March 20, 2024
Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford
Hybrid Online/In Person Business Meeting Minutes
Date: March 20, 2024
The March 20, 2024 meeting of the Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford was called to order over Zoom and in person from the Rocky Hill Community Center in Room 1C, at 7:32 PM by President Markiewicz. There were 21 people in attendance. 6 were in the room at the Rocky Hill Community Center. 15 were online over Zoom.
Tonight’s speaker was Outreach Coordinator and current President, Christopher Markiewicz, with a presentation, “Let’s Talk About Eclipses.” NASA Partner, Eclipse Ambassador and Secretary, J. Sillasen has been attending and assisting with Q&A and group activities at several of Chris’s Solar Eclipse presentations at solar libraries. He encouraged Chris to be the March speaker as the topic could not be more timely with the next US based Total Solar Eclipse was in a couple of weeks on April 8, 2024. Chris’ presentation is that good he felt sharing it will both new and seasoned members would encourage some group interchange at the end of the presentation. It in fact did, there are several members traveling out of state to be in the path of Totality. Most are just in teams of one or two. No large groups were planned for this event at all. Maybe in 2045, someone will organize a larger eclipse expedition,
Viewing plans ranged from Texas to Maine with Vermont & NY State in between. Members planning to travel include Bill D., Dave O., John A., John S., D. Parker, Karyn C., & Richard M.
Beyond the travel plans, some members planned to stay closer to home as the partial eclipse over Connecticut will be quite stellar,’ if you are able to pardon the pun. 91-93% partial eclipse depending on where in Connecticut you will be. The 1st contact begins on or around 2:13 PM ET. Greatest eclipse will occur at or around depending on location at 3:27 PM ET. The eclipse ends at 4:37 PM ET with the middle of Connecticut (Middletown selected for these times).
C. Markiewicz plans to have several scopes for viewing at his local church in Rocky Hill. The Van Vleck Observatory will have scopes setup outside (if clear) and if not, viewing a NASA feed from the library and likely the digital planetarium performing simulated eclipses.
Both C. Markiewicz and J. Sillasen have files which they can share to allow members to make their own cereal box eclipse projector, yardstick eclipse simulators, eclipse glasses for safe viewing with a mounted paper plate and solar film filter holders for example. (J. Sillasen uploaded 5 files in PDF format to the Groups.IO Files section to a new folder titled Solar. A link to the path has been shared with the membership post meeting adjournment by Sillasen).
You may watch a replay of his presentation to the ASGH here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1jbXZRvHiA&t=64s
New Members:
One new member was in attendance in person in Rocky Hill. Dan Mosher of Glastonbury seriously got the bug by viewing through first an 8″ Newtownian on a Dobsonian mount, then a C8 on a Celestron AVX mount. Now he’s got a Williams Optics FLT 91 he’s using on the same AVX mount. That ought to make the Milky Way speak to him! Welcome aboard, Dan. Glad you found a new home to share your weather miseries…
Secretary’s Report:
Despite the tricksteries that lead to the Secretary’s report ending up in a SPAM folder of the Webmaster and it missing the link for the YouTube replay, it eventually got posted a more than a solid week before the meeting. The report was unanimously approved by all in attendance as posted.
Public Observing at the Van Vleck Observatory:
The next public observing session at the Van Vleck Observatory will be on March 30, 2024 from 8 – 10 PM ET. This will be the last time the session will be from 8 – 10 PM since the clocks sprung ahead.’ April’s date will be from 9 – 11 PM and so it will be for the remainder of the year.
The event is posted on both the ASGH Calendar on Groups.IO, the Public Events Groups.IO calendar and on the ASGH website’s homepage. The date was requested by C. Markiewicz. Alas, there is no available Moon so if the weather is not abundantly clear, it will be hard to find available objects to view. Perhaps Jupiter in some cloud cover will appear. Keep a close eye on the webpage for cancellations. They will be posted by 6 PM giving 2 hours before opening to change plans.
Treasurer’s Report:
Treasurer, Cynthia Barron stated the M&T Bank website was down for maintenance so no current balances could be provided. Once available, she will email the Secretary for inclusion in the Minutes. Treasurer Barron, did share a screen with all in attendance the results of the Treasury Bills the ASGH has invested in since a year ago, March 2023. Once all the T-Bills have vested by November 2024, the total interest the organization made will be $1,171.58. The interest earned in 2023 was $401.95. The interest that will be earned barring any unforeseen circumstances that require early withdrawal will be $769.63. The difference in interest earned in 2024 is due to longer investment periods of 26 and 52 weeks.
The remaining investments, mature May 16, July 25, August 29 and November 29, 2024 in toto.
WebMasters Report:
J. Allen reports that M. Ollenschleger has made a correction that allows for the minutes online to print the margins properly now. (Fixed! Tested post meeting by Secretary).
Outreach:
March 2, 2024, 2:00pm: Cora Belden Library, Rocky Hill, CT. Completed
Solar eclipse presentation, safe viewing techniques, pinhole viewer.
March 6, 2024, 6:00pm: East Hartford Public Library, East Hartford, CT. Completed
Solar eclipse presentation, safe viewing techniques, pinhole viewer.
