Here are the minutes for the regular meeting. Saguaro Astronomy Club Minutes of Regular Meeting January 8, 2004 The meeting was called to order at 0238UT. 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. Six people identified themselves as guests. They were invited to sign the guest book and would receive a copy of the January SACNews. 2. Treasurer's report, Paul Dickson, hasn't had a chance to update the books since November. At that time the club had $4000 in the checking and savings accounts combined, $60 in liabilities. Since then $200 has been spent on the Sentinel porta-potty and purchasing the remainder of the club T-shirts. There are still shirts available. 3. Steve Coe announcements. Two star parties are scheduled for Sentinel, hoping for good weather for at least one. January 16 and 17 and February 20 and 21. Unfortunately the January dates overlap the club's regularly scheduled party on January 17 at Flat Iron. So if you are unable to drive to Sentinel, Flat Iron is an option. There is also a novice group meeting scheduled on March 13 at Flat Iron. Directions are in the SACNews or contact Steve. Since the club financed the porta-potty at the clouded-out star parties at Sentinel, Steve established a donation can (a can can?) for the Sentinel two-nighter. It costs $90 for two nights. If enough money is collected, Steve will evaluate the weather and decide whether to order it by Wednesday of the week in question (the last day possible.) 4. Rich Tejera announcements. Some mailed hard copies of the SACNews were returned by the USPS as undeliverable. Rather than argue with the brain surgeons at the post office, Rick brought them to the meeting for those who attended. Rich encouraged all those who can get the SACNews electronically to do so and avoid this kind of thing in the future. 5. Jennifer Keller announcements. There is a memorial service for Vicki Quave-Ketelsen (Dean Ketelsen's wife) will be held tomorrow (January 10) in Tucson. A copy of the obituary and directions to the service are on the desk. Also a copy of an article from the Arizona Daily Star about the recent death of Dr. Luis Vega is also on the desk. 6. Thad Robosson called for suggestions from the membership for day field trips. Trip ideas or any other suggestions regarding the club are welcomed. 7. Jack Jones announcements. There are still All-Arizona Star Party and both sand and blue club T-shirts available, $15. There are also some books left, $1 for big ones, $0.50 for small. There is a star party at Eagle Ridge Elementary School, 19801 N. 13th Street (take 7th Street exit from Loop 101 South, it is between Beardsley and Union Hills.) This is in association with the school's science fair January 15, from 6:00 to 8:00 PM (0100UT to 0300UT.) The school is having speakers and if any members would like to give a talk it can be arranged. There will be a raffle at 7:30 (0230UT.) 8. Other upcoming events, the next regular club meeting is February 6 at 7:30 (0230UT.) The "Single's Night" star party February 14 at Flat Iron. 9. A.J. Crayon announcements. The Deep Sky Group meeting is also January 15 at A.J.'s house (directions in the SACNews.) The group formerly discussed the objects in the now-ended "Fuzzy Spot" column by Ken Reeves in the SACNews. At the last D.S.G. meeting the group talked about what to discuss at the meetings and thought perhaps a worthwhile topic would be "what makes a good observation?" Steve Coe has agreed to discuss the NGC descriptions (in March) and how to decode them. If any member has ideas about what to discuss, pleas attend the meeting. This is a good time to replot the direction of the group. A.J.'s new SACNews column "Last Call" appeared for the first time in the January issue. A.J. will post the constellations and/or objects to be observed on the mailing list and observers send their observations to A.J. who will compile them for the column. One goal of the column is to allow comparisons between different types of scopes and allow members to learn about observing by reading other's descriptions. 10. Gene Lucas show-and-tell. Gene had two groups fo stereo images. One set was composed of six analglyphs. These are the red/blue images that require the stylish glasses. The other group was seven left/right images by Akira Inaka who was the subject of a recent article in Sky and Telescope. Gene also mentioned that there were still a few copies of the RASC Observer's Handbook available for $15 and they will be at the EVAC meeting on Wednesday. There was a short break at 0314UT before the evening's speaker, there were 61 attendees at this point. At 0336UT, Jennifer Keller introduced Fulvio Melia as the speaker. He spoke on the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy, the evidence for its existence, observational technology being used to image it and technology anticipated that will allow imaging of the event horizon. The meeting adjourned at 0505UT. Joe Macke, Secretary