Greetings NHAC members!

 

The year 2005 has started not with a whimper but with a bang in astronomy. The Huygens probe landed successfully in Titan and we have seen new images of a new world. The Mars rovers continue their quest. The astronomers at the North Houston Astronomy Club continue capturing beautiful images of our universe.

We begin the year with a new set of officers. I accepted the nomination and the election as President of the club with great joy. The club has grown so much since its inception that I hope the job will be much easier than the ground breaking work done by Bill Leach and Paul Downing until now.  Bill Leach will become the Vice-President and he will be in charge of the Novice Program. In the past we attempted an Advanced Program but this year Bill has taken upon the task of implementing it fully. He will continue to coordinate our speakers for the novice and the advanced programs and with Jessica Adams, the Program Committee Chair, the main program speakers. Due to the growth of our astrophotographers group we believe that the advanced program has a great potential and nobody has the energy and enthusiasm to developed it better than Bill. Sue Wheatley will continue as Secretary, recording our meetings and activities and as keeper of our records and history. Robert McMillan has put our finances on such a strong footing that no matter how edgy his sense of humor gets, we’ll continue to trust him with our treasure. Henry Norton has stepped in as Observation Committee chair. Thank you, Henry for your boundless enthusiasm. I want to thank Jeff Winship for the great job he did the past year. The activities related to this Committee are at the core of what the club is about and there is a large amount of work involved. Jeff went beyond the call of duty and we thank him for that.

The www.astronomyclub.org website developed by Don Taylor was recognized nationally, yet again the work involved was enormous and Don needed a break. Don also deserves great recognition for his outstanding work. We were a bit concerned about the managing of the website until Ed Knapton stepped in to volunteer and all of us need to visit the site and admire the level of development that he has already obtained since he took over no more that a month ago. Great job Ed!

The NorthStar newsletter which has been the envy of all astronomy clubs in the Houston area needs refocusing. The executive board decided not  to mail a hard copy to the members every month, but to uploaded in the website instead. Lorrie Patel has done such a superb job with it and has accepted to continue with the editorship. However we’ll need an input from you and we will send a survey shortly in that regard. What the executive board would like to see continue is the increase in the flow of communication. In order to do so you need to sign up to the NHAC Netslyder list server. It’s easy:

            Send an email to : imailsrv@netslyder.net.

Your message should read “subscribe nhac (your) first name last name.”

To send a message to the group send an email to

     nhac@netslyder.net.

 

Geraldina Reina will continue with the membership committee and we are aiming to increase the membership and to provide better and more extensive initial information packages and to improved our finances by having fund raising activities. All ideas are welcome. Last but not least Aaron Clevenson will continue to manage our ALCor program, which has produced such positive results with our members. Aaron will also administered the Netslyder list serve and if you ever ask him “What’s up Doc?” he will most likely give you a very informative and intelligent answer. Aaron is an incredibly valuable member of our club and we thank him greatly. Watch for his presentations coming up this year.

 

            The general perception is that only a handful of members have volunteered for positions in the executive board. This perception must now change evidenced by the excellent group of ex-executive board members, such as Jeff Winship, Don Taylor and more, who have made significant contributions. However, this is your club and there is a myriad of things you can do for it. Please do not be bashful and talk to any of the present or past members of the board and tell us how you would like to help. The rewards are evident in how far the club has gone. Our quest for better and darker observation sites, for better and more accurate information about how to capture those images of the jewels in the sky, for ways on how we may reach more people and share our knowledge and enthusiasm, has rendered great dividends. The sky is indeed the limit and we are in the right path. Observe, learn and share makes more sense now than ever.

 

        

Juan Carlos Reina

NHAC President 2005