MINUTES

The Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford Meeting Minutes 19 Oct. 2016

President Ray Zywno brought the meeting to order at 7:42PM. There were 14 attendees present.

Secretaries Report: Al Johnson read last month’s minutes. There was one addition, the replica scopes that Al Hall and Dick Parker built were ¾ scale replicas. No other additions or corrections were made. Minutes were accepted.

Treasurer’s Report: Cyndi Barron read the Checking account balance as $2728.17. There was no Savings Account information. Because we are being charged $3 per month for checking, Cyndi is considering using another bank for our business. Cyndi announced there are 7 new members that joined in recent months. Annual Dues are due and payable. Send them to Cyndi or bring them to our next meeting.

New Members: Professor Robert Fischetti was present making this his first meeting as a member.

Outreach: November 19th is the trolley museum and it is best to get there by 3:15 PM to allow for getting set up before darkness. Sunset is at 4:27pm.

Public Observing: The last session on the 24th turned out well with approximately 20 attendees. November 5th is the next public observing session at Van Vleck Observatory and it begins at 8PM. 2017’s Public Observing schedule is posted on the website.

Wesleyan Events: Wesleyan Astronomy students/staff hold public observing on Wednesday nights. November 2nd and 9th are astronomy related colloquiums.

Star Parties: Ralph Concepcion agreed to be the ASGH Star Party chairman. We are working on a Star Party for November 26th, the Saturday night of Thanksgiving weekend at the Toussaint farm. Nothing is firm yet.

Web development: Marty Ollenschleger reported site is coming along well with new site being up and running by year’s end. Next meeting the members will get a chance to view the new site.

Old Business: None

New Business: Carl Williams asked for a motion to authorize expenditures for the Science Fair awards. A discussion ensued regarding our ability to support the program as motioned. After a discussion it was agreed to table the motion until next meeting.

Good of the Organization: Ray presented his plan for committees within our organization which include; ASGH Documentation, History, Membership, Program, Social Media, Science Fair, Public Observing, Public Outreach, and Star Party. Members are encouraged to join a committee and help the committee chairs to accomplish activities and programs for our organization. Some committees do not have a chairperson. If you have a desire to make a difference and to see accomplishment, volunteer for a chair position.

Astronomer of the Year: Al Johnson presented Chris Markiewicz with this year’s award. Chris sets a good example by displaying a “can do” attitude with the Outreach Program. His dedication and exceptional service has benefited the Public and ASGH members.

Meeting was adjourned at 8:30PM.

Evening Speaker: Member Chris Markiewicz provided an excellent presentation titled “Climbing the Cluster Ladder”, viewing a string of clusters in the Northeast sky.

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The Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford Meeting Minutes 21 Sept. 2016

President Ray Zywno brought the meeting to order at 7:40PM. There were 15 attendees.

The Secretaries report was given by Al Johnson. The May Meeting minutes were accepted as read with no additions or corrections.

The Treasurers report was given from Cyndi’s e-mail as she was not present. Savings $2123.56 and Checkbook $2071.42. Dues are now due. To remain a member dues must be paid by January 1st, 2017. Jeff Benoit and Laurie Guenther paid there renewal dues. Earl Pappalardo joined the ASGH and paid his dues. We are getting a committee roster together so that members can sign up for a committee when they join.

Visitors/Guests: Bill Wooster was here to seek advice on selecting a telescope.

Outreach: The Southbury Historical Society outreach is set for Oct. 1st. At least 6 volunteers are coming. Oct.8 is the rain date. Nov. 19th is the Trolley Museum outreach in East Haven and attendees should get there at 3:15 PM to get set up. Viewing starts at 6PM, ends at 8PM. March 3rd 2017 is the Tofolon School event and an outreach is in the works for the Southington Jr. High School for this spring. Chris Markiewicz is coordinating outreach events. Anyone desiring to help Chris or to volunteer for the events can reach Chris at crmarkie@cox.net.

Wesleyan Events: Ray reported that the Centennial event went well and was well attended. Cyndi Barron was recognized at the event for her financial contribution to the restoration project. The VVO library has been converted to a Museum with many artifacts representing astronomy at Wesleyan. Colloquiums are taking place this fall, October 5th and 19th, Wednesdays at 4PM in the library, also on Nov. 2nd and the 9th.

ASGH Star Party: The gathering at Mohawk Mountain turned out well. Despite mosquitoes, many objects were seen with the dark skies. The RAD 17.5 DOB, performed well with great views of the Veil Nebula thru Oxygen III filter and a great view of M22. A star party this fall, early winter at the Toussaint Farm is planned. Stay tuned.

Member Observing: John Sillasen reported on the Conjunction and on Stellafane, where Dick Parker and Al Hall won awards with their 3/4 scale replica Clark telescopes ( Castor and Pollux) of the Seagrave telescope at Skyscrapers. Chris Markiewicz and his wife took binoculars on a trip to Smugglers Notch in Vermont, Craig Robinson talked about CCSU’s scope success this summer with great public observing, and Dave Blackford and John Sillasen’s observing at Arunah Hills Star Party. Al Johnson and Ralph Concepcion have been working through the learning curve with Ralph’s ATIK 11002 OSC camera, Laurie Guenther talked of her observing, and John Sillasen and Dick Parker went to Solar Fest at Missouri. A great summer for the stars.

Web Development: The new website is going well. We have permission from Rob Gendler to use his great image of the Veil Nebula on our main web page. Marty Ollenschleger, ASGH VP, has done well putting the site together. The committee plans to have the website on line soon.

Old Business- None

New Business- None.

Good of the organization: Scott Tracy announced the Skyscrapers of Rhode Island are holding their Astro Assembly at their observatory in Scituate, RI, Sept 30 and 1st of October.

Meeting adjourned at 8:28PM

The evening speaker was Scott Tracey and his excellent talk was an update of the Kepler Mission, Finding star/planet systems in habitable environments.
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The Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford Meeting Minutes 18 May 2016

President Ray Zywno brought the meeting to order at 7:35PM. There were 18 attendees.

Carl Williams introduced the Science Fair winners, Senior Award winner Thomas Cortellesi, with his talk on the Viability of IHTP Thrusters for Commercial Use, and Junior Award winner Gryffin Syme, with his talk on Effect on Nozzle Size for Compressed Air Water Rockets. Both project talks were excellent from these two rocket scientists.

At 8:40PM the Annual Meeting began.

Secretaries Report: Al Johnson read last month’s minutes and they were accepted as read with no additions or corrections.

Treasurers Report: Cyndi Barron read the treasurer’s report and the Savings account is $2117.07 and the checking account is $2101.53.

Officer Elections:  With exception of the Web Master, all of last year’s officers agreed to continue for another year in their present positions. No one stepped up to fill any of last year’s officer positions, including the Web Master position. A motion was made to accept the officer positions and all approved. President Ray talked of the web development and asked members to consider the position.

Outreach: Dean Kavalkovich may hold his star party at Hurd State Park in the fall. Stay Tuned. John Sillasen talked of his setup to view the transit of Mercury at Wesleyan University. Quite a few observers were present throughout the day. Marty will check more into the Talcott Mountain requests for our assistance on May 26th. On May 27th there is a public star party at the White Memorial Conservation Center, Litchfield Hills, Ct. The Trolley Museum in East Haven star party is still scheduled for November.

Public Observing: John Sillasen reported that 4 members of the 20” team have received the new training manual and have received more training on the scope’s operation with the laptop computer. John was proud of the fact that the new manual is based on the original manual that John wrote in year 2000.

Wesleyan Events: John Sillasen and Ray Zywno gave a Library/Museum report at the VVO. There is no news yet on the summer Kids Night.

ASGH Star Party: The previously planned star party was weathered out. The next planned star party will be July 2nd at the Mohawk Mountain or Toussaint Farm locations…to be determined. Stay Tuned for a Bulletin notice.

Observing Reports: Mars is out there to observe and Ray mentioned the USPS is issuing astronomy stamps with Pluto featured among other titles.

StarConn: The Wesleyan VVO Centennial and StarConn will be on the 16th of June at Wesleyan University. Fee is $50 for the day and includes lunch and dinner.

Web Development: There is a special meeting planned for 3 June 6:30PM at the VVO classroom to discuss the building of the website.

Old Business: None

New Business: Marty Ollenschleger gave a talk on Laser safety. The Ct. State Police contacted Marty about the safe usage of lasers during astronomy sessions. There is a heightened awareness toward safe laser use due to a high amount of laser violations against aircraft recently.

Good of the Organization: Marty talked about next season’s presentations. September will be a talk about the Kepler Mission and following meetings will be determined. Marty will send out a survey to members to get a feel what the club members want. Marty plans to have 3 constellation presentations also. Members are encouraged to provide talks. Contact Marty if you would like to speak to the club members.

Al Johnson brought up the fact that only 51% of ASGH members belong to the ASGH Yahoo group. The other 49% haven’t been getting communications. Al has started the ASGH member Bulletin to directly communicate with all members via e-mails. This will continue until all non-members are cleared off the group and all current ASGH members join the group. One way or another, all members will receive ASGH communication.

John Sillasen remembered that this evening marks the 31st Anniversary of ASGH meeting at the CCSU Planetarium, and thanks Craig Robinson of CCSU for allowing this to happen. ASGH members thank Craig and CCSU for giving us a great meeting environment!

The meeting adjourned at 9:46PM. Next meeting is September 21, 2016 at 7:30PM

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The Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford Meeting Minutes 20 April 2016

The meeting was brought to order at 7:39PM by President Ray Zywno. There were16 attendees.

The meeting began with an excellent presentation by Professor Robert Fischetti, Quinnipiac University, on “Measuring General Relatively”.

The Secretaries report was given by Al Johnson. The minutes were accepted as posted with no additions or corrections.

The Treasurers Report was given by Cyndi Barron. The checking account balance is $2187.43, and Savings account balance is $2123.11.

Outreach Events: Cyndi reported that the Air Museum “Space Day” event went well. We had a great location for our booth with the 17.5 DOB and a desktop DOB on display. ASGH brochures and applications were handed out to interested visitors. There were 1800 attendees and Cyndi Barron, Marty Ollenschleger, Ralph Concepcion and Al Johnson staffed the booth. Ray hasn’t received a reply from the Brookdale retirement community in Windsor. On May 4th Dean Kavalkovich is leading a star Party at Hurd State Park. Club members can attend if they desire. The Southbury Historical Society wants us back for another star show. Chris Markiewicz is chairing the event. Contact Chris if you want to pitch in. The Trolley Museum outreach is scheduled for November 19 at East Haven, CT.

Public Observing: Marty gave a report on his visit to the Talcott Mountain Academy/Science Center. They have several scopes, including a 16” SCT. They need assistance manning scopes at meetings during winter months as they shut down for the summer. If we assist we can get publicity for the Club and possibly get more members. This is something we can check out at their May meeting, the 26th, to give them assistance or even use the area for a future ASGH star party. Marty will send out a note beforehand soliciting volunteers. May 7th is a public observing at Wesleyan, Mars Night, and the 27th is Commencement. June 16, a Thursday, is StarConn and will be held in conjunction with Wesleyan’s Van Vleck Observatory Centennial event at Wesleyan. Details are at the Wesleyan website. The original Date of June 18 for StarConn is cancelled. The 20” will be available for observing in the evening of the 16th.  Next week, starting with the 25th of April, training on the 20” will be available for ASGH 20” staff, clear skies permitting.

Member Observing Reports: The Virgo Clusters are available this month, great galaxy viewing.

Wesleyan Events: May 6 is the opening of the historical Centennial exhibit in the VVO library.

StarConn: After the Centennial presentations and after dinner, Wesleyan has agreed to have Fred Orthlieb give a presentation to ASGH/StarConn attendees on the restoration of the 20” refractor. This will be in the same building( Usdan Center) as the Centennial event or in the Van Vleck Observatory Classroom depending on attendance. There will be no raffle at this year’s StarConn. Ray has requested Wesleyan to video the Centennial events, speakers and Fred’s talk on the 20” refurbishment.

Web Development: Cyndi has experimented and put up an ASGH website prototype and it looks good. Ray is still asking for help to develop a new website for the Club. Let Ray know if you can assist/help.

Election of Officers: Elections will be held during the May meeting. Anyone interested in being an officer can step up and be nominated. Let Ray know at the beginning of the meeting.

New Business: Cyndi brought up reading minutes during meetings versus not reading minutes. She made a motion to have minutes read during meetings. The motion was seconded and all approved. The by-laws will be changed to reflect the new procedure. Cyndi also asked for approval to spend $250 for the insurance premium, and all voted for approval. Cyndi also asked for an approval to spend $50 for returning raffle gifts that were donated, and all members approved.

