by John Miller, Secretary

The meeting convened at 7:30 PM via Zoom.

●  Rex Parker announced the Washington Crossing State Park gave permission to proceed   with the WC Observatory support columns repair. 

●  The monthly Member Meeting is now being streamed to Yahoo, for real-time and archived viewing, initialized by Ira Polans and David Skitt.

●  R. Parker displayed various astrophotos: H II star-forming regions within and outside the Milky Way Galaxy.

●  The evening’s guest speaker, Princeton University’s Guðmundur Stefánsson, Ph.D., was introduced by Program Chair Victor Davis.  Stefansson’s presentation was titled:  Searching for New Worlds with Next-generation Astronomical Instruments.  Initially, there were approximately 55 attendees. The talk was well received.

●  About 9 P.M., the Journal Club presentation was made by member Ira Polans.  Titled: “Johannes Kepler, Parallax, and the Astronomical Unit”, the book describes how Kepler and his contemporaries measured the size of the Solar System.

Business Meeting:

●  Assistant Director Larry Kane reviewed his observatory repair fundraising efforts.  Treasurer Michael Mitrano reported these fundraising contributions from AAAP members have currently totaled about $4,000+. 

●  David Skitt reviewed the club’s membership to the Night Sky Network (NASA) and how it can benefit individuals at the AAAP.  https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm

●  Dave also had a Zoom meeting with a member of the public wanting advice on buying a telescope. This was followed by statements from several members who were also approached to give advice on the same subject.

●  Dave and Tom Swords discussed the purchase of “Bahtinov masks” to aid in the focusing of telescopes and cameras..

●  The Zoom meeting adjourned at 10:00PM