November 20, 2024
Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford
Online Business Meeting Minutes
Date: November 20, 2024
The November 20, 2024 meeting of the Astronomical Society of Greater Hartford was called to order over Zoom at 7:36 PM by President Markiewicz. There were 17 members in attendance and no guests, 3 were in the community center and 14 were online.
Tonight’s speaker was ASGH Member, Greg Shanos, PharmD, NASA Solar System Ambassador and ALPO Member. His presentation was the Smart Scope Revolutions: Introducing the ZWO SeeStar S50. The presentation was well received. Including Q&A, the presentation lasted 1′ 2″. He also briefly covered the offerings from Vaonis, Stellina, Dwarf and Celestron as well as the new ZWO S30. Comparing and contrasting images and costs.
New Members:
John Finn was present in person for his 1st meeting. He has 2 telescopes and is primarily interested in doing imaging.
Secretary’s Report:
The Secretary’s Report was published late and members were only notified the day of the meeting. Despite these delays, the minutes were unanimously approved by all in attendance.
Public Observing at the Van Vleck Observatory:
We hosted our open public night with a combined Wesleyan University Homecoming Weekend observing night at the VanVleck Observatory. We had about 50 guests and public in total. We and the Observatory posted the event as open from 8 – 10 PM. The Homecoming publication listed us as open from 9 – 11 PM. It was a surprise to us and the Van Vleck team. Fortunately, all of the team in attendance had no trouble staying the additional hour. My personal thanks goes out to M. Ollenschleger, C. Markiewicz, C. Barron and J. Allen for all the hard work they do in supporting this outreach program. John Allen, setup his personal 8″ DynaMax outside the 20″ scopes dome to keep the long lines inside moving with something else to view.
Our grateful thanks also goes to the Van Vleck’s Stefanie Dineen for providing us with additional ‘staff’ coverage in the observatory hall, library and classroom area.
Sillasen has asked the team for their December availability but none has replied. He’s more likely to pick a date based upon Lunar/Planetary availability and see who can staff it since the Observatory has already requested our December date.
Treasurer’s Report:
Treasurer, C. Barron was online and provided us with both the October balances and Novembers plus several other reports related to T-Bills and Federal tax fillings.
The October Checking Account balance was $1773.91. The Savings Account balance for October was $26,333.91. The November Checking Account balance was $1,793.91. The November Savings Account balance was $6334.35. The vast difference in the Savings Account balances from October to November are due to the pre-approved purchases of two new additional T-Bills (Treasury Bills). These were both in the amount of $10,000. One for 26 weeks, the other for 52 weeks. A 3rd current T-Bill will come due November 30th. It will be reinvested for 9 months at $5000.
The annual Groups.IO payment came due and was paid November 20th for $110.00. The club Debit card was charged, the receipt emailed to the Secretary who acts as Owner and one of the Moderators for our ASGH presence on Groups.IO upon the demise of Yahoogroups. The receipt was emailed to the Treasurer. C. Barron noted she still needs to reinburse, WebDeveloper and VP, M. Ollenschleger for the payments to Go Daddy for our ASGH.ORG domain renewal and security packages.
Cindy also noted she completed the Federal Tax filing for our 2023-2024 Fiscal Year to the IRS. No payments were due. Next year, beginning in January, the State of Connecticut tax filings will come due. A $50 fee will be paid at that time. The only other tax filing payments that will be due to the State of Connecticut is when a new Treasurer is elected and the address for the club changed.
A few new members have written to the Webmaster and the Secretary about notifications since joining ASGH or about magazine subscriptions not renewed. M. Ollenschleger suggested a way to create an email address in Go Daddy that PayPal will accept that takes one email address and becomes a mail forwarder for others. In this way, when a new member joins, C. Barron as Treasurer will be notified, the Secretary gets notified so a Groups.IO invitation to join can be sent and the Membership Chair will know to mail out New Member Packets. This is a change he will work on. C. Barron also requested a box be made available so members will need to select if they are new members joining for the first time or if this is a member renewal. That information alone saves some of us a great deal of extra work!
WebMasters Report:
Nothing new to report this month. Noting the additional work requested above for next month.
