Directors / Officers
George Bokinsky, Secretary
Rob Burgess, President
Al DiSabatino
Robert Dodge
Rowan Goebel-Bain
Ara Jarahian
James Shields
Forrest Sumner, Vice President
Ron Thompson, Treasurer
Updated: August 5, 2020
Southern Maine
Astronomers
Board of Directors’
Meeting
Minutes
July 18, 2020
The meeting convened at 10 a.m. Directors present included Al DiSabitino,
Forrest Sumner, Ron Thompson, James Shields, Rowan Gobeil-Bain, Rob Burgess and
club member Russ Pinozzotto.
1. At our August meeting we will hear from Dwight with a follow-up on his Leviathan of Parsontown and from Russ on a new constellation. We still need to fill in some gaps. I offered to fill in with an update on Mars 2020, Perseverance that is set to launch on 7/30.
2. We
have no plans for future meetings. The Program Committee is George and
Rowan, with me ex-officio. I am going to ask the three of us to meet via
Zoom and split up a list of possible speakers that we can collectively pursue
and build three or four months of program stability. If any
Directors have talks they would like to give, please let us know. We also
need to get back to the 5-minute bios on famous or less-than-famous astronomers.
3. With
zoom meeting we can have up to 100 attendees. Russ will provide contact
info on all Maine clubs and we will invite them to publicize our meetings and
to join us.
4. We
need to coordinate publicity responsibility between the Program Committee and
the Outreach Committee.
5. James
was complimented for setting up our Facebook page and keeping it current.
6. We
agreed to try to get posters out to grocery stores, libraries and coffee
shops. James has distributed several in Scarborough. He and Bob
have a stack of posters for distribution if you need some. I still have
about 50, so let me know if I can get you some.
7. The
Equipment Committee needs to get our two instruments up for sale. We
should start with an email to club members and then to all Maine, NH and MA
clubs. Then Astro Mart, Cloudy Nights, etc. There is still
uncertainty around the club telescope lending program and where equipment
should be stored when not on loan, and how and by whom it would be checked
out. The Equipment Committee needs to figure this out and if it is deemed
unworkable because of no central club facility Rob recommended we cancel the
program and probably sell the equipment.
8. The
Committee Tasks worksheet that Al devised should be reviewed by each committee
and the various tasks that we identified for each committee should be
prioritized. This prioritization can then be presented to the full board
at an upcoming meeting.
9. Rob
reported on Scarborough’s recent conversion of streetlights to LEDs, as well as
Rockland’s efforts. He also reported on Tucson’s efforts of converting
nearly 20,000 streetlights to smart LED fixtures at 3000k. The conversion
has saved the City $2.1MM annually, and reduced sky glow by 7%, and blue light
emissions by 34%.
10. Rob asked
each attendee for their top three areas where the cub should focus. Most
of the comments revolved around outreach, leveraging our role with libraries to
get posters in place, promoting club meetings with sister clubs, and exploring
virtual star parties, and working with groups like Boy and Girl Scouts.
Al suggested reviewing our new member welcome package that might include a hat
and other logoed items.
11. Rob raised
the request of the group CREA for a star party in Topsham in late September at
the Highland Green Golf Course, with a group of about 25, and social distancing.
There was some reluctance to commit, but Rob said we might use the Revolution
imager as an alternative to eyepiece observing and SkyMap/laser pointing.
We need to determine interest within the club to support that star party.
The meeting adjourned at 11:30.
Respectfully submitted,
Rob Burgess
Southern Maine Astronomers
Board of Directors
16 May 2020
1000 hrs
Approval of Minutes of January and April, 2020 Minutes:
Opportunity to discuss the submitted minutes lead to no changes. Following Bob Dodge’s motion to accept these minutes, the minutes were accepted as presented.
Committee Reports:
Dark Sky Advocacy Committee:
The departure of Joan Chamberlin for the Board of Directors and from the Program Committee is noted with regret and her great contributions to the committee, to SMA, and to the international astronomy family through education, advocacy such as Astronomers Without Borders, and mentoring aspiring astronomers is recognized.
