Dan opened the meeting as usual, with a resounding smack of the Galactic Gavel. There were two new guests attending, so he took some time to explain the meteoric origin of the Gavel.

Our newest members, Mark Bosley (L) and Scott Rohrer (R) receive "bonuses" in the form of a Vatican Observatory calendar and a recent copy of Reflector, newsletter of the Astronomical League.

There wasn't much in the way of club business, so after apologizing for needing a backup speaker, Dan launched into his presentation on weightlessness. It was a great review of high school physics, which is all that's needed to understand weightlessness. In a nutshell, he demonstrated that weightlessness in orbit is caused by being in a state of freefall, and is physically equivalent to what would happen in an elevator if the cable broke. Of course, in orbit, the effect doesn't end when you reach the basement ... a sufficiently fast horizontal speed (7500 m/s) ensures that you keep falling, but never get any closer to Earth.

For an evening that threatened rain, it was a pretty fair turnout. Eight members attended, and two others committed to joining DFAC. We adjourned a bit early, and several of us regrouped at Legends SB&G for libations and further discussion.

The first 3 arrivals chat while waiting for sunset. Note our new DFAC Donation Box.

Raul observes "Hey ... what's up? Everything looks so tiny."

Item 2. I'm pleased to announce that DFAC has grown by another 3 members. I'd like to welcome Scott Rohrer (our newest member), Dee Hartwell (who's been attending our meetings and finally decided to make it "official"), and Mark Bosley (who recently escaped from cloudy Wisconsin, as I did back in 1978). Thanks to all for their support. That brings our total membership to 23, which is 3 more than the "critical mass" needed at current membership fees. Truth be told, 2 of our members have not yet renewed for this season, so the total membership is still slightly uncertain. We hope to hear from them.

Item 3. I recently made contact with one of the engineers up at the Very Large Array (VLA). Daniel J. (Mert) Mertely and I met via a renewable energy website, and when I found out he worked at the VLA, I asked if it might be possible for him to secure DFAC and "inside tour" of the facility. I had tried this many years ago when I visited the VLA, but they couldn't let me into the actual control center. The astronomers were too busy. Mert says "No problem, provided he gets advance notice." So what I'd like to do is this ... when the weather gets a little warmer, perhaps this summer, we could head up there. It could be a "day trip," with us leaving Phoenix early in the day. Charter air is out, since the nearest commercial airport is in Albuquerque ... still a 2-3 hour drive to the VLA (plus car rental). MapQuest estimated travel time by car would be about 6 hours one way, so that's possible, but really pushing it for a "day trip." Or it could be an "overnighter," carpooling to the nearest town (Magdalena, NM) on Day 1, and getting the tour and driving back on Day 2 (probably our best option). If any member is interested in pursuing this field trip, let me know. We'll talk about this at our next meeting.

Item 4. VP Jim Renn has been having trouble confirming new speakers. If they don't answer your emails, or return your calls, there's not a heckuva lot you can do. No doubt you've noticed the lack of activity on our Lecture Series page. Furthe complicating things, Jim has picked up additional responsibilities at work and with his church groups. He will remain in his position as VP, but has (at least temporarily) relinquished the duty of booking our speakers. So I'm on that as of today, and we'll see who I can come up with for the remainder of our 2009-2010 season.

Since it's almost February already, I've been considering the possibility of a "Members' Night" presentation for our Feb 17th meeting. Any member could give a short (5-20 minute) presentation on a topic of their choosing. We did these every once in a while back when I was with PAS, and they can be quite entertaining and lively. What you need to do is let me know how much time you need, what your topic will be, and whether you have any preferences in terms of presentation order (first, last, doesn't matter). If you need a laptop and projector, mine will be available. All you need to do is bring your media on a USB flash drive (or external drive), or on a CD/DVD. Your presentation could be straight lecture/discussion/personal recollection, "show and tell," or multimedia based. Anything related to our favorite hobby is fair game. I'd bring my video of the Gravitron Experiment (playing catch in a spinning Gravitron), which we discussed last meeting ... several members expressed an interest in seeing it. So, even though I'd rather have Jeff Hester speak, and he might yet, please start thinking about your possible contribution for a "Members' Night." I'll keep you all posted on speaker bookings as they develop.

Thanks for reading Quid Novi. If you have feedback, you know where to reach me. Until next we meet, clear skies!

"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by."

— Douglas Adams (1952 - 2001)

pronounce.doc (43k)
pronounce.pdf (97k)

This is also a great source for checking spelling, since most of these formal names (proper nouns) won't be in your spell-checker unless you've manually added them. In fact, I just used that document to check the spelling of Betelgeuse in the State of DFAC section, and then I added it to my spell-checker dictionary. Very easy. Two clicks typically. If you can open the document in MS Word (or whatever you use), the "misspelled" words will all be indicated. You can just go down the list, one at a time, and do your "add to dictionary" thing.