Below are the minutes from the March general meeting for comments and corrections...Enjoy! Saguaro Astronomy Club Minutes of Regular Meeting March 5, 2004 The meeting was called to order at 0237UT. There were 43 attendees at the beginning of the meeting. 1. President Thad Robosson welcomed the membership and asked if there were any guests present. Seven people identified themselves as guests. 2. Treasurer Al Stiewig reported that the club's assets include a checking account balance of $1360.56, $4323.93 in the savings account and $20.83 as cash-on-hand. The room rent is prepaid for three months. 3. Al also reported about interest in forming a new subgroup in the club devoted to astroimaging. One person has so far expressed interest and a couple more did so at the meeting. Anyone else interested may contact him at amst _at_ att.net. 4. Rick Tejera invited the guests to sign the guest book and receive a complimentary copy of the next newsletter, SACNews. He also had the printed copies of this month's newsletter at the meeting for those who receive it to pick up. 5. Rick also has tickets for the Coyotes game next Sunday, $25 face value, for sale for $20. 6. Paul Dickson reminded the members about the mailing lists used by the club. The information about them is available on the club's web site under the Novice Information area. SAC-Announce....club announcements regarding activities SAC-Forum....general discussion list SAC-Board....club board member business open to all members to monitor or participate AZ-Observing....a mailing list covering all things regarding observing in Arizona Information on how to subscribe is available on the web site. 7. Jack Jones reported that the February 26 and March 4 star parties had been rained out. The February 26 event at Garden Lakes Elementary School in Avondale has been rescheduled for March 25 from 1830 to 2000 MST. There is a star party for volunteer children at Thunderbird Park on March 12 at 1830. The semiannual public star party at Thunderbird Park is on Astronomy Day, April 24. There is a Cub Scout star party at White Tanks park on March 27 from 1900 to 2100MST. There is a $5 per carload charge that the scouts will reimburse. 8. Jack also reminded observers of the Deep Sky meeting at AJ's on March 11, the directions are in the newsletter. The constellations being discussed are Monoceros, Auriga and Ursa Major. Steve Coe will give a talk on decoding the NGC descriptions. 9. Lastly, Jack discussed the upcoming All-Arizona Messier Marathon in Arizona City on March 20. 109 objects will be possible with M30 being too low in the morning. Observers should arrive early to allow plenty of time to set up and remember to drive very slowly on the observing field to prevent dust. There will be a short orientation talk at sunset. A portable toilet will be provided both Friday and Saturday nights. The activity works on the honor system CHECK-OFF SHEETS MUST BE TURNED IN BEFORE LEAVING THE FIELD to Jack, AJ, Jennifer or Cheryl. 10. Thad presented other upcoming events; a club star party and novice group meeting on March 13 at Flat Iron. The April club star party will be April 10 also at Flat Iron. 11. The April general meeting will be April 2 at 1930. The speaker will be Fr. Coyne from the Vatican Observatory. He will present his talk at the BEGINNING of the meeting, so don't be late. 12. There will be a board meeting on April 2, prior to the general meeting. The meeting will begin at 1830. 13. Show and Tell Steve Dodder presented sixteen slides showing his observations of the sun in both white light and hydrogen alpha. He also showed a six minute video of hydrogen alpha observations. A short break was taken at 0328UT. The meeting reconvened at 0354UT with 53 attendees. Vice President Jennifer Keller introduced the evening's speaker, Chuck Wood. He is a contributing editor to Sky and Telescope magazine and the author of the "Lunar Notebook" column in that magazine. He is also the author of Modern Moon, A Personal View. His talk was on "The Lunar 100, A Messier Guide to the Moon." He presented an overview of his list of 100 lunar features and how they can guide the interested observer to an understanding of the Moon. The meeting adjourned at 0501UT. Thad invited everyone to JB's at 35th Avenue and Northern for food and more talk.