From the Director

by Rex Parker, PhD  director@princetonastronomy.org

April 14 Meeting at Peyton Hall.  With the warmer temperatures I will traipse across a blooming campus to Peyton Hall once more for the AAAP meeting on April 14. While walking I look up into the night sky to see the changing constellations, and realize the newcomers signal the start of galaxy season.  The brightest and greatest concentration of the northern hemisphere’s galaxies move into good telescope observing position (at hours not causing sleep deprivation) in April.  During spring, Earth’s night-side faces away from the populated Milky Way center, allowing clear views of other galaxies in the constellations Virgo, Leo, and Ursa Major. Indeed, clusters of galaxies emerging in the spring. 

I hope you will join me in person April 14, as Peyton Hall will become unavailable to us for a while with reconstruction on the building starting this summer.  And unexpectedly we have been pre-empted for our May 12 meeting by exam scheduling that evening.  So, the May 12 meeting will be held in Sherrerd Hall, a newer building easily accessed with street level parking close by (thanks to Bob V. for arranging this).  A campus/parking map will be provided next month in Sidereal Times.  And if you haven’t yet, I insist upon you watching the new movie Project Hail Mary adapted from Andy Weir’s sci-fi book.  See yourself in those situations calling on MacGyver-like skills to respond to challenges.  These are some of the abilities we aspire to as amateur astronomers! 

Program Chair Victor’s section below describes our guest speaker for April 14. This will be a good opportunity to learn about the latest approaches being taken in the search for intelligent life outside our planet, SETI.  With the encouraging signs of spring, let’s have a great member turnout at Peyton Hall April 14.  Of course, if you cannot be there in person please join our meeting by Zoom.  The updated Zoom link will be sent by e-mail a few days before each meeting and posted on the newly redesigned website.

AAAP Board Election in May.  As directed by the by-laws, each May we hold the election  of officers (aka the Board) for a 1-year term.  Michael Mitrano has agreed to serve as the temporary Nominations Chair for the election.  The basic duties involved for each position are provided on the website, https://www.princetonastronomy.org/about/board.  If you are interested in helping AAAP as an officer (this or perhaps a future year), feel free to contact Michael at nominations@princetonastronomy.org.  He will report on a slate of candidates at the April meeting.

A Full Moon on the Day of Artemis 2 Launch (April 1).  An unexpected flyby occurred by the upper edge of the moon seen through the clouds in this image, from my 12.5” reflector telescope in central NJ.

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From The Program Chair

by Victor Davis, Program Chair

Productive Listening
The April, 2026 monthly meeting of the Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton will take place in Peyton Hall on the campus of Princeton University on Tuesday, April 14th at 7:30 PM. As usual, the meeting is open to AAAP members and the public. Participants can join the meeting in-person at Peyton Hall or log in to the Zoom session as early as 7:00 pm to chat informally before the meeting begins. The evening’s guest speaker will be Dr. Brian Lacki, a theoretical astrophysicist working for Breakthrough Listen, a SETI project seeking signs of alien technology.

Options for Attending the Meeting
You may choose to attend the meeting in person or participate via Zoom or YouTube as we’ve been doing for the past few years. (See How to Participate below for details). Due to security concerns, if you log in before the host has set up internet connectivity in Peyton Hall, you may need to wait in the Waiting Room for a few minutes until the host is prepared to admit you into the meeting. You’ll need to unmute yourself to make comments or ask questions. It’s polite, though not required, for you to enable your camera so other participants can see you. The meeting will be recorded and edited for posting to our club’s YouTube channel.

There will be no “meet the speaker” dinner this month
Dr. Lacki is immunocompromised and always wears an N95+ mask in public places and so has politely declined our invitation to dinner at Winberie’s.

