NACAA 2006 - A northern Perspective

[gaa_ian (Ian)]

Well my first NACAA (National Australian Conference of Amateur Astronomers) is behind me now.
I must say firstly that I was very impressed with the standard of the papers being presented by Amateur Astonomers from across Australia.
Geographiclly speaking, 70% of the county was represented by 3 People.
1. "Blue skies" from the West
2. Ray from Hamilton Island, Qld.
3. And myself for the NT.
There are some very clever people out there making some great contributions to Astronomy & Space Science.
I hope that future NACAA's can appeal to an even wider audience & with an ongoing committee formed for the first time, there is a good chance they will.
I have written a bit of a wrap up of the proceedings which can be found on my Blog page at:
http://ntstargazer.blogspot.com/

[astroron (Ron)]

I have posted a comment on your site, great website

[iceman (Mike)]

Nice report Ian.. was speaking to Glenn Dawes about it at SPSP when I heard it was being held in Sydney in 2008.. will definitely make my way along to that one!

[gaa_ian (Ian)]

Thanks Ron & Mike
It was certainly an Eye opener, giving me an insight into new fields of interest in Amateur Astronomy.

[Glenn Dawes]

Originally Posted by iceman

Nice report Ian.. was speaking to Glenn Dawes about it at SPSP when I heard it was being held in Sydney in 2008.. will definitely make my way along to that one!

Ian,

I too liked your report. It was also great to meet you and hope to see you in Sydney in 2 years.

Mike,
I also appreciate your comment above and your interest in coming along in 2008. NACAA needs all the help it can get for it has been flundering for a number of years and showing flagging support from the astronomical societies. Because of this NACAA went through some wide sweeping changes last weekend - most of which were not finally ratified until the close of the event and hence not known to the bulk of the attendees. Much of the details will still need to be worked out but it is the intention of NACAA to become an incorporated, non profit organisation (along the lines of most societies). I will only give an overview for now (and even this is shaky) but this work has already included an appointment of an initial committee or "Secretariat" to make this happen. Also the concept of 'Delegates" and their meeting is out. It is likely to be replaced by an AGM of some sort at NACAA. The host body will no longer need to be a society, eg. the 2008 'Host body' consists of Stephen Russell, Brett McMillian and myself. You might hear it is the Sutherland AS but this is incorrect.

I think when it comes to truly National amateur astronomical events/organizations in this country I believe there are 3.
1) NACAA
2) Ice in Space
3) SPSP.
So in the future, with the permission of Mike/IIS of course, I could see this forum being a great benefit in communicating NACAA information (as I think it has already been for the SPSP just by the discussions).

I hope you guys agree.

Regards

Glenn

[gaa_ian (Ian)]

Thanks Glenn, glad you liked the report & likewise it was a pleasure meeting you.
It is heartening to know that you appreciate the value of IIS as a national voice for Amateur Astronomers.
I was doing my bit at NACAA to spread the word about IIS & was surprised how few of the delegates knew of IIS.
If more of these key people in the AA community can participate in IIS, it can only help to develop a more outward looking & inclusive NACAA.
There are some very talented people there, whose skills could only benifit other in this (ISS) community.
Good on Stephen Russell, Brett McMillian & yourself for taking on NACAA 2008, I can appreciate what a logistical feat it will be.