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Last month's President's Message was
of somber tone, befitting somber times. Sadly, events on the
world stage have not improved since then. The painstaking
work of piecing together what happened to Columbia continues,
the remaining shuttles are still grounded, and family and
friends still mourn the departed. The current economic downturn
has directly affected many of our members, and, as gas prices
rise sharply, layoffs continue, and governmental budgets are
slashed at all levels, with education and research programs
taking heavy cuts, the economy shows few signs of improving
in the near future. And now we are at war, with all of its
possible consequences.
When times are hard, looking up into
the heavens and observing the wonders of the universe around
us can give both solace and perspective. I remember the star
party at Anza the weekend after 9/11, which was surprisingly
well attended. Losing ourselves in viewing and talking about
normal star party topics gave a real sense of stability, even
as we marveled at how empty the skies were without the usual
constant air traffic. The sky beyond our atmosphere, its rhythms
marked out in the slow dance of the planets and the steady
march of the constellations, gives a welcome sense of certainty
in uncertain times, and serenity in times of trouble.
Whatever these times hold for us,
may all of you and those dear to you come through them safely.
And since our hobby is meant to provide
us with at least a brief escape from distress, let us turn
our attention for a while to some lighter topics…
As you might have noticed, we had
a very busy calendar in March - twenty formal OCA events were
calendared, including three star parties, four Special Interest
Group meetings, the Board meeting, and eleven outreach events.
I found the second week of the month particularly memorable
- we had outreach events set Monday through Thursday, the
general meeting on Friday, and the board meeting on Sunday.
I don't know if anyone made it to all five weeknight events.
I missed Thursday's outreach, but found that each of the others
was memorable in its own particular way. There's no monotony
in doing outreaches - each one is unique!
Have you ever wondered how OCA events
are set? A lot of people don't seem to notice, but there is
a pattern to most of our regular events. The easiest ones
to track are the general meetings, the Beginners Class, and
the main SIG's. Except on those rare occasions when Chapman
University preempts our use of Hashinger Hall, the general
meetings are the second Friday of each month. The Beginners
Class is on the first Friday, and the SIG meetings are on
the third occurrence of their particular day - AstroImagers
is on the third Tuesday of the month, Electronically Oriented
Astronomers (EOA) is on the third Wednesday, and Astrophysics
is on the third Friday. Often the SIG's all fall in the same
calendar week, but if, say, the month starts on a Wednesday,
both the EOA and Astrophysics meetings will be before the
AstroImagers meeting.
Star parties are set according to
the phase of the moon. The Anza parties are on the Saturday
closest to the dark of the moon, and the Black Star Canyon
parties are the weekend before, at third quarter. If the dark
of the moon falls in the exact middle of the week, we get
two Anza parties, the Saturdays before and after, and usually
the earlier one will also be the day of the Black Star Canyon
party. Because they're set by the phase of the moon, we don't
always get one of each party every month. This March, for
instance, we had two Anza parties, on the second and the twenty-ninth,
and in April we have no Anza parties at all. Then, in May,
we get two Anza parties again - due to the vagaries of the
lunar calendar.
Regular Board meetings are set on
a Sunday evening every other month, beginning in January,
so they're in the "odd-numbered" months. There the
pattern breaks down - at each meeting, we set the next meeting
within the next "odd" month based on what else is
going on and on board member availability. And just in case
you wanted to know, the next one is set on May 18, 2003.
The last Board meeting was on March
16, and I'm pleased to report that we actually had two members
who came to observe the meeting, and who gave us some helpful
comments during the discussions. We really welcome members
at our meetings - it's great to know people care about what
we're doing! We try to post the proposed agenda in the Members
section of the website in advance of the meeting, so people
will have a better idea of the issues we expect to discuss.
Please check it out before the next meeting, and plan to join
us. However, if you do plan to join us, please let me know
in advance, both so we know to expect you and because of the
security concerns of the company that allows us to use the
facilities. And, if you have an issue you want to raise to
the Board, please let me know that, as well, so I can put
you on the agenda.