Old Business: None

Science Fair: Carl Williams reported that no astronomy contestants were available, however 2 students had been selected. Junior Award recipient Gryffin Syme did a study on air/water rocket motor nozzle size and Senior Award recipient Thomas Cortellesi’s project focused on development of a special fuelled rocket, light weight and simple to build. We hope that both will be at the May 18th  meeting for their presentations.

Good of The Club: Dave Blackford suggested a club member station a scope outside on the side walk to attract CCSU students to astronomy. It could be set up before and after our meetings. The Club is still planning on having a Star Party at the Toussaint Farm in North Granby, 30 April. Watch for an update on the ASGH Group site. If it’s a go directions will be posted with the update.

Al Johnson had the By-Law changes flashed on the ceiling and went over all of the changes incorporated, explaining what was previously voted on at past meetings and put into the minutes, and what was new (operating procedures in place and presently used). New Articles were incorporated including Members and Communications. New committees include Membership and Outreach. After the review the changes were voted on and were approved. Once the document is corrected, spelling and asterisks, all members will be sent a copy via e-mail.

The meeting adjourned at 9:50PM.

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The Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford Meeting Minutes 16 March 2016

President Ray Zywno brought the meeting to order at 7:38PM. There were 17 attendees.

The Secretaries Report was given by Al Johnson, The minutes had one correction, Comet Caroline should be Comet 2013US, Survey name being Catalina, otherwise they were accepted.

Treasurers Report was given by Cyndi Barron. The Checkbook and Savings account balances were not available at the time of the meeting and are updated here for the benefit of the membership.

Checking   $2,187.43

Savings   $2,123.02

 

 

Guests present were Kyle and his son, who brought in their basic small Newtonian scope and manual equatorial mount for some instruction on how to use.

Outreach Events: The Boy Scouts event is March 21st in Manchester. Last Friday was the big event at the Toffolon Elementary school for 5th graders. There were 8 scopes and views of the moon, Jupiter and many deep sky objects were seen. The event was well organized and students forwarded to us thank you notes and cards.  Ray is doing planning for next year’s Toffolon event. The Air Museum’s Space Day event is coming up on 2 April in Windsor Locks. Al Johnson, Cyndi Barron, Dave Blackford and Marty Ollenschleger are helping out. More info on Space Day is forthcoming. The Brookdale Seniors Living, South Windsor, is requesting an outreach. A day has to be selected as Saturday’s are limited and possibly a Friday night will be selected. More to follow.  The Southbury Historical Society is again requesting an outreach. A Friday may be selected for this outreach also. Ray wants to discuss having an outreach coordinator to handle the requests, possibly during the By-laws meeting.

Public Observing: Seven Boy Scouts were at Van Vleck last Saturday night, with their Scout Leaders. Although the viewing was poor, craters on the moon were seen along with Jupiter and its moons. A good time was had by all. Eleven ASGH members were present.

Wesleyan Events: A colloquium is coming up on the 23rd of March on Brown Dwarfs, the Sturm Lecture is on Tuesday, April 19th. The VVO Centennial Symposium is on Thursday, June 16th, an all day celebration of the Van Vleck Observatory. It starts at 9AM and closes at 11PM. Fee is $50 and includes lunch and Dinner. Information and registration is available on Wesleyan’s official website.

StarConn: StarConn this year will be in conjunction with The Centennial Symposium on June 16th. It will not take place on Saturday the18th as originally planned but will be combined with the Wesleyan Univ. VVO Centennial Symposium. A notice will be sent out to Clubs regarding the change in venue. It will be decided if a vendor will attend and raffle will take place.

Science Fair: No-one was present from the Judging group so no information is available. The Science Fair is taking place this week so news should come soon from Carl Williams.

Elections are coming up in May. If anyone would like to apply for an officer position, please do so and let Ray know. All positions are open. Existing officers have agreed to continue on if no-one steps up.

Website: plans are to continue to work toward a new website and if anyone wants to pitch in to work with WordPress and help with the project, let Ray know.

Old Business: The Toussaint Farm Star Party is tentatively set for April 30, 2016, weather permitting.

New Business: The hours for public observing at Van Vleck Observatory are now 9PM to 11PM because of Daylight Saving Time.

Good of the Club: The Bylaws meeting is now scheduled for Tuesday, March 29th, 6 PM at the VVO classroom, Middletown. This meeting is to determine where previously voted on changes will be placed in the By-Laws. Nothing new will be voted on.

The meeting adjourned at 8:10 PM

The Evening Presentation was “Creating Your Own Observatory” by Al Johnson.

 

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The Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford Meeting Minutes 17 Feb 2016

President Ray Zywno brought the meeting to order at 9:05PM. There were 16 attendees.

Prior to the meeting Professor Herbst of the Wesleyan Univ. Astronomy Department gave an excellent presentation on Gravity Waves. He also gave the ASGH an update on the upcoming VVO Centennial program.

The Secretaries Report was given by Al Johnson. January’s minutes were read and accepted with no additions or corrections.

The Treasurer’s Report was given by Al Johnson as Cyndi Barron was absent. The Checkbook was $2187.43 and the Savings account was $2122.94.

Guests present were Rob Trudell and Brandon Flaherty, both expressing interest in joining the ASGH.

Outreach events: The Toffolon School in Plainville is coming up on Friday, the eleventh of March. If you are attending, plan on getting there around 1 hour before sunset (5 PM) to get set up. The Boy Scouts in Manchester are having an outreach on the 21st with Chris Markiewicz and Dave Allen putting on the event. April 2nd is the Space Expo at the Bradley Air Museum and ASGH is having a booth with a telescope display. More at the March meeting. Dean Kavalkovich announced that he was working with the East Hampton Rotary to hold a star party at Hurd State Park on Wednesday night, May 4th. The Trolley Museum Star Party in East Haven is scheduled for November 19, 2016. John Sillasen brought up the Solar Fest USA which will be held in Missouri on August 22 to the 29th, sponsored by Day Star Equipment. John is planning on going and if others are interested go to solarfestusa.com for more info.

Public Observing: The Slocomb Birthday event at Van Vleck Observatory had around 50 to 60 attendees. The seeing wasn’t very good and Pleiades was the only decent target. John Sillasen mentioned there is still a learning curve for the modernized 20”. The Wesleyan Colloquiums are coming up. This coming there is one on Pulsating White Dwarfs, others are scheduled for March 2, 23, April 27 and 30. Astronomy –on –Tap meeting is March 1st in New Haven. More info at astronomyontap.org.

Member Observing: Mark Boeke showed us images of sunspots he took last Sunday during very cold temps. Ray sought out and found Comet Catalina with his binoculars in January.

Science Fair: Scott Tracey reported that he, Carl Williams and possibly Al Hall and Dick Parker would participate with the Science Fair search for award candidates beginning on March 15.

StarConn: A meeting will be scheduled before March 12. We are waiting a reply from Wesleyan regarding assistance with speakers. Ray will resend an e-mail.

Website: Ray is still looking for help with website design with WordPress. John Sillasen is looking forward to vacating the webmaster position.

Astronomer of the Year: Al Johnson is working on this.

Elections: Election of officers will take place at the May meeting. Anyone interested in an Officer position should notify Ray. Existing officers present have agreed to continue through next year.

Old Business: A date will be selected to update the Constitution and By-Laws, the meeting to be held at VVO library or classroom. Ray Z will advise date and time.

New Business: The Toussaint Farm Star Party is planned for the 3rd or 4th weekend in March, weather permitting. Directions will be posted when date is confirmed.

Good of the Club: Al Johnson is doing a presentation at the March meeting and specially invited new members and entry level beginners to attend the “Creating Your Own Observatory”. The North East Astronomy Forum and North East Astronomy Imaging Conference will be held at the Rockland Community College Gym on April 7th to 10th, Suffern, NY. Search “NEAF” for details. This is a good, big show, bring money as good prices are available on the 9th and 10th (NEAF). Admission is $25 per day for NEAF. Ray asked if anyone else was requested for interviews for the oral history of CT Amateur Astronomy history being done by Wesleyan staff in preparation for the VVO centennial. All at the meeting had been interviewed.

Next Meeting is 16 March, 2016.

Meeting Adjourned at 9:50PM.

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Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford Meeting Minutes 20 January 2016

President Ray Zywno brought the meeting to order at 7:40 PM. There were 14 attendees.

The speaker tonight was Marty Ollenschleger, Vice President, giving an excellent presentation on the Constellation “Taurus”. The presentation was given prior to the business meeting.

Secretaries Report: Al Johnson read Novembers Meeting minutes and they were accepted with one change on the date of the sidewalk event in Branford the 18th instead of the 8th. There was no December 2015 meeting due to the facility being closed.

Treasurers Report: Cyndi Barron announced that there was $ 2000.43 in the Checking account and $ 2122.85 in the Savings account. She is still accepting dues for 2016. She has checks to process from dues payments and will get them completed soon.

Outreach: The Glastonbury event went well with Chris Markiewicz and Dave Allen. The Trolley Museum went well up until start time and the clouds moved in and spoiled the evening. Scott Tracy did the lecture and soon after it clouded over. The attendance was good but few stars were seen. It is possible that next year it will be the 19th of November. John Sillasen reported that the Sidewalk Astronomers(a Facebook Group from New Haven) Event in Branford turned out well, with talks held inside and scopes set up outside sheltered by vehicles, in the very cold environment. A dozen or so showed up for observing. The subsequently held pizza party turned out well also. The Toffolon Middle School will have an observing event March 11. They sent an e-mail confirming the date. If you can, plan on attending. The Air Museum at Bradley Field is having Space Exhibit on April 2nd and we will be there with the 17.5 DOB and other scopes for display and question answering.

Public Observing: December’s event turned out well with over 50 visitors. There were 5 scopes available plus the 16” Meade in the dome. The January Public observing was weathered out. The next public session is on the 6th of February, Frederick Slocomb’s birthday (early astronomer at Wesleyan). Wesleyan will hold a special program at the observatory, to honor the date with special period costuming, Roy Kilgard speaking at 7PM and observing afterward from 8 to 10 PM. The 20 inch will be available for observing along with the 16” and scopes outside. Because of upcoming construction, the 16” will not be available to use this summer, consequently it is important for the 20” committee to get trained on using the 20”. John Sillasen will work closely with Roy Kilgard to get ASGH staff trained in time for summer. John Allen stayed in contact with his cancelled outreach scout group from Berlin and they are willing to attend a public observing session at Van Vleck on March 12.

Member Observing: Al Johnson talked of his imaging of M42 with 13 degree temperatures. Laurie Guenther brought up the 5 planet alignment that can be observed just before sunrise. Ray announced that the best nights coming up for the Messier Marathon are March 12 and 13th, and April 2nd and 3rd.

Ray suggested that we plan to bring the 17.5 DOB to Stellafane this year to participate in the awards competition.

StarConn: The event will be on June 18, 2016. The agenda is going together with speakers getting confirmed. It will coincide with the Van Vleck Centennial celebration. If speakers do not materialize, there may be an amended StarConn program to suit fewer speakers and reduced attendance. March 12 is the decision date for the StarConn program.

Website Development: Going slowly.

Science Fair: It is March 15 to the 19th and Carl Williams should be getting ready to attend the event and make selections.

Old Business: None

New Business: A meeting will be held to update our Constitution and By-laws. Changes have been made at previous meetings but the changes haven’t been installed into the official document. Meeting date is to be determined.

Good of the Club: Al Johnson will not be present for the February meeting and John Sillasen agreed to take the minutes. There have been 5 amateur astronomers interviewed so far by the Centennial staff at Wesleyan. Ray will check with the staff to get an update. Al Johnson, Ralph Concepcion and Dave Vosgien visited the Toussaint Farm to prepare for the next Star Party. It is planned for later March to get the best views of Orion and other objects. More updates to follow. Al Johnson brought up the GRAVITY Probe and one of its first observations is that one of the Trapezium cluster stars, in Orion’s sword, is a double star.

Next meeting will be at Van Vleck Observatory at Wesleyan University, Middletown, on the 17th of February. The Guest speaker is Professor Herbst with the Club business meeting after the speaker.

Meeting adjourned at 9:15PM.

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Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford December Meeting was not held

Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford Meeting Minutes-18 November 2015

President Ray Zywno brought the meeting to order at 7:38 PM. There were 18 attendees.

Secretaries Report: Al Johnson read October’s minutes and members accepted the minutes with no additions or corrections.

