[NOVAC announcement] Invitation to February general meeting + pre-meeting dinner

[Phil Wherry]

Fellow NOVAC members,

I'm writing to remind you of our club's upcoming general meeting, to be held at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, February 10.

IMPORTANT: OUR MEETING WILL BE HELD IN A DIFFERENT LOCATION THAN THE ONE WE USUALLY USE!

The reason? This is GMU's homecoming weekend, and the campus events office reserved all of the available meeting room space for related events.

So, for FEBRUARY ONLY, we'll meet in the "Showcase Room," at the base of the observatory tower attached to Research Hall (this is the building where we've met for the last several months). This is a significantly smaller space than we usually use, but it's controlled by an academic department and not the GMU events office. Dr. Harold Geller did the work to make sure it was available for our use. So, plan for the meeting to be rather cozy—and please join me in thanking Dr. Geller for his efforts to make sure we have space on the GMU campus for our meeting.

It will be worth enduring some crowding, though! Our speaker this month is Dr. Eric Douglass, and he'll be giving a talk entitled "Types of Observable Lunar Craters." We'll also talk a little bit about outreach, our club loaner scope program, the lending library of astronomy books, and more!

I'd also like to extend an invitation to club members (and guests) to meet up for our usual informal pre-meeting dinner at Red Hot & Blue in Fairfax. We gather at around 5:30 each month before the general meeting. This is an excellent way to meet other club members, welcome newcomers, and renew old friendships.

Thanks for being a NOVAC member, and I hope to see you Sunday!

Phil