by Rex Parker, PhD director@princetonastronomers.org

Meeting Oct 8 at Peyton Hall.  We hope to see you in person at Peyton Hall on campus for the next monthly meeting on October 8 (7;30pm). The guest speaker is widely read author and physicist Paul Halpern, Professor of Physics at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. He’ll discuss his latest book, published in 2024, “The Allure of the Multiverse: Extra Dimensions, Other Worlds, and Parallel Universes.”  See Victor’s section below for more information about the program.  

Paul Halpern’s book is getting good reviews on Amazon and is one of the most comprehensible books about a topic which I personally find utterly confusing.  So here is our chance to come to grips with that part of theoretical physics and cosmology that has stirred the pot a great deal over the past couple decades.  

Please remember that we aim to highlight member astro activities in the second half of our monthly meetings, after the break. Several topics are in circulation, including member results for the observing challenges — imaging Saturn, the lunar south pole craters, and observing and imaging the soon-to-go-nova star T CrB.  We’ll add a new observing challenge this month – comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan–ATLAS.  As the news media are announcing, this might become a major bright comet visible to the unaided eye as it rounds the sun on its orbit in the next few weeks  We also reserve a slot after the break for the Unjournal Club, in which members have the floor (and screen) to discuss recent astro-related articles from the journals and magazines or other personal astronomy experiences and projects to share with fellow members.  Just shoot an email to me or our Program Chair to hold a place on the agenda Oct. 8.  Also remember that if you want to share some images, experience has shown that it’s best (for connection with Peyton Hall projector and Zoom input) to bring them on a USB drive to insert into my already-connected laptop to show during the meeting. 

AAAP’s Impressive and Growing YouTube Channel.  You may have noticed at our monthly meetings at Peyton Hall simulcast live via Zoom that we are also recording the sessions in Zoom.  What you may not realize is that these are being converted and uploaded to YouTube, posted on the AAAP YouTube Channel for members, the public, and posterity.  Here’s the link: https://www.youtube.com/@amateurastronomersassociat1439   These videos are a great way to view the meetings you may have missed or review parts that may have been hard to grasp, since some of our topics do go pretty deep.  The AAAP YouTube channel currently offers 62 videos produced inside AAAP the last few years (thanks to Victor, Dave, and Ira).  The channel has gathered over 9220 views to date.  Beyond recordings of the meetings and guest speaker presentations, it features how-to videos, cool celestial events from the observatory, astro video sessions from member telescopes, and interviews with knowledgeable club members.