All,

If you are an astronomy club in Pennsylvania, or a member of one,
this message pertains to you. If you're just a member of a PA
astronomy club, please forward this to your officers.

This message is to officially invite your organization to send 2
representatives to the organizational meeting of the Pennsylvania
Astronomy Club Cooperative to be held on Saturday April 3, 2004. The
Astronomy Cooperative is being formed to bring together PA Astronomy
club and those clubs who are or have dropped out of the Astronomical
League, were never members of the AL, or who are Members of the AL.
Non-AL Members and AL Members are all welcome and encouraged to join
the cooperative.

Whether your organization has officially decided to be involved in
this cooperative, is waiting for details to come available, or isn't
sure if they want to join a cooperative, we encourage every club to
send at least one representative to the meeting so they can provide
input and bring information back to their club so an informed
decision can be made. If you need more details, please contact me.
I've attempted to contact every astronomy club in the state, and
believe all of my e-mails have went through.

The formation of this cooperative is also historic, it marks the
first time in history, that astronomy clubs in Pennsylvania will be
involved involved in a state-wide cooperative. I assure you that the
benefits of belonging to a cooperative will be well worth getting
involved. Imagine having a place to pool research and work on
projects together. Imagine having a website for all Pennsylvanians
that lists events for the entire state. Imagine bringing together
our clubs once a year and promoting camaraderie and friendship
amongst us all. Imagine having an outlet to participate in observing
programs. And imagine what we can accomplish on a statewide level
promoting the amateur astronomy hobby and issues we face such as
light pollution. The benefits are endless!

The response to the formation of this group has been tremendous and I
believe that forming this cooperative will be beneficial to each
astronomy club who supports the cooperative as well as all amateur
astronomers in Pennsylvania.

The purpose of the meeting is to ascertain what each group wants out
of the cooperative and discuss details on getting the cooperative
started.

The Astronomical Society of Harrisburg, which is in a central
location in the state, has agreed to host this organizational
meeting.

The meeting will be held on Saturday April 3, 2004 at 1:00 PM at the
Astronomical Society of Harrisburg's Naylor Astronomical Center in
Lewisberry, PA. We will go to dinner afterwards.

Each club is encouraged to send 2 delegates to the meeting, the
meeting is free and snacks and beverages will be available during
the meeting.

Please RSVP to me as soon as possible letting me know the names of
the people your group will send.

Directions to the Naylor are accurate from Mapquest.Com . Just put
in 670 Observatory Drive Lewisberry, PA 17339 and it will bring you
to the Center.

If you have any questions, please contact me. And again please RSVP
back to me as soon as you can, preferably by March 8, 2004.

Regards,
Ted A. Nichols II
President - ASH
www.astrohbg.org