by Ludovico D’Angelo, Director AAA

March starts our process for establishing a nominations committee to help choose those within the club who will serve on the next Board of Trustees of the AAAP. If you are interested in leading this committee, or are considering a position on the Board, please let the current Board know. Please contact me or Assistant Director Jeff Bernardis concerning your interest. We must establish this committee in our March meeting. In April, the committee will introduce a slate of candidates, and in May, we will vote on the roster of candidates.

I have been thinking about how we can get more activity going in the club. We are fast approaching our public season that starts on Friday, April 6th 2012. As always, we invite the public to come out on Fridays to observe the night sky. We also have our observatory in Jenny Jump State Forest. I’d like to see more activity there starting with repair of the rotting wood and repainting of the observatory, and also some club star parties. We will also have April activities including Super Science Day and Communiversity, and, as always, our monthly meetings.

Also I have been thinking of the new members of the club, and members who are having difficulty connecting with these activities because they feel they have no knowledge of astronomy in general, or how to use their telescopes and need help. So I propose on a very basic level, the formation of various gatherings to promote more understanding. For those of you who would like to know more about our hobby, or how to go about obtaining knowledge of observing, telescope use, or understanding our guest speakers subjects, please email me. For those of you that are willing to help teach these concepts and spread your knowledge, also email me. If this is successful, I think we will be a stronger and more knowledgable club.

Our next meeting is March 13th at 8 p.m. in Peyton Hall. Our scheduled speaker is Dr. Mark Trodden of the University of Pennsylvania. See you all there.