Here’s the anticipated agenda for April 14th 2026’s monthly meeting of the AAAP:

(Times are approximate)

Getting to Peyton Hall
The parking lots across the street (Ivy Lane) from Peyton Hall are now construction sites, unavailable for parking. We’ve been advised by the administration of the astrophysics department that we should park in the new enclosed parking garage off Fitzrandolph street and walk around the stadium and athletic fields. Here’s a map of the campus and walking routes from the parking garage to Peyton Hall. The map shows the recently completed East Garage. Not shown is an access road Sweet Gum that connects from Faculty Road to an entrance at the lower left corner of the garage. Stadium Road connects from Fitzrandolph Road to another entrance at the opposite corner (and higher level) of the garage. It’s about a 10-15 minute walk from the parking garage to Peyton Hall.

astrobrianlacki@gmail.com

A Billion Whispers: Breakthrough Listen, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) and Cosmic Ecology

A Billion Whispers:
The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) has had a renaissance in the past decade, spearheaded by several groups including Breakthrough Listen. Dr. Lacki will review the basic concepts of SETI, including the Drake Equation, the Fermi Paradox, and how scientists hope to find signs of alien technology. He will then discuss his own work as a theorist at Breakthrough Listen, much of which focuses on how the possibility of interstellar travel affects prospects for SETI. The ability to spread between stars is something that almost no other phenomenon is capable of, behaving more like biology than astrophysics. Breakthrough Listen and other SETI projects are observing galaxies near and far, where we may detect signs of technology if it becomes pervasive and powerful enough.                                                                                 

Brian Lacki, PhD.
Brian Lacki is a theoretical astrophysicist working for Breakthrough Listen. After getting his Ph.D. at Ohio State University, he received a Jansky Fellowship from the NRAO and resided at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. His earlier research, on high energy processes in star-forming galaxies, informed his first ventures into SETI theory. Now, his interests include technosignatures across the spectrum. Brian is also interested in philosophical aspects of SETI. His work includes the Breakthrough Listen Exotica Catalog, which aims to include “one of everything” in the Universe, and the first workshop on SETI in X-rays, gamma-rays, neutrinos, gravity waves, and particles.

How to Participate (Links)
Zoom & YouTube Live
Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Join Zoom Meeting
Topic: April AAAP 2026 Meeting; Brian Lacki, Berkley SETI; Breakthrough Listen Catalog
Time: Apr 14, 2026 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Meeting ID: 852 4786 5253
Passcode: 221147
Join instructions

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85247865253?pwd=8LuiqIJIlNB2IBf0D7NwAd9CStgnp3.1....https://youtube.com/live/hxXU79eMCTk?feature=share
Click the above icons for Zoom and YouTube

AAAP’s library of monthly meetings is available on the club’s YouTube channel. March’s edited meeting featuring a presentation by Dr. Bob Vanderbei “Dynamic Astronomical Things: From Supernovae to Moving Stars, Eclipses, Occultations, etc.” can be viewed at https://youtu.be/Zf2lRGlJvLg?si=fqqVqMwti4Zav. Runtime is 1hour 14 minutes.

A look ahead at future guest speakers:

Date Featured SpeakerTopic
May 12, 2026
John Horgan
Science Writer
horganism3@gmail.com
Mr. Horgan will discuss his controversial 1996 book The End of Science, in which he argues that pure science, defined as “the primordial human quest to understand the universe and our place in it,” may be coming to an end. Horgan claims that science will not achieve insights into nature as profound as evolution by natural selection, the double helix, the Big Bangrelativity theory or quantum mechanics. In the future, he suggests, scientists will refine, extend and apply this pre-existing knowledge but will not achieve any more great “revolutions or revelations.” Shades of Auguste Comte, perhaps?
 
We expect to have copies of his book(s) for sale for the author to sign at the conclusion of his presentation.
 
Thanks to Rex Parker for engaging this speaker.
Jun 9, 2026
Jacob Hamer
Assistant Curator
NJ State Museum Planetarium
Jacob.Hamer@sos.nj.gov
As usual, the June meeting will take place in the planetarium at the NJ State Museum in Trenton. There will be no streaming of this live-only sky show and PowerPoint presentation. Topic to be announced.
Sep. 8, 2026Michael DiMario
Chair of AAAP’s Astro-imaging SIG
K2mjd@outlook.com
Dr. DiMario will present a primer on astro-imaging.
Oct. 13, 2026Becka Phillipson
Assistant Professor in Physics
Villanova University
Prof. Phillipson, originally scheduled to be October 2025’s guest speaker, is an unconfirmed prospect to try again in 2026.

