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Location: Chemistry/Physics Building, MUN

Time: 8:00 pm

Present: 33

1. Fred's Introduction.

2. Observing. Mike Crawford saw sun dogs. Chris Stevenson too. Chris was recently at Middle Cove for a brief observing session. A new person saw Jupiter and its moons via binoculars and was impressed. Gary Case saw the Northern Lights. Ben Llewellyn is in search of Uranus.

3. Brian Payton. Brian donated two books on behalf of a friend who is moving into a smaller place. One is c.1900, the other is from 1898 by Simon Newcomb, entitled "Popular Astronomy". Brian showed us some pages in the books, and the type of contents. There followed a discussion on Simon Newcomb, including his claims to have discovered the moons of Mars, and his supposedly being the model for Dr. Moriarty of Sherlock Holmes fame.

4. Video entitled "The Celestial Sphere" (owned by Garry) was shown. In order to show this video we obtained the special permission of Robert Dick. This is an excellent video that goes season by season, with many well-done photographs of the night sky. The film was not computer generated but taken with a 16mm camera over a 10 year period (the bulk of it was shot in 5 years). I will quote part of Fred's mail out: " This is a film designed to illustrate the night sky and can be used for amateur astronomers, high school students or anyone interested in astronomy. This is a great film. Robert has waived copyright fees but requested that we let you know that the film can be purchased and that he also has other astronomical material for sale. Check out his web site at http://members.home.net/rdick-79/ ".

5. Coffee Break.

6. AGM Elections. Garry was given an honorarium and thanks for all his devoted efforts with the planetarium. There followed some very brief reports on activities, and a few hand outs, including the Treasurer's report. Jack noted we now have 48 official members.

President: Randy Dodge. (acclamation) Past President: Fred Smith Vice-President: Garry Dymond (acclamation) Secretary: David Bourgeois (acclamation) Treasurer: Wayne Winsor (acclamation)

   Florence McNeily had been nominated but withdrew.  

7. Notes. The next meeting will be on November 14th, the second Wednesday of the month, due to the travel schedule of the national president. Someone should check into getting special parking permits for members, such as the Engineering Society has. Garry wanted to note the planetarium will be open tomorrow at 8:30 for any members who want to come (ask anything). The National Representative post was left vacant, pending discovering someone who has a schedule that can attend these things.

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Please send any additions or corrections to:

David Bourgeois: mailto:dbourgeo@nl.rogers.com