Treasurers Report: Cyndi was not present so Ray announced that the Checking account was $2120.32 and the Savings account was $2122.68. If you haven’t paid your dues get them to Cyndi by mail or bring them in next meeting.

New Members: Mark Boeke was here with his son Luke, and joined the ASGH. The ASGH welcomes our new members.

Outreach: John Allen reported that overcast cloud conditions led to cancelling the Boy Scout event, however it was suggested that the Scouts could have a special night field trip at Van Vleck sometime after the New Year. John will work on it. Ray discussed the logistics and timing of the Trolley Museum outreach this coming Saturday evening. Ray, Al Johnson, Cyndi Barron and John Sillasen are planning on attending with their scopes, with Scott Tracy doing the class room presentation. Dave Allen reported on the Glastonbury event that he and Chris Markiewicz will be handling. Ed Chesky was going to try and assist also. Ray discussed the Plainville Elementary School event on March 11th, which we had also worked last year. More details will follow as we get closer. John Sillasen reported his involvement in the Sidewalk Astronomers of New Haven’s upcoming event December 18th in Branford, CT. Anyone interested can e-mail John Sillasen for details.

Public Observing: John Sillasen reported that Saturday, 5 December will be the last session this year at the Van Vleck Observatory, 8 PM. All are invited to attend and bring your scope if you like. The last Public session/homecoming at Wesleyan was attended on Friday by Chris Markiewicz and Saturday was a rain out. The 20” has a few issues with wiring and may not be online until the end of January. Chris did say that the view of Uranus was spectacular Friday night through the 20”. Ray announced a colloquium coming up at Wesleyan on December 2nd and details are on the Wesleyan website.

Member Observing Reports: Al Johnson reported that the Mohawk Mtn. Star Party was cancelled due to the cold weather and winds. He is working on another star party in the near future. Dick Parker just came back from Chiefland, FL and reported on his viewing through a 32” reflector and seeing the central star in M57. John Sillasen reported on the good seeing at Mauna Kea in Hawaii, where he just returned from volunteering at the Observatory Visitors Welcome Center.

Starconn: Cyndi has generated the first draft of the flyer to be sent out to surrounding astronomy clubs. Ray mentioned it looked good and as soon as it is finalized, it will be sent out via e-mail to 30 clubs. Cyndi still needs a picture of the 20” scope for the flyer. This may be our last Starconn due to lack of interest/poor attendance.

Web Development: Still looking for help with the development using WordPress software. Contact Ray if interested.

Old Business: None

New Business: None

Good of the Club: Older members are now being interviewed by Wesleyan staff to develop the history of amateur astronomers in Conn., in preparation of the upcoming Centennial. Dick Parker announced several mirror workshops, one in Springfield Vermont, Springfield Telescope Makers, and one in Newcastle, Delaware, Mid-Atlantic Mirror Making Seminar put on by the Delmarva Stargazers. You can Google about these two if you have an interest in grinding your own mirror. Dick Parker’s mirror workshop is no longer in operation. John Sillasen announced that the Thames Amateur Astronomer Society has an 8” mirror grinding kit for sale, $179. Contact John if you are interested. John has also found and ordered the diagonal and visual back for the Orange C-8 from Camera Concepts. The Club members thank Chris Martinelli for donating the $59 for the parts. Al Johnson has ordered the knobs for the Orange C8 to eliminate using wrenches.

The meeting adjourned at 8:26PM

The Evening Presentation: John Sillasen gave a talk about the Thirty Meter Telescope in Hawaii, and its battle for survival amidst protesting.

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The Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford Meeting Minutes 20 October 2015
 

President Ray Zywno brought the meeting to order at 7:35PM. 18 attendees were present.

Secretaries Report. September’s meeting minutes were read and members accepted the minutes with no additions or corrections.

Treasurers Report: Cyndi gave the report of $2122.58 in the Savings account and $2878.71 in the checking account. Dues are due so get them in at the next meeting or send dues directly to Cyndi. Ray requested Cyndi to form an assets report to record the new scopes that the club owns, along with the projector, books and donations of equipment.

New Members: Joey Probulis was present and joined the ASGH. The ASGH welcomes our new member!

Outreach Events: The Trolley Museum outreach event is coming up on the 21st of November, 6 to 8PM in Branford. John Soehnlein, from the Trolley Museum, gave a presentation of what goes on for the benefit of new members. Scott Tracy, Ray, Cyndi, Al Johnson and John Allen are planning on attending. Ray mentioned the need for drawing up a protocol for doing outreach. He suggested not doing events during standard time, when temperatures can get really cold.

John Allen talked about an upcoming Cub Scout outreach on Nov. 6th at Sage Park in Berlin. This conflicts with Homecoming night at Wesleyan, however if anyone would like to help John with this, John will be posting it on the Yahoo group site and you can contact John directly.

Chris Markiewicz and Dave Allen handled the Cub Scout outreach with Pete Bradshaw at Vernon, Ct on Monday night the 19th.

Public Observing: Last weekend was public night at Van Vleck and the RAD and several other scopes were there including the WES Univ. 16”SCT. Not a lot of observers showed but the viewing was good and the Club’s 17.5 DOB (RAD) performed well. There was good participation from club members. The 20” committee received its first training session on the refurbished 20”. More training is coming on the Go To operation. Wesleyan is continuing the public observing night (WED) and children’s night (FRI) for public observing at Van Vleck Observatory.  The Public Observing website updated with next session info of November 6th 9-11 pm for Homecoming with ASGH support and Public Night on Saturday from 8-10 pm.  Members should contact John Sillasen to participate or sign up to assist with one or both nights.

Member Observing: The eclipse of the Harvest moon was the biggest item for observing. Dave Blackburn had his 10” DOB out on the sidewalk and attracted neighbors interested in the eclipse. Dave also commented on the Conn. Star Party, having viewed prominent Messier objects and feeling the fall chills in the night air. There were probably 6 or so members attending. John Allen passed around images he took of the planets and moon with an inexpensive Solar System video camera he purchased from Orion Telescopes. November 14th is the date for the ASGH star party at Mohawk Mountain State Park. Ralph Concepcion is with the DEEP and will be with us. If the temperature is near freezing, 32, we will cancel the event. Although there are areas for camp fires, there are no shelters. Getting warmed up will take place in your cars. Al Johnson will post directions, etc. on the group site.

Old Business: Ray brought up the VVO Centennial at Wesleyan and the request for historical information, items and memorabilia for our club and other CT amateur related information. If you have any info, call Ray. Ray also stressed the need for help with WordPress Software so that development of the new website can keep moving.

New Business: Carl Williams requested that the Club continue with the Science Fair Program for 2016. A motion was made and voted unanimously for the funding and continuation of the program.

Good of the Club: John Soehnlein from the Trolley Museum suggested the Madison VORTAC would be a good location to photograph aircraft as they passed by a full moon. As a navigation aid, aircraft frequently pass over, providing good opportunities.

The meeting adjourned at 8:28PM.

The Evening speaker, Kevin Flaherty from Wesleyan University, gave a talk on “The Turbulent Life of Proto-planetary Discs.

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The Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford Meeting Minutes, 16 September, 2015

President Ray Zywno brought the meeting to order at 7:40 PM. There were 18 attendees.

Secretaries Report: Members present voted to accept last May’s posted minutes without additions or corrections.

Treasurers Report: Cyndi Barron read the treasurers report. Savings is $2122.50 and the checking balance is $2044.21. Cyndi has a detailed report on StarConn and reported the loss from StarConn was $591.95. Cyndi reminded all that membership dues are due. Please bring your dues to the October meeting or mail them directly to Cyndi.

New Members: David Campisi and Rosanne Permahos from Hebron and Laurie Guenther (correct spelling of Laurie’s name from May meeting). The ASGH membership welcomes our new members!

Outreach: Dave Opalenik gave a report on the Southbury outreach event and cited that the sky didn’t cooperate and being more flexible could have allowed more viewers to see the sky before conditions got worse. Ray Z. mentioned the upcoming Trolley Museum outreach coming up November 21st at 6 to 8 PM. There will be a 77% moon that night. Ray also talked about discouraging outreach events if it is brutal cold out.

Public Observing: Even though June was rained out, there were good public sessions this summer, in fact in August there were enough scopes outside, RAD included, that the 16” wasn’t utilized. The 20” is coming along well and a recent video showed it slewing on its own, computer controlled, of course. We are looking forward to getting trained on its operation. ASGH members Dave A., Cyndi, Chris, Ray and John S.  also pitched in this summer with Wesleyan staff with the Adult and KIDS nights on Wednesday and Friday evenings, respectively, helping with classroom and outside scope duties.  Ray has developed the new 2016 Public observing schedule. The schedule takes into account the holidays, other Club astronomical events, Wesleyan events and moon phases. This coming Public Observing session will be augmented by the International Observe the Moon night. Wesleyan students will be manning their portable scope early on while the moon is visible. Club members can come early with their scopes to help out. Our normal session, from 9 to 11 PM will take place. Because of a new Wesleyan grad student being wheel chair bound, John Sillasen is working with Roy Kilgard to develop a system that will allow wheel chair bound observers to observe, in the library, utilizing special cameras and projectors/screens, live streaming in conjunction with the 20” and 16”telescopes. John said some equipment has already been purchased by Wesleyan.

Member Observing: John Sillasen gave a Stellafane report and said there was a significant increase in attendance this year. The special speakers contributed to this. Even though it rained early on, the weather improved and the optical judging took place. Arunah Hill Days turned out well taking advantage of the clear skies for the weekend. John finished up the weekend with a clear Sunday night at Heron Cove with local observers. The Connecticut Star Party is coming up in October with Al Johnson, John Sillasen and other members attending. Al will bring up the 17.5 DOB for members to use, provided the skies cooperate. ASGH is also planning an October Star Party, either at the Toussaint Farm or possibly Dennis Hill State Park just south of Norfolk, CT. Ralph Concepcion will check on the Parks availability for the event. Dennis Hill is on a mountain top and is superb!

Old Business: Ray gave an update on the Wesleyan Anniversary program that addresses history of amateur astronomy groups in Connecticut. On July 28th, Ray Z, John S, Al Johnson, Robert Royce and Craig Robinson met with Wesleyan Staff and talked about the history and previous happenings of our Club. Ray is looking for any old memorabilia, articles and newsletters from years in the past. ASGH will be 65 years old next year. Contact Ray if you have anything.

New Business: Ray brought up the StarConn program with its recent loss and poor performances in the past with attendance and revenues. If Starconn does not do well in 2016 we should consider ending the program. It did well in the past until NEAF came along and since has suffered. Something to think about.

Good of the Club: The Club has a new pre-owned non-Goto Celestron C-8 SCT. John Sillasen purchased it from the owner at a very reasonable price and donated it to the Club. It has an equatorial wedge, fold up mount and came with an assortment of eyepieces. The mount was broken and now is repaired and it was missing a power cord (old style hard to find) so Al Johnson modified the scope and installed a modern computer receptacle so now any computer power cord will fit. It works well with sidereal tracking and the images are sharp and clear. It will be used for public outreach/observing. Ray Z. announced the latest Colloquial schedule at Wesleyan this fall. If anyone is interested in it, information is on Wesleyan’s website. John Sillasen, an avid participant in the Mauna Kea Observatory Outreach Program, talked about and displayed a new book “A Sky Wonderful of Stars” by West, portraying the heavens from Mauna Kea, is available from the University of Hawaii Press at $39.95. John will be heading back to Mauna Kea for 2 weeks, returning November 7th.

Meeting Adjourned at 8:20 PM.

Vice president Marty Ollenschleger introduced tonight’s presenter, Craig Robinson, Planetarium Director, CCSC. The title being “Planets of the Sun”, an excellent program for our new members and many things to learn for older members.

 

~

 



 

 

The Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford Meeting Minutes May 2015


President Ray Zywno brought the meeting to order at 7:34 PM. There were 25 attendees(WOW).

The Science Fair winners did their presentations first. Carl Williams introduced the speakers, Leo Andruik and Jim Zhang. Both presentations were excellent and speak highly of their abilities. After the presentations the official business meeting continued at 8:43PM.

Secretaries Report: Al Johnson read last month’s minutes and they were accepted as read with no additions or corrections.

Treasurers Report: Cyndi Barron announced the Savings Account balance is $4122.03 and the Checking Account is $706.35. The reduction in checking balance is due to Insurance renewal, speaker fees, State fees for the raffle, Corporation fee and the DOB mirror coating charges.

New Members: One new member was present, joining tonight is Lori Gunther. The ASGH membership welcomes Lori as a new member.

