Plan now to attend the

Central Illinois Mini Conference for Amateur Astronomers

Saturday, August 23, 2014

4:00 p.m. until Midnight and Beyond

Sugar Grove Nature Center

McLean, IL

The Twin City Amateur Astronomers (TCAA) is inviting central Illinois astronomy clubs - CUAS, DAAC, PAS, SAS - to attend a mini conference on Saturday, August 23, 2014. This informal event will be held at Sugar Grove Nature Center between Shirley and McLean, IL. This dark-sky site is home to the TCAA's Sugar Grove and Prairie Sky Observatories. The site is easily accessed from Interstate 55 southwest of Bloomington. Mark your calendar now and spread the word to members of your central Illinois astronomy club.

Program: The tentative program is as follows and is subject to change:

4:00 p.m. Open House at the TCAA's Observatories
4:30 p.m. Welcome and introductions
4:45 p.m. Contributed 15-minute talks
6:00 p.m. Break (open house continues)
7:00 p.m. Free Star-B-Q dinner
8:00 p.m. Keynote Speaker
9:00 p.m. Evening observing session

Call for presentations: The TCAA is now soliciting 15-minute contributed presentations that will consist of a 10-12 minute talk followed by 3-5 minutes for questions and answers. The number of such talks will be limited, and not all who offer to present will necessarily be given an opportunity to do so. You may request to present a talk by completing the Talk Request Form. It would be ideal if each participating astronomy club would contribute one talk to the program. A screen, video projector, and a laptop computer will be available for use, but presenters are free to use their own computers so long as they have a direct VGA output (PCs) or a dongle providing a VGA output (Macs).

Invited speaker: The TCAA will have an invited speaker to give the keynote talk at 8:00 p.m. The speaker and the topic are to be determined.

Evening Star-B-Q: This FREE event will feature a selection of brats, hamburgers, and a choice of sides. Refreshments also will be provided. This Star-B-Q is being made possible courtesy of the TCAA and will be available only to those who have preregistered by the deadline.

FREE registration: Due to a need to have sufficient food and other resources available at this event, pre-registration will be required for all who wish to attend. Online Registration will open on July 23 and will close on August 16 - one week prior to the event. No on-site registration will be permitted.

Rain date: There is no rain date for this event. Because we have access to a large picnic shelter and a nature center, the event will be held rain or shine...

Camping: Should you wish to camp out during the night of August 23/24, you might be able to do so by special permission of SGNC. Details to follow.

Parking: When you park, please park with your headlights facing away from the observing field if there is any expectation of evening viewing.

Why attend?

• Visit two of this country's most advanced amateur observatories.
  • Prairie Sky Observatory, a 16' x 24' roll-off-roof observatory, was constructed during the summer of 2013 and houses some of the best amateur telescopes, mounts, cameras, filters, and computer systems. Our telescopes include apertures of 10", 11", 20", and very soon a 16".
  • Sugar Grove Observatory, a 10' domed observatory, was opened in the spring of 2000 and was recently updated with a new telescope - a 17"-aperture instrument augmented by one of the best mounts, cameras, and filter sets.
• Watch our amateur astronomers use our observatory's telescopes for astronomical imaging; you'll be amazed at what we can accomplish with so little effort.
• Bring your observing equipment along to speak about and share with others, and to view the night sky from our location.
• Learn what others have been doing as you listen to contributed talks, and hear what our keynote speaker (likely a professional astronomer) has to say.
• Experience the camaraderie of fellow amateur astronomers. Camaraderie is one of the main reasons why clubs for amateur astronomers exist. This event will provide a great opportunity to establish and grow your network of like-minded individuals within central Illinois.
• Learn about the joint NCRAL-MSRAL meeting to be hosted by the TCAA in spring 2016 (and maybe learn a bit about the total solar eclipse that will be occurring during August 2017 right here in Illinois).

About the TCAA: If you would like to learn more about the TCAA, feel free to visit our About the TCAA web pages.