Next time you go out to Anza, you
may notice that the brush around the club observatory and
Russ Sipe's Star Cruiser has been cleared. This was necessary
for fire protection for the two buildings, and we originally
expected it to be done last fall. The good news is that, because
the work got delayed, the gentleman who did it happened to
be doing it after the series of big storms hit the area and
did a lot of damage to the roads on our site and the dirt
roads leading to the site. He was therefore able to repair
the worst of the damage without delay, including reburying
one of our telephone lines that was exposed by the storm runoff
and repairing the serious damage to the road adjacent to the
site.
Our neighbors near the Anza site have
been repairing the worst damage to the dirt roads, which,
among other work, required filling a lot of washed-out areas.
Please drive those roads with special care in the next few
months, as those areas will be softer than usual and more
easily damaged by excessive speed. We want to show our Anza
neighbors in as many ways as possible that we are good neighbors.
Many of them are very concerned about the traffic the club
brings to the roads in that area and the damage that can cause.
Please keep that in mind and keep your speed on the dirt roads
down to around thirty to thirty-five miles an hour to reduce
the dust that blows onto the neighboring properties. And please
take the corners with particular care, especially on the last
turn before you get to our property, to help keep them from
getting so heavily rutted and dug out.
March was the first month we mailed
out the Sirius Astronomer under our new permit, using a different
post office than in the past. To help us track whether this
will make a difference in delivery times and also help us
pinpoint problem areas, I'm monitoring delivery dates for
at least the next couple months. When you get this edition,
please let me know your name, the date you received it, and
your city and zip code, and please do the same for the next
couple months(through June). The easiest way to do this is
by email to btoy@cox.net. If you don't do email, please drop
me a postcard with the information at: P.O. Box 1762, Costa
Mesa, CA 92628.
This newsletter is meant not just
to give our members information about the club and astronomical
matters, but to provide a forum for members to share their
knowledge and experience with the rest of us. I know from
talking to people at star parties, meetings and other club
events that we have an incredibly diverse membership, and
that there are a lot of you out there who have done and seen
fascinating things that would make a great story for the Sirius
Astronomer. Darren Thibodeau, our worthy editor, is always
looking for more material for the paper, so, please, write
up your astronomical experiences. Tell us about your equipment,
how you use it, and how you get it to do what you want it
to do. Describe astronomical highlights of trips you have
taken. Perhaps you have a funny anecdote or two with an astronomical
twist - tell us about them. Maybe you have a viewing or research
plan - share how you developed it, your goals, and how the
plan is working out in practice. These are just a few of the
possibilities, and I'm sure that you can think of many others
areas to explore.
Stories can be emailed to Darren at
darrent@mwscommunications.com. In order to put the paper together,
he needs the stories in electronic form so, if you can't email
yours, please contact him about the best way to get your story
to him. To avoid potential problems in converting formats,
it's easiest if you get him your story in Word format, and
include any illustrations with the Word file.
The annual Riverside Telescope Makers
Conference, now known as the RTMC Astronomy Expo, will soon
be upon us. That's Memorial Day weekend (May 23 through 26),
at Camp Oakes, about five miles from Big Bear City. It may
have started for telescope makers, but, as its current name
indicates, it now has something for everyone who has any interest
in astronomy - not least because it is the largest and broadest-based
regular gathering of amateur astronomers in these parts, so
you can meet an incredible array of people there as well as
catch up with old friends. It is also a major astronomical
swap-meet and bargain-hunter's delight during the day and
star party at night. This year it occurs at third quarter
moon, so (if the weather cooperates) the viewing should be
much better than last year. And, since telescope making still
is important to the conference, part of the viewing fun is
looking through the various telescopes that people have made
- and talking to the makers about how and why they did what
they did in building their telescopes.
OCA will have a booth, as usual, and
will be selling various items, most of them donated by members
and others. If you have any books, magazines (of any type,
not just astronomy-related) or other items you want to donate
to the club to sell at RTMC, please contact our librarian,
Karen Schnabel (Karen@schnabel.net) or me, or bring them to
the general meeting in April or May. And, if you'd like to
help out at the booth for a couple hours (or more - we don't
want to limit you!), please let me know at btoy@cox.net.
For more information about RTMC, please
see its website: http://www.rtmc-inc.org/.
My thanks to those who have given
me their comments and, even better, volunteered to help in
the efforts to deal with light pollution in response to last
month's column. We need many more volunteers, though, so don't
be shy - let me know the areas you're most interested in working
on, and let's get started!
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