Elections: Ray Zywno is President, Marty Ollenschleger is Vice-president, Cyndi Barron is Treasurer, Al Johnson is Secretary and John Sillasen is Webmaster.

Public Observing: The National Astronomy Day Public Observing date turned out well with clear skies and many members bringing out their scopes…8 of them! It wasn’t necessary to open the 16” Van Vleck SCT. The attendance was good and all had a good time seeing. It was “first light” for the ASGH 17’5 Dobsonian telescope and the views were great. This weekend‘s public observing session on Saturday 23 May needs volunteers and extra scopes due to the expected high attendance due to Commencement weekend at Wesleyan. Friday night the Observatory will be open due to Commencement and John Sillasen requested volunteers to help at Van Vleck. All Club members are invited to participate on Public Observing nights.

Outreach: November 21st is the Trolley Museum’s Astronomy Night with the Scouts. It was decided that the 17.5 DOB would not attend due to logistics at the site. No other outreach programs were requested.

Member Observing: Members brought up the great astro images by Joe Roberts, other than that not much, however Cyndi mentioned getting a good deal on purchasing a popular astronomical print. Ray tried viewing with the Club’s 8” SCT and found out that observing through Middletown’s skies was difficult due to the light pollution…like 8th magnitude is it!

Old Business: Van Vleck Observatory Centennial: A discussion was had about the history of our Club and Astronomy in Connecticut, for the presentation being developed by Wesleyan University. Ray will try to contact Mr.’s; Gibson, Dombrowski, Oshana, and Rob Royce for information about our Clubs history in the earlier years. This will be forwarded to Wesleyan for the Centennial.

New Business: None

StarConn: John Sillasen has a meeting with the event coordinator at Wesleyan Tuesday. A discussion about the speakers confirmed that all was in place. The raffle is officially legal with the State with items totaling over $600 in value. Cyndi thanked Dave Allen and Ralph Concepcion for their efforts to solicit door prizes for StarConn at NEAF several weeks ago. Cyndi announced the door prizes to the meeting attendees. No ticket sales were recorded as of the meeting tonight. Craig Robinson of CCSC said he would put in a StarConn blurb in the CCSC Flyer. Al Johnson e-mailed the Brochure and program to 26 regional clubs. Ray will e-mail previous and current members.

Web Site Development: On hold until StarConn is over.

Good of the Club:  Al Johnson will ask Dave Vosgien to contact the owner of the Toussaint Farm for holding an ASGH Star party to commemorate the new 17.5 DOB scope. We will pick a date for this summer and post it on the Club Yahoo group site. Dave Allen, Ralph Concepcion and Al Johnson gave a demonstration on setting up RAD, the new 17’5 DOB. It was assembled, highlights of the scope discussed amongst members present, and then disassembled. Dave Allen took the scope to his home for temporary storage. Al Johnson also gave Cyndi an accounting of donations and expenses for the project. Al thanked Dave, Ralph, John Allen, Bill Hurley, Cyndi, and John Sillasen for donations of money, labor and/or material for the DOB project.  Al also thanked Dick Parker for addressing the stored mirror issue at his home thereby allowing us to put the scope together. Ray planted the seed for thoughts for National Astronomy Day next year at the Van Vleck at Wesleyan University. John Sillasen announced that the Planetary Society has launched a satellite “ LightSail”, funded by members, and should be visible soon.

Meeting adjourned at 9:20 PM.

~

 


 

The Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford April 2015 Meeting Minutes

The President brought the meeting to order at 7:39 PM. There were 10 attendees. No new members or guests were present.

Secretaries Report: Al Johnson read last month’s minutes. They were accepted as read with no additions or corrections.

Treasurers Report: Cyndi Barron read the treasurer’s report and the Savings account balance is $4121.86 and the checking account balance is $1520.95.

Outreach Events: No outreach events were requested since the last meeting.

Public Observing: The evening of March 21 had some clouds however we did see Jupiter and several double stars. Approximately 6 visitors attended the event. Next session is April 25, National Astronomy Day and we want a good display of scopes available at Wesleyan. Four members volunteered to bring scopes, weather permitting. Please join us at the Van Vleck observatory. A date has to be set for finishing the alignment and checking the collimation for the 16” Meade at Wesleyan. On April 29th at Wesleyan, the Sturm lecture is at 8PM and is featuring a guest speaker from MIT. Astronomy on Tap takes place at Yale in New Haven, the 21st of April at 8 to 10 PM.

Observing Reports: None

17.5 DOB Report: Al Johnson reported the telescope is finished. A final modification with sewing the light shield took place and a data plaque was made for the scope. The primary and secondary mirrors were removed for recoating. Before mirror removal the scope was collimated and great views of Jupiter and M42 were had. Once the mirrors are installed and collimated, the scope will be brought to the May meeting for a show and tell session.

Old Business: None

New Business: None

StarConn: Committee members are still working on filling speaker slots, solar observing and spectroscopy and AAVSO. Door prizes are needed and some members going to NEAF will try to obtain some from vendors there. If you have a worthwhile astronomical object or book in excellent condition we would welcome the donation.

Web Development: On hold until StarConn is over.

Good of the Club: Dave Allen announced that he will be dropping off the 17.5 mirror at the coaters in New Jersey Thursday. There are 9 other mirrors that will be recoated together with the 17.5.

Meeting was adjourned at 8:03 PM

Guest speaker tonight was Ryan Cybulski, an astronomy grad student from UMASS-Amherst and his excellent presentation was “Galaxy Evolution in Extreme Environments”.

 

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The Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford Meeting Minutes March 18, 2015

President Ray Zwyno brought the meeting to order at 7:35 PM. There were 19 attendees present. New member Pete was here along with Jill who was planning to join our Club. The ASGH welcomes you both.

Secretaries Report: No minutes were available to be read from the February meeting.

Treasurers Report: Cyndi gave the treasurers report announcing that the Savings Account balance was $4121.69 and the check book balance was $1520.95. Although it is 6 months past the dues due date, we are still looking for any dues that are delinquent.

Outreach Events: The Plainville School event turned out well considering the weather. 65 students participated and 6 ASGH members brought scopes and provided dialogue. As of tonight Heron Cove was still unplowed.

Public Observing: Weather for our Public observing nights has not been good. We will try again this Saturday evening. Members that would like to help out can arrive at 8PM. There will be a StarConn meeting at 7PM if anyone wants to attend in the Van Vleck Library. Future Public Observing dates can be found at the ASGH website.

17.5” DOB Report: Al Johnson gave an update on the DOB’s progress. Dave Allen and Ralph Concepcion continue to help with the project. We have to shorten the truss tubes slightly to achieve focus. The telescope is in balance and we are presently making a light shroud and finishing the wiring for secondary mirror heat and eyepiece heat. The power panel and battery are in place and the fan works. The scope will be ready for display at the April meeting.

Web Site: The new website project is presently on hold.

Science Fair: Carl Williams along with Allen Hall and Scott Tracey selected Leo Andriuk for first prize for Leo’s “The Derivation of Habitable Zones Around Binary Star Systems: Is Planetary Stability Possible?” project. Second prize went to Xiaotian Zhang whose project is “Smoking Gun In The Milky Way Galaxy: Open Clusters and Dwarf Galaxies”. Both students are from Staples High School in Westport, CT. We are planning on having them do a presentation in April’s meeting.

Elections: Elections will take place at the May meeting. Ray expressed a desire to continue as president if no-one else gets nominated. The same goes for Al Johnson at the secretary’s position. The vice-presidents position will be open as Tom is not interested in running again. One of the missions of the vice-president is to find speakers for our meetings. Anyone interested in this position should come forward at the April meeting, or contact an officer of ASGH before then.

Wesleyan Programs: Ray brought up the Wesleyan University outreach for observing and the schools desire to let ASGH members know what is going on. After a discussion ASGH agreed to have Wesleyan have access to the ASGH Yahoo Group as a means to keep us informed. This was more favorable than to give Wesleyan an extensive list of club member e-mail addresses. As astronomical events arise at Wesleyan, you will now be informed through the ASGH Yahoo group e-mail.

Also with the upcoming Van Vleck Observatory Centennial, Wesleyan is looking to generate a history of astronomical clubs and doings of Central Connecticut. Our Club has been asked to provide a history from our beginning. Ray has requested a list of members and ex-members for phone or in-person interviews. At least eight names were identified for an opportunity to record history of our Club. Members present will try to get in touch with the eight and get their inputs. Ray will coordinate this and possibly will arrange meetings at the Van Vleck Library at Middletown.

Good of the Club: After a brief discussion the members present voted to have the ASGH treasury pay for recoating the 17.5” DOB’s mirror at a cost of no more than $400. The DOB committee will contact Dick Parker for his input on a New England mirror recoating firm. The discussion continued with the storage and care that must be provided for the DOB. Although no conclusion was reached, we all felt that the scope must be kept in good responsible hands and transported to club functions carefully as it is heavy and cumbersome to move around. A discussion about raising dues, to support events like Star Conn, a newsletter like Star Trails and to improve our financial position, took place and was tabled to the Executive board meeting. We are looking for door prizes for the Star Conn event. If you have new astronomical items, or lightly used items in excellent condition we are asking if you would donate them to Star Conn. You may also purchase new Astronomy gifts (books, eyepieces, etc.) and donate them to Star Conn as door prizes. We do not have a vendor this year so having decent door prizes will result in better door prize ticket sales and profit from our event.

The meeting adjourned at 10:30PM

The Guest Speaker: Dr. Leslie Brown from the Connecticut College in New London gave a talk on “The Allure of Classic Glass- The Connecticut College Alvan Clark Refractor”. This was an excellent talk on the school’s astronomical observing history.

~


The Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford Meeting Minutes February 18, 2015 

The President brought the meeting to order at 7:37 PM.  There were 6 attendees and 3 guests.

 

February’s meeting was at the Van Vleck Observatory of Wesleyan University.

 

Secretary’s Report:  Cyndi Barron read last month’s minutes as Al Johnson was out of state.   They were accepted as read with no additions or corrections.

 

Treasurer’s Report:  Cyndi Barron reported that checking account currently has a balance $ 1,669.80.  Savings account balance is $ 4,121.53.   Still accepting Dues for 2014-2015 year.

 

Outreach Events:  Simsbury is looking for a solar ambassador.  If anyone is interested please let Ray know.

 

March event originally scheduled for March 27th at Toffolon Elementary in Plainville, CT has been moved up to Friday March 13th.      Members are to show up by 5:30.  Observing to begin approximately 7:00.   Original plan was for us to be on the baseball field.  However as it appears snow will not be gone, we will be in front of the school by their entrance.  Ray has requested lights to be turned off during observing.   Cyndi Barron, John Silasen and Ray Zywno will be in attendance.   If others want to join please contact Ray.

 

Public Observing:  Was canceled in January due to snow / ice.     This was the first time in a long time it was cancelled.    

 

Public observing is scheduled for this Saturday, Feb 21st at Van Vleck.  Staff (Committee members) to report at 6:00   Weather is calling for snow again.   Check website on Saturday to see if we are open or not.   Website will be updated by 4:00.

 

17.5 Dob Report:  As Al Johnson is out of state, John Silasen reported that the mirror tracker is done.  They will be adding wheels and handles to the base for easier transport.   The wheels are air tires.

 

Observing Report:  Members and guests  reported on recent observations.

 

Old Business:  None

 

Temporary Break in Meeting:  Business meeting was temporarily suspended at 8:15 so Dr. William Herbst, our guest speaker could give his presentation.

 

Wesleyan University Astronomy Dept has received a grant to that they are able to conduct public observing events rain or shine each Wednesday at 8:00.    Tonight’s lecture by Dr. Herbst was the first under this grant.    In addition to the Wednesday night program they are also running kids events on the first and third Fridays.    Approximately 10-15 others join us for Dr. Herbst talk

 

After Dr. Herbst talk, those that were here for the Wesleyan event then went downstairs for next portion of Wesleyan’s program.   While ASGH members remained behind to conclude our business meeting.

 

New Business:            Business meeting resumed.   Two members from Wesleyan staff joined our meeting.   As part of the 100Th anniversary of the observatory to be celebrated next year, Wesleyan has received a grant from the CT Human Council, to document and record the history of the Van Vleck.   They mentioned that ASGH is an integral part of the observatories history.   They will be looking to reach out to us more this summer and next fall.  They would like to speak with various members current and past who can provide history.  