As always, members’ comments and suggestions are gratefully accepted and much appreciated. Thanks to Ira Polans and Dave Skitt for setting up the online links and connecting the meeting to the world outside Peyton Hall.

victor.davis@verizon.net
program@princetonastronomers.org
(908) 581-1780 cell

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Minutes of the March 10, 2026 Meeting

by Gene Allen, Secretary

Director Rex Parker opened the meeting in PeytonHall at 1931 with comments about the constellation Leo coming into view, the spring galaxy season, and the upcoming equinox on March 20. There were 26 in the auditorium and 24-some online.

Promotions Chair Debbie Mayes has resigned that role due to family demands. She has done an excellent job managing our social media accounts, distributing flyers she had printed up, and being present at most observatory Public Nights to welcome visitors. We thank her for doing so well at the job she created and now we seek someone to take her place.

With the annual officer election approaching, we need someone to step forward to chair the Nominating Committee.

Outreach Chair Bill Murray reported that a surprising number of stargazing requests have been received in spite of this exceptionally cold winter season.

Past Events – We thank these members for their support:

February 20 – Cub Scout Pack 91 in Hamilton was served by Member Hrishikesr Karvir, Assistant Director Bob Vanderbei, and Observatory Co-Chair Dave Skitt.

February 28 – an event at the Plainsboro Preserve was served by Member Rajat Das, Member Hongkun Zhao, Program Chair Victor Davis, Dave Skitt, and Bill Murray.

March 1 – a Montgomery Friends of Open Space gathering enjoyed a lecture and stargazing served by Bob Vanderbie.

March 5 – stargazing at the North Brunswick Twp High School was served by Member Sarvesh Raghupathy and Bob Vanderbei.

Upcoming Events – Mark your calendar and bring your telescope:

April 18 – stargazing at the Mercer Meadows Pole Barn – no one has yet volunteered.

April 22 – stargazing at the Newgrange School in Pennington – volunteers are Member Maiya Qiu, Member Dan Opdyke, Member Tom Swords, Bob Vanderbei, and Bill Murray.

Early June – the Village Elementary School in West Windsor requests a presentation on amateur astronomy with a hands on demonstration – details to follow.

October 6 – the Monmouth County Library requests a star party – details to follow.

Webmaster Jeff Pinyan has launched our new AAAP website. While development continues and additional features and content will still be added, it is operational. Members should create their own password to sign in and check it out.

Program Chair Victor Davis introduced our speaker for tonight, AAAP Assistant Director Dr Bob Vanderbei, Princeton University Emeritus Professor in the Department of Operations Research and Financial Engineering. His talk was titled Capturing Dynamic Astronomical Objects.

After the question period Director Rex Parker continued the meeting without a break. Sixteen remained in the auditorium as he called our attention to the following hot topics:

We were shown how Member Luyi Wang did the best at the Imaging Challenge of capturing the occultation of Neptune by Saturn using a remote telescope located in China.

Rex showed us his capture of the occultation of the Pleiades by the Moon.

The upcoming Artemis 2 manned mission intending to orbit the Moon has been delayed again, this time until April.

The Keyholder schedule for the upcoming observatory season is available on the new website.

Bill Murray had a great time again at the Winter Star Party in the Florida Keys.

Jeff Pinyan had a fun time setting up his telescope in a Target parking lot and ended up hosting a star party for over 100 spontaneous attendees. That’s a neat idea. Way to go, Jeff!

The meeting was adjourned at 2059.

As of March 9, we have 210 active members. So far in CY2026, renewals number 21 and expirations number 6, giving us a 78% retention rate. We have added 8 new members.