Outreach:
Talcott Mtn Science Center – December 5th. Members are requested to sign up. Talcott Mtn now offers ASGH members the opportunity to bring their own telescopes with them. Chris notes it is quite a hike uphill from the parking area to be hauling telescopes up the hill.
Cora Belden Library, Rocky Hill. An ISS Downlink is setup for February 18th. The library has made arrangements to have a Downlink available and would like to have a talk on the ISS in advance of the Downlink. C. Markiewicz to provide.
Space Expo – April 26th. 9a – 3p with setup and breakdown time an hour on each side of those public times. A. Johnson volunteered along with C. Markiewicz to cover this event.
Suffield Middle School Star Gazing – Sometime in the Spring of 2025.
The School was unable to organize a time for this November and has postponed until next Spring.
Choate Prep School – Wallingford, CT. J. Sillasen, Lead, M. Addy, H. Lindo visited Choate School on Monday, October 28th to evaluate their existing telescopes and how or if they were functional. The first scope, a no model number Meade single fork arm 80 mm would not power up no matter what was done – batteries or power supply. Given the recent status of Meades dissolution, no parts or service is currently available.
We got to see 3 other telescopes. Two were very old Meade Equitorial scopes on AC Powered mounts. The Scopes were in good shape, needing focuser degreasing and regreasing and likely recollimation. It was suggested she have the shop make a project in making Dobsonian mounts for the two Newtonian reflectors and get rid of the old AC powered mounts. The final scope was a very old Celestron C11 with equitorial wedge. The astronomy teacher thought it wasn’t functional.. Miriam and she got it mounted to the massive tripod and plugged it in. It was clearly getting power and with the slow motion controls for both RA and Dec, the scope could move to any point in the sky and track. The bolts would need to be cleaned so they functioned properly.
Plans for making Dobsonian bases for Newtonian reflectors were emailed to the teacher as well as how to collimate a Newtonian reflector the next day. Mission accomplished!
Stargazing Outreach – Kruger Preserve, Haddam Neck. Stargazing for family groups hosted by the Middlesex Land Trust. Organizer – Dean Kavalkovich. Volunteers – C. Markiewicz, J. Sillasen, A. Johnson, R. Zwyno, H. Granif, M. Addy, H. Lindo.
Friday 11/1, Time guests arrive at 5:45 PM. A windy evening and quite chilly, we had telescopes ranging from 70mm Refractors to 8″ SCT, 10″ Newtonian, a 12″ Newtonian and the clubs own 17 1/4″ Newtonian on a truss tube based mount. A great time was had be all!
Library Telescope Loaner Program – Tolland Public Library – C. Barron.
telescope has been delivered. Training needs to be scheduled and C. Markiewicz to share with C. Barron what needs to be accomplished.
date/time TBD Staff Training
date/time TBD Patron Introduction
Library Telescope Loaner Program – Hebron Public Library – Dean Kavalkovich
telescope needs to be delivered. Same as above.
date/time TBD Staff Training
date/time TBD Patron Intro
New Business:
Cosmic Cultures II – the RFP for the 2025-2026 year has been posted by the state of Connecticut. Steve Pelosi is currently evaluating and updating the document before sending it back to the state and then on to ASGH for approval. S. Pelosi’s changes tend to be along the lines of changing schools from year to year as the program moves along districts.
Note Bene to All Members: Should we receive the document in time for the December meeting this announcement will be the one month notice required before the membership votes to continue supporting Cosmic Cultures II or not.
Old Business:
None.
Good of the Organization:
J. Sillasen shared his new purchase of a Red LED only headlamp. No more dual white light / red light headlamps with which to contend. This unit has 4 levels of RED LED Brightness from where did that Allen Wrench or filter go to reading star charts while preserving your dark adapt eyes and still looking up to the sky and seeing stars! Al Johnson confides he’s been using the same unit and says it is great for the observatory and while imaging.
The unit is the Apertura Ember – the Astronomers Headlamp, available exclusively from Highpoint Scientific in New Jersey. It is currently selling for $24.95, on sale from the retail price of $29.95 with a rechargeable Lithium Ion battery. Purchase includes free shipping.
The Meeting was adjourned at 9:30 PM ET.