Meeting Minutes

The Nov 19, 2025, meeting of the Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford (ASGH) was called to order over Zoom at 7:39 PM by President Chris Markiewicz. 

There were fifteen people in attendance. Seven people were in the Rocky Hill Community Center and eight were online. 

The meeting speaker was ASGH President Chris Markiewicz

Chris discussed the breathtaking size and scale of the universe.  Chris first spoke on sizes and scale of the solar system to the Milky Way galaxy, to clusters of galaxies, and all the way up to the observable universe!  

The second part of Chris’ talk was on how we know these distances.  Chris explained standard rulers and standard candles.  Chris reviewed several standard ruler methods, including parallax – the apparent shift of an image versus its more distant background as it is observed from two different locations. Chris explained using Kepler’s laws to determine the average distance of planets from the sun in astronomical units.  Noted that Cassini in 1672 used opposition of Mars to get distance from earth to Mars and then one Astronomical Unit (AU) of 87 million miles, versus true known now of about 93 million miles for the average distance of the earth to the sun. This was an impressive accuracy for state of equipment and knowledge in 1672!  Chris then talked about various standard candle methods.  Standard candles are objects of known luminosity that can be used to calculate their distance based on their apparent luminosity.  These standard candles include Cepheid variable stars, Type 1a supernovae, Tip of the Red Giant Branch (TRGB) and Tully Fisher relation of the brightness of spiral galaxies related to their speed of rotation.  Chris’s talk was a fascinating review of the size of major elements in the night sky and how science is applied to determine those distances.  Each of the topics could probably be its own college course!  

Chris’s talk was recorded with his permission. You may see his talk on the ASGH YouTube Channel at this link:  https://youtu.be/1V3qy3ssWX8?si=Eq6gaRkdYRm1Js4g 

Talks from prior ASGH meetings can be found on the ASGH YouTube Channel here: Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford – YouTube, <https://www.youtube.com/@ASGH_CT>

New Members: New member – A. Vidwans is in process of signing up and attended in person.   Found us by looking at local telescopes that have public observing.  Dean mentioned that we will have a telescope clinic at our January meeting. 

Secretary’s Report: The Secretary’s report for the October 2025 ASGH meeting was previously posted to the members section of the ASGH website.  A motion to accept the minutes was made and seconded. The report was unanimously approved.

There was a suggestion that we should read the minutes from the prior meeting and/or providing copies at the beginning of the meeting.  No definite change accepted, but possible proposals of making some hard copies of prior minutes available at beginning of the meeting.  While some felt strongly about the reading minutes from prior meetings, many others felt value may not justify the time and there was reminder that minutes are available on the website.  Any change was deferred to a future meeting. 

Treasurer’s Report: Treasurer, C. Barron reports the balances in the accounts are: 

Savings has $5629.58, Checking has $2104.82, and ASGH has 30k in T-bills.

Voted and accepted.

Webmaster’s Report – Bill had nothing to report. 

Outreach Events Included 

1. Skygazing – Talcott Mountain Science Center, Avon, CT 
   Stargazing on TMSC telescopes
   Private Event for TMSC Alumni
   Thursday 11/21 6:30pm
2. Education Outreach – Annie Fisher STEM Magnet School, Chris volunteered
   Set up a table to interact with students/families at annual Family STEAM Night
   Annie Fisher STEM Magnet School, Hartford, CT
   Wednesday 12/17 4:30-6:00pm
3. Public Guidance and Outreach during indoor Stargazing – Friends of Northwest Park, Cindy volunteered.
   The Park staff has a Star-Lite Lab which they would set up and run.
   They would like someone to speak to and guide visitors outside in identifying objects in the sky and give a general understanding of the universe.
   Northwest Park, Windsor, CT
   Friday 01/23 time TBD, for a total of 1-1.5 hours, stipend being offered
4. Student Education Outreach – Windham Technical High School
   Windham Tech High School is setting up an astronomy class for the first time.
   They are asking if anyone may be available to meet and talk with the students and
         talk do some solar observing.  (The class has to meet during school hours).
   Windham Technical High School, Willimantic, CT
   Date & Time TBD

Van Vleck Observatory: There are currently no new observing dates.

Observing News

1. Staunton River Star Party (bottom part of Virginia) put on by Chapel Hill Astronomical Observing Society (CHAOS).  John S. went to this one. This was the best start party he ever went to!  Had power on field.  Approx 110 people attended. Multiple nights.  One night it was open to public.  Had a raffle, talks, vendor etc.   Flat field, IDA dark site.  John highly recommends attending.   March and October events. 
2. Saturn in retrograde for another 8 days, ending on Nov 27.  It passed opposition on Sept 20.
3. Uranus reaches opposition this Friday Nov 21.
4. Geminid Meteor Shower will be active from Dec 4 to Dec 17.  Peaks overnight Dec 13th into morning of Dec 14th.  The peak rate may reach 120 meteors/hour.
5. Observing opportunities recent/until next meeting
6. Check out https://in-the-sky.org/ for a list of observable objects/events in your area

New Business – 

Cosmic Cultures II.  Noted that will have RFP and ability to vote on that at the next meeting.

Sound System for Meetings:  Bill D proposed having sound system to invest in to improve equipment appropriate to achieve seamless Propose to have a small committee to study and recommend.   Committee for sound system equipment evaluation and recommendation, proposed, and approved by voice vote.  So far, volunteers are Bill D and John S. 

Good of organization.  

Night Sky Network – referenced emails from John.   Noted decrease in federal funding from NASA.  Will cost 5 dollars per pin.  Expect will have 6 to 10. Will include names at meeting when pins are awarded.  Funding approved by a vote. 

Astronomy Equipment Beginners Clinic for January 21^st ASGH meeting – Dean will provide a poster for advertising.  Tentative earlier start time for Jan meeting of 7PM with end at 9:30PM.  Will use Eventbrite for ticketing.  People will need to register.  Will have ticket type for members who will show up and help.  Al suggested bringing some of our telescopes and explaining.   How to advertise outside of Eventbrite discussed. Suggest that we put up posters outside in this community center, at public libraries (to the libraries that we have worked with or donated telescopes to) etc.  Noted that newspapers such as Hartford Courant and the Journal Inquirer should be willing to publish the notice for free since this is a free public event. 

Meeting adjourned at 9:26PM