Our speaker for the evening was DFAC member Scott Loucks, talking on the topic of astrometry. This was essentially the same presentation he gave last year, when (for whatever reason) attendance was a measly 4 members. But it's an entertaining and educational presentation, so we asked him to repeat it this season. Scott's been actively engaged in small body (aka "minor planet") astrometry since the mid-90s when Dennis di Cicco's [pronounced "dee-cheek-oh] ground-breaking article "Hunting Asteroids" ran in the magazine CCD Astronomy. It was this article that really launched the amateur quest for minor planets. Scott had a copy of this article for all in attendance, along with other related materials. After some background on the astrophysics of minor planets, he described his own efforts, his observatory (labeled G88 by the MPC) and equipment, and the trials and tribulations of actually doing astrometry.

After the talk we had time for Q&A, where Scott elaborated on several points. He explained that the amateur quest for minor planets was sadly in its last years, as several large automated sky surveys are now probing down to 20th magnitude or fainter. Chances of an amateur discovery a dropping rapidly, except for those with apertures of 16" or more (+CCD). Fortunately, Scott got into the game early enough to have contributed useful data to the IAU Minor Planet Center at Harvard [see: http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/mpc.html]. He is now considering a move to photometric observations, useful for asteroid shape determination and exo-planet discovery [see our Quote of the Month below]. Perhaps next year he'll speak to us on that topic.

Turnout was good this meeting, with 10 members in attendance. Thanks again to Scott for an outstanding presentation!

• Agenda for May Business Meeting: We have many items up for discussion, and member input is essential to shape DFAC in your image. Here are the topics:
  
  1. President's Report
  2. Treasurer's Report
  3. Election of Officers (or re-election, as the case may be)
  4. Creation of a "public relations" or "media contact" Officer position: Do we need it, and if so, what should we title it?
  5. Light pollution strategy for DFAC: What can we do to make a difference?
  6. Veterans' Day parade float for DFAC: Do we want to do one, and if so, what should it be?
  7. DFAC meeting dates: Is the last Wednesday of the month still good, or do we want to change this?
  8. DFAC Summer Social hosted by member Rob Walker: What's a good date for this year?
  9. Other business?
  
• Call for a Vice President: We really need to fill this position. There have been two occasions when I almost wasn't able to attend our monthly meeting, and sooner or later it will happen for whatever unpredictable reason. It would be good to have a stand-in for times like that. We have the two most critical positions filled (President and Treasurer), and Roger and I are happy to continue in those positions, but we do need someone to step up and take the Vice-Presidency. I've been acting as President, Editor, and Webmaster since the start, and I'm OK with that for awhile yet, but having a VP would take a few responsibilities off my desk. Here, from our Constitution, is a summary of the VP responsibilities:
  
  Article 2b. Vice President: The Vice President shall assist the President in the performance of all duties, and assume full responsibility of those duties should the President be unable to do so. The Vice President shall maintain a current listing of local media contacts, and provide timely notification to these media of upcoming DFAC meetings and events.
  
  If we decide to create a "media contact" officer position, half of the aforementioned VP duties would be eliminated, and the VP position would become more a symbolic position (except for the rare stand-in when I can't make it to a meeting). Further, it would look good on our website's Contact page to have a few more names listed ... makes us look a little less "new," if you know what I mean. And as far as "assisting the President" goes, that would mean we'd have two people looking for potential speakers — also a good thing. Finally, if someone new is trying to get in contact with DFAC, having another official contact point with both phone and email ensures we make things easy for them. So if you think you are the person for this job, please step up at our business meeting and be voted in. Thanks!
• Dues are Due: Our dues cycle begins again on June 1st. Regular membership is still only $25 per household ($30 for postal newsletter delivery), and the bill from the Astronomical League has been on my desk since last week. You can bring your check to our May meeting, or mail it to Roger Serrato at: PO Box 71458, Phoenix, AZ 85050. If your contact information has changed, please include a revised membership application form, available on our website here: http://www.dfacaz.org/join.html.Thank you for your continued support!
• Astronomy Night for BCHSAC: Kathy Hill, Moderator of the new Boulder Creek High School Astronomy Club, says 5-6 of her students are interested in attending this event. Our originally scheduled April 12th event was cancelled due to student activity conflicts. It is now set for Saturday, May 10th, sunset (7:15 pm) to whenever, at Heimhenge, with equipment setup starting at 7 pm. This will fulfill DFAC's obligation to do an on-campus event in exchange for our use of BCHS facilities for our monthly meetings. If you can reserve that night in your plans, it would be good to have at least 3-4 scopes up here. We have 3 for sure (mine, Roger's, and Jay's). We could use one more. Of course, all DFAC members are invited, and after the students leave, it becomes our own event. Let me know if you can help out on this. Collaboration between DFAC and BCHSAC will be a great opportunity for outreach. Thanks.
• Sky Lights Still on Sabbatical: My public soapbox is still in limbo. The good news is, I have received a verbal commitment from Jason Stone, Editor of the Foothills Focus, to include my column when they next add another sheet. For those of you unfamiliar with the newspaper business, you can only add pages in multiples of 4 (one sheet). The Focus is currently at 32 pages, but has plans to expand to 36. In order to make a profit, newspapers typically comprise 25% content and 75% advertising. As their circulation and advertising demand continues to grow, scooping business from the now-essentially-defunct Desert Advocate, that expansion will eventually happen, and Sky Lights will be part of that expansion. You may see Sky Lights back in print soon. Wish me luck.
• Thanks for reading Quid Novi. If you have feedback, you know where to reach me. Until next we meet, clear skies!

— Christopher Wren [architect and contemporary of Sir Isaac Newton]

Also, Shareen Goodroad, President of the New River / Desert Foothills Community Association [http://www.newriver-deserthillscommunityassociation.org/], who's group I have spoken to on the topic of light pollution, shared this URL to an informative USN&WR article on the health effects of light pollution. Read it at: http://www.usnews.com/articles/science/2008/03/14/turning-out-the-lights.html.