Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton

by Gene Allen, Secretary

Director Rex Parker opened the meeting in PeytonHall at 1930 with 28 in the auditorium and 24-some online. He informed us that Peyton will be unavailable in May due to exams. We will relocate to the auditorium of Sherrerd Hall about two blocks to the west. A map and directions will be distributed before the meeting and the change will be posted on the website. Parking in Lot 10 is closer to Sherrerd than the Stadium Garage is to Peyton. He continued sharing thoughts about and images from the Artemis II mission around the Moon. He was inspired to take an image of the Moon and caught an airliner going by. He showed how numerous galaxies are in the spring sky with an image from The Sky X and shared excellent images of comet C/2025 R3 captured by Member Tom Swords on his Seestar S50 and by Assistant Director Bob Vanderbei on his Seestar S30.

Outreach Chair Bill Murray reported on two upcoming outreach events:

April 22 – stargazing at the Newgrange School in Pennington.
May 16 – stargazing at the Mercer Meadows Pole Farm has been rescheduled.

Program Chair Victor Davis introduced our speaker for tonight, Brian Lacki, PhD, Astrophysicist and Theorist at Breaktrhough Listen. His talk was titled A Billion Whispers: Breakthrpough Listen, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) and Cosmic Energy.

At 2110 Rex continued the meeting without a break. Twenty remained in the auditorium as he called our attention to the following hot topics:

Our annual; election of officers will take place in May. Nominations Chair Michael Mitrano has determined that all current officers are willing to serve another year. He reported that there was no response to his email to the membership for nominations. No one even asked any questions about the leadership roles.

Rex shared a proposal approved by the Board to replace the large, donated, semi-vintage C14 scope in the observatory with a new Edge HD model. We would need additional hardware to support the new scope, so the total cost is likely to reach $13,000 and requires membership approval. Tom Swords has offered to detail the shopping list.

The Artemis II mission has renewed interest in the lunar south pole region and the prospect of finding water ice in permanently shadowed craters. Rex shared his images of the region and showed the difficulty in capturing anything close.

Additional support for the student subgroup will be to provide a specific place for them to gather on groups.io, where the astroimagers share techniques and images. Bill Murray can provide them the observing challenges he created for the sky parties we formerly held in north Jersey.

Member Tom Angle made an enthusiastic presentation about his first visit to the NEAIC/NEAF weekend.

Student Members Sunny Cui and Abhinav Sukla requested assistance in creating an astronomy manual for the members of their astronomy club in Princeton High School.

The meeting was adjourned at 2150.

As of April 13, we have 202 active members. So far in CY2026, renewals number 34 and expirations number 22, giving us a 61% retention rate. We have added 15 new members.

Submitted by Secretary Gene Allen
April 18, 2026

by Gene Allen, Secretary

Minutes taken from the Zoom recording of the meeting.
The meeting convened at 1900 on March 31, 2026

In attendance:

Rex opened the meeting with a discussion of the status of the new website, specifically referring to the online membership roster database. Gene commented that it already has far more functionality than he expected so early after launch so has no complaints. For now, he is continuing his procedures as if the online roster does not exist. Jeff reported that the online roster is already downloadable with multiple filters but only for the Board. He is working toward making the online roster fully editable. Some new members did not get captured the first week or so after launch but they have been entered. Gene will not be fully validating the online roster until he has editing capability. Gene proposed creating a student membership, noting at least 19 student members currently. Rex responded that he felt there was Board support for both student membership and returning to a single membership renewal period for everyone, but that we need to table that discussion for now. Jeff signed off.

Michael Mitrano has accepted appointment as Nominations Chair. All Board members present reported their willingness to stand for another year, with Rex, Bob and Gene commenting that they would be happy to step aside if someone else sought the position.

Rex reported that Peyton Hall will not be available for our May election meeting due to its use for exams, and its longer future is uncertain. Rex has emailed Janine Purcaro, Chief Operating Officer and Associate Director for Finance and Administration at IAS, about hosting us in one of their auditoriums. He copied Bob and Lee Sandberg but has not yet heard back. Lee, AAAP member and Communications and Public Relations Manager at IAS, replied that we should approach Joshua Horowitz, (campus-life@ias.edu) AMIAS & Member Relations Officer. Bob agreed that he would be the best one to present our request to IAS, then went on to say one part of the new engineering buildings that replaced Ivy Lane is Commons Hall. It might be another possible venue and has closer parking. There was general agreement that the long hike from the Stadium Garage is a major impediment to attending in person, which we also agreed is our desire. Consistent access to Peyton cannot be assured, and the distant parking issue remains, so another location needs to be sought.

Rex noted that AAAP meetings are currently listed on the IAS calendar and suggested that they might be more willing to host us if we were to do more in support of the IAS member and families. There was unanimous willingness to make that effort.

Bob reported that the astrophysics department would eventually be moving to the computer science building which is near his building, Sherrerd Hall. Parking lots 10 and 13 nearby are available evenings. Not much farther is the North Garage. Bob then realized that he knows who to contact to use the lecture hall in his building for our May meeting. It holds 100-120 and has better A/V equipment than Peyton. Bob will try to schedule our May meeting in first choice Sherrerd, second choice computer science.

Our lease for the site of our observatory in Washington Crossing State Park is expiring February 28, 2027. Michael Mitrano had been the point person on efforts to get some sort of response from the state about renewal but wants to be replaced since he stepped down as treasurer. Rex said he thinks Gene would be “outstanding” to take this on. Gene replied that he would not be eager to assume the role, but he agreed to take point and Dave said he would help. Rex could also approach a legislator to support our appeal.

Students continue to be active and we need to give them projects and ask for their support. Bill had developed observing lists that could be reissued. There was general consensus that we should not make student membership free. Jenn said she could use help with the literature table on Public Nights and Rex agreed that would be good. Michael DiMario asked about creating a student group under the Groups.io used by the astroimagers. Rex will propose both opportunities to them.

Len Caccitori contacted Dave to be replace as lead for Discord, but Groups.io replaced it. There was agreement that Discord should be completely shut down. There is no accounting or controlling who remains connected and it has no archive of past discussions.

If the weather turns good this week Tom will turn on the water. Dave said the teams are ready for the start of the Public Night season. A collimation done on the C14 has inserted a pointing displacement that is consistent throughout the sky dome. It needs a finer collimation and a new T-point model. Bill asked why bother with a T-point since The Sky X can do plate solving. Rex responded that TSX plate solving uses the Camera add-on software component which we do not use. We use ZWO camera control. Rex offered to work with Dave and Tom to do the collimation and new T-point this spring.

The C14 is dated and does not well support current camera technology. Rex proposed that we replace it with a Celestron Edge HD 14 that has a flat field for a full frame sensor. Mike suggested considering a Planewave but there was consensus that we need to retain capability to do visual. Bill looked up and reported the C14 Edge costs $7700 and Tom said the reducer is $85 and out of stock everywhere. We would need to get the expenditure approved by the membership but we think it would be a relatively easy sell. Dave made a motion that we generate an equipment list for a new telescope, reducer, camera to present to the membership before summer break. There was a second and unanimous approval. Tom accepted appointment to put it together.

Dave got a request from the park for a large camping group June 24-25 who want a an interpretive session either that Wednesday or Thursday, then Saturday July 4 the Nature Center requests solar viewing 10-3. A pollinator festival at Knocks Grove September 12 can host a table and solar viewing. Dave will affirm our support for these events.

Dave mentioned a request for a swap and sell page among members on the new website. It should be doable of the Board approves it.

The meeting adjourned at 2026.
Submitted by Secretary Gene Allen
April 29, 2026