From The Director

Posted on March 31, 2022 by ST Editors

by Rex Parker, PhD director@princetonastronomers.org

Spring Events — Back to (Nearly) Normal.  COVID restrictions have been lifted in NJ state parks, though individuals going to the AAAP Observatory are urged to remain careful especially with the public, and recognize that COVID cases continue to occur in central NJ. Soon the Princeton area will be vibrant with blooms and warmer days and nights. Clear nights seemed scarce this winter, so if you miss seeing the sky, check out the events we’re lining up to get you back in the celestial flow – see the list below.

This spring we will also elect officers, as we do each May according to the bylaws.  The 7 members of the Board of Trustees serve one year terms:  director, assistant director, program chair, treasurer, secretary, observatory chair, outreach chair.  To keep the club vibrant we need members to segue onto and off of the board over time.  Please consider helping by serving on the AAAP board.  Here’s how:  as set out in the bylaws I have appointed a member, Joy Saxena, to be nominations chair. The chair will poll current board members to see if they wish to run again, and will contact the membership by e-mail to see who would like to run for a board position. If you are interested, send a note to nominations@princetonastronomy.org. The slate will be announced at the April 12 meeting (Zoom) with the election in May. 

AAAP Activities Coming Up

  • April 12 Meeting (Zoom) – slate of candidates presented;   guest speaker info below (see Program Chair’s article).
  • April 15, begin Public Friday Nights at the Observatory.  Keyholders will be contacted by the Observatory Chair.  All members as well as the public are welcome on these public outreach nights (weather permitting).
  • May 10 Meeting (Zoom) – election of officers;  guest speaker info below.
  • May 14, Members Day at Observatory, 5pm and into darkness (sunset 8:08pm and the moon is near-full).  Meet and Greet, and how to use your own telescope.  We’re aiming for a second date in June.
  • June 14 Meeting in person at the Planetarium in Trenton, hosted by Bill Murray. Bill is a AAAP member and staff associate at the Planetarium.

Notice of Job Vacancy – Planetarium at the NJ State Museum.  Issue date March 18, 2022, closing date April 29, 2022.  POSTING # STA-2022-014. 

Title: Assistant Curator, Planetarium Education.

Definition: Under the general supervision of the Curator of Education in the State Museum,  initiates, designs, implements and evaluates planetarium programming; creates planetarium shows; monitors the operation of planetarium instruments and equipment; initiates, designs, plans, implements, and evaluates exhibitions related to astronomy and space sciences; assists with the marketing and promotion of planetