April Meeting

John Bentham gave an excellent talk on the history of cosmology, ending with a chart of the four fundamental forces of nature and the quarks that form hadrons.

Paul will give the April presentation, which springs off that chart and describes all known natural processes for forging the periodic table of elements which represent the nearly 5% of our universe with which we can see and interact.  The other 95% we have yet to develop any understanding.

Our April 12th meeting will be back at the “Party Palace,” our summer venue just northeast of Bigelow Gulch and Argonne.  Many club members are expected to be out of town for the total solar eclipse.  We are postponing the equipment swap meet until our May meeting, which will also be at the party palace.  Club members will get first dibs on all the equipment we are parceling out, after which it will go up on Craigslist, Marketplace, or other outlets.

We will be continuing our rekindling of the before-meeting BBQ tradition. Burgers and soft drinks will be provided. Members and guests are encouraged to bring side-dishes and desserts, let’s make this a potluck! BBQ begins at 6:30.

With the extra room and quiet location at the “Party Palace”, there is room to safely set up telescopes. Need help with learning to set up or use your new telescope? Want to do a bit of observing with experienced observers? Bring the ‘scope!

Google Maps link

March Meeting

The March topic will be multiverses, presented by John Benham, a Gonzaga astronomy and astrophysics professor for many years. Friday, March 8th 7:30 PM at the Providence Auditorium.

January Meeting – The Rosetta Mission

In 2004 the European Space Agency (ESA) launched the Rosetta mission to explore a comet.  It took ten years to reach it, in 2014, and a few more years before the analysis was complete and the photos were released to the public.  It’s been five years since then, and while many may have had an opportunity to peruse the images during the pandemic, many of us likely missed it. SAS President Paul Yost will take us to 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on January 12th, 2024. See the event page for more details!

November Meeting – the Axion Experiment

Please join us on Friday as Dr. Noah Oblath of Pacific Northwest National Labs walks us through ADMX, the Axion Dark Matter eXperiment.

The axion is a hypothetical particle that solves both long-standing problems in nuclear physics and could be responsible for some or all of the dark matter of the universe. It is considered by many to be the most natural and elegant explanation, and there is strong support in the physics community for efforts to detect axion dark matter.

https://depts.washington.edu/admx/

May 2023 Board Meeting minutes

SPOKANE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY

BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

MAY 18, 2023

MEETING LOCATION: Via ZOOM conference call.

CALL TO ORDER: 6:20 PM (PDT)

ATTENDEES and (TITLE):

John Riegal (President)

Paul Yost (Vice President)

Phillip Robinson (Board Member Elect)

Steve Krause (Board Member)

Edward Gill (Board Member Elect)

AGENDA:

1. Ratify the April 2023 board member election and assign new club officers.

2. Status of State and Federal registration.

3. Insurance for club

4. Update National Astro League registration.

5. Membership terms and dues

6. Equipment storage.

7. Outreach

8. Meeting Plan for 2023

9. Summer Star Parties

10. Reconcile account with John Riegel for fees and club costs paid.

ELECTION AND OFFICERS:

John R. opened the topic with a question about the election of the board members at the April 2023 meeting as John had not been present at the meeting. Paul Y, Phil R., and Ed G. where at the meeting and stated that nominees volunteered to serve on the board and the normal order of; nomination, seconding, and a vote of yea or nay was taken for the proposed board members. The following persons where nominated and elected:

ELECTED MEMBERS:

Edward Gill

Steve Krause (1 year term)

Paul Yost

Phil Robinson

Richard Cummings

Nick Monkman (1 year term)

Mike Reitemeier

Evylene Treadwell (Non-voting youth member)

CURRENT BOARD MEMBERS:

John Riegal (President)

Matt Wallin (Vice President)

Dan Washburn (Treasurer)

Mike Finch (Secretary)

Paul Yost

Mike Reitemeier

Steve Krause

Nick Monkman

John R mentioned that officers assignments where for 3 years. Board elections are held every (? Years) to stagger board membership. Steve Krause noted that he only volunteered for 1 year on the board and Nick Monkman also only volunteered for 1 year on the board. After some discussion on duties the following are the new board members and officers for this year. Paul Y. had agreed to serve as President on a temporary basis until a permanent President could be appointed.

Paul Yost – President Pro-tempore

John Riegal – Vice President

Phil Robinson – Treasurer

Edward Gill – Secretary

Steve Krause

Richard Cummings

Nick Monkman

Mike Reitemeier

Evylene Treadwell – Non-voting Youth Member

The four officers will have signature authority for the club.

The appointment of a permanent President will be addressed in upcoming board meetings. [Note: The number of board members was reduced to eight (8) at the August 5, 2012 meeting. Further discussion at a future meeting may be needed to determine if an odd number of members would be more effective for voting, i.e. avoiding ties]

FEDERAL AND STATE REGISTRATION:

John has filed the 990 form with the IRS for the clubs tax exempt status. Filing with the Washington Secretary of State for nonprofit organization has also been filed. The filing regarding State Charities is pending.

INSURANCE:

John R mentioned that the club needed to acquire insurance. The agent we had dealt with went out of business. Ed G offer to contact his agent to inquire about insurance. John R stated that we should get $1 million in general liability and the cost should be around $300 per year. [Follow-up note: The Astronomical League has $1 mil insurance policies through Fireman’s Fund starting at $315 per year for small clubs – Ed will compare AL insurance with any offers through his insurance agent].

