by Victor Davis

New Tools to Survey the Sky

The February, 2026 monthly meeting of the Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton will take place in Peyton Hall on the campus of Princeton University on Tuesday, February 10^th at 7:30 PM. As usual, the meeting is open to AAAP members and the public. Participants can join the meeting in-person at Peyton Hall or log in to the Zoom session as early as 7:00 pm to chat informally before the meeting begins. The evening’s guest speaker will be John Bochanski, member of the LSST (Legacy Survey of Space and Time) Discovery Alliance and Stars, Milky Way, and Local Volume Science Collaboration. Dr. Bochanski will talk about his work on foundational sky surveys such as the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the Vera Rubin Observatory.

Options for Attending the Meeting

You may choose to attend the meeting in person or participate via Zoom or YouTube as we’ve been doing for the past few years. (See How to Participate below for details). Due to security concerns, if you log in before the host has set up internet connectivity in Peyton Hall, you may need to wait in the Waiting Room for a few minutes until the host is prepared to admit you into the meeting. You’ll need to unmute yourself to make comments or ask questions. It’s polite, though not required, for you to enable your camera so other participants can see you. The meeting will be recorded and edited for posting to our club’s YouTube channel.

Join us for our “meet the speaker” dinner

Dr. Bochanski will be joining us for our traditional “meet the speaker” dinner at Winberie’s before the meeting.  Our reservation is for 5:45 pm Tuesday, February 10th. Please contact the Program Chair if you plan to attend. 

Here’s the anticipated agenda for January 13, 2026’s monthly meeting of the AAAP:

Meeting Event	~Time	Participant Can Self-Unmute?
Pre-meeting informal chatting	7:00 – 7:30	Yes
Introductory remarks from Director Rex Parker andAssistant Director Bob Vanderbei	7:30 – 7:40	Yes
Program Chair Victor Davis’ speaker introduction	7:40 – 7:42	Yes
Guest speaker:John BochanskiMember of the LSST Discovery Alliance“From Sloan to Rubin: A Journey Through the Age of Sky Surveys”	7:42 – 8:40	No
Q&A Session	8:40 – 8:55	Yes
5-minute break	8:55 – 9:00	Yes
Business Meeting	9:00 – 9:55
Closing remarks from Bob Vanderbei and Rex Parker	9:55 -10:00	Yes

(Times are approximate)

Getting to Peyton Hall
The parking lots across the street (Ivy Lane) from Peyton Hall are now construction sites, unavailable for parking. We’ve been advised by the administration of the astrophysics department that we should park in the new enclosed parking garage off Fitzrandolph street and walk around the stadium and athletic fields. Here’s a map of the campus and walking routes from the parking garage to Peyton Hall. The map shows the recently completed East Garage. Not shown is an access road Sweet Gum that connects from Faculty Road to an entrance at the lower left corner of the garage. Stadium Road connects from Fitzrandolph Road to another entrance at the opposite corner (and higher level) of the garage. It’s about a 10-15 minute walk from the parking garage to Peyton Hall.

Featured Speaker: John Bochanski, PhDMember of LSST Discovery Alliance and Stars, Milky Way, and Local Volume Science Collaboration bochanski@gmail.com From Sloan to Rubin: A Journey Through the Age of Sky Surveys

From Sloan to Rubin: A Journey Through the Age of Sky Surveys

Astronomy has a rich history of surveys of the night sky, and Princeton played a major role in many of them.  In this talk, Dr. Bochanski will discuss the Vera Rubin Observatory (VRO), the largest and latest astronomical survey.  The VRO, a billion-dollar, multi-decadal effort involving thousands of astronomers, engineers, and scientists, traces its roots to another foundational survey: the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.  Dr. Bochanski will discuss the science and collaboration enabled by these efforts, outline future endeavors, and reflect on how these surveys impacted his own scientific journey.