Submitted by Secretary Gene Allen
March 26, 2026

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Note on Merchandise

by Rich Sherman

As we finished a brutal winter, our thoughts now turn to spring and warmer weather. The same is true at your AAAP merchandise shop. On April 15th, we will shift our inventory from the cold-weather gear to more seasonal apparel. As always, if you need help with an order or are looking for something you don’t immediately see at the store, please email Rich at RJSherman@hotmail.com. As a reminder for when you visit the store, the passwords is:  SiderealTimes.

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Book Review: Infinite Cosmos: Visions From the James Webb Space Telescope, by Ethan Siegel

By Richard Sherman

Published 2024

Grade:  A

$28.32, hardback, at Amazon.com 

224 pages

“Infinite Cosmos” is a large, coffee table-sized book. It is published by National Geographic, so the production quality is excellent as are the images and diagrams. For me, it helped me complete my understanding of the JWST from its production to recent operations. Despite the physical size of the book, it does not take long to read it. However, the trim size is helpful so the reader can see the important details in the graphics and photographs. It has been on the market since 2024 and now the price has dropped to below $30 for a new copy. As much as I enjoyed it, I think it makes an even better gift for our family and friends who “kind of” understand what we are talking about when we reference the James Webb Space Telescope. 

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Neutrino Astronomy

By Prasad Ganti

Astronomy started out as optical, viewing the light emitted by astronomical bodies in space. Our ancestors looked at the night sky and imagined patterns of stars and distant bodies. Several advances occurred in the last four hundred years in identifying stars, galaxies, clusters of galaxies, and finally, our universe. Along the way, the optical limitation was overcome and astronomy branched out to other areas.

Firstly, into radiation-related multi-messenger astronomy: beyond the visible light, radio astronomy, infrared astronomy, X-ray astronomy, and gamma-ray astronomy ensued. Each of them provided different perspectives and images of the Universe compared to the limited visible spectrum. As a whole, a composite mosaic of the Universe started emerging.

Recently, two more candidates were added to the multi-messenger astronomy club: gravitational waves and neutrinos. Neutrinos are elementary particles with no charge that are nearly massless. They travel without interacting with any matter or any radiation, as if the matter did not exist. It is an extremely rare event that a neutrino produces a trace of its interaction with the material universe.

There are copious numbers of neutrinos produced by violent nuclear reactions in the stars, supernovae, neutron star mergers, active galactic nuclei, and even the nuclear reactors on our own planet Earth and our Sun. They were also produced in the Big Bang which created our universe. Trillions of neutrinos pass through our bodies every second and yet we have no clue about them. Many come from cosmic rays which are very energetic and travel great distances to convey a picture of our Universe to us. Neutrinos offer a unique opportunity to observe processes that are inaccessible to optical telescopes.

With a great number of them and their ability to travel astronomical distances without any impediment, they are the perfect messengers from distant astronomical events. From the cores of the stars and passing through intervening objects, they are constantly on the move. But perfection comes at a cost. What makes them ideal to travel long distances unimpeded, also makes them very difficult to detect. Neutrinos were a theoretical prediction by Wolfgang Pauli in the 1930s to explain the case of missing mass-energy in a nuclear reaction called beta decay. Beta decay is the emission of an electron from the nucleus of some radioactive elements. Their existence was confirmed in 1956 by Clyde Cowan and Frederick Reines.

The largest neutrino detector is called IceCube. Located at the South Pole, it consists of about 5,000 electronic sensors buried at depths between roughly 1,450 meters (4,760 feet) and 2,450 meters (8,040 feet) below the ice surface. This shields the detectors from other radiation. The sensors detect light emitted by charged particles that are produced when a single neutrino collides with a proton or neutron inside an atom. Although a rare event, a quadrillion such neutrinos produce a collision every few days. The resulting nuclear reaction produces secondary particles traveling at high speeds that give off a blue light called Cherenkov radiation. Such a reaction is called “inverse beta decay.” Such tiny flashes of light are multiplied by thousands of photomultiplier tubes to produce a detectable signal.

