I don't think funding would be a problem either, we have 400.00 coming this
year just for doing the Library gigs.
Debbie
----- Original Message -----
From: "Nick Monkman" <nmonkman@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "sasbod" <sasbod@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, May 21, 2017 9:01:47 PM
Subject: [SAS-BOD] Re: YAA stuff for the board
Thanks Jenny. I would love to help with the RadioJOVE project. The receiver
looks a little tricky but do-able with my modest soldering skills.
I'm all in favor of funding so long as we can afford it (I'm guessing we can,
but we should review our finances first probably...)
Do you have the bandwidth / sanity to handle two YAA groups? Are there other
volunteers?
I'm looking forward to discussing this further at the board meeting (or in this
email thread)
On Sat, May 20, 2017 at 3:35 PM, < jenny@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > wrote:
Sorry about the length, but to save time at the board meeting in June I wanted
to get the basics out beforehand.
The YAA is currently in flux. Membership is pretty strong – we can count on 6
to 10 members at every meeting and we have a pretty strong core of five or six
that are always there. 90% of YAA members that have attended two or more
meetings in the last year pay club dues to the SAS, which is also pretty
awesome!
There is a split in the group when it comes to ages/abilities. We have one side
that is younger, ages 6-9, and then we have the older group, ages 10-13. This
is also our main stable core of members. It's time for the older group to split
off, as they are ready and begging for more.
They are interested in doing the RadioJOVE project. This is a longterm ongoing
radio astronomy project. They will build a true radio telescope (more in depth
than the one Aioden built a few years ago), wire into the observing software,
learn how to record, read, and interpret the data, and then they will share and
compare the data with other observers. This is an ongoing project that can
realistically be carried out over years, but it requires some investment
upfront then nothing going forward. The telescope kit (they build it
themselves) is about $200 from NASA. I will also need the help of one of our
board/club members with more engineering skills than me to help them with the
construction phase. They want to know if the club can help fund the initial
investment, or at least what their fundraising options are so they can try and
raise the cash themselves. This would be a club scope, and access to the radio
stream from it would be open to all SAS members, not just the YAA. They would
just be the facilitators for the radio scope.
The other idea they came up with today is the Junior Amateur Astronomers. The
YAA will focus on bigger projects, like RadioJove, while the Junior Astronomers
will be for the younger members. They want an active club that meets several
times a month to work on big stuff. The YAA will actually help plan and lead
the activities for the Juniors as well, which will be similar to the monthly
program we currently have for the YAA. Our younger members tend to rotate in
and out of the club more quickly, and aren't quite as dedicated to regular
membership, so this would work well for this age group.
There's no huge rush on this. YAA is taking a summer hiatus from their usual
meetings for monthly star parties and to work on their Junior Ranger night
explorer patch from the NPS . When we reconvene in September for regular
meetings, we will have 2 months where they will be working through the NASA
lessons on using a radio telescope, collecting data, and interpreting data
(seriously, you have never seen kids so excited. They actually squealed and
started clapping when looking at the relatively boring graphs mapping radio
waves. They begged for the school-like lessons on how to read them. We have
some hardcore youth members right now!) Construction likely wouldn't start
until November, with a goal to have it done by spring when the Jupiter radio
observing season begins.
The current plan is for the YAA to meet every other week beginning in Sept,
probably at my house to start. They will also use Sept to start putting
together a Junior program for the upcoming year. We will then resume the once
monthly Saturday meetings starting in October for the younger kids.
So what I'm asking of the board:
1) Is it okay to split the YAA into two age groups?
2) Can the YAA get funding or at least permission to fundraise for the
RadioJove program.
3) Is there someone with the knowledge and tools to help the YAA to build this
thing?
Here's the how-to manual for the receiver and antenna they will be building:
https://radiojove.gsfc.nasa.gov/telescope/rcvr_manual.pdf ;
https://radiojove.gsfc.nasa.gov/telescope/ant_manual.pdf ;
There will be other challenges, like where to site the antenna, but I can
figure that out!
Sorry for the novel, just seemed easier to get this out via email then take up
the whole board meeting with the details!
-Jenny