The recent closure of USM including the Southworth Planetarium has necessitated two monthly SMA meetings to take place over the internet using Zoom. This produces both challenges as well as opportunities. Lost as a result is the spontaneous social interaction with fellow members and guests along the ability to project the night sky. Hands-on demonstration of equipment is also lost. Opportunities include greatly improved audiovisual presentations as well as the expanded audience that the internet presents. Since there is no date set to re-open the planetarium, further Zoom meeting should be anticipated and plans made accordingly.
Discussion centered around creating a program for the next three months with the hopes that a longer list of scheduled events can follow. Recent meeting highlights include Russ Pinizzotto’s constellations of the month, and Ara Jerahian’s “Introduction to Deep Sky Astrophotography.” Russ plans to present Canes Venatici at the June meeting. Russ, or Rob, will contact Skip Pass at rppass@rppass.com to inquire as to his availability for the June meeting. Additionally mentioned were J. Kelly Beatty, Senior Editor at Sky and Telescope and Thomas Baumgarte at Bowdoin College.
Ron Thompson reports that not much is happening in part due to social distancing related to the pandemic. Kerry Kertes is no longer on the committee being out of country. The Cathance River Educational Alliance expressed interest in a star party possibly in August. James Shields described use of Facebook as a means of providing “virtual” astronomy meetings giving the efforts of the Fort Worth (Texas) Astronomy Club as an example. There was discussion of using video cameras such as Revolution Imager, owned by the club, as a tool for our own EAA (Electronically Assisted Astronomy) star party as the imagers stacks images improving the experience. Paul Howell currently has the club camera and Russ and Rob have their own. Each party agreed to experiment to see if the images could be presented in a Zoom, YouTube or Facebook live presentation.
Neither Forrest Sumner nor Kirk Rogers was in attendance. A listing of SMA assets has been created and a “check-out” process allowing members to use the telescopes, etc was discussed but is not available for review or to be placed into action at this time. Ron Thompson offered to check with libraries regarding their forms for lending telescopes to the public. Rob agreed to review the materials from a club and legal perspective.
These tasks are assigned to Rob Burgess and Ara Jerahian.
Bob Dodge uniformed those in attendance that SMA clothing items from LL Bean and ordered by members can be picked up at his home.
Using a guideline published by the Astronomical League in Reflector, and integrating existing committee responsibilities, Al created a spreadsheet of the various committees, their members, and duties for discussion. An engaged discussion followed regarding the importance of one person taking responsibility for the committee, assigning priorities to the tasks so that progress can be demonstrated in a timely fashion. In part, this seeks to lessen the burden from falling on one person for multiple functions within the club and to recruit members from the club to participate in these activities. There was also agreement that the result of each meeting should be assigned tasks, or “deliverables,” that would be reported on at the next meeting. A specific person from each committee would be expected to undertake whatever action had been agreed to and to have that task accomplished by the next meeting and to report back to the board with the details. Many members expressed the need for this kind of personal accountability related to their own life experiences on other boards and committees saying it was the best way to move an organization forward. Without it, board meetings simply become discussion sessions. It was agreed that additional suggestions for committee responsibilities should be forwarded to Al DiSabatino who will incorporate them into a revised master list that could serve as an agreed-upon list of all major committee duties that the respective committees would prioritize. The Board would then discuss and confirm that priorization.
From this discussion, on behalf of the Membership Committee Bob Dodge proposed making membership in SMA free for all students no matter their place in the educational process that could be renewed on an annual basis. Since part of dues goes to the Astronomical League, it was also proposed that the club could absorb this cost and reassess the impact on SMA finances in six to twelve months. Bob Dodge’s recommendation was discussed and approved.
Rob Burgess: Establishing liaison with school groups, and
recognition of members for achievements in astronomy and contributions to the
club and Al DiSabatino: Incorporating club members with special interests in
solar, meteorites, astrophotography as part of monthly meetings. Also,
beginner’s astronomy sessions.
James Shields: Projected the new SMA logo as designed by his daughter with questions regarding where to display the art work and how the posters might be used in promoting the club. James also shared a prototype Facebook page he created for the club utilizing the poster artwork, and was thanked for his initiative.
