RAC Indoor Meeting Minutes
27 August 2021
Co-chairperson Ann Murphy hosted the online meeting using the Zoom platform.
25 participants
Education Committee by Ann Murphy and Phyllis Lang
Planning to resume education meetings over Zoom after Labor Day. Will be conducted by Phyllis Lang. Binocular observing will be the first planned class, possibly on Sep. 18. Hope to have outdoor workshops. Looking for additonal instructors and input from the club on class topics.
Presentation: “Thou Shalt Not Speak Messier” by RAC member Amy Sayle.
Business
Education Committee reprise by Phyllis Lang
Plans to host an “Astronomy with Binoculars” class over Zoom on Sep. 18. Soliciting topics for future classes. Phyllis may communicate with interested members over the RACAcademy@ and members@ lists. The imaging group will coordinate their own classes (Michael Fulbright).
Astronomy Days by Ann Murphy
Upcoming event may be virtual. Presentations from the 2020 event are available on Youtube.
Astronomy League by AL Coordinator (ALCOR) Doug Lively
No awards submitted tonight. There is an AL database problem that did not pick up some RAC member’s awards. Doug is working with AL to correct missing award entries. Members can check the AL website to confirm that their award is recorded.
Keyholder Committee by Mike Keefe
Soliciting nominations for members through the end of August. Members are responsible for periodically attending RACOBS and managed the gates at Big Woods.
Loaner Scopes by Mike Keefe
Plan to resolve backlog ASAP. Loanees must live in Wake County.
Treasury Report by Treasurer Steve Izzo.
Membership – 360 total
- 252 single memberships
- 54 family memberships with 37 second members
Balances
- Business checking: $485.86
- Savings: $17213.06
- Special purpose checking: $173.31
Monthly payment to our loaner scope storage room will increase ~$5/month due to an insurance price increase.
Observing Outreach. by Matt Lochansky
Next event Nov. 6 at Dorothea Dix Park.
Outreach events will resume soon. Details are being finalized and will be shared with the rest of the club very soon. An outreach education event (training video) for volunteers is planned, hopefully befor October. The committee needs additional volunteers to coordinate events and assist at events without bringing a telescope.
You can join the outreach email list by:
- Sending an empty message to [email protected]
- After you send a message to a group’s subscription email address, you will receive a confirmation request message from Groups.io. You must respond to that confirmation request to complete your subscription and join the group.
Webmaster by Barton Meeks
Keeping the website and calendar up-to-date. Contact if you have any web problems.
Social Media by Doug Lively
Monitoring website and social media engagement. Statistics look good. Imagers should send images to Anastasia Vail ([email protected]) to post on social media.
Upcoming Activities.
September 10: RACOBS – in-person. Please watch [email protected] for details
September 16: Virtual Imaging Meeting.
September 24: Virtual indoor meeting. Topic: New member orientation.
