About the Minnesota Astronomical Society

Meetings

Monthly Meetings

Monthly meetings are open to all - you needn't be an MAS member to attend. These meetings normally take place the first Thursday of each month at the Science Museum of Minnesota (St. Paul) in the Science Live Theater on Level 4. Monthly meetings usually start at 7:00 p.m. and last about two hours.

Each meeting features a program (around 45 minutes duration), announcements and an after-meeting social gathering. Society business is occasionally transacted as needed.

Monthly meeting programs cover a wide variety of interests and vary from introductory to advanced in nature. Programs may include talks by professional astronomers from the University of Minnesota, presentations by members on topics of interest to amateurs, videos, slides or planetarium shows.

If you plan to attend an upcoming meeting, please call the Society's recording at 952-467-2426 for time, place and featured subject.

NOTE: Meeting time and / or location sometimes change to take advantage of special program opportunities or due to conflicts at the Science Museum. Always check the recorded message for the latest information.

Business and Special Meetings

While the Society's constitution provides a means for business meetings to be called at any time, it also establishes at timetable for meetings related to elections and adoption of the annual budget, as follows:

Annual elections take place at the December regular meeting
Newly elected officers take office at the first monthly meeting of the new year (usually January)
The annual budget and dues structure is presented and adopted at the second monthly meeting of the new year (usually February)

Other business meetings may be called as needed, per the process outlined in the Society's constitution.

Executive Board Meetings

The executive board of the MAS meets monthly to conduct the Society's business. At a typical meeting, members of the board approve expenditures, review the status of projects, approve new projects and make decisions regarding the operation of the Society.

Executive board meetings are not closed to members, but they are often conducted at the homes of individual board members. Members interested in attending a meeting should contact the board using the email address masboard@mnastro.org to request details regarding upcoming meetings or to submit a topic for consideration. (Individual email addresses for board members are available at http://www.mnastro.org/about/organization.htm.)

Other Meetings

There are a number of other committee and special interest group meetings scheduled each month. Please refer to the MAS events calendar (http://www.mnastro.org/events) or other sections of the web site (http://www.mnastro.org/sigs for example) to learn about them.