 

StarConn:   Currently still do not have a keynote speaker.   John will be reaching out to Dr. Leslie Brown of Central Connecticut.   She is also scheduled to speak at next month’s meeting.   Still working on an AAVSO speaker, to date no one available.  John advised that Camera Concepts and Telescopes Solutions would no longer be able to attend StarConn as June 13th is the Cherry Spring Star Party.   Unfortunately when we moved it from the 7th to 13th due to MC conflicts no one thought to look for other conflicts.    As speakers have already been reconfirmed for the 13th we will not be moving StarConn again.   We therefore will not have any vendors.  Donations for door prizes will be even more important.   All club members are welcome to join any StarConn committee meeting.  The next meeting is scheduled for Saturday, March 7th at 6:00.  

 

Web Page:  Ray passed out handout of what he envisions the new webpage to look like.  He is looking for volunteers to write different sections.    Anyone interested in helping should attend the meeting on March 7th at 6:00.  After StarConn committee meeting there will be a web page committee meeting.

 

Meeting was adjourned at 9:40

 

~


 

The Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford Meeting Minutes January 21, 2015

President Ray Zwyno brought the meeting to order at 7:38PM. There were 11 attendees.

Secretary Report: Al Johnson read last months minutes. The were no additions and one correction, the Savings account balance was incorrect. The correct balance is $4121.35. Except for the error the minutes were accepted as read.

Treasurers Report: Cyndi Barron announced the Savings account was $4121.18 and the checking account balance is $1553.90. Dues for 2015 are due.

Outreach: The Simsbury Public Library is looking for a speaker covering ”Space Science” issues such as the comet landing. This will be in March. If any one is interested in speaking contact the library. The Plainville Elementary School inquired about a star party on a Friday night. The 27th of March was selected and Cyndi, John Sillasen and Ray Zwyno volunteered. More volunteers are welcome. Ray will determine the correct arrival time for setup although he mentioned sunset is at 7:10PM. Xavier High School Astronomy Club requested information about laser pointers and Al Johnson sent them an e-mail with information.

Public Observing: John Sillasen reported that He, Ray and Al Johnson adjusted the North/South positioning of the 16” Meade by rotating the pylon 5/16” which greatly improved the GOTO accuracy. The East/West drift adjustment needs to be adjusted, however we ran out of time and ability to shim the mount that night. Staff at Wesleyan desire to image from the 16”. In the near future another attempt will be made to complete the adjustments. Next Public observing is this coming Saturday but bad weather is forecast.

Member Observing: John Sillasen reported an observing event at the Connecticut College. Ray Zwyno used binoculars to view the Comet Lovejoy which is near Pleiades.

17.5 " DOB Report: Al Johnson reported that the rocker box is being built and by next weekend it should be finished. The ground base is finished along with the secondary. That leaves the truss tube length has to be determined and will be accomplished by sighting through the secondary with the mirror box in position and once a ground image is in focus, measurements will be taken for a starting point. Hopefully we can get this done by the next meeting. Dave Allen, Ralph Concepcion and I are the workers. Other committee members are invited along with anyone else desiring to pitch in. Contact Al at aajohnson@snet.net. Donations are welcome.

StarConn: The StarConn convention is now moved to June 13th to accommodate our MC Scott Tracey. There will be a StarConn meeting at the Van Vleck library this Saturday, however if the weather is bad, the following Sat we will meet at 6PM. Anyone interested in helping with StarConn is invited to attend the meeting. Also we are looking for door prize donations and donations for coffee and donuts for break times.

Web Development: Ray found out that Sandeep relocated to Arizona so our web progress is back to square one. The website discussion will continue at the StarConn meeting as to what is next.

Old Business: Still looking for the Corporate Seal and stock certificates.

New Business: None

Good of the Club: The next ASGH meeting will be at Wesleyan’s Van Vleck Observatory library for the Prof. Herbst presentation on February 18th at 7:30PM. The Wesleyan colloquim schedule is out and dates are February 11 and 25, March 12 and 25 and on April 29. The Sturm Lecture is on April 29, subject is “Extra Solar Planets and Their Atmospheres”.

Meeting adjourned at 8:10PM.

Tonights speaker: Vice-president Tom Karpf introduced Nicole Arulanantham, Wesleyan University astronomy student, subject being “Infrared Spectroscopy on a 3MYR T Tauri Binary System”

~


The Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford Meeting Minutes December 17, 2014

 

President Ray Zwyno brought the meeting to order at 7:40 PM. There were 10 members present.

 

Secretary Report: Al Johnson read last month’s minutes. There were no additions or corrections and were accepted as read.

 

Treasurers Report: Cyndi announced the Savings account was $41381.27 and the Checking account is $1553.90. Dues are due for 2015.

 

Outreach Events: None for the immediate future. There is one possibly for March 2015.

 

Public Observing:  It was clear and cold Saturday, Dec 13 and the VVO was open. We had trouble getting the dome slit lower door open, however Chris Markiewicz un-jammed the cable and we then got going. Around 15 visitors attended and we observed M42, M45, Gamma Andromeda (colorful double star) and the Blue Snowball (NGC7662) with the 16” Meade. John Allen Jr brought his 70mm scope and Chris Markiewicz brought his Meade Light speed SCT. Ray, Al J., John Sillasen, Chris Markiewicz, John Allen & JR., Cyndi, Ralph Concepcion and Dan Delbiondo were present to staff the event.

 

Observing Reports: Craig Robinson reported that CCSU had a great turnout at their observing session Saturday night. The Geminid Meteor shower was better than expected early in the evening. John Sillasen reported that the Winter Solstice Star Party is this Friday night at Heron Cove. All are welcome to attend.

 

17" DOB Report: Al Johnson reported that Dave Allen, Ralph Concepcion and Al made a full size light path plan and that the weight & Balance calculations are just about complete. There is a work party Saturday to make the altitude bearings and begin laying out and cutting the mirror box sides and fabricating the truss tube attachments.

 

StarConn Report: We are still working to finalize the speakers. A Starconn Meeting is planned for January 3rd at VVO library at 6 PM. All interested in helping out are invited. The brochure/flyer has to be developed and a mailing list finalized. John Sillasen described the new layout for Starconn at the Exley Science Center, where the large open space previously occupied by vendors is now being used for a student study area. Vendors will be re-located to a large room down the hall from the lecture hall.

 

Web Development: Sandeep held a Word Press Familiarization meeting Dec 13 at VVO library. Cyndi, Ray, John S, Al J., and Dave Allen were present. Volunteers are wanted to write up information on each subject on the website. This info will be programmed using WordPress for the website. We will try to transfer as much as possible from the existing website. Organizational charts for the website were passed out at the meeting tonight.

 

Science Fair: Carl Williams reported that the Fair is March 2015 and that Allen Hall, Scott Tracy and Carl will be judging the contestants.

 

Old Business: We are still looking for the corporate seal and Stock certificates.

 

New Business: The February meeting, the 18th at 7:30 PM, will be held at Wesleyan Univ. Van Vleck Observatory Library for the Dr. Herbst presentation.

 

Good of the Organization: Tonight we had only 10 present and when speakers arrive they are surprised of so few in attendance. Many of us live quite far away from New Britain including myself and I know that personal commitments can interrupt the ASGH attendance. Next meeting’s speaker, in January on the 21st, is Wesleyan Astronomy student Nicole Arulanantham, try and make the meeting if possible. Thanks, Al Johnson.

 

Meeting was adjourned at 8:15.

 

Evening Speaker: Professor Cynthia Peterson of the Univ. of Connecticut gave a presentation on “New Celestial Puzzles”

 

 

~

 


 

 

Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford Meeting Minutes, November 19, 2014

 

Meeting was brought to order at 7:35 by President Ray Zywno. 15 attendees were present.

 

Secretaries Report: Al Johnson read last meetings minutes. There were no additions or corrections and were accepted as read.

 

Treasurers Report: Cyndi Barron read the treasurers report, $1571.55 in the checking account, and $4126.07 in the savings account. If you haven’t paid your dues, send them to Cyndi or bring them to the December meeting.

 

Outreach Events: The Trolley Museum Telescope Outreach was a rainout, however Scott Tracy and Ray Zywno were there. Scott did an excellent job giving a talk to the Scouts. We are planning on participating next year.  The Boy Scout event in Berlin, coordinated by John Allen, was attended by Dave Opalenik, Ray Zywno, John Sillasen, Chris Markiewicz and John Allen. Although the moon was almost full, all enjoyed looking at it and a few other celestial objects. Dave gave a talk to the scouts and kept them listening while sitting around a campfire, sipping hot chocolate. A discussion ensued to consider developing a presentation for these gatherings that would complement the Astronomy Merit Badge requirements.

 

Public Observing: We started out honoring John Sillasen for receiving an award from the Observatory at Mauna Kea, for a non-resident volunteering over 1000 hours, being a volunteer for ten years and voted Volunteer of the Year!!! Good Work John! Van Vleck Public Observing turned out well due to the clear skies. John, Ray, Cyndi, Al, Mark and John attended. John Allen also brought his 3.5 Questar and set it up outside. We used the Meade 16” SCT and viewed several deep sky objects, including M57. There were almost 50 visitors, including Scouts from Berlin and their parents. All are invited to the December 13, 8 to 10 PM Public session at VVO.

 

17.5 DOB Report: Al Johnson brought in the completed secondary for all to see, and Al stated not much has been done lately due to Al’s other commitments and Dave Allen being out on sick leave. Donations are needed for the truss tubes and so far we have $157 of the $200 needed. Donations can be sent to: Al Johnson, 256 Essex Road, Old Saybrook, CT 06475. It was brought up to have a scope christening upon completion at a special star party. Scott Tracy vouched to the quality of the optics when they were in the original DOB.

 

Starconn: A key note speaker, solar observing speaker and a spectroscopy speaker are needed and we are working on it. Also, John Sillasen noted that previous attendees were familiar with receiving a mailer with the itinerary, map and order blank. The committee will work on developing this along with getting a mailing list and determining who will get a flyer/mailer.

 

Web Development: Sandeep wasn’t present so Ray gave an overview as to where we are now and is looking for volunteers to learn Wordpress to understand how to edit the new website. Contact Ray if you are interested. Meetings would be at Wesleyan’s Van Vleck Library.

 

Old Business: John Sillasen brought in the digital projector. He purchased and donated a new bulb for it, along with printing out a new operator’s handbook. Cyndi agreed to take possession of the projector and paperwork.

 

New Business: None

 

Good of the Club: Tom Karpf brought up an estate sale that has a significant amount of amateur observing equipment…eyepieces, etc. and if anyone is interested in purchasing any of the items contact Tom for a list. It was also posted on our group site. John Sillasen has the 2015 Observers Handbook if anyone is interested in seeing it.

 

Meeting adjourned at 8:31

 

The speaker for the evening, Joe Burchett, was introduced by the Vice President Tom Karpf. Joe is a PHD candidate at UMASS-Amherst and his talk was about Galaxy Halos.

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The Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford Meeting Minutes, October 15, 2014

 

The meeting was brought to order at 7:30 PM. 14 attendees were present.

 

Secretaries Report: The Sept minutes were read by Al Johnson. There were no additions or corrections and minutes were accepted as read.

 

Treasurers Report: Cyndi Barron was absent and therefore no treasurers report was read.

 

Guests/new members: Dan Delbiondi was present and joined ASGH tonight.

 

Public Observing: The upcoming weekend is Homecoming at Wesleyan University and we will have staff available Friday and Saturday evenings. Saturday is our Public Observing night so extra help is requested. The 16” Meade scope is repaired and will be used.

 

Observing Reports: Al Johnson gave an update on the Conn Star Party. Three ASGH members were present, Al Johnson, Dean Kavalkovich and John Allen. The big attraction there was a 24” DOB with a WIFI/ tablet to assist in finding objects. The clear skies provided views of many deep sky objects and Neptune. John Sillasen talked about his Hawaii trip, Stargazing, tours and astronomy opportunities at Mauna Kea, including a full lunar eclipse and being present at the 30 meter Telescope ground breaking event, which was unfortunately marred by protesters. Dick Parker was also there with John. Ray Zywno attended the Astronomy On Tap at the BAR in New Haven put on by Yale Astronomy. The presentations were good but the parking was expensive.

 

Outreach: John Allen addressed the Boy Scouts banquet coming up Nov 7th at Berlin Ct. and the desire to have a few scopes available for scouts that are working on getting their Astronomy Merit badges.  Get there by 7PM. John Allen will be there and Ray will bring the C8, John Sillasen volunteered also. It was also noted that the moon will be full this evening so other objects will be difficult to see. November 1st is the Branford Trolley Museum event and John Soehnlein gave a pitch on what’s happening and mission for the telescopes that evening. Seven PM starts the observing so all volunteering scopes should be there around 6PM to be loaded on the trolley and delivered to the viewing site. Ray said the ASGH doesn’t mind bringing telescopes to the event, however we don’t desire to be involved in teaching classes in Astronomy to the scouts. The moon will be 71% for that evening.

