Club News
and Notes

Questionnaire Guidelines

   Please notice the annual members' questionnaire on the following page. The board is particularly interested in learning which club programs and activities interest the greatest number of members. The Mentoring Program is now in its second year, and we are looking for ways to help new amateur astronomers.

   Your ratings of the club and general astronomy activities or services listed at the top of the questionnaire's second column will determine the direction of TVS in 2000. Similarly, if you have comments or concerns about Prime Focus, please note them as well.

   For the two sections that ask you to rate entries from 1 to 5, you may use any number more than once.

   Complete the questionnaire when you are submitting your 2000 membership renewal. If you wish to think about the questionnaire and return it at a later time, mail it to our post office box address shown on page 2.

(Continued from page 7)

Observatory director's report

   At the November planning meeting, Hidden Hill Observatory director Chuck Grant offered the following synopsis of recent work on the scope and the site.

   The mount exhibited too much friction when it was fully assembled, so I disassembled the equatorial head and I examined the bearing system. I am investigating a couple of options for lowering the friction without introducing more "stiction." I have ordered catalogues that provide drive shaft couplers, as the older broken one must be replaced. I have not heard any reports of recent visits to H₂O -- too much H₂O I guess.

   Regarding rental scopes, one scope was rented for a two-month period beginning with the November general meeting. For the website, I am in the process of creating a mailing list / discussion group. TVS members only are invited to participate. Refer to the signup form on the web.

Welcome, Jim Alves, new librarian

   Jim Alves has stepped into the club librarian position formerly filled by Chris Cody. This means that Jim will track our books, magazines, tapes, and videos. These materials are available to members on a short-term loan basis, from one monthly meeting to the next. If you have overdue library materials, please contact Jim or return the items in December.

   Chris's old laptop is on its last legs, despite a bit of remedial intervention. The club really needs a new laptop suitable for handling our library tracking software. As TVS is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt corporation, such a donation provides a nice tax write-off for the donor. Contact Jim, or treasurer Mike Anderson, if you have a laptop to loan or give the club.

TVS encore presentations

   Director Mike Rushford will chair a working group on creating an archive system for recording the monthly club meetings. Video tapes would capture

Planets (Continued from page 4)

each general meeting's featured speaker and club business. Members could then borrow meeting tapes from the library. If you have ideas or suggestions to pass along to Mike, contact him through the e-mail connection at Eyes on the Skies, http://www.hooked.net/~tvs/eyes/. We will update you on Mike's progress.

Page 8         Prime Focus   December 1999  Next Page  Previous Page