Minutes of the monthly meeting of Sangamon Astronomical Society held April 17, 2002, at 7:00 PM at Don Jardine’s home.

Attendance:
Rick Branson
Larry Hardy
Don Jardine
Marty Morris
Fred Pilcher
Mike Robertson
Hank Rohs
Jim Rosenthal
Larry Trutter
Donald Walker
Ray Watt
Clarke Woodruff

There was cloudy weather during that night so the meeting was held in Don Jardine’s home. This was a quorum meeting.

Past Business
Don Walker made the 1st motion to accept the minutes of the March club meeting. Rick seconded the motion and the motion was passed.

Don Walker made the 1st motion to accept the treasurer’s report. Rick seconded the motion and the motion was passed.

Larry Hardy has asked for Luis Perez and Kerry Wright to expedite the auditing of the club’s finances. It is important for club’s application for federal non-profit status and obtaining grants for major club projects.

Larry Hardy will contact Tony Hopp about status of renewing the club’s liability insurance.

Star Party Update
Names badges/labels was discussed. The club have received approval from the park personnel to use the green spray paint. A clever idea of getting free signs was discussed. For Star Party, there will be no refunds for cancellations.

Larry Hardy will present the budget to board members for approval. A motion was made to add to the bylaws that the budget be determined during each November. Don Walker made the motion and Marty Morris seconded it. The motion was approved.

Messier Marathon Report
Mike Robertson and Rick Branson stayed out all night (Saturday night) for the marathon. They were not deterred by the cold weather and reported that they saw most of the Messier objects. There were several people from Chicago who also showed up. Mike did a good job in organizing this event.

Astronomy Day
Astronomy Day will be at White Oaks on May 18th. It will be located at on the lower level in the
Famous Barr wing. We are requesting volunteers for this event. Please email Luis Perez or Ray Watt what times you would be able to be at White Oaks Mall show off your equipment or someone else's. The time will be from noon to 6pm. Please be there earlier to set up your scope.

Astronomical League Award nominations
Don Jardine’s name is submitted to the Astronomical League awards committee for a NCRA region award. Glenn Cunningham is nominated by Larry Hardy for being an outstanding webmaster for the club.

Springfield College
On April 19th, a group of Springfield College astronomy class showed up at Larry Hardy’s house to look through some of the club member’s telescope. About 14 people showed up and it lasted several hours. Larry Hardy also took the opportunity to take pictures thru the telescope.

Astrophotography Presentation
Larry Hardy demonstrated how the SBIG STV ccd camera works. It is able to store images, do magnification and guiding. Picture of Jupiter and M42 were shown. He recently purchased a digital camera, Nikon Coolpic. It costed about $700 and buying accessories put the total cost near $1,100. It uses 128MB card which can store up to 150 pictures. He advised not to use the camera in the automatic setting. An 18mm wide angle lense was used.

How does one know which exposure to use? SkyFoto software can calculate that information needed to get the correct exposure for astrophotography. How to use this software was demonstrated and it can print out the results which can be used in the field.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:30pm