LAS President's Page

LAS, What’s Next? By Don Clouse, President

What’s next? That’s a big question, with many possible answers depending on a number of factors. Simply put, what’s next for LAS depends on what each of us, individually, is willing to do. So, one major factor, I believe, will be the level of involvement of the general membership. The number and type of initiatives we undertake and their pace will be determined to a great extent by LAS members. What are your interests? How much time and energy are you willing and able to commit? To digress for a moment, I want to make to one thing clear. From my view point, all are welcome in LAS regardless of their level of experience with astronomy, or their particular interest, (my passion is deep sky observing, but there are many, many other aspects to astronomy), or their level of participation. Many of us have lots of other commitments with a limited amount of time and resources (or even interest) to devote to LAS. I understand that. Believe me. Nonetheless, my hope is (and I already see signs of this) that many members will step forward to contribute their time, ideas, resources, expertise, and skills to move LAS forward along several fronts at the same time.

Let’s get to the specifics. First, this is just an informal list "off the top of my head" of things we can be doing. Just the fact that we own 40 acres at a dark-site only 45 minutes from downtown Louisville opens a whole range of possibilities. Is there something on the list that "strikes a cord" with you? If so, let me know and we’ll start working on it or get you "plugged into" the existing process, if any. Is their something not on the list that’s important to you? If so, and you are willing to push it forward, I’ll do everything I can to support you – just let me know. Here’s the "laundry list".

Observatory and Site Development – The Board is committed to moving forward with the development of the new site including the eventual construction of an observatory. This is our primary task at the moment and, directly or indirectly, this effort will absorb much of Board’s resources for a while. Many wonderful ideas have surfaced including developing hiking trails, picnic tables, a simple log-seat amphitheater, and probably others I’m not remembering at the moment. However, I expect that we will proceed rather deliberately. These things take time and effort and we want to be sure that we get a good result from our efforts. Currently under consideration is the size, material (block vs. wood), and exact location of the initial structure. We do still plan on doing a roll-off roof observatory. Brian Sieg will continue to coordinate this effort. We’ll keep you apprised of plans and opportunities to participate. Eventually, we’ll need folks to help out with the "barn-raising", among other things. In the meantime, if you have any construction related skills including electrical, plumbing, concrete, etc., or knows anyone who might want to donate some materials or labor contact Brian or myself. I’m sure that as we gain experience, locate sources, gain more input and more ideas, the observatory/site plan will evolve. I’m confident that the "fully developed" site that eventually emerges, which may take a few years to achieve, will be an accomplishment of which we’ll all be proud. O.K., so I got carried away. I’ll a bit more succinct from here on out.

Fund Raising – We’re trying to do observatory and site development "on the cheap", but cash never hurts. Mike Plaiss will be coordinating these efforts. Ideas include soliciting donations from organizations to various types of fund-raisers (e.g., raffles). Got any ideas? Interested in this type of work? Contact Mike or myself. Speaking of soliciting donations, please be aware that donations to LAS are tax deductible. Any contributions will be gratefully accepted. (Make checks payable to LAS.) Donations other than money are good too, e.g., building materials for the site, a pair of binoculars to raffle off, etc.

Education – Our mission statement: "The purpose of the LAS shall be to develop and promote interest in astronomy among the people of the greater Louisville area." Education, especially of school age children, would seem to be one good way to do this. A more prosaic reason for pushing education is that it will facilitate securing funding from various organizations. We could begin by establishing ties to the schools system in Crawford County where the site is located by doing observations for the schools and/or special programs for them either at their school or at our site. We could establish a "cadre" of volunteer speakers and observers, then put out the word that LAS will send someone to your school to do an astronomy program or come to your school for a lunar observation (for donations split with the school?), or… well, once again, there are myriad possibilities.

Membership – There’s lots of things we could be doing to aggressively pursue membership growth. New members will bring new resources, new skills, new enthusiasm, and more. Keeping track of everyone’s status (addresses, email, phone numbers, dues status, etc, etc,) is a big job. Brian is doing this now. I’d like to get someone else to do this to free up Brian’s time for site work. Any takers? This could even be two jobs – membership growth and membership maintenance, so to speak. Some steps have already been taken in this direction. The mall stores, which sell telescopes, as well as Whittenberg Photographic, have kindly agreed to pass out flyers for us (e.g., to advertise Astronomy Day and the Patoka Lake event). Also, they have LAS info/sign-up sheets to hand out for us. Although a couple of these stores sell "high-end" scopes (e.g., Whittenberg) as well as smaller scopes, I would guess this tactic will primarily target newcomers to the hobby – a whole ‘nother issue/challenge/opportunity. Read on.

New Observer’s Program – If we really do "aggressively pursue" membership growth, then I would guess that many, if not most, new members would be joining out of a desire to get help. They’ll be looking for help recognizing the constellations, finding stuff in the sky, and figuring out how to use their telescope. Again, someone could organize a group of people willing to help out – a couple of folks that are practiced with using a Dob, a couple more who know how to use SCT’s, others who are familiar with how to set-up and use computerized ‘scopes, some who know how to find constellations, etc. One-on-one sessions with newcomers could be set-up, and/or (semi) regular ‘classes’ and/or programs, etc. The possibilities are legion!

General Meetings – I’m not ‘wedded’ to the current format. In fact, I’m inclined to experiment a bit. Got any ideas? Want to organize a series of short (say 15-20 minutes) programs geared to beginners? How about short programs geared to the young? (Hey! Then you could use them at the schools too! See how it all ties together?)

Dark Sky Activism – This could be any size project, from occasional educational efforts, to major community involvement. Researching the voluminous info available from the IDA (International Dark Sky Association, www.darksky.org) would be a place to start. Or maybe do a presentation at the monthly (?) open Alderman’s meeting in Louisville? Or….

Well, I could go on. But, that’s probably sufficient for now. Fair warning; be careful what you say within earshot of me. If I hear you express interest in a particular project/initiative, I’m likely to try to recruit you to spearhead the effort. But please don’t wait for me ask – I may not know you’re interested. What’s next for LAS? The literal and figurative bottom line is, "What’s next for LAS" is up to each of us.


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