Astronomical presentations are held at each of ASGH’s business meetings, our in-person meetings are open to the public and anyone interested is encouraged to participate. Speakers have included current or former members, astronomy faculty and graduate students from area universities, or invited guests. Topics for these presentations, shown below, are wide-ranging and are chosen to be of interest to amateur astronomers of all levels.

ASGH business meetings take place on the 3rd Wednesday of the month from September through May. Meetings start at 7:30 pm.

We are continuing to hold hybrid meetings with online participation for members via Zoom and in-person participation at:

Rocky Hill Community Center
Room 1C
761 Old Main Street
Rocky Hill CT 06067
7:30 pm – 9:30 pm
Click here for directions

September 18, 2024
Speaker: Leo Smith, Chair CT Chapter, DarkSky International – Task Force to Reduce Light Pollution in Connecticut

October 16, 2024
Speaker: Chris Markiewicz, ASGH President – Online Astronomy Applications

November 20, 2024
Speaker: Gregory Shanos, PharmD

December 18, 2024
Speaker: President and Outreach Coordinator, Chris Markiewicz. His talk is titled An Overview of Winter Observing’ or ‘Winter Observing from the 10,000 Light Year Level.

January 15, 2025
Speaker: Erik Schmitt, current Treasurer of SoVerA (Southern Vermont Astronomy Group).

Title: How Amateur Astronomers and Citizen Scientists can contribute to Exoplanet Research

Overview: This talk will cover how amateur astronomers and citizen scientists with small telescopes or even no telescope at all can meaningfully contribute to exoplanet research. The NASA Exoplanet Watch collaboration is now open to the general public and there is a need for more optics and eyeballs gathering and reducing data from transiting exoplanets. You will learn how to identify upcoming exoplanet transits, some tips for acquiring images, how to prepare them for processing via Exoplanet Watch’s EXOTIC software tool, and then how to upload the results to the AAVSO’s database. We’ll also review how these measurements contributed to the characterization of particular exoplanets!

February 19, 2025
Speaker: To be determined

March 19, 2025
Speaker: To be announced

April 16, 2025
Speaker: To be announced

May 21, 2025
Speaker: CT Science Fair Award Winners