March 13, 2024, 6:30pm: Tolland Public Library, Tolland, CT Completed
Solar eclipse presentation, safe viewing techniques, pinhole viewer.
March 19, 2024, 6:00pm: Plainville Public Library, Plainville, CT. Completed
Solar eclipse presentation, safe viewing techniques, pinhole viewer demo.
Upcoming:
March 22, 2024, 3:00pm: Mary Cheney Library, Manchester, CT
Solar eclipse presentation, safe viewing techniques, pinhole viewer demo.
March 26, 2024, 2:00pm: Suffield Senior Living, Suffield, CT
Solar eclipse presentation, safe viewing techniques, pinhole viewer.
April 3, 2024, 6:30pm: Welles-Turner Memorial Library, Glastonbury, CT
Solar eclipse presentation, safe viewing techniques, pinhole viewer.
April 5, 2024, 4:00-5:30pm: ImagineNation Museum, Bristol, CT
Eclipse-prep presentation geared towards young children, STEM centered.
Date/time TBD: Hartford Library, Hartford, CT.
Solar eclipse presentation, safe viewing techniques, pinhole viewer.
April 8, 2024, time TBD: Talcott Mountain Science Center New
Assist staff with eclipse viewing for approx. 200 guests.
April 12, 2024, time TBD: Talcott Mtn Science Ctr Skygazing, Avon, CT (Stargazing) New
April 27, 9am – 3pm: Space Expo/NEAM (public outreach & education).
Old Business:
None
New Business:
Each time ASGH donates a base’ Orion StarBlast telescope to a library, we also purchase a set of accessories. Some are required to finish modifying the scope, others need to be manufactured by a third party. To save time and consolidate shipping costs, we should pre-order a stock of these parts.
Here are the things that we need: Headlamps, National Audubon Society “Constellations” Book, Accessory Carrier Pack.
J. Sillasen inquired if those additions’ were less than $100. The answer is yes. He made a motion to allocate the funds but no second as B. DeNio suggested printing costs for a single manual is 2/3 the cost of printing for 8 manuals. The modified motion went no where.
He then asked if he and Chris could come up with a projected cost and agree upon how many sets of accessories no matter what type, would be required so they could make a motion we could all follow. They will report back at the April meeting,
Reminder – CT Science Fair judging – Each year ASGH participates in judging two entries in the CT Science Fair for astronomy-related content. Two winners are awarded the Charles Hammond Memorial Science Fair Award from the ASGH which includes prizes and are invited to present at our final meeting of the business year in May. Scott Tracy and Bill DeNio have (once again) taken on the task of picking and selecting our two winners this year. There is a winner in both the Junior and Senior categories this year. Each is fascinating. We just hope they are able to speak at our May meeting. The Junior award winner’s project is providing for a radiation shield to help plant life grow on Mars. The Senior winner’s project is on an inertial guidance system for rockets. Inquiries are being made now to find availability and willingness to speak at our May meeting.
Good of the Organization:
Observing opportunities until next meeting:
Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is in Pisces now a mag 5.7. It sets at ~22:20. It is expected to reach mag ~4 in April and be visible in the sky during the eclipse in areas of totality. Info can be found in https://in-the-sky.org/.
Also see https://timeanddate.com
For Eclipse information:
https://eclipsesoundscapes.org/ if it is a cloudy day. Recommended by R. Mozzer.
See also EclipseWise.com or specifically, EclipseWise.com/2024/ It is run by Mr. Eclipse, Fred Espanak, a retired Goddard Space Flight Center engineer SpectroHelios engineer and eclipse studies. MrEclipse.com is also readily available if you forget EclipseWise. He runs both.
Another site recommended by R. Mozzer is https://eclipse2024.org/
NEAF/NEAIC 2024
J. Sillasen reminded everyone that NEAF, the North East Astronomy Forum, aka, the amateur astronomers candy store, will be April 20th and 21st this year. It is again at Rockland Community College in Suffern, NY. Tickets are indeed on sale as Rockland Astronomy Club is using myshopify again. The link for NEAF tickets is: https://rockland-astronomy-club.myshopify.com/collections/neaf
Tickets are on sale for NEAIC, the Astro Imaging Conference, precedes NEAF by two days. It runs April 18th and 19th. NEAIC is at the Crowne Plaza Convention Center in Suffern, NY. See https://rockland-astronomy-club.myshopify.com/collections/neaic-registration
April Meeting Presentation:
There still is a need for a presenter for April. The Plainville Public Library asked if we would be willing to return with a presentation of the images we took of the Eclipse. As many of us will be scattered to the wind, we asked Webmaster, John Allen, if a new webpage of 2024 Solar Eclipse Images could be put up? That way we could share the page with the library instead of a presentation. J. Sillasen asked if Solar System Ambassador, Greg Shanos, would be willing to coordinate & moderate a Where did you go, What were you able to Image? Solar Eclipse presentation? He agreed and has already developed a skeleton program asking the ASGH members who would be both local and therefore under Partial Eclipse to those traveling Northward, NW, MidWest and SouthWest to gather their images and thoughts to present at the April meeting. It is already beginning to look like fun!
Meeting was adjourned at 9:26 PM ET.