There are other neutrino detectors which consist of thousands of gallons of a liquid like chlorine or argon or heavy water housed deep underground, like the Super-Kamiokande in Japan or the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory in Canada. Kamiokande-II, the predecessor of Super-Kamiokande, detected the first extrasolar neutrinos coming from Supernova 1987A, an explosion in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of our own Milky Way.

The lexicon of astronomy is getting richer while we get one step closer to understanding our Universe.

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Short Stories Series

by Eklavya Doegar, Student, 8th grade

Amazing stories from Ancient Astronomy

Aryabhata I: The Young Stargazer 

A long time ago in the land of India, there lived a boy who couldn’t stop looking up at the skies.

This was in the 5th century CE. At an age when most children are into playing or learning life skills, Aryabhata loved watching the skies. Every night, he would lie on the ground and stare at the sky, wondering, why do the stars move? Why does the Sun rise every day?

Aryabhata used to write down everything he saw. He noticed that the stars seemed to move in a circle across the sky. 

Most people at that time believed the Earth was still, and the sky moved around it. But he asked the question challenging this assumption: 

“What if the Earth is moving instead?” 

Aryabhata thought differently. He observed, calculated and figured out that the Earth spins on its axis! That’s why the stars appear to move.

Aryabhata conducted even more observations and estimated how long it took the Earth to go all the way around the Sun (what we now call a year), and his answer was almost exactly right. 

Aryabhata also worked on the number pi, which we still use to calculate circles and orbits today! He wrote all this in a book called the Aryabhatiya when he was just 23 years old. His observations, findings supported with calculations were found to be very powerful, and they even traveled across countries and centuries.

So the next time you look at the stars, remember Aryabhata. The curious boy who made detailed observations, asked questions, and changed the way we see our planet!

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Snippets

compiled by Arlene & David Kaplan

-NASA

Artemis II Flight Day 5: Crew Demos Suits, Readies for Lunar Flyby 
The Artemis II crew of NASA astronauts Reid WisemanVictor GloverChristina Koch, and CSA (Canadian Space Agency) astronaut Jeremy Hansen, continue their workday aboard the Orion spacecraft.  With a demonstration underway of the Orion crew survival system spacesuit, the crew also will prepare for their lunar flyby set for Monday, April 6…more

-space.com
-Nautil.us

Did Scientists Just Detect an Exploding Black Hole? On Feb. 13, 2023, a cosmic bullet of sorts zipped beneath the Mediterranean Sea near Sicily. It was a subatomic particle known as a neutrino, traveling through the depths at virtually the speed of light and carrying a whopping 220 peta-electron volts of energy. Its presence was detected by a new underwater observatory known as the Kilometer Cube Neutrino Telescope, or KM3NeT…more

-NYT

A ‘Hail Mary’ for Earth, Built on Solid Science Andy Weir’s “Project Hail Mary,” published in 2021, is a story about humanity’s last-ditch attempt to save Earth from “astrophage,” a fictional, star-eating algae that has infected our sun. The book chronicles the journey of scientist-turned-science-teacher Ryland Grace, who wakes up on a spaceship and ultimately befriends Rocky…more

-Berkeley.edu

For 21 years, enthusiasts used their home computers to search for ET. UC Berkeley scientists are homing in on 100 signals they found. For 21 years, between 1999 and 2020, millions of people worldwide loaned UC Berkeley scientists their computers to search for signs of advanced civilizations in our galaxy. The project — called SETI@home, after the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) — generated a loyal following eager to participate in one of the most popular crowd-sourced projects in the early days of the internet…more

-SETI.org

Why SETI Might Have Been Missing Alien Signals A new study by researchers at the SETI Institute suggests stellar “space weather” could make radio signals from extraterrestrial intelligence harder to detect. Stellar activity and plasma turbulence near a transmitting planet can broaden an otherwise ultra-narrow signal, spreading its power across more frequencies and making it more difficult to detect in traditional narrowband searches…more

-NASA

Straight Shot: Hubble Investigates Galaxy with Nine Rings NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has captured a cosmic bullseye! The gargantuan galaxy LEDA 1313424 is rippling with nine star-filled rings after an “arrow” — a far smaller blue dwarf galaxy — shot through its heart. Astronomers using Hubble identified eight visible rings, more than previously detected by any telescope in any galaxy, and confirmed…more

