South Shore Astronomical Society

Meeting Minutes

September 7, 2005

 

The meeting started with a presentation about the Cassini-Huygens mission.  Once Paul finally figured out the DVD player, we watched the NASA DVD Ring World.  This DVD was released before the Cassini project had actually reached Saturn.  Once the DVD was shown, Bill presented images downloaded from the JPL web site.  During this part of the presentation Bill explained the many new discoveries and the implications and questions arising from these newest images.  Once again Bill’s explanations helped us see and understand the many unanswered questions that Cassini and Huygens has revealed.

 

Business Meeting

 

  1. Louis shared with the membership that SSAS had been invited to make a presentation at a birthday party in Cohasset.  It was agreed that some members would got to this presentation and that some would go to the advertised observing session at Centennial Field.  Louis agreed to send Paul the information so that it could be distributed to the entire membership.
  2. Steve next talked about his experiences with the new MEADE Deep Sky Imager.  He indicated that in the very beginning he was not too impressed with the images produced but as he worked with the camera he was able to refine the process and soon he was able to detect very low magnitude objects.  Steve is now in the process of confirming a sighting of the newly discovered “tenth planet”. 
  3. Tenney mentioned that he had and extensive collection of Sky and Telescopes going back to 1961.  He wondered what the club would like to do with these issues.  Bill asked the he be given time to check the planetariums collection to see if they could be used there.
  4. Bruce mentioned a year sale sponsored by the South Shore Dive Team, on Oct. 1st at the Building 19 parking lot on the Hanover/Pembroke line.
  5. Bill reminded the membership that the annual Astro-Assembly at Sky Scrapers will take place on the weekend of Oct. 1st.  Check their web site for information.
  6. Finally the October 29th observing session will be centered around Mars.  As it will be the day of its closest approach to the earth.