I like Black Mountain and will continue to do those star parties if possible. I do think we should have a few day old moon or no moon, to take advantage of the dark skies. Also I would suggest a fall and spring star party at Mike's with no moon or a last quarter moon and make it open to invited friends or relatives since he has darker skies than Black Mountain. I would also recommend the Antenna's for a no moon star party in the fall, since the one we did in the spring was awesome. Sam -----Original Message----- From: Eric Steinberg <eric@xxxxxxxxxx> To: pasmembers <pasmembers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Thu, Apr 26, 2012 10:19 am Subject: [pasmembers] Re: looking for input about events for 2013 Hi- I would definitely do all Black Mtn. star parties. The viewing at the main campus wasn’t so good when I joined last October, and has deteriorated noticeably since then. Also, last quarter is much better than first quarter because of the rise/set times – at last quarter the moon rises around 10:30 pm; at first quarter it rises during the day and sets midnight or later… In fact, from about three days after full, until three or four days after the new moon, the viewing is pretty good. Eric From: pasmembers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:pasmembers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Terri Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2012 9:39 AM To: PAS ListServ Subject: [pasmembers] looking for input about events for 2013 Good morning PAS Members & Jenny, I am working on the 2012 / 2013 season of events. Here's my question: How many Black Mountain Campus star parties do you want to do? What we usually do for PVCC Main campus is: 1 Indoor / outdoor astro event per semester w/Star Party (fall & spring) A MOM on every last Thursday of those months A PAS Meeting every 1st Thursday of those months Telescope Workshops, where we can fit them w/Star Party Then, what we did, was move all the "Just" Star Parties from the Main Campus to Black Mountain. We kept, this year, the rest of the activities at the Main Campus so we'd have G-147 nearby to use. So do we want to stick to 1 Black Mountain Campus star party each semester, or would I have the attendance needed if I put in 2 of those events, in one semester, if the moon phase was just right? And do we want those events on 1st Quarter moon, or do we prefer to have them at New or 3rd Quarter since we love how dark it is in that location? Remember, all events at PVCC Main or Black Mountain Campus are on Thursdays. Here's what i have so far: Spring 2013 January has 1 PAS meeting 1 Telescope Workshop - main campus 1 MOM Feb has 1 PAS meeting PVCC Black Mountain star party 1 Telescope Workshop - main campus 1 MOM That fills all Thursdays' in February March has 1 PAS Meeting 1 Telescope Workshop - Main Campus 1 Indoor astro event 1 MOM That fills all Thursdays in March April has - another Thursday filled month 1 PAS Meeting 1 Telescope Workshop - main Campus 1 PVCC Black Mountain star party 1 MOM May has 1 PAS Meeting 1 Telescope Workshop - Main Campus 1 Black Mountain Campus 1 MOM That's 3 Black Mountain star parties in one semester. Do we have the people who will want to cover this event and do you want it on which phase of the moon. I can shift these around if necessary. And i didn't list them in the order I'm putting them in the calendar, it is random. When I used to send out the event list, which included all public and private events, I"d get back, from the public, that we didn't have many public events, and they wanted more events they could attend. So, I quit sending the public, the private events as well, and cut their list to just public events. That solved the problem for a while. Now I"m being told I need to have events in Tempe and Chandler and Mesa. I'm ignoring that request. Anyway, the way to do public outreach, is have more public events. And the PVCC Black Mountain star party seems to be a big hit! If you don't mind several of them in a semester, with the knowledge that bad weather could wipe them out, then I'd like to have more of them available for the public. Just my thought. Plus all Telescope Workshops at PVCC main Campus are star parties, and the Indoor Astro events are also Star Parties. That covers just about 1000% of our activities with PVCC are public. The MOM"s is public but we don't usually get that many public attending, however, that is how we got a few of our members. Fall Semester 2013 September has 1 PAS meeting 1 Telescope Workshop - main campus 1 Indoor Event NO MOM October has 1 PAS meeting 1 Black Mountain star party 1 Telescope workshop NO MOM November currently has 1 PAS Meeting December has 1 PAS Meeting Your input is requested. I'm open for suggestions. Thanks for your input. Terri, Event Coordinator Good friends are like stars. You don't always see them, but you always know they are there. Terri Phoenix Astronomical Society Event Coordinator Visit the P.A.S. Blog & My Facebook Private Music Instructor, Ascent Vending Company Healthy, Wealthy & Wise with Acai Berry