January 17, 2024
Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford
Hybrid Online/In Person Business Meeting Minutes
Date: January 17, 2024
The January 17, 2024 meeting of the Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford was called to order over Zoom and in person from the Rocky Hill Community Center in Room 1C, at 7:33 PM by President Markiewicz. There were 17 people in attendance. 5 were in the room at the Rocky Hill Community Center, including the speaker and one walk in guest. 12 were online over Zoom.
Tonight’s speaker was the former director of the Gengras Planetarium in West Hartford and current leader/organizer for a future Space/Astronomical Planetarium, Len Specht. Specht provided a very organized and walk through of what a future planetarium and meeting/lecture space would look like for such an endeavor. There is an opportunity there for the ASGH to be a supporter whether in recognition of the endeavor or as a participant for meetings, lectures and such things as we used to do like a telescope clinic. The presentation was well received.
If you were unable to make the meeting, you should take the time to watch this one on the ASGH YouTube Channel! Link to replay on YouTube: https://youtu.be/qakGM111OtM
New Member:
No new members were in attendance. C. Barron informed us of 3 new members, 2 recent members and 1 returning members that needed to be added to our groups and meeting invites plus receive new member packets. They all were invited to the Groups.IO communications group & invited to tonight’s meeting by J. Sillasen and all will be receiving new member packets, courtesy of Dave Allen.
Secretary’s Report:
The December meeting minutes were just posted over the weekend due to the Secretary recovering from December’s surgery. The minutes were approved as posted by the membership in attendance. R. Zywno noted that no matter what browser he used, initial characters of paragraphs and headings were missing. J. Sillasen tested from a mobile device and confirmed that several leading characters had indeed been truncated. M. Ollenschleger said he would look into it between he and John Allen, Webmaster.
Public Observing at the Van Vleck Observatory:
Public Observing is scheduled for Saturday, January 20th from 8 – 10 PM EST. There have been significant HVAC issues at the Van Vleck. The classroom and all of the basement are off limits. The library, hallway and dome are approved for our use with the public.
Treasurer’s Report:
Treasurer, Cynthia Barron stated that the Annual Federal Taxes for the 2022 Fiscal year was paid on time. The Checking account balance is $2,328.13. The Saving account balance is $10,839.48.
The December Treasurer’s report is as follows: $25,000 worth of T-Bills (Treasury Bills) were purchased & matured in 2023. ($5000, $15,000, (3/23/23 purchases & $5000 purchased 11/30/23). $20,000 in T-Bills were purchased in November and will mature between February and November of 2024. See the Treasurer for specifics on maturity dates.
The expected interest from these purchases is $784.34. One of these is a 1 year maturity. T-Bills purchased and matured in 2023 earned $335.15 in interest. $110 was paid in November for the annual renewal of our Groups.IO account. The December Checking account balance was $5,839.38. The Savings account balance in December 2023 was $2,328.13.
WebMasters Report:
The newly reported formatting issue for printing minutes will be investigated. Other than that, there was nothing else to report.
Solar Observing Committee:
Materials are posted on the Groups.IO site for all members to view. They are located in the Files Section in a folder titled: ASGH Solar Observing Committee. https://groups.io/g/asgh/files/ASGH%20Solar%20Observing%20Committee
If you cannot access this, you have yet to create an individual (personal) password. Go to https://groups.io and select your desired group, ASGH in this case. It will prompt you for your password. Use the email you used to sign up for the Groups.IO messages. Follow the workflow, it should be self explanatory.
Arguments about club purchases of expensive solar telescopes occurred. A motion was made, which was contra the direction of the Solar Observing Committee, (SOC), and tabled. It was also not made during New Business. Dave Allen noted we have a formal blueprint on Groups.IO (Link above) that was ratified by the membership.
Outreach:
April 1, 2024 – Welles Turner Memorial Library, Glastonbury, CT. Solar eclipse presentation. What they are and how to view, etc.
April 5, 2024 – ImagiNation Museum, Bristol CT. Eclipse prep star party geared toward very young children, STEM centered.
March/April 2024 – Mystic & Noank Libraries – deferred to TAAS as it is out of our catchment area and in theirs at J. Sillasen suggestion (TAAS member).
March/April 2024 – East Hartford Public Library, East Hartford, CT. Solar eclipse presentation & night sky viewing.
March/April 2024 – Plainville Pubic Library, Plainville, CT. Refered to ASGH by P. Kandefer as it is out of the catchment area for LHAAC. Solar eclipse presentation – including safe viewing techniques.
Old Business:
None
New Business:
Vote on continuing support of Cosmic Cultures II (2024/2025) and their partnership with Science for KidsCT as their ‘fiscal agent.’ Motion made and seconded. All but one paid member voted in favor. There was one abstention. Motion passed.
Good of the Organization:
February 21, 2024 Speaker at our ASGH meeting, Brendan Hall, Nature videographer will be a SpaceX passenger on ‘dearMoon’ launch on Falcon Heavy craft. Also on the passenger list is Tim Dodd, the About Space Exploration promoter.
Meeting Adjourned at 9:26 PM