by Gene Allen, Secretary

Due to the governor declaring a state of emergency, the meeting was convened on Zoom by Director Rex Parker at 1930. Following a brief introduction in which he displayed a star chart from The Sky X and introduced an Astro quiz, Program Chair Victor Davis introduced speaker Dr. Lia Medeiros, who gave us a presentation entitled A Sharper Look at the M87 Black Hole with PRIMO. She did an excellent job of keeping the subject matter at a level most of us could follow but also going into greater depth in some areas. Her talk was followed by twenty minutes of questions and a ten minute break. Attending were 45 online.

Some 23 continued with us when we reconvened at 2115 with an Unjournal Presentation by Member Jim Peck about his childhood visit to Meteor Crater in Arizona and the Meteorite Study Kit he bought.

The business meeting opened at 2114 with 23 still attending.

Outreach Chair Bill Murray requested volunteers for:

Monday, January 22 at the Helen L. Beeler Elementary School an hour south at 60 Caldwell Ave in Marlton

Ira will be giving a talk rain or shine and if it is clear they want to add stargazing so we need 3 or 4 folks who can bring their scopes.

Saturday, May 18 at the AAAP Observatory

That is Astronomy Day and Keyholders are needed to open the Observatory for a group driving up after a talk at the NJ State Museum Planetarium.

Observatory Co-Chair Dave Skitt reported that the observatory water system has been shut down and drained. Verizon has repaired a drooping wire. Keyholder Tom Swords assisted in aligning the C14 and the Explore Scientific 5”using cameras so that they can offer two views well centered on the same object. No star test has yet been accomplished on the new focuser installed on the Orion XT12i Dobsonian.

Rex guided discussion about his Astro Quiz and the answers:

• 6 most abundant elements in solar system?

H, He, O, C, N, Ne

• Which is larger, a light year or a parsec?

3.26 light years in a parsec

• What is the approx. diameter of our Galaxy?

~100,000 light years or ~30,000 parsecs

• How long does it take our solar system to make one revolution around the core of our galaxy?

~250 million years

• How many times brighter is a 1^st magnitude star compared to a 6^th mag star?

100 times (each mag step is 5√100=100^1/5=2.52)

Rex then presented information about Hidden Hydrogen. It seems that hydrogen gas was dissolved in rock as the planet formed and it has now collected in pockets underground that might be the target for drilling. If there is as much as is anticipated, we may be able to transition from fossil fuels to a fuel cell power economy. Here is the article:

https://www.science.org/content/article/hidden-hydrogen-earth-may-hold-vast-stores-renewable-carbon-free-fuel

Discussion ensued about the changes coming to amateur astronomy in the form of automated camera scopes that internalize even image enhancement and stacking. Many of us expect scopes such as the ZWO Seestar ($500) and the newly released Celestron Origin ($3999) to be the future of our passion. The days of post-processing may slip behind us like film cameras.

The meeting was adjourned at 2203.

Membership currently numbers 208, with 58 having joined in 2023 and 6 so far in 2024. There have been 131 renewals in 2023 and 6 so far in 2024. Only 49 have allowed their membership to expire in 2023, giving us a 73% retention rate. For 2024, none have expired, so we are retaining 100%!