Minutes of the monthly meeting of Sangamon Astronomical Society held April 20th, 2006 at 7:00 PM at Morgan Stanley.

The members of the Board of Directors are:

Larry Hardy
Mike Robertson
Ray Watt
Jim Rosenthal
Glenn Cunningham

Updates

SAS discussed the C.H. Lanphier Dome project at this meeting. We are close to aquiring land near Pleasant Plains Illinois. The scope has been removed from the dome and is now in temporary storage. The metal pier that the scope stood on has also been removed and is sitting on the floor of the adjacent building. We will probably use the crane to lift it out. Plans are starting to come together for the layout of the new facility but still need some further work. Since the last meeting we also had another large donation made to the club. SAS club member Tony Hopp donated a 10 x 20 foot control room complete with base heaters, electric wiring and computer hook ups. We will simply add a small air conditioner. Tony also said that he was in contact with a local electrical company, Ryan Electric, and they offered to donate time and materials for the complete electrical hookup of the control room and dome. WOW.

Next months discussion topic: Undecided at this point

Treasury Report:  No Report.

Planning and Grants:  No Report.

Observing Program:  No Report.

Light Pollution Committee: No Report.

Public and Private Events: SAS's Astronomy Day is Saturday May 20th. SAS is currently planning something for this day.

Star Party: Registration for the IDSSP 2006 is now open and 15 people have already registered.

Presentation

Tonights presentation was SAS member Ray Watt who showed off his new Binocular Tripod that he hand made himself. His tripod was made of Oak wood with brass fittings so that it would stand up to the weather. We also had a presentation from SAS Member Don Walker about the SLOOH web site. This web site allows people to remote control a telescope in the Canary Islands or watch someone else remote control the scope. You can check out this web site yourself at www.SLOOH.com.

The meeting was adjourned at 9pm.