THE ASTRONOMICAL LEAGUE REGISTRATION:

Members have been receiving the Reflector magazine from the Astronomical League (AL) even though SAS has not renewed membership nor paid the League dues. Ed G will follow-up with the AL on updating membership list and try to determine what, if anything, is back due. Ed G mentioned that we need a new member roster to update and compare with what the AL has on its books.

Ed G. asked if SAS has an attorney that advises the club. John R. replied that SAS did not have an attorney that he knew off. Ed G followed up with a question on whether we had Hold Harmless statements that members needed to sign. Ed’s prior club (Fort Worth Astronomical Society) had “hold harmless” statements for various activities. John stated that he would inquire with an attorney friend.

MEMBERSHIP DUES AND TERMS:

The club membership dues are $25 per year. The dues had been suspended due to club inactivity during the pandemic and the absence of a Treasurer. Dues would be restarting with the new board and officers in place. John R was also going to get a new key to the PO Box as the current key was misplaced. Ed G asked where to send dues, John R stated that the PO Box listed on the website was were to send dues.

EQUIPMENT STORAGE:

SAS has equipment stored at various member’s homes. An equipment inventory is needed although putting and inventory together will be a challenge due to the dispersion of the locations and pieces of equipment on loan to members. Further discussion and tasking will be discussed at future meetings.

OUTREACH:

Outreach to the community has been ongoing. Debbie Cotton has served as outreach coordinator and has continued in that function.

MEETING PLAN FOR 2023:

The June general meeting will be held on the first Friday, June 2nd. The board discussed the issues with first Fridays conflicting with holidays and folks wanting to take four day weekends in conjunction with Holiday Mondays. Starting in July, the club will meet on the second Fridays to avoid the Independence Day week. John will coordinate with the owners of the Party Barn to ensure that the second Friday in July is available.

The June meeting’s guest speaker will be Guy Worthy, [?? details needed here]. The board agreed that presenters that travel to the club meeting should have mileage reimbursed at current mileage rate ( $0.655).

The July meeting theme will be Star Parties. Member experiences with star parties will be invited to share their experiences. Providing the weather cooperates, telescopes will be set up for observing after the meeting.

The August through December meetings are pending formal planning.

SUMMER STAR PARTIES:

The Table Mountain Star Party is planned for August 8 to August 12th. Registration is open.

The Oregon Star Party is planned for July 18th – July 23rd. Registration is open.

RECONCILIATION OF CLUB EXPENSES:

John Riegal has paid a number of bills for the club other that last couple of years without reimbursement. John will put together the receipts and present to Phil R, treasurer for reimbursement once the new signature authorities are established with Washington Trust Bank.

MEETING ADJOURNED AT 7:45 PM (PDT)

In Focus – The Virgo Galaxy Cluster

In my pre-pandemic articles I focused on a well placed constellation for the month. This month I’d like to focus on the Virgo galaxy cluster, in lieu of the whole constellation of Virgo – I’m trying not to write a tome here! Some time ago, around this time of year, I wrote about Coma Berenices, another great galaxy hunting constellation, and as I exclaimed in that article: “spring is galaxy season!”. The inclination of the ecliptic, the plane of our solar system, with the plane of our own galaxy, means that around the vernal equinox we have that beautiful band of stars, the Milky Way, situated around the horizon. This orientation leaves a clear view out of our galactic disk, free from the obscuring effects of relatively local dust and gases. Seeing beyond our own galaxy, we are mostly left to see the myriad of other “island universes” (a term coined by the philosopher Immanuel Kant).

Cropped deep image of the Virgo Cluster. Chris Mihos (Case Western Reserve University)/ESO

To observe galaxy clusters is to begin to observe our universe at scale of its largest structures. The description “The Cosmic Cobweb” is sometimes used to describe the clumps, knots and filaments of matter, as well as the large and larger voids between them. The large scale structure of the universe has also been likened to soap bubbles, with the borders and intersections of the bubbles representing the filaments and nodes of matter. In our corner of the Cosmos, our 10 Million light year (Mly) diameter Local Group of galaxies, dominated by the Milky Way, the Andromeda Galaxy and M33, along with approximately 80 smaller dwarf and irregular galaxies, are gravitationally connected to the Virgo Cluster. With a diameter of 15 Mly the Virgo Cluster is the closest galaxy cluster to our own Local Group, at a distance of about 54 Mly, and it is far more densely populated with approximately 1500 members. The Virgo cluster is not much larger than our Local Group but has far more members, her, the Virgo Cluster and our Local Group, along with approximately 100 other groups and clusters, form the Virgo Supercluster The immense gravity of the the Virgo Supercluster attracts our own Local group, resulting in a phenomenon called Virgocentric Flow

Large-scale structure of the Universe. Millennium Simulation Project.

As amateur astronomers, we enjoy the night sky with whatever instruments we have, however modest. Luckily, great examples of nearly every class of object exist for any size glass, and galaxy clusters are no different. The Virgo Galaxy cluster can be enjoyed with everything from binoculars on up! With a modest 8” scope, well over 200 objects are visible, and instruments capable of wide fields will often have half a dozen or more galaxies visible at a time!

November Meeting Tonight!

Please come to tonight’s meeting – we have a great guest speaker talking about his science on the ISS. This will be a fun one!

Meeting time is at 7:00pm at the “Party Palace” just NE of Argonne and Bigelow Gulch at

8616 N Lehman Rd, Spokane, WA 99217-9659