by Rex Parker, PhD
director@princetonastronomy.org

Meeting Feb 11 at Peyton Hall and Zoom.  Looking forward to next week’s meeting, which will bring to the fore the latest research on gravity waves and the LIGO project.  A rare glimpse of the inside structure and technology behind the LIGO instrumentation will be provided.  We hope you’ll join us in person at Peyton Hall on campus, but if not please join in via Zoom.  Please see Victor’s article below for more information including the Zoom link (which can also be found under the guest speaker section on our website).

The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is a collaboration spanning over 3 decades with perhaps a thousand researchers from around the world.  In 2017 the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to the early leaders Kip Thorne and Rainer Weiss, along with Barry Barish who brought the project to completion. 

I had the privilege of attending Kip Thorne’s presentation at Princeton University Physics Dept in April 2017, shortly after the Nobel Prize announcement.  It was held at McDonnell Hall which links the Physics and Math Departments, right up the walkway from Peyton Hall where AAAP meets.  Dr Thorne got his PhD in physics at Princeton (1965) where he was inspired by the renowned physicist John Wheeler.  He spent much of his career working on gravitational waves at Cal Tech in Pasadena, where he became convinced that gravity waves were detectable despite the immense technical challenges.  Recall that Einstein predicted them but was convinced that detection was not possible.  I remember that, in his address to Princeton, Kip Thorne said that one of the most important things he had learned is the importance of human inspiration in scientific discovery and innovation.  Interesting how that is exactly the core of what AAAP is all about.

Seeking a couple of members to step up.  After many years of guiding our treasury and providing excellent financial management, Treasurer Michael Mitrano is stepping down from the role.  I cannot thank Michael enough for his service and dedication to the club for 18 years, it has been truly exemplary. 

If you are interested in stepping up to the Treasurer role, a Board level position, please contact me or any board member. Experience in Quick Books software and some accounting background would be real benefits.  We hope to identify a candidate to stand for election in May. 

We are also seeking a member who would like to take on the role of telescope loaner program coordinator.  AAAP continues to build a nice collection of telescopes and related hardware which we aim to loan out for member use at no cost.  We need someone to help develop that part of our observatory efforts.

Unjournal Club.  If you’d like an opportunity to speak with fellow members about your interests in astronomy, please read on. At each month’s meeting we reserve a slot after the intermission for the Unjournal Club, in which a member has the floor (and screen) for 10-15 min to discuss recent astro-related magazine articles, books, or other personal astronomy experiences and projects to share with the membership. In November, for example, we had a very cool presentation by member David Ackerman about his progress programming and using a spectroheliograph to image the sun in astonishing detail. In order to get on the schedule for an unjournal club presentation, please send an email to me or the Program Chair. Remember that if you want to share astro images or other slides live in the auditorium, experience has shown that it’s better for connecting with the Peyton Hall projector and Zoom input to bring the file on a USB drive to insert into the laptop already connected up front during the meeting. Your brief presentation can also be done via Zoom if you aren’t in Peyton Hall.