John Bochanski, PhD

Dr. John Bochanski grew up in South Jersey with a passion for astronomy.  He studied at Villanova and the University of Washington, where he measured on the initial mass function of low-mass stars.  At MIT, he helped construct and install FIRE, a near infra-red spectrograph on the Baade Magellan telescope at Las Campanas Observatory.  At Haverford College, he led a program to search for the most distant stars in the Milky Way, and he served as co-chair of the Stars, Milky Way, and Local Volume Science Collaboration in the VRO.  Today, he is a member of the LSST Discovery Alliance. 

How to Participate (Links)

Zoom

Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Time: February 10^th, 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Topic: AAAP February Meeting, John Bochanski, Rubin Observatory, Optical Sky Survey, LSST

Time: Feb 10, 2026 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88148536195?pwd=cxlWlwDk6yGzcbdMuxSGodSPnaIpIN.1

Meeting ID: 881 4853 6195

Passcode: 529313

Join instructions
https://us06web.zoom.us/meetings/88148536195/invitations?signature=NsTYxfVER47IiI3l5P2XSkpaAPX3D8nfQmToDyvdFyQ

YouTube:

AAAP February 10, 2026 Meeting, John Bochanski, Rubin Observatory, Optical Sky Survey, LSST

AAAP February 10, 2026 Meeting, John Bochanski,  Rubin Observato…

AAAP Video Library

AAAP’s library of monthly meetings is available on the club’s YouTube channel. January’s edited meeting featuring a presentation by Princeton University Research Scholar and Lecturer in Astrophysical Sciences Dr. Jamie Rankin “How Our Sun Interacts with the Interstellar Medium” can be viewed at https://youtu.be/SqL-DsYvJCg

A look ahead at future guest speakers:

Date	Featured Speaker	Topic
March 10 2026	Robert Vanderbei Emeritus Professor in the Department of Operations Research and Financial Engineering Princeton University AAAP Assistant Director rvdb@princeton.edu	Prof.  Bob Vanderbei will talk about stellar dynamics.
April 14 2026	Brian Lacki Astronomer Berkeley SETI Research Center astrobrianlacki@gmail.com	September’s guest speaker Edwin Turner voiced his less-than-optimistic view of the prospect for discovering extraterrestrial life. Dr. Lacki, affiliated with Breakthrough Listen, a SETI initiative, recently submitted for publication a catalog of objects he and his team consider to be realistic and valuable observation targets. Dr Lacki will talk about the catalog, “One of Everything: The Breakthrough Listen Exotica Catalog” and opine on the prospects of finding technosignatures and extraterrestrial intelligence. Thanks to Ira Polans for suggesting this speaker.
May 12 2026	John Horgan Science Writer horganism3@gmail.com	Mr. Horgan will discuss his controversial 1996 book The End of Science, in which he argues that pure science, defined as “the primordial human quest to understand the universe and our place in it,” may be coming to an end. Horgan claims that science will not achieve insights into nature as profound as evolution by natural selection, the double helix, the Big Bang, relativity theory or quantum mechanics. In the future, he suggests, scientists will refine, extend and apply this pre-existing knowledge but will not achieve any more great “revolutions or revelations.” Shades of Auguste Comte, perhaps? We expect to have copies of his book(s) for sale for the author to sign at the conclusion of his presentation. Thanks to Rex Parker for recruiting this speaker.
June 9 2026	Jacob Hamer Assistant Curator NJ State Museum Planetarium Jacob.Hamer@sos.nj.gov	As usual, the June meeting will take place in the planetarium at the NJ State Museum in Trenton. There will be no streaming of this live-only sky show and PowerPoint presentation. Topic to be announced.
September 2026	Michael DiMario Chair of AAAP’s Astro-imaging SIG K2mjd@outlook.com	Dr. DiMario will present a primer on astro-imaging.
October 2026	Becka Phillipson Assistant Professor in Physics Villanova University	Prof. Phillipson, originally scheduled to be October 2025’s guest speaker, is an unconfirmed prospect to try again in 2026.

As always, members’ comments and suggestions are gratefully accepted and much appreciated. Thanks to Ira Polans and Dave Skitt for setting up the online links and connecting the meeting to the world outside Peyton Hall.

victor.davis@verizon.net

program@princetonastronomy.org

(908) 581-1780 cell