The Astronomical League has recently begun several new observing programs. Among these are the Lunar Club as well as the Sky Puppy club for younger observers. Ms. Beucher will present information on these and other observing opportunities for Astronomical League members. Ms. Beucher has been active in the Astronomical Society of Kansas City since the early 1980’s. She has been a past chairman of Mid-States Region. She now oversees the national office of the AL. She is active in many observing and educational programs in the Kansas City area.

In an effort to contribute to the dialogue regarding the current absence of surface water on Mars, we thus propose an additional theory founded upon the principle of Radioactive Decay. We suggest that the radical climate change and virtual lack of a planetary magnetic field on Mars has been greatly influenced by a gradual reduction of heat produced in the interior of the planet by the decay of Radioactive Heavy Elements (RHEs). More specifically, we assert that when the Mars formed, there was a large discrepancy between it and the planet Earth in the amount of RHE’s received. Thus, we hypothesize that at approximately 1.4 billion years ago (the last known date of liquid surface water), the planet Mars essentially ran out of the nuclear fuel which it needed to keep its interior liquefied.

Ian Zedalis is currently a Junior physics major at the University of Tulsa. He has been involved in a number of space science related research endeavors. These include involvement with Tulsa’s Grains project, and recent attendance of NASA’s 2000 and 2002 astrobiology conferences at Ames Research Center in California

James Roe will present an overview of amateur work in asteroid sciences, including recovery of 'lost' asteroids, discoveries, and photometric light curves. He will present a review of the Minor Planet Amateur Professional Workshop held in Phoenix, AZ June 13-15. James Roe is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, a long-time amateur astronomer having served as an officer for the McDonnell Astronomy Club and a twice past-chairman of the MSRAL. Currently, he owns and operates a private observatory in Oaxaca, Mexico from which he has made thousands of measurements of asteroids, including over 100 independent discoveries, 31 of which are currently numbered.

This presentation recounts the findings of the University of Tulsa’s Gr.A.I.N.S. project The project is designed to simulate granular collapse in three dimensions in microgravity. Granular collapse is hypothesized as a valid precursor to gravitational interaction with the accretion disks responsible for planets and asteroids. Without some initial catalyst step gravitational time scales are too long for gravity to have worked alone. Granular collapse has been shown in models and simulation as one of the more likely candidates for the precursor. This presentation will also recount the students experience on NASA’s KC-135 "Weightless Wonder" as part of an undergraduate student flight campaign.

Aaron Coyner is a recent graduate of the University of Tulsa’s Engineering Physics program. He has been a part of the Gr.A.I.N.S. research team for the past 3 years. He is currently a board member of the Astronomy Club of Tulsa and has been an integral part of planning the MSRAL 2003 convention. His astronomy interests are numerous but include planetary observations, star clusters and studies in high energy astrophysics. He will be pursuing Master’s and Ph.D degrees in physics and astronomy at Rice University beginning Fall 2003.

Ed Jones will be sharing details and anecdotes from his recent trip to New Zealand for an Southern Hemisphere astronomy voyage. He will shed light on interesting aspects of the Southern skies, the country, and people of New Zealand. He will emphasize planning such an excursion. This talk should be informative for everyone who has an interest in the Southern skies and is or will be planning a trip to view them.

Ed Jones is the current president of the Astronomical Society of Northwest Arkansas in Fayetteville. An amateur astronomer since 1996, he is 31 double star sightings short of eligibility for the Astronomical League’s Master Observer certificate. His major interest in astronomy include solar astronomy, binocular observation, and meteors. Mr. Jones is a veteran of MSRAL conventions having presented on binocular astronomy at MSRAL 2002.

Every lens in an eyepiece steals a little light from your image. Coatings have been used to minimize that loss. Have you ever wondered about eyepiece coatings? What difference does a coated eyepiece makes to your telescope?Do plossls transmit more light than orthoscopics? Is multicoating worth twice as much as the same lenses coated? Does a good coating guarantee minimal light losses inside the eyepiece? You may have read the advertising, but do the eyepiece light transmissions live up to the ads? Which oculars will make your faint fuzzies fainter?
John Duchek will describe an experiment he and David Hall performed recently where they attempted to directly compare the light transmission of about 30 common eyepieces.

John Duchek has a Ph.D in organic chemistry and over thirty years in the chemical industry. He is current a member of a number of astronomical organizations. Among these are: theAmerican Association of Amateur Astronomers, the Eastern Missouri Deep Sky Observers, Jefferson County Astronomical Society, and the Eureka! Observing Club (current President). His primary astronomy interests are observing, CCD imaging, and 35-mm astrophotography.

Wayne Clark will present a look into the behavior of cataclysmic variable stars. The stars are capable of changing in brightness from 1 to 20 magnitudes. They have a wide range of period, some of them less than a day. Mr. Clark will expound on the interesting characteristics that these stars as well as shed light on the information that could be gained from their study.

Wayne Clark has been involved in amateur astronomy for over fifty years. He has been actively observing variable stars for the past thirty years. He is an active member of the St. Louis Astronomical Society where he currently serves as a board member. He has in the past served as both president of SLAS and as chairman of MSRAL.