General Membership Meetings

Upcoming Meetings

May 18, 2008
The May 2008 meeting is on May the 18th, the third sunday of May. This is so the meeting will not conflict with Mother's day.

General membership meetings are open to the public, and are held at  Enterprise Hall, room 80, on the campus of George Mason University (directions) in Fairfax, Virginia. The meeting hall is in the basement floor of the building. Since Parking Lot B is now closed, you should park across the street in the far reaches of the Patriot Center's parking lot, then walk up the path to the rear of Enterprise Hall. 

Meetings start at 7:00 PM, on the second Sunday of every month. If you come earlier you can do a little socializing. The first part of the meeting is club business, during which the officers make reports about their activities and areas of responsibility. The next part of the meeting usually includes:

• Show and Tell, where members share gadgets, books, techniques, etc.
• The Observing Report, describing the astronomical events for the next month.
• Q&A, where beginning astronomers are encouraged to ask questions to be answered by more experienced members.
• The Sky Tour, describing what's where in the sky for the next month.

The final part of the meeting is a program, usually by one of the members, but sometimes by "outside experts". We've had presenters from all aspects of Astronomy.

There's a good deal of socializing before and after meetings, allowing members to put faces with the voices they've heard in the dark.

Please Join Us For Dinner!
Since February, 1995, a number of NOVAC members have been congregating on the night of our regular meetings for dinner. Hopefully this assists in getting to know one another, at a more relaxed location than at the meeting itself. It's also nice to see who it is you're talking to for a change and be able to connect faces with names - unlike the usual observing situation. All are welcome to attend, whether NOVAC members or prospective members, guests or whoever - just be prepared to discuss a little astronomy or any other topic that pops up!

If you'd like to join us, stop by the Red, Hot and Blue restaurant at 5:30 PM. See you there!
 

2006 Presenters:

Sunday, January 8
Bob Parks
Open Forum

Sunday, March 12
Bob Stewart
Messier Marathon Tips

Ed Witkowski
Survey of Open Clusters

Sunday, April 9
Chris Palma & Derek Fox
GRBs

Ed Witkowski
Outreach Nuts and Bolts

Sunday, May 21
Astronaut Tom Jones
Sky Walking: An Astronaut's Memoir

Sunday, June 11
Dr. Sten Odenwald
Solar Super Storms

Sunday, July 9
Greg Piepol, Tom Kennedy & Byron Bergert
Astro Imaging

Sunday, August 13
NOVAC Panel
Star Parties and Vacations

Sunday, September 10
Roboscope Team
Roboscope Update

Sunday, October 8
Bob Bunge
Science from a light polluted driveway

Sunday,November 12
Members Forum
Imaging Panel Discussion

Sunday, December 10
Volunteer Awards
Elections

Sunday, January 14
Steve Robinson
Scientific Research by Amateurs