Meeting Minutes August 15, 2025

August 15, 2025

Co-Chair Susan Herring hosted the meeting which was held at the NCMNS in Raleigh.

Link to outreach committee report for August.

https://raleighastro.org/blog/2025/07/31/rac-outreach-committee-report-july-2025/

Recent events:

• July 12 – Second Saturday with TLC at Three Bear Acres (Creedmoor)
  • Canceled due to weather forecast

• July 26 – Stargazing on Tap Star Party (Cameron)
  • Coordinator: Dana
  • Volunteers: Susan, Dean, Dana, Blair, Alan, Yvonne
  • Recap:
    • 45+ people attended
    • Press coverage: Lee: Raleigh astronomers delight daytime stargazers at James Creek Cider House

• August 1 – First Fridays with TLC at Three Bear Acres (Creedmoor)
  • Coordinator: Ana V
  • Volunteers registered:
    • telescopes: 4/15
    • floaters: 2/5
• August 13 – The Willard Rooftop (Raleigh)
  • Coordinator: Steve B
  • Volunteers registered:
    • telescopes: 2/3
    • floaters: 1/3

Upcoming events:

• August 16 – Perseid Meteors at Howell Woods (Four Oaks)
  • Coordinator: Steve B
  • Volunteers registered:
    • telescopes: 0/5
    • floaters: 0/3
• September 5 – First Fridays with TLC at Three Bear Acres (Creedmoor)
  • Coordinator: Ana V
  • Volunteers registered:
    • telescopes: 0/15
    • floaters: 0/5
• October 3 – First Fridays with TLC at Three Bear Acres (Creedmoor)
  • Coordinator: Ana V
  • Volunteers registered:
    • telescopes: 0/15
    • floaters: 0/5
• October 4 – International Observe the Moon Night (Raleigh)
  • Coordinator: Steve B
  • Volunteers needed: TBD
• October 18 – Stargazing on Tap Star Party (Cameron)
  • Volunteered needed (registration opens September 17):
    • telescopes: 5
    • floaters: 3

Tonight’s Presentation:

Speaker: Kenneth Brandt

Topic: Kinesthetic Astronomy: A Tool for Understanding

Meeting Description: “I’ll be demonstrating how to use Kinesthetic Astronomy to simplify complex astronomical concepts. These include day/night, orbit, supermoon, phases of Venus, Tidal heating of Europa, and setting up eclipses/occultations, among others.”

Business:

Current Officers

• Co-Chairs: Dana Bostic, Blair Groden, Susan Herring
• Treasurer: Steve Izzo
• Secretary: Ann Murphy

Committee Chairs:

• *ALCOR: Dean Herring
• *Outreach: Steven Blake
• Webmaster: Barton Meeks
• *Loaner Scopes: Rob Parsons
• Key Holders: Naveen Malik
• *Education: Anastasia Vail,
• *Social Media: Anastasia Vail
• Imaging: Chris Cole
• A/V: Naveen Malik
• Safety: Steven Blake
• Social: Susan Herring

Give away – 3 Amazon Gift Cards

Winners:

• Greg Stone
• Frank Heitmann
• Ollin Landens

Reports: 

Treasurer’s Report: Steven Izzo

Memberships:

• RAC memberships: 512
• Admin memberships: 1
• TOTAL memberships: 513

Financials:

• Checking: $824.00
• Savings: $26071.80
• Special Purpose:  $0.61

• ALCor/RAC
• AL Roster (RAC) 2^nd Quarter Submission 7/28/25 (Dean)
• ASTRO LEAGUE DUES BILL – Paid for 2025 (Izzo – Complete 6/19/25 $2787.04)   

 ALCor/Loaner Scope

• AL Packet to go with each scope – ongoing – meet with Loaner-scope at
• CubeSmart (at least once a month) affects ALCor Budget
• Air-table – Go to paid ($240/year) subscription (reached 1gig ceiling)
  • Still open

 ALCor/Outreach

• Indoor Meeting Handouts – AL resources / Sky Map / Links sheet – this works
• Outreach Event Handouts _ AL Packet

ALCor/Budget: $30/month for Meetings, Outreach, and Loaner-scope handouts

Expenses:

• New: July (paper $20.55, Laminate sheets $15.36) all paid up.

A.L Hubble 35^th

• Yearlong celebration and push

Star Party – local – overnighters – 2025 TBD

• • Fall Planning TBD

ALCOR AL Awards:

          Awards for the August 15^th RAC indoor meeting:

          New: ((expecting more Hubble certs before the meeting on the 15th))

•                     Adnan Asif – Solar System OP Pin and Cert #250
•                     Michael Keefe – Hubble 35^th Challenge OP May Silver Cert
•                     Michael Keefe – Hubble 35^th Challenge OP June Silver Cert
•                     Al Hamrick – Comet OP Silver #147 (29 years!) Pin and Framed Cert
•                     Doug Lively – Sun Spotter OP #262I Pin and Cert
•                     Dean Herring – Planetary Nebula OP Imaging #31I Pin and Cert
•                     Chris Wittum – Hubble 35^th Challenge OP Silver June  (sent)
•                     Nathan Raynor – Hubble 35^th Challenge OP Silver June (sent)
•                     Naveen Malik – Hubble 35^th Challenge OP Silver June Cert

Hold over:

•                         Bob Muzzi – Hubble 35^th Challenge OP Silver April Cert
•                         Bob Muzzi – Hubble 35^th Challenge OP Silver May Cert
•                         Doug Lively – Hubble 35^th Challenge Silver April OP Cert
•                         Doug Lively – Hubble 35^th Challenge Silver May OP Cert
•                         Doug Lively – Hubble 35^th Challenge Silver June OP Cert
•                         Al Hamrick – Hubble 35^th Challenge OP Silver May Cert
•                         Al Hamrick – Hubble 35^th Challenge OP Silver June Cert
•                         Naveen Malik – Hubble 35^th Challenge OP Silver April Cert
•                         Naveen Malik – Hubble 35^th Challenge OP Silver May Cert

Outreach Report: Steve Blake:

RAC Outreach Committee Report – July 2025

Loaner Scope Report:  Rob Parsons

Category	Checked Out	In for Repair	Available
Cassegrains	3	1	7
Dobsonians	7	0	4
Maksutovs	5	0	0
Refractors	1	0	1
Reflectors	3	1	1
Binoculars	1	0	3
Big Telescopes	1	0	2
Accessories	7	0	26
Outreach	2	0	0

Keyholder Report:

• No report

Imaging Meeting & Report:

• No report

A/V Report: 

• Volunteers are still needed to help with A/V!!!!!

Education Committee Report: Anastasia Vail

• August’s class is cancelled. We will restart in September.

Social Events:

• No Report

Social Media:

Liam has finished his training to become Assistant Social Media Director (as of August 1st), so everyone will start seeing posts/changes from him soon. After some time and additional training, I’ll eventually hand off the Director position to him so I can continue to focus more on Education and Outreach (and A/V).

No Report:

• Webmaster Team
• Safety
• Imaging
• Keyholder

RAC still needs members to step up and help out on the A/V COMMITTEE.  A big thank you to the members who have already contacted us.  To volunteer email us at [email protected] Thank you!

All First Friday Under the Stars with TLC events in 2025 will be held at Three Bear Acres, until further notice.

The observing committee is looking for volunteers to coordinate events and assist at events with or without a telescope. To join the committee, send a blank email to [email protected]. Any club member is welcome, regardless of experience level. To volunteer for an event, register via the RAC Calendar