 

17.5 DOB Project: Al Johnson reported that not much has transpired since the last report. We have most of the materials to finish the scope except for the truss tubes. We are looking for donations to pay for the truss tubes, and they will cost $200. Eventually the mirror will need refinishing before the project is completed. The secondary is finished and next we will work on building the mirror box. You can send donations to Al Johnson, 256 Essex Road, Old Saybrook, CT 06475.

 

Star Conn: We are still looking for speakers. Al Johnson found a spectroscopy speaker from Atlanta, GA. at the SIA expo in Woodland Hills, Ca., who is willing to come up as long as we provide transportation and a room while he is here. His name is Steve Ramsden and he does outreach in spectroscopy as a profession.  Al will check on another source before the next meeting. Ray holds a board meeting at the WESU VVO library before public viewing sessions to talk about StarConn and anyone desiring to help out is welcome to attend the meetings, which typically start at 6PM.

 

Meeting Night Speakers: Nicole , from WES U Astronomy Dept. will be the January speaker. Dave and Marty will have to shift their Constellation presentations to Feb and March respectively. Speakers for Nov and Dec are in question at this time.

 

Web Development: Template and page development are ongoing with Ray, Sandeep and Gandhi.

 

Old Business: Ray asked about our corporation’s stock certificates and the corporate seal and their whereabouts. Previous presidents and treasurers need to be asked. Digital Projector: Tom Karpf brought in the projector and John Sillasen will try to locate a bulb for it.

 

New Business: Ray received a letter from Wesleyan, Bill Herbst, involving a grant from the Connecticut Humanities Council. The ASGH will be involved due to its participation in outreach at the VVO, and will require historical information about ASGH. Ray met with the Wesleyan and Humanities Council group to determine the needs. Ray will try to find old club members to assist with the historical requirements. Ray mentioned Dave Cudworth as an older member to contact, along with Rob Royce and Carl Williams. Anyone remembering members of the Central Conn. Amateur Astronomers (from the fifties) should contact Ray. Anyone having any old StarTrails or other historical information about the Club should contact Ray or Al Johnson.

 

Ct. Science Fair: Carl Williams gave a Science Fair update to all and also made a motion to renew the funds and benefits to award winners selected by the Club in 2015 ( The Charles Hammond Award) and the motion was voted on and approved. Benefits include $150 for senior division award and $100 for junior division award for excellence in astronomy, membership for 1 year in ASGH, 1 year of S&T magazine and a chance to speak at our meeting.

 

Mirror Workshop: Dick Parker will no longer do the workshop and all reference to it has been removed from the ASGH website per John Sillasen.

 

Good of the Organization: John Sillasen spoke at the Conjunction, and will also speak at the Springfield Telescope Makers in January.

 

The meeting adjourned at 8:55. To-nights speaker was ASGH member Chris Markiewicz and the topic was “Origin of the Universe” which was an excellent presentation.

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The September, 2014 Meeting Minutes of the Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford

 

The meeting was brought to order by President Ray Zywno at 7:40PM. There were 10 attendees.

 

Secretaries Report: Al Johnson read the May 2014 meeting minutes. There were no additions or corrections, and were accepted as read.

 

Treasurer’s Report: Cyndi Barron read the treasurer’s report and there is $4120.67 in the savings account and $1329.75 in the checking account. Cyndi did collect dues from some members as dues are due in September. Remember to bring your dues $ at the October meeting.

 

Public Observing: June 21 was the only public observing date this summer with favorable sky conditions.  About twenty five visitors were presented that evening with views of Mars, Saturn, M-13, M-92, M-17 (Swan/Omega nebula), and M-11 (Wild Duck cluster). July 19, August 16 and September 13 were clouded out. Ray noted that of the last 32 observing events 19 have been clouded out, 3 had some observing and 10 had reasonable skies (at least by Middletown standards).

 

On August 27 Ray received an email from Roy Kilgard (Wesleyan University)  informing us that someone had  left the 16” Mead  in the polar position with the clock drive running. The telescope continued to track wrapping the focuser cable around itself resulting in an electrical short. The telescope was not expected be repaired in time for  the September 13 public viewing event. On September 15, Roy sent an email asking our help in finding a tripod/wedge for a Bausch and Lomb 8” SCT Criterion 8000 he found in the observatory basement.  Scott Tracy noted he had a heavy duty tripod he could donate.  Finding a wedge is going to be a problem. If anyone knows where we could find a suitable please let us know.

 

The next public viewing event coincides with Wesleyan's Homecoming on October 17 and 18.  Comet c/2013A Siding Spring (magnitude 8.5) will pass within 82,000 miles of Mars on October 19. On October 18 the comet will be 0.75 degrees away from Mars at 7:00 PM EDT. On October 19 it will be 0.2 degree away at 7:00 PM EDT at a 16 degree altitude. Sunset is at 6:03 PM EDT that evening.

 

 

June saw much activity at Van Vleck Observatory Public Night with planets and several Deep Sky Objects seen by 25 or so visitors. July and August were clouded out.  Unknown users have damaged the Meade 16” SCT and hopefully it will be ready to use at the next Public night/ homecoming weekend at Wesleyan. There are good chances we may be able to see a comet next to Mars. The Wesleyan Astronomy Dept staff have found several old but new(NOS) telescopes and are looking for an equatorial mount and a wedge. Scott Tracy may have a tripod to donate. If anyone knows of a wedge, let Ray Zywno know.

 

Outreach Events: The Branford Trolley Museum is holding an event November 1st and need members to volunteer their time and scopes to be available along side the trolley tracks. Scott Tracey pointed out that Daylight Saving Time will still be in effect and it will not be dark the times we are expected to look at the stars??? I’m sure there will be more news about this at our October meeting. If you would like to volunteer, contact Ray Zywno.

 

StarConn: Next 6 June 2015 is the Starconn event held at Wesleyan University. The theme is “Advanced Amateur Astronomy”. Several speakers have been found and a few more need to be located. Besides being discussed at the monthly meeting, Ray has a board meeting prior to the Public Viewing nights at the Van Vleck Observatory Library, and anyone interested in pitching in for the Starconn event is welcomed to attend.

 

Web Development: Dave Allen notified Ray that he could not continue with the web sight’s development. Ray asked the members present for assistance and

 

Sandeep Thalluri a new member volunteered along with Gandhi Gannamaneni (also a new member).  Ray met with both after the meeting.

 

 member present, agreed to assist with getting the development going. Ray met with Sandeep after the meeting.

 

Meeting Speakers: We have speakers lined up for the Oct, Nov, and Dec. meetings. Members agreed that fill in talks consisting of “Constellation of the Month” would be undertaken, and Dave Allen will do January’s and Marty will do February’s. The constellation selected should be near the zenith for that month.

 

17.5 DOB report: Al Johnson gave an update as to the Club’s scope project. The mirror cell is finished and the secondary is almost complete. All supplies to finish the mirror box, rocker box and ground board are at hand. The next major expense is the truss tubes and the mirror refinishing. So far $350 in donated funds have been spent to buy the plywood, secondary support tubes and attachment, Kydex and misc hardware. Dave Allen, Ralph Concepcion and Al Johnson are working it. We are looking for $200 in donations to purchase the truss tubes. Donations can be sent to: Al Johnson, ASGH DOB, 256 Essex Road, Old Saybrook, CT 06475.

 

Good of the Organization: Scott Tracy announced that the Skyscrapers Astro-Assembly is taking place the weekend of Sept 26,27, at the Clubhouse, Scituate, Rhode Island. There will be several speakers throughout the day, tours and a dinner in the evening. The Skyscrapers website has more details. Also the same weekend is the Connecticut Star Party in Ashford CT.

 

Astronomy on Tap will be meeting at BAR in New Haven (254 Crown St) on Monday, September 29 starting at 8:00 PM EDT. Three presenters from Yale will discuss: Dark Matter and Tiny Galaxies, Putting an End to Twinkling Little Stars and Studying the Universe with Gravitational Lenses.

 

We are trying to locate three club items: the club's projector, the ASGH corporate seal and minutes to the clubs meeting prior to December 1999. If anyone knows their whereabouts, e-mail Al Johnson at aajohnson@snet.net.

 

We are trying to locate two Club items: the projector and the official ASGH corporate stamp. If anyone knows their whereabouts, e-mail Al Johnson at aajohnson@snet.net. Thanks.

 

CCSU: Craig Robinson announced that Public participation with the Planetarium and public viewing nights this summer was great.

 

Meeting was adjourned at 9:05 PM.

 

~


 

The Minutes of the 21 May 2014 Meeting of the Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford

 

President Ray Zywno brought the meeting to order at 7:32PM. There were 9 attendees. There was a new member present, Alison Riith from Darien, Ct. We welcome Alison to our organization.

 

Secretaries Report: Last months minutes were accepted with no additions or corrections.

 

Treasurers Report: Al Johnson, Treasurer pro-tem, gave the treasurers report with $4119.97 in the Savings account, and $1190.03 in the checking account. Due to health issues, Bill Hurley turned over his treasurer responsibilities to Al Johnson at the beginning of May. Al Johnson now has all of the records and signing authority and is prepared to turn over the treasurer’s position to any club member desiring to accept the position and be voted in during this May meeting.

 

Public Observing: John Sillasen gave an update of taking images of the moon at Van Vleck observatory using the 20” refractor several weeks ago. The photo of the Van Vleck crater came out well despite the clock drive on the 20” not working. As of June 1st, the 20” will be taken down for rebuilding and conversion to a GOTO style telescope. John Sillasen volunteered to take the Starlight focuser from the 20” and have it rebuilt at the factory. All future public observing at Wesleyan will be through the Meade 16” SCT for at least the next 12 months. ASGH welcomes all of its members to come to public observing sessions located at Wesleyan University at Middletown, Ct

 

Mirror Workshop: The mirror workshop is closed until the next season starting January 2015.

 

Science Fair: Both Science Fair award winners were not present to speak tonight due to prior commitments happening on this same Wednesday evening.

 

Outreach: The Boy Scout troop scheduled to be at Van Vleck Observatory was cancelled due to rain. They are rescheduled to try again on the 20th or the 27/28th of June.

 

Starconn: June 6th, 2015 is the next Starconn. Another meeting will be scheduled for June 21st, at the Van Vleck Library, to discuss more aggressive marketing to improve attendance. The 2016 Starconn will be coordinated closely with Wesleyan due to the Centennial of the Van Vleck Observatory.

 

Good of the Club: Two more members signed up to assist with building the Club’s 17.5” Dobsonian telescope. Al Johnson will contact Dick Parker to pick up the mirror and other accessories. Ray Zywno has been pushing for web site changes and Dave Allen has agreed to take over web site work previously performed by John Sillasen. A meeting on June 21st, at the Van Vleck Library, will discuss changes desired for the website. John Sillasen attended a meeting of the Thames Amateur Astronomical Society. (TAASCT.NET) in New London and reported that members do Constellation of the Month talks, among other subjects. The purchase of a new digital projector has been put on hold in favor of buying a new bulb for our old projector. Member Chris Martinelli offered to donate a bulb. Does any one know where our projector is? Ray will try to locate it by contacting past presidents.

 

Observing Reports: John Sillasen gave a report of the Heron Cove star party, saying 3 attended for solar and 5 for evening where he said the good selection of planets to view made the evening enjoyable. Craig Robinson of CCSU’s Astronomy dept said they had 70 attendees on their public night.  The Club thanks all who made attempts to hold the monthly star parties, unfortunately most of which were clouded out.

 

Astronomer of the Year Award: the award was given to Bill Hurley, for his dedication to our Club as Treasurer, prior chairman of the Starconn 2013, and setting an excellent example for being an active member of ASGH. Bill was not present and Ray will get the award to Bill.

 

Elections of Officers: The following officers are in position for the Sept 2014 to May 2015 year. - President Ray Zywno; Vice-President, Tom Karpf; Secretary, Al Johnson; Webmaster, Dave Allen; and Treasurer, Cyndi Barron.

 

In Closing: Utilizing a digital projector, Ray Zywno showed all the shot of the Van Vleck crater taken by John Sillasen. Also Ray displayed some ideas for the remake of the Club’s website.

 

Meeting adjourned 8:57PM.

~


Minutes of the 16 April 2014 Meeting of the Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford

 

President Ray Zywno brought the meeting to order at 7:30 PM. There were 12 attendees.

