Co-chairperson Doug Lively hosted the online meeting using the platform Zoom. Doug began the meeting with an overview of the controls presented by the Zoom web application to participants at the meeting.

35 participants

Indoor Meeting:  “Saturn V – The Rocket That Took Us to the Moon” by RAC member and NASA Ambassador Mike Keefe. Mike gave an excellent talk on the Saturn V rocket that flew American  astronauts to the moon and back. The talk was accompanied by quite a few questions and answers.

Business

  • Treasury Report. The report was provided by Treasurer Steve Izzo.
    Balances
    • $895.70 in business checking
    • $15,408.20 in savings
    • $3.05 in special purpose checking

  • Club Elections. Nominations are open for Club Officers. The election may be conducted online if we are still meeting online in June. The current open positions and nominees are:
    • Co-chair person (need 3): Steve Blake, Mike Keefe, Ann Murphy
    • Secretary: Phyllis Lang
    • Treasurer: Steve Izzo

If you would like to nominate someone for an office, please contact one of the current officers or post your nomination to our groups.io email service.

  • Volunteer Opportunities. RAC currently needs to fill the following volunteer positions:
    • Web Master
    • Web Content Manager
    • Social Media Director
    • Club Historian

If you would like to know more about any of these positions, please contact an officer.

  • Observing Awards. The following RAC members have earned Astronomical League Observing Awards:

    • Jim Michnowicz, Planetary Transit Special Award. Jim completed observations of the transit of Mercury on Nov 11, 2019. He used his own smartphone photos to calculate several values that describe the sizes and orbits of Sun and Mercury.
    • Al Hamrick, Deep-Sky Binocular Observing Program. Al completed this program using 8×42 and 10×50 binoculars.
    • Mike Keefe, Lunar Observing Program. Mike observed 100 lunar features with a variety of instruments. He completed observations on 10 nights over several months.

  • Upcoming Activities. Report provided by Doug Lively.
    • 24 April: Virtual RACOBS. We are planning to conduct a group overving session using Zoom. Visual observers can describe their observations; imagers can share their images.
    • May 8: Indoor meeting. We don’t know whether this will be at NCSU or via Zoom. Please monitor the raleighastro groups.io page for a scheduling announcement.
    • May 30, 9pm, Skywatching at Dix Park in Raleigh. Please monitor the raleighastro groups.io page for a scheduling announcement.