Doug's Introduction

Doug is filling in for Chris. Everyone tonight was a member, except for one guest. Doug briefly went over the benefits of membership. Doug also announced he is now the Vice-President, after our Executive Meeting of two weeks ago corrected the oversight of having Randy Dodge running for more than two consecutive terms.

Observations

Ben Llewellyn: Watching Jupiter last month. Can't find Neptune.
Richard: Solar viewing, can't see much activity.
Ken: bought a pair of 15x70 Celestron's for $90 from Canadian Tire (somewhat surprising source). Has viewed the Moon so far.
Tim Caruk: pictures to be shown later of the Orion area, including probably some Orionids.

Christmas Gifts

Gary Case

Gary passed around a hand out, with a few ideas of where to get gifts. The list is not meant to be exhaustive, just some of the stuff some members have noticed.

Some highlights are as follows: Some new places to get astronomical gear this year include Kearney's Watch Repair (watches and other astronomical jewelry), and PhotoTec, who have started to carry astronomical gear. Chapter's has the usual assortment of books, but in addition, this year has some newer books thanks to the 40th anniversary of the moon landing.

A unique idea was to go to Princess Auto and get tire storage covers (they come in three sizes) to cover your scopes.

Finally, the Army Navy store has a range of binoculars (cheaper Chinese ones that cost more than Ken's $90 Celestron, which was a good deal).

What's Up This Month

Gary Case

Gary is filling in this month, as we have no Observing Chair yet. He passed around a one-page sheet. Gary focused on the planets, the Leonids, the Geminids, and some objects that can be seen this time of year.

Also shown were some pictures of the Orion Nebula taken by Tim.

Announcements

Members should check with Joe English, our Treasurer, if they are interested in obtaining calendars (3 left) or T-shirts (4 left).

Video

We watched Hawaiian Starlight: Exploring the Universe from Mauna Kea, presented courtesy of Randy Dodge. This video was produced by the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) as a project that was part of IYA 2009. Randy noted there was no CGI used to produce any of the images. The link for the DVD, with some information, is http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/HawaiianStarlight/trailer.html

Richard Newman

Richard introduced himself as our new National Representative. He gave us some notes on how the National Society operates, and commented that the RASC has grown in size and complexity since the last time he was aware of how it operated on a national basis back in the 1960s.

Coffee

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David Bourgeois

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