 

Secretaries Report: Last months minutes were accepted with no additions or corrections.

 

Treasurers Report: Bill Hurley read the Savings account balance was $4119.80 and the Checking account balance was $1410.03.

Bill proposed a resolution that another officer of the Society, Al Johnson, Secretary, be added as an alternate bank account signatory. The members voted and all approved the resolution. The resolution was signed by the President, Treasurer and Secretary. Bill and Al Johnson will get together with the Rockville Bank and finalize the paperwork.

 

Public Observing: Ray announced that on March 22, 28 attended the MARS night observing session at Van Vleck Observatory. Due to high turbulence the viewing wasn’t great. Observers did see M13, M42 and other objects. John Sillasen brought his big refractor to assist with viewing. On 5 April the night was clear and stable with excellent viewing of the Moon and Jupiter, with the red spot visible. On 2 May there will be an attempt to image the Van Vleck crater from VVO.

 

Mirror Workshop: The mirror workshop is closed until the next mirror making session in January. Bill Hurley is continuing work on his 10” Cassegrain primary and secondary mirrors.

 

Science Fair: The two students selected will be giving their presentations during the May meeting. Please plan on attending the presentation.

 

Outreach: Chris Markiewicz’s program at Windsor Library went well except the sky didn’t cooperate. There were 40 attendees and 5 ASGH members brought scopes. Jupiter was seen briefly until the cloud cover prevailed. Thanks Chris!

 

StarConn: Ray has scheduled another StarConn meeting on 26 April before the Public observing session. Arrive at the VVO library at 7 PM Saturday evening. If you are interested in helping out you are invited to attend.

 

Observing Reports: Cyndi Barron and John Sillasen gave a report on NEAF and the Solar observing there. There seemed to be less attendance than last year, however with the good speakers the seminar attendance was good.

 

Star Parties: There is a Star Party planned for the weekend of 26/27 April at the Henry Park Tower, 120 South Street, Vernon, Ct 06066. The event begins at 4PM and ends daily at 3AM.  There is also a Star Party in Litchfield in May. Stay tuned to the ASGH Group site for upcoming star parties organized by members. Members holding star parties should announce at least a week beforehand as a reminder using the Group site. Some of us can’t remember stuff well anymore.

John Sillasen is working with the Arunah Hill folks to get an ASGH Club star party organized for the 28 June weekend. Stay tuned.

 

Nominations for Officers: Ray is requesting anyone that would be interested in the Treasurers position. Also, a Webmaster is being looked for to take care of the Society’s web pages. Please come forward if interested at the May meeting when all officers are voted in for next year.

 

Old Business: The projector is still being considered. Inexpensive units utilize 4:3 technology and the desired projector is 16:9 technology which costs more than the $ amount voted on for the expenditure. More info will be gathered for the next meeting.

 

New Business: Ray brought up the idea of the Society building its own telescope utilizing the ASGH owned 17.5” mirror. Al Johnson contacted Dick Parker and conveyed Dick’s thoughts to the members present. A discussion was had with various concerns, including where it will be stored, how much will it cost and who’s going to finish it. Several members signed up to be on the building crew and the discussions were tabled until the May meeting. More information will be gathered for the May meeting.

 

The meeting adjourned at 9:05 PM.

~


March 19, 2014 Meeting minutes of the Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford

Meeting was brought to order at 7:32PM by President Ray Zywno.

 

Secretary’s Report- Al Johnson read last months meeting minutes and the minutes were accepted with no additions or corrections.

 

Treasurers Report - Bill Hurley read the Savings account balance of $4119.64, Checking account balance of $1815.93, and the checking account balance as of Tonight is $1400.03. Bill reported as of tonight there are 43 paid up members.

 

Public Observing - John Sillasen announced that Van Vleck Observatory will be open This Saturday night for the Special Mars observing session, which will be held from 10PM to Midnight. If it is cloudy the event will be cancelled. Ray Zywno announced that ASGH members can bring small groups to use the 20” at VVO with prior arrangement with the 20” committee and Wesleyan University. The next regularly scheduled Public Night is April 5th. All Club members are invited, along with guests, to the Public events.

 

Outreach - John Phelan reported that the Boy Scout Dinner featuring star gazing, Feb. 28, at Simsbury was a success. Although it was very cold, the clear skies allowed many scouts and their parents to see some good objects which contributed to getting their Astronomy Merit Badges. John also made clear, to all new members, that they are welcome to join the ASGH meetings here and events at Van Vleck Observatory.

 

Chris Markiewicz’s star party at the Windsor Library is coming up, March 27th. Chris will do a presentation for the Cub Scouts at the library and the observing will be at Loomis Chafee. Chris has 7 or 8 signed up for bringing scopes. Contact Chris for any details.

 

Mirror Workshop - Dick Parker wasn’t present, however, Bill Hurley announced the workshop has ended for this season and was successful with many mirrors completed.

 

Science Fair - Carl Williams reported that he and Scott Tracey reviewed contestants and determined that no Junior Division projects qualified. The Senior Division had two qualifiers with first place going to Isabelle Goldstein of Ridgefield, Ct. for her topic of “Partitioning Gamma Ray Sources in Fermi Large Area Telescope Observatories for Spatial and Spectral Analysis” and second place went to Zach Effman of Westport, Ct. for his topic of “A Probe of the Phase Space of Celestial N-Body Systems and Its Implications for Extra-terrestrial Life” Carl is working on having the winners come to our meeting and do their presentations. Stay tuned for an announcement. ASGH thanks Carl for continuing to pursue this Science Fair duty, which he has been doing for at least 20 years.

 

StarConn - There will be a StarConn committee meeting prior to the Public Observing session Saturday night at Van Vleck Observatory Library. Meeting will start at 7PM.

Previous committee members are asked to attend along with any new volunteers. This is in preparation for 2015 StarConn.

 

Observing Reports - John Sillasen reported of his Lunar-X observing and Al Johnson reported on observing Omega Centauri and his attempted visit to the Winter Star Party in the Florida Keys.

 

Nominating Committee - The next year slate of Officers has to be developed for the upcoming May Business Meeting

 

Old Business - Tom Karpf developed a list of 4 digital projectors in the $300 to $400 price range. The Club officers will review the list and make a selection. It was voted on to spend $350 on purchasing a new projector.

 

New Business - None

 

Good of the Organization - NEAF (Telescope show, April 12 & 13) and NEAIC (Astro Imaging Conference, April 10 & 11) is coming up shortly. Both are in Suffern, NY and NEAF is a great place to get astronomy and telescope toys at great show prices. Directions are on the internet at ROCKLANDASTRONOMY.COM/NEAF. John Sillasen strongly recommended visiting the Solar Star Party held at this event.

 

Ray Zywno brought up the Club’s ownership of a 17” mirror and would like to get volunteers together to build a Club 17” telescope. Al Johnson will start researching what needs to be done. Ray will check on the mirrors specifications and condition.

 

Stellafane is July 24 thru 27th, Connecticut Star Party is Sept 26 thru the 28th, and the Conjunction is August 22 and 23rd.

 

Meeting adjourned at 8:16, with the evening presentation to follow.

 

Tonight’s speaker was Allison Kirkpatrick, a Grad student at UMASS- Amherst, and her topic is “Dust Emission Properties of High Red shift Galaxies”

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February 19, 2014 Meeting minutes of the Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford

President Ray Zwyno brought the meeting to order at 7:37 PM.  8 members were present. 

Secretary’s Report:  The January meeting minutes were passed out to all members and accepted with no additions or corrections.  They were posted on the web. 

Treasurers Report:  John Sillasen read the balance reports provided by Bill Hurley.   Statement Savings balance as of 01/31/2014 is $4119.28.  Business checking balance as of 01/31/2014 is $1848.88.   Today’s balance is $1815.93.

Public Observing Committee Report:  John Sillasen reported the February observing went well despite skies that were predicted to be below average.  There are two dates in March; March 1st is the regular public night and March 22nd; a special Mars viewing night.  Mars will be 18 degrees above the horizon at 10:30 PM.  John to update the website to reflect the time.  Mars will only 14 seconds of Arc.  John recommended cancelling the Mars event if conditions do not warrant good seeing.

Outreach:  ASGH is hosting two additional outreach programs in the next month; February 28th and March 27th. 
February 28th is for a Cub Scout troop in Simsbury.  Contact John Phelan via the ASGH Newsgroup for times and directions.
March 27th is at the Windsor Library.  Plan to arrive with your telescope by 7:30-7:45 PM.  Contact Chris Markiewicz via the ASGH Newsgroup for times and information. 

Old Business:  Tom Karpf is still researching projectors for the club and asked the officers for specifications and ideas. 

New Business:  None.

For the Good of the Organization:

Observing Reports:  C. Baron described observing with binoculars on a cold, clear night.

Meeting adjourned at 8:05 PM.

Following the business meeting, Van Vleck Observatory Astronomy Chairman,  Professor William Herbst, PhD, spoke about the history of the Van Vleck Observatory and plans for the refurbishment of the 20” refractor for the Centennial of the Van Vleck in 2016.  His presentation continued with continued research at the Van Vleck on KH15D, the Winking Star.

 

~

 


 

 

Minutes of the 15 January 2014 Meeting of the Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford

 

President Ray Zywno brought the meeting to order at 7:30 PM. There were 20 attendees present.

 

Secretaries Report:  The December meeting minutes were accepted as read with no additions or corrections.

 

Treasurers Report: Bill Hurley stated that as of Dec. 31st, the savings account balance was $4119.29, and the business checking account balance was $1758.88. The checking account balance as of the meeting was $1755.93. Bill announced that 44 members, including officers, were paid up. Several members also paid up during the meeting.

 

Membership Committee: John Phelan, committee chair, discussed ways to attract new members through Outreach events. John will pursue different options to generate new member opportunities.

 

Outreach: There is a Cub Scout Banquet in Simsbury CT on February 28th. The Scouts would like us to bring scopes so that they and their parents can experience a taste of amateur astronomy, stargazing and assist the Scouts in getting their Astronomy badge. Five members present have volunteered to bring their scopes to the banquet, for a 7 to 8:30 PM presentation. If any other Club members are interested in joining the group, contact Ray Zywno for details.

The Club officers typically find out first about outreach requests and subsequently post them on the Yahoo ASGH group. Any member can volunteer to satisfy the request and, of course, your participation is appreciated by the Club.

 

Public Observing: John Sillasen, committee chair, reported that the 4 January session was a success with clear skies. Viewing started early to take advantage of clear skies. John donated red bulbs for the dome floor lights. Members present also assisted a young astronomer with his new scope. The next public session is February 1st. All Club members are welcome to come, and also friends are welcome also.

 

Mirror Shop: Dick Parker, Mirror Shop Instructor, was present and announced that the classes are ongoing and 10 attendees are grinding mirrors or finishing projects. He made clear that the sessions are “Open House” on Saturday mornings for interested Club members. Contact Dick for directions. Info is in the ASGH website.

 

Observing Reports: A hand full of members got together at Heron Cove December 27th for stargazing. Another member stargazed near Brewster on Cape Cod. Tom Karpf mentioned that several members are organizing future star parties, one coming up in February. Stay tuned to the Group site for details as they develop.

 

Old Business: Tom Karpf, Vice President, will gather prices for purchasing a digital projector, for the next meeting.

 

New Business: Starconn. It was determined that event duties will be split up, whereby developing a speaker roster will be the responsibility of one committee, and the administrative duties will be the responsibility of another committee. It was also determined that the formed committees will head up the Starconns for more than one year. This will ease the pressure for new committee members reinventing the wheel  every year. So far, Ray Zywno and John Sillasen volunteered for the speaker duties, and Al Johnson, Bill Hurley and John Sillasen volunteered for the administrative duties. More volunteers are welcome.  Potential topics were discussed for 2015 and 2016 Starconns.

 

Good of the Organization: John Sillasen announced that the Club was awarded a Certificate of Appreciation from JPL/NASA's Space Place for the Club’s efforts toward outreach and education.

 

All members are welcome to attend Ray Zwyno’s “board meetings” prior to the public observing sessions at Van Vleck Observatory Library, usually starting at 6 PM.

 

Local Astronomy News:

It was announced by Dick Parker that John Dobson had passed away. Mr. Dobson was the person responsible for developing the sidewalk telescope concept / Dobsonian style Newtonian telescope.

 

The Rockland Astronomy Club announced that the North East Astronomy Forum, NEAF will be held on April 12 and 13, 2014, at Rockland Community College, Suffern, NY. NEAF attendees are invited for solar observing (If the sun is out) and also to enjoy the show and great show prices.

