General Meeting, April 11, 2001.  In the absence of President Bernie Zelazny, Vice President John Bell opened the meeting at 7:30 PM in 309 Lawrence Hall, Sul Ross Campus.  There were about 10 people present.  Several people brought telescopes and binoculars, which they showed and discussed. There was no business meeting.

       Betty Grimm submitted the following treasurer's report:

       Outdoor Lighting.  The City of Alpine has now re-aimed all of the pole-mounted floodlights in Baines, Kokernot, and Medina Parks.  All of these lights have been adjusted so that their lenses are tilted 20 deg above the horizontal.  The lights in Baines Park (across from Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church) were especially glary in the eyes of drivers and pedestrians near the corner of 5th Street and Avenue G.  And of course, re-aiming has reduced the amount of light going into the sky. Many thanks to City Manager Bill Lewis, Parks Director Dave Busey, and to Roland Peña of WTU for doing the work.

       Brewster County Ordinance.  As reported earlier, the Brewster County Commissioners voted on February 12 to consider an outdoor lighting ordinance for the county submitted by McDonald Observatory.  A public hearing will be held soon, and the ordinance will come to a vote.  McDonald remains active in promoting lighting ordinance in several other counties, any parts of which lie within 57 miles of the observatory (the significance of the 57 miles is more political than astronomical).

       George Observatory Bill.  Texas House Bill HB164, to benefit the George Observatory (many miles from Houston) has passed the House.  This bill is comparable to the McDonald legislation above, although the distance specified here is 5 miles rather than 57.  However, the 5 miles refers only to the distance of any part of a county, not to the distance of lights within a county that can be regulated.  For the full text and latest action, see Texas Legislature Online, on the Internet.

       New Members.  Please welcome new members Carl and Sarah Sawicki.  The Sawickis are now living in Fredericksburg, and are building a home in Sunny Glen.  Welcome to Astronomy West of the Pecos!

       You may have heard that the oldest stars have appeared to be older than the universe - which, of course, is somewhat like being older than your mother.  Cosmologists have shown an amazing ability to believe lots of other bizarre things, so perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised.  But stars simply cannot be older than the universe, so either the estimated age of the stars is wrong, or the estimated age of the universe is wrong, or both of the above. 
       Writing in the May issue of Scientific American, astronomer Brian C. Chaboyer resolves the impasse.  Turns out the age of our oldest stars, located in globular clusters, has been systematically overestimated.

If we have not yet received your dues, then please use the convenient envelope addressed to our treasurer that is included with this copy of your Newsletter.

Betty Lou Grimm, Treasurer
Big Bend Astronomical Society, Inc
1001 N 2nd Street, Apt F-22
Alpine, TX 79830

Fresh from the early 17th century, our guest, Johannes Kepler, (with the assistance of his colleague John Bell) will explain the new astronomy with some references to the exciting work of that notable Italian, Galileo Galilei, with his magnifying optic tube. If requested, Herr Kepler perhaps will even have a few words to say about the recent witchcraft trial of his mother.