By Ira Polans

The October AAAP meeting is on the 10th at 7:30PM in Peyton Hall on the Princeton University campus. The presentation will be divided into two 30 minute parts. The first part is “The AAAP’s 2017 Total Solar Eclipse Trip to Monmouth, OR” by club member Arshad Jilani. The second part is “Astro-Imaging with Skynet” by AAAP Director, Rex Parker. The October presentations wrap-up our talks about the solar eclipse and promote a new member benefit.. The October presentations wrap our talks about the solar eclipse and promote a new member benefit.

The Great American Eclipse of August 21, 2017, is an event that amateur astronomers and others across the US will remember for a lifetime. Arshad Jilani and other AAAP team members went to Monmouth, OR, near Portland, to observe the eclipse. Since Monmouth was in the path of totality, they were able to see the eclipse as could only be observed from such locations. Arshad recorded the event and gives us an interesting personalized insight into the people, the drama, the location and of course the event itself as it unfolded for the rapturous observers. He has used a number of member photos and videos to bring the occasion to life for the rest of us

Telescopes and imaging technologies and software are essential tools of the trade to professional and amateur astronomers alike. However, for most of us breaking in to astro-imaging has high entry barriers. To provide a practical path to learning, AAAP has obtained access to Skynet, a remote astro-imaging network developed by the Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Physics and Astronomy Dept. The Skynet telescopes typically are 16” imaging scopes with large format CCD cameras located all over the world. In this talk, approaches to remote imaging will be discussed with emphasis on Skynet. Members can begin learning hands-on remote astronomical imaging at no cost through access to Skynet provided by AAAP.

There will not be a club dinner prior to the meeting.

Looking forward to you joining us at the October meeting!