The North East Astro Imaging Conference, NEAIC will be at Suffern, NY in the Crowne Plaza from April 10 to the 11th.

 

The Radio Astronomy Conference will be at Custer Institute, Southold NY May 16 and 17th. Registration is at http://custerobservatory.org/radioconf.htm along with details.

 

Upcoming Night Sky Network Telecon on January 27th. The latest updates of the Globe at Night program will begin at 9 PM EST.

 

The scheduled talk was cancelled due to the speaker’s family emergency. John Sillasen stepped up and gave an informative talk on “Observing Aids”, numerous gadgets that John has collected over the years that will aid in improving your observing experience.

 

NOTE: Next meeting will be February 19th at the Van Vleck Observatory Library at Wyllis Avenue in Middletown. Wyllis Ave is off of High Street on the campus. There is parking there on the left just before the right turn. Wyllis Ave is one way!

 

The meeting adjourned at 9 PM.

 

 

 

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The Minutes of the 18 December 2013 Meeting of the Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford

 

President Ray Zywno brought the meeting to order at 7:30 PM. 17 attendees were present.

 

Secretaries Report: The November Meeting Minutes were accepted with no additions or corrections.

 

Treasurer’s Report:  Bill Hurley was absent so John Sillasen read the financial information. The checkbook balance is $1715.93 and the savings account was $4119.09. Bill Hurley does have a budget in place for 2014. Remember, if you haven’t paid your dues, send your dues to Bill Hurley or bring it to the next meeting.

 

Membership Committee: Dean Kavalkovich, committee chair, was not present. Dean has been looking for some one to chair the membership committee and tonight John Phelan has accepted the chair position. He will take over Dean’s duties on the membership Committee. We all thank Dean for his dedication toward improving new membership welcoming and the soliciting and following up with new members of our Club.

 

Public Observing: The public observing session took place at Van Vleck Observatory, however the sky conditions were not great and the 20” tracking was not good. We did get to observe Jupiter for a while. John Sillasen, Committee chair, announced that the refurb of the dome was complete and the job came out very well with the natural wood finish. In 2014 the 9 to 12 month telescope refurb will take place in preparation of the Van Vleck Anniversary in 2016. We will utilize the 16” Meade during this time. When there are at least 5 committee members present on Public night, both the 20” and the 16” will be open for service. All ASGH members are welcome to attend the Public night sessions. When the public viewing is over at 10PM, and the conditions are permitting, we can stay late to observe our favorite deep sky objects. Please join us at Van Vleck. Looking through either of the telescopes are real perks to our membership.

 

Mirror Workshop: Due to Dick Parker’s bout with Lyme disease, he is not taking any new participants into the Mirror Workshop this winter. Only last year participants finishing up their projects will be tended to.

 

Star Conn Committee: Bill Hurley has decided to resign from any further chairman activities of StarConn due to other personal workloads. With marginal attendance at the meeting, those present agreed to not have a 2014 StarConn, and to put together a committee for 2015/16 StarConn. The general feeling was to develop a committee that would stay with StarConn through a number of years, to get experience and to stay focused on its production. Any members that would like to sign up for the StarConn Committee please notify any of the officers.

 

Old Business: Ray Zywno mentioned that ASGH has already been included into the Branford Trolley Museum’s plans (advertisements) for 2014 to participate in their star party as we did this past September. Members with scopes that would like to participate should keep the November 1st 2014 date in mind.

The Club has decided to purchase a new digital projector. Tom Karpf will have $ figures ready for the January 2014 meeting.

 

New Business:

Raising dues was discussed at the board meeting and at this meeting and it was determined to keep the dues at twenty dollars. The overhead of the Club is minimal and with no plans to obtain real property, or go into any form of debt, it doesn’t warrant a dues increase. It was clear that getting and keeping more new members would help our financial position without burdening existing members.

 

 

Good of the Club:  We discussed doing outreach activities to generate new membership. Tom Karpf suggested individuals taking on Star Parties …a different member developing and scheduling the event sometime during a month. This is a good idea as it prevents one person trying to do all star parties and getting burned out. Tom will work on developing the idea.

Anyone for a Star Party at the Toussaint Farm, North Granby, CT? Al Johnson will be watching the weather and Dave Vosgien will be making the contact with the landowner. As December comes to an end, the moon will be out of our evening sky and hopefully clear skies will prevail and a star party can develop at the Toussaint Farm. This dark sky location is off theGranville Road leading out of Granby CT and has a heated barn and lav facilities nearby. If the weather is good, we will post it and directions on the Yahoo Group site. Bring a friend along to our star parties.

 

Evening Speaker: Tom Karpf introduced Ms. Kristine Larson, CCSU, who gave a talk about “DR. Who and Astronomy”

 

The meeting was adjourned at 8:30PM.

 

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The Minutes of the 20 November 2013 Meeting of the Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford

 

President Ray Zywno brought the meeting to order at 7:30 PM. 21 attendees were present.

 

Secretaries Report: The October Meeting Minutes were accepted with no additions or corrections.

 

Treasurer’s Report:  Bill Hurley stated that the Savings Account balance was $4118.93 and the Checkbook balance as of the meeting night was $1608.88. If you haven’t paid your dues yet, send your payment to Bill Hurley or bring it to the December Meeting.

 

Membership Committee:      No report was made as Dean Kavalkovich was not present. Dean has expressed a desire to have someone else take over his position on the committee. Anyone interested?

 

Public Observing:      The public observing session was clouded out; however, the Wesleyan University homecoming sessions weren’t too bad after all. The clouds cleared later on and some objects were viewed by students and alumni using the Meade 16” telescope. The 20” should be available for the Dec. 7 public night and if enough Van Vleck staff are present (at least 5), we will have both the 16” and 20” scopes open for viewing.

 

Mirror Workshop: Due to Dick Parker’s bout with Lyme disease, he is not taking any new participants into the Mirror Workshop this winter. Only last year participants finishing up their projects will be tended to.

 

Star Conn Committee: The meeting that had been scheduled for the last public night at Van Vleck was cancelled; however on Dec 7 another meeting is scheduled prior to public observing. Club members interested in participating in the next StarConn should attend.

 

Old Business: Mr. John Soehnlein, Marketing Director for the Branford Trolley Museum was present and gave an update on the success of the November 2nd Outreach program. Fifty children attended and although the skies were partly cloudy, the telescopes were busy and celestial navigation classes were taught. John laid out the plans for next year’s program which will take place November 1st, 2014.

 

New Business:    Tom Karpf brought up the digital projector issue that requires a new lamp. With the lamp costing $120 or so and the limited application of the laptop interface, it was suggested to purchase a modern projector that can be used by the latest laptop computers. This issue was deferred to the executive board meeting on Dec 7th at the Van Vleck Library and Tom will get current features and pricing on new equipment for the meeting.

Bill Hurley presented a draft budget for the 2014 year, based on actual data from 2012 and 2013. The budget will be reviewed at the executive board meeting and presented to the members at the December meeting.

 

Raising dues was not discussed and will be taken up at the December meeting.

 

Bill Hurley addressed the expenditure of $250 along with two magazine subscriptions and two Club memberships for the CT Science Fair Awards Program.  It was voted on by the members and approved for 2014.

 

Observing Reports:   Members talked of viewing the various comets that are out. Astronomy and Sky & Telescope magazines, along with many web sites have information as to when and where to look for the best viewing. Members also appreciated the recent images produced by Rob Gendler.

 

Good of the Club: Anyone for a Star Party at the Tousaint Farm, North Granby, CT? Al Johnson will be watching the weather and Dave Vosgien will be making the contact with the landowner. Stay tuned at the Group website.

 

Evening Speaker: Tom Karpf introduced Professor Cynthia Petersen, PHD from UCONN who did the presentation on “Archeoastronomy”. The interesting talk covered such subjects as Stonehenge, Egyptian pyramids, Peruvian, Mayan and North American Indian related structures and writings related to astronomical reference, i.e. the sun, prominent stars and seasons.

 

The meeting was adjourned at 8:38PM.

  

 

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The Minutes of the 16 October 2013 Meeting of the Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford

 

President Ray Zywno brought the meeting to order at 7:30 PM.

 

Secretary’s Report: The September Meeting minutes were accepted with no additions or corrections.

 

Treasurer’s Report: Savings account balance was $4118.74, and the checkbook balance as of today was $1488.88. There are 26 paid members so far for 2014.Please send your dues money to Bill Hurley or bring it for the Nov. meeting. Bill Hurley stated that the corrected profit from StarConn was $769.48.

 

Membership Committee: Dean Kavakkovich handed out new member info packages to several new members present. Dean expressed a desire to resign from the Membership committee chairman position. Is there a club member interested in this position for the November meeting? For several years Dean has solicited new members at ASGH functions and welcomed new members with letters and member info packages. The Club appreciates the service that Dean provides.

 

Club Membership: Ray provided an analysis of Club membership using the treasurer’s membership directory. The directory included 242 names of individuals who have paid for a membership or are honorary members during the period September 1999 to October 2013. Peak membership occurred in 2003 with75 individuals. Membership in the last six years has averaged in the low 40’s. During the period from September 2012 thru October 2013 fifty one unique names were listed as members. An analysis of the ASGH Yahoo Group indicated only 20 of those individuals only used the Group for communication, indicating a usage of less than 40%. The job of increasing communication with past and present members will be part of the charter for the new Technology/Web Committee.

 

 

Public Observing: Last Saturday we had 18 members of the Xavier High School Astronomy Club visit Van Vleck Observatory. The 16” Meade telescope was used to get infrequent glimpses of the moon. For a night that was supposed to be clear, it ended up with 95% cloud cover. The Xavier club was given a tour of the facility and used the 16” when viewing permitted. Ray noted that the elevator floor at Van Vleck is also going to be scraped and refinished as part of the dome interior refurbishment. The inside of the dome now has a natural finish. The next public session will be Nov. 9th at 8 to 10 PM. We encourage members and friends to visit VVO at the public sessions for a great night out for stargazing.

 

Mirror Workshop: We understand that Dick Parker is out in Hawaii with John Sillasen so no Mirror workshop report was available. Contact Dick for workshop reservations this winter.

 

Star Conn Committee: Bill Hurley, Chairman, will set up a meeting for anyone interested in participating in a 2014 StarConn. Watch your e-mails for the time and place (VVO library) Ray suggested that the theme for StarConn 2016 should be “Astrometrics”, to coincide with the 100th anniversary of Van Vleck Observatory.

 

Old Business: The Trolley Museum in East Haven (www.shorelinetrolley.org) needs several more members with scopes who can volunteer for their annual “Astronomy Bight at the Trolley Museum” for Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and Sea Scouts on November 2nd. Contact Ray Zywno if you can participate. Details for the event can be found at http://shorelinetrolley.org/special-events/astronomy-night-at-the-trolley-museum. Currently Francis O’Reilly, Scott Tracey, new member Dave, and former member Stan Klein have volunteered. Note that the 20” committee is expected to be at Wesleyan to man the Meade 16” on Friday and Saturday for Homecoming weekend November 1st and 2nd. The sanding and refinishing of the floor on the 20” dome is not expected to be completed by Homecoming Weekend.

 

New Business: None, however next month we will discuss raising the dues and having a Comet Star Party.

 

Good of the Club:

Speakers: there wasn’t a speaker for this months meeting and Tom Karpf is working on locating a speaker for next month. A discussion generated having honorarium money budgeted for speakers. An amount of $600 annually was brought up, however this issue wasn’t finalized. Ray made suggestions including Club members with special astronomy knowledge as speakers. Possibly members interested in doing a presentation can contact Tom Karpf.

Committees: Ray continued the discussion on developing an Outreach Committee to set up a program that will include a system for handling requests and mileage charges to groups that desire to have ASGH members with their telescopes present. The Club has had 5 outreach requests since July and having a group to handle this would be helpful and an asset to promote our hobby. Several members present signed up. Also, Ray talked of the Technology/Web Committee, to be available as a backup for John Sillasen and to develop new web pages and social media including Facebook and Twitter. This effort to improve communication would also consider starting a newsletter like the StarTrails newsletter that the Club once had. One Club member showed interest in this Committee and signed up.

All recognized that this Committee effort requires more manpower than was present at this meeting. This is why Ray will be reaching out to our member body to attend meetings and participate to make the Club more productive and beneficial to its members.

 

Observing Reports: Al Johnson told of his learning curve using PHD Guiding with his 4” refractor.

 

The President adjourned the Meeting at 9 PM.

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