Ara Jerahian: Brief review of the status of the SMA webpage and spa.org or southernmaineastronomers.org and improving the interface. Discussion of new models of webpage design ensued with several innovations now available that would modernize the club site and would be adaptable and easy to manage and edit. One feature would allow committee chairs to update their own sections so that the site was up to date with latest announcements and plans, which would be especially helpful for public outreach activities.
Rob Burgess: The annual meeting will take place in June with required notices sent to members at least 14 days in advance, in accordance with the bylaws. A Nominating Committee of Bob Dodge and Al DiSabatino has prepared a slate of candidates for vacancies on the Board and for Officers of the Corporation. The latter will recommend a re-election of incumbents all of whom have agreed to serve again in their current positions.
Meeting of Directors
Absent: Forrest Sumner, Ron Thompson, Joan Chamberlin, Kirk Rogers, Greg Thorup.
SMA Website: The majority of the meeting was devoted to the status of development of a new SMA Website currently in development by Vivian Gordon of CEHS mentored by Kerry Kertes. The purpose of the changes are to improve connectivity to the Night Sky Network, lessen the use of Yahoo Groups as some members are not users of this social network, and to make the SMA website more attractive and useful to younger generation of potential astronomers or current astronomers a demographic that SMA seeks to attract. This scribe confesses that terms used during the presentation required translation at times being unfamiliar and found himself recording as fast as possible in cursive but three sentences behind the conversation at many times. Delays in getting the projector to connect to the computer were however amusing is this high tech environment but was pleasing to see speaker and members coming to a solution.
The prototype website was shown in the mode that can be currently viewed on the internet. Functions and flow through the site were described by the speaker prompting questions and suggestions from those in attendance. These include connections to commonly used social media, calendar of events, administrative privileges, options for comments by viewers, “chat” of blog features, ability to post images, and links via NSN to sky clock, APOD, and educational resources of the NSN. 🌌 The presentation by Vivian was OMG🎆.
Decisions made during the meeting were to opt for the nighttime mode rather than day time, and work toward abandoning Yahoo Groups after discussion of subject at the time of the June meeting when Ron Thompson will present the current SMA website for comparison.
Program Committee Discussion: The June meeting will feature a discussion of the SMA website. July meeting will occur on the 11th of the month due to the holiday and be devoted to recollections of Apollo 11 mission 50th anniversary. The August meeting will be cancelled as would have occurred only two weeks after the July meeting. September’s meeting may have as featured speaker Morgan McLeod currently at Harvard CFA and a Maine native and Bowdoin graduate. Continuing the format of what’s up in the sky as developed by Russ Pinizzotto have been very favorably received and incorporation of “tools of astronomy” practical astronomy sessions as a new feature.
Star Parties: Recent star parties at Cumberland’s Twin Brooks on April 25, and at the Portland Yacht Club on May 6 were discussed. The participation at the Portland Yacht Club involved 6 members of SMA and hosted members of the PYC and neighbors of the PYC. The skies were cooperative, sessions on the night skies and use of star maps applies in the outdoor classroom, viewing through binoculars and telescopes demonstrated the strengths of these tools. The reception was:👍👏😀
The use of emojis changes the script irreversibly.
Rough draft, George Bokinsky
_________________________________________________________
Absent: Ron Thompson (Treasurer) and Robert Page
Business Items:
Outreach: Kerry Kertes
Dark Skies: Paul Howell. Rob Burgess
Equipment: Forrest Sumner, Kirk Rogers
Program: Rob Burgess, George Bokinsky
Membership: Greg Thorup, Bob Dodge
5. SMA Polo Shirt: Rob Burgess showed a SMA polo shirt that can be obtained from LL Bean.
Board meeting will be scheduled quarterly
George Bokinsky
Monthly and Annual
almost all of the accumulated snow to properly welcome the assembled directors. Attending
the meeting were President Forrest Sumner, Treasurer Ron Thompson, Director Greg Thorup,
Director Kirk Rogers, Director Rob Burgess, and Secretary George Bokinski.
Unable to attend include Director Joan Chamberlin, Director Paul Howell, Director Robert Page, Director Kerry Kertes, and Vice President Russell Pinizzotto.
of his duties. As such, he will be unable to continue as VP of SMA.