-NASA

Spaceflight Started 100 Years Ago in a Massachusetts Cabbage Patch Robert Goddard arrived at his aunt’s farm in Auburn, Mass., on a cold, snowy morning 100 years ago. The wide-open spaces of the farm became on March 16, 1926, a rudimentary Cape Canaveral for an event never witnessed before on Earth: the launch of a rocket that would become a trailblazer for vehicles capable of sending satellites, probes and even humans beyond our planet’s atmosphere…more

-NASA

New Theory May Explain Mysterious “Little Red Dots” in the Early Universe Astronomers at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian have proposed a new explanation for some of the universe’s most puzzling early galaxies, nicknamed “little red dots.” In the study, published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Authors Fabio Pacucci and Abraham (Avi) Loeb suggest that these galaxies are the result of very slowly spinning dark matter halos, an extremely rare cosmic structure…more

-NASA

Sugars, ‘Gum,’ Stardust Found in NASA’s Asteroid Bennu Samples The asteroid Bennu continues to provide new clues to scientists’ biggest questions about the formation of the early solar system and the origins of life. As part of the ongoing study of pristine samples delivered to Earth by NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, and Security-Regolith Explorer) spacecraft…more

-NASA

NASA’s DART Mission Changed Orbit of Asteroid Didymos Around Sun New research reveals that when NASA’s DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) spacecraft intentionally impacted the asteroid moonlet Dimorphos in September 2022, it didn’t just change the motion of Dimorphos around its larger companion, Didymos; the crash also shifted the orbit of both asteroids around the Sun…more

-space.com

Spectacular fireball over Europe sends meteorite crashing through roof of German home A meteorite has crashed through the roof of a house in the city of Koblenz in the west of Germany after a spectacular fireball lit up the night sky above western Europe on Sunday evening, March 8. More than 2,800 sightings of the fireball have been reported to the International Meteor Organization (IMO), with dozens of video recordings having been uploaded on social media…more

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From The Director

by Rex Parker, PhD
director@princetonastronomy.org

March 10, 2026 Meeting at Peyton Hall.  The approach of the vernal equinox is a great time of year in the northern hemisphere!  It reminds us that the cycle of life is deeply intertwined with the celestial calendar, as the re-emergence of the botanical world depends on the orbital geometry of our planet.  What is the vernal equinox in purely astronomical terms?  It can be reduced to a single moment in time, which at locations near Princeton arrives at 9:46am on Mar 20.  At this time Earth’s axis is tilted neither toward nor away from the Sun, so that the sun appears directly over earth’s equator.  The lengths of day and night at places across the globe are nearly equal, and both hemispheres receive about the same amount of solar energy.

Let’s celebrate the return of spring with a strong turnout in person at Peyton Hall for the Mar 10 meeting.  Keep in mind that our access to this splendid venue is subject to changes on campus.  The University has plans for a renovation construction project on Peyton Hall.  Our ability to hold meetings there may be affected — we are in contact with the chair of the department about this.  So let’s not take Peyton for granted. I am preparing to travel back to NJ after an extreme winter in the Midwest US, and look forward to being on site in person March 10.  Of course, the meeting will also be run as a hybrid via Zoom, so join us virtually if you cannot physically attend.  Our speaker will be Bob Vanderbei, Emeritus Prof. at Princeton Univ and assistant director of AAAP.  For more on his talk see Victor’s section below.   

Hot Topics for Mar 10.  Our monthly meetings give us the opportunity after the main presentation to review timely and interesting astronomy events and announcements.  By going a bit deeper than the media typically do we hope to dispel some of the misinformation that tends to confuse or overhype some celestial events, and to better prepare us all to explain hot astro topics to friends and family.  Please offer your thoughts about astro topics for Mar 10 and upcoming meetings and get ready to weigh in on the discussions.  Send your ideas by e-mail to: director@princeonastronomy.org

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