by Rex Parker, PhD
director@princetonastronomy.org

December 9, 2025 Meeting at Peyton Hall.  December’s winds whirl over the ivy-covered gothic spires and gleaming contemporary towers on the Princeton University campus, where we’ll meet for our final session of the calendar year at Peyton Hall of Astrophysics. I hope you enjoyed the presentation by our young AAAP astronomers on their experiences with the Unistellar telescope at the October meeting. Youth will be in the spotlight again for the Dec 9 meeting.  Our guest speakers are young researchers at Princeton and IAS who are studying the mysterious solar system bodies that orbit in the region beyond Neptune’s orbit at around 30 astronomical units from the sun. Recall our discussion at Peyton last month about the trans-Neptunian region, also known as the Kuiper belt, where shorter period comets such as the famed Hale-Bopp originated.  The talk on Dec 9 will involve discovery of a significant new object from this region and implications for more.  For additional information on the Dec 9 presentation please see Victor’s section below.

Following the first talk, we will have an Unjournal Club presentation by the AAAP Youth Group (Unistellar group), who on Nov 13 represented AAAP with knowledge and enthusiasm at the Stone Bridge Middle School Science Fair in Allentown NJ.  Thanks go to Jason, Hassan, Mia, Rujula, Eklavya and Sarvesh for spearheading that effort.  For the Dec 9 meeting, I hope that you will join in person at Peyton Hall.  If you cannot be there in bodily form (as I, out of state for a couple months this winter), you may participate virtually through Zoom.  See the link details below and on our website. 

Thanks for a Colorful 2025!  Our organization accomplished a lot during the past year, helping keep AAAP strong and vibrant with education, outreach, and science-social events.  A big thanks go to my fellow Board Members, the Observatory keyholders and Outreach Committee, and the Website Design committee for making things click this year.  Here’s a brief summary.  Membership remained strong with over 210 dues-paying members.  The Observatory at Wahington Crossing State Park was repaired back to full capacity electrically and electronically, with completion of the AC power rewiring project and JCP&L reconnection, and with Verizon fiber-optic high speed internet restored.  We had a highly productive and engaging season of public Friday observing nights at Washington Crossing despite the challenges noted above.  It’s difficult to estimate the total number of people who attended but it must be several-hundreds over the season.  In June, we held a long-awaited but well-attended memorial for Gene Ramsey, fittingly at the WC Park Pavillion.  We provided outstanding monthly programs at Peyton Hall (and via Zoom) with great guest speakers.  The AAAP website was redesigned and re-coded and a beta version has launched, with cut-out of the old site expect here at year’s end. The AAAP YouTube channel is growing with a cache of well-edited recordings of our meetings at Peyton plus other activities (https://www.youtube.com/@amateurastronomersassociat1439).  We successfully transitioned the fiscal functions to a new Treasurer.  And following the remarkable donation to AAAP of a Unistellar EV Scope2 and the summer Unistellar student project, we launched a AAAP Youth Group helping drive connections and outreach to schools and others.  It has been a fine year in AAAP, and I thank all of you who helped make it so.

A Winter’s Verse for Cold Nights.  I close here with a brief poem to further set the mood as we approach winter solstice. — Rex

Sharp are these cold nights
Moon and frost earth’s shadow share
Stars beckoning beyond globe’s rim
Waypoints and patterns for closing eyes.
We dream in these wintry climes
Wishing heaven to be our home
Wrapped in misting clouds embrace
Chilled yet warmed by lunar light.
– Rex Parker –