Clubs not (yet) affiliated to the IFAS

hi Al/Shane and everyone,

it might have been a bit of a knee-jerk reaction on my part too -- apologies.

you are right in extending the courtesy of an invite to join IFAS Al as it is a hobby open to all. I was over in the Artane shop recently and offered to give a talk to them at some point.

got my first view of Mars last Friday night on the way home from the pub too! I still have good memories of one of the Tullamore Perseid BBQs and a few of us drinking cans, swapping stories and meteor watching by the campfire!!! Now that's astronomy!

I hope to be down Schull direction in the next few weeks and must pay a visit to the Planetarium and see if the West Cork group is still around. Another place that I'd occasionally be in touch with is the new Planetarium in Greencastle on the Inishowen Peninsula up North. It might be worth a trip some weekend in the dark of the Moon? Northern Lights anyone???

again, any info people hear of things going on around the place should be sent on to either David Bell or myself for inclusion in the next Arcturus. The July/August issue is out now so I must load it up to the FILES section of the board.

clear skies!!!

John F.
South Dublin Astronomical Society

got my first view of Mars last Friday night on the way home from the pub too!

Strangely enough most of my observing has been after leaving a pub too.... Taxi drivers dont think much of astronomy by the way, though perhaps thats cause it was 1am and i made him drive me the 9 miles home....

I still have good memories of one of the Tullamore Perseid BBQs and a few of us drinking cans, swapping stories and meteor watching by the campfire!!! Now that's astronomy!

They were sparks you saw not meteors John

Responses to the observing board please!

Cheers,
~Al

Man, I loose my net connection for one weekend and look at all the fun I miss!

Firstly I think it is a great idea to invite AI to join IFAS, they have a lot of members and a lot of resources they could potentially send IFAS's way. However I doubt very much that AI will be prepared to make te changes to their structure required for them to be eligable to join IFAS (our constitution can be found at: www.irishastronomy.org/ifas/constitution.php ).

I do however hope that they will be prepared to link to his site because this will be a major resource for Irish astronomers.

Lastly on a very minor point, John F, you are not actually a moderator yet on these boards (my mistake sorry!). There are still lots of un-moderated sections (you can see who moderates what on the front page of teh boards), take you pic and I shall make it so!

Bart B.,
IFAS Webmaster.

bart,
i would doubt that they would change to our way of working. at the first ifas meeting there was a discussion on whether would invite them but i think the general opinion was that they could join at some future point so long as they fufilled the requirements of our constitution. it is also why each society has the same number of representatives regardless of size. this was to prevent one group from dominating proceedings. it might be nice to mend the bridges but that is unlikely given the history involved. it is a shame that people who maybe interested in wsp and cosmos etc may never get to see them but he will ignore us as he cannot control us.
just my 2 cents,
Stephen.

hi Bart/Stephen,

hope you are all having a good Summer ...

thanks for the offer Bart to be moderator though I feel I wouldn't be able to do it as there's lots more on the plate at the moment -- specifically, Sky-High 2004, the annual sky guide I co-write for the IAS. Hope no-one minds the plug! We're hoping to have it published in time for the WSP. It'll be 36 pages and cost 5 euro. Will post more on it later ...

if I was going to moderate a group, could I suggest maybe a new observing forum for naked-eye/binocular observers? Or what about one entitled "What the Hell was that?"!!! -- more a forum to discuss unexplained sights. Not UFO's mind you, but things like the mysterious flashes people are reporting in the IAA journal STARDUST or the triangular formation of satellites seen by Sean Morris a while back (they were the NOSS triplets - US Navy spy satellites). How about a cloud spotters forum while waiting for clear skies ...

anyway, before I drone on incessently, tah-rah ...

John

without beating about the bush, the "other one" is Astronomy Ireland and I guess them not being part of IFAS is the tricky business of whether it's a club or a business.

Without wanting to start a war (I've been banned from one astronomy group already today!) I just got this from David Moore:
--
A&S Ltd is a huge sponsor for AI.
Of course, the M.D. of A&S Ltd is the Chairman of AI so it's difficult to
see where one ends and the other begins sometimes, even for me.
A&S is a completely commercial operation and is run by professionals.
AI is a non-profit organisation run by volunteers and one part-time staff
Administrator.
Hope that clarifies it for you.
--
He is off on holidays soon, but does want to reply to me about joining the IFAS when he returns.

Cheers,
~Al