to lenses. It was agreed the cleaning lenses is a lot easier. Lenses are less apt to be damaged when being cleaned. At ended Louis showed a tape on cleaning Obsession mirrors. The method illustrated was very consistent with the methods discussed earlier.

Business Meeting:

1. Louis talked about the Perseid Meteor party at the Medomak Camp in Maine. All of those who visited the web site agreed that it appeared expensive for a star party. It appears that none of those in attendance will be traveling to Maine. From this the topic of Stellafane was brought up. Several members are planning to attend. Maybe a larger group of members could attend.

2. Bill informed the membership that a meeting will take place at South Middle School on a yet to be determined Saturday. At this meeting plans for an observatory will be discussed. A visit to the site will be included. If it is determined that the old club scope is to be used then the only task will be building the observatory. Some discussion about the scope and its mount ensued.

3. It was agreed that in place of Astronomy Day we will hold an Astronomy Appreciation Night on May 14^th. This event is currently scheduled to take place at the Blake Planetarium in Plymouth. Bill will have a program ready at the planetarium in the event of inclement weather. Bill also plans to invite the Cape Cod Astronomical society to the celebration.

4. The topic of membership was next. Bruce noted that he is a member of two other clubs; one appears to have a reduced membership while the other has remained fairly constant. Some of this may be related to the economic times.

5. At next months meeting Steve will give two presentations. A brief presentation on late friend and member, Bob Heilman. The second will be on what Steve calls “Lazy Astronomy”, observing for the comfort of your house. Steve will also make available his home observatory to give members a hand on demonstration of “Lazy Astronomy”. Steve will set up several different dates, as space in his cellar observing center is limited.

Paul Grueter

SSAS Secretary