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