November 16, 2022
Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford
Online Business Meeting Minutes
Date:
November 16, 2022
This meeting was recorded with the permission of the speaker. It is available now on Vimeo here: https://vimeo.com/772446462
The November ASGH Business meeting was brought to order at 7:32 PM EST by President Markiewicz. There were 17 attendees present online over Zoom. There were no new members present.
Our featured speaker for the evening was, NASA Space Telescope Science Institute Fellow, Post Doctorate, Logan Jones, PhD. His topic De Re Metallica: The Re(cycling) of Elements in Galaxies was very well received and gave several members pause to reflect as they formulated questions.
Our speaker was courtesy of the meeting our ASGH NASA Night Sky Coordinator, John Sillasen had with Vivian White and Dave Prosper with several other NSN member club Coordinators around the country. Sillasen asked if the Coordinator leaders were able to see if we could procure NASA speakers again over Zoom instead of just in person. While the speaking fees were no cost, the travel cost, accommodations and meals often made such wonderful opportunities cost prohibitive. Vivian White and team came through. We hope this is the beginning of further engagements with NASA resources.
Secretary’s Report:
The Secretary’s report of the October 2022 Minutes was approved as posted. Updated billing information input for Groups.io was timely as a Groups.io November 7th reminder notice stated the renewal will take place on November 20th. Sillasen is making a note to check the payment went through without a hitch else hop into why it failed and try to correct until working.
Public Observing at the Van Vleck Observatory, Wesleyan University:
We held both a combined Public Observing with Wesleyan University’s 2022 Homecoming. As the Van Vleck opted not to participate this year, our program made it on to the Homecoming calendar! We hosted 150 visitors! Members of the public and Homecoming participants alike. We went well beyond the two hour published open period in order to accommodate as many people as we could. We just finished closing the scope and dome before the rain came!
All members are always welcome to come as long as they meet the following criteria.
You must be fully vaccinated including all eligible boosters, be free of Covid-19 symptoms and always were a mask inside the building. As the Bivalent injection for Covid-19 is approved for people 6 months and up – everyone needs the most current vaccine to be eligible to participate. It’s also advisable to continue to wear your mask inside the dome. You may remove them when at the eyepiece and when advised to do so by one of the operators.
Our next session is: December 3 from 8 – 10 PM
We will be taking the month of January off with the approval of the Observatory. We will begin again in February. Brrr.
Treasurer’s Report:
Treasurer’s report provided by Treasurer, Cyndi Barron. The Checking account has $1,246.99 and the Savings account has aa total of $24,026.90 in it. R. Zywno suggested the 6 month CD rate is very attractive today and could generate as much as $1000 in interest if done properly. Zwyno will send Treasurer Barron the information to look into. The Treasurer’s report was approved by the members by acclimation.
Webmasters Report:
Web Developer, M. Ollenschleger reports all is well and no errors are reported.
Outreach Events: (Current Status)
October 21: Talcott Mountain Science Center, Avon, CT (Stargazing) Completed. C. Markiewicz, L. Branco, J. Sillasen & E. McNeil partipated.
November 17: Talcott Mountain Science Center, Avon, CT (Stargazing) Scheduled are C. Markiewicz, B. DiNeo, L. Branco & E. McNeil.
Nov 30: CT Children’s Medical Center, Hartford, CT (Presentation/Stargazing) Scheduled are C. Markiewicz & M. Ollenschelger.
December 8: Talcott Mountain Science Center, Avon, CT (Stargazing) Scheduled thus far are C. Markiewicz.
Observing reports:
Greg Shanos, PharmD, shared his wonderful Total Lunar Eclipse photos taken with a ZWO OSC Planetary camera from his home on Florida’s West Coast.
Greg Opalenik shared his Total Lunar Eclipse Photos with wonderful foreground vistas with his new Samsung 5G S22 cellphone.
Observing opportunities until next meeting:
Check out https://in-the-sky.org/ for a list of observable objects/events in your area
Leonid meteor shower will peak night of 11/17, best viewing ~7 PM. Info at
Meteor Showers – In-The-Sky.org (scroll down the page to find the Leonid meteor shower 2022)
Magnitude -3.3 an ISS pass starts at 6:05:30 PM 11/17/2022 in the SSW, ending at 6:08:33 ~44o in the SSE.
Jupiter ends its retrograde motion 12/23/2022, and begins its nightly descent towards the eastern horizon.
Mars reaches opposition 12/8/2022, when it lies opposite the sun in the sky. It will be visible the entire night in the constellation Taurus.
Geminid meteor shower will peak around 12/14/2022, best viewing ~2 AM to pre-dawn. Info at Meteor Showers – In-The-Sky.org (scroll down the page to find the Geminid meteor shower 2022, on a mobile device this requires hitting the “more” button to the right of “Coming Up”)
Old Business:
None
New Business:
None other than to inform the membership that the 2023 Cosmic Cultures II RFP will come out sometime between the December and January meeting. A club vote will need to be taken to approve or not at the January meeting. Notice has therefore been given here.
For the Good of the Organization:
C. Markiewicz again requests members get involved in a team or do a talk for a future meeting. Sillasen called out members by name asking each for a talk topic. Dave Opalenik spoke up that he knows a professor who has shown interest but it would need to be off school months. Sillasen said we’d have no objection to holding a summer talk without a meeting and encouraged Dave to investigate further.
G. Shanos volunteered to speak on photographing both Annular and Total Solar Eclipses. We have tentatively booked his talk for April 2023 in anticipation of Student Science Fair ASGH Award recipients for a May presentation. That isn’t always possible but we shall hold the date open in hopes it will work out.
J. Sillasen reminded all he sent out a notice that NEAF 2023, the 32nd NEAF will be live onsite April 15 & 16 at Rockland Community College in Suffern, NY. NEAF will again be preceded by NEAIC April 13 & 14 at the Crown Plaza Convention Center in Suffern, NY. Sillasen suggested booking your room now at the group rate using either Rockland or NEAIC as a group code. As noted in the email he sent, see https://www.neafexpo.com add /neaic to get specifics on that event.
Meeting adjourned by member acclimation at 9:44 PM EST.