BAS Observer September 2017

4 BAS OBSERVER Club activities by Peter Allison, BAS President A new year for BAS Your BAS Management Committee has completed another orbit around the Sun and it is once again Annual General Meeting time – time to refresh your Committee and progress into 2018. I’d like to say a very big thank-you to all the continuing Committee members – Caroline, Stephanie, Siva and Ken . . . and especially Mike Lewis, who will be taking a break from Committee after some years as our excellent Secretary. Also, thank you to Les Csibi for his equally excellent service on Committee. At our September AGM your new Committee will be elected and off we will head once again for another trip around the Sun. If you would like to assist with the development and progression of BAS, you are welcome to nominate for a Committee position on the night of our AGM. So, please think about the future of BAS and step forward to add your assistance to the task. Progressing BAS Over recent months we have had lots of new members join BAS. Our growing membership is a good sign that we are doing at least some of the things our members are seeking from the group; however, I’m sure our long-term and new members have many more ideas as to what they would like BAS to be doing to assist them in their astronomical interests. So, if you have ideas – or, even better, a willingness to take hold of and drive an issue forward – please talk with me at our monthly meetings or drop me an email with your suggestions: president@bas.asn.au . As a group we will only progress if we meet the needs of group members – so please let me know what you are seeking from BAS. Public outreach BAS has been very busy in recent months, meeting calls by schools from Aratula to Lowood and Glasshouse Mountains, and all points in between, to help spark the imagination and interest of young minds. I would like to thank the stalwart BAS members who have put in such an effort meeting these commitments – in particular, Caroline, Stephanie, Mike, Bill, Dennis and Colin. BAS also generates a lot of public interest at our monthly Mt Coot-tha Lookout public evenings. Many times I’ve tried to keep count of the number of people who looked through my telescope, but I’m always quickly overwhelmed and lose count every time. Our August 26th evening was another huge success and I lost count yet again. On that night we had the added bonus of an International Space Station transit, almost across the face of the Moon. We all looked like instant astro-gurus when we casually pointed to the north-west and told people the ISS was about to appear – and then it did! If other BAS members would like to participate in our public outreach program, please email your contact details to our Education Officer at education@bas.asn.au and we’ll let you know which events are coming up in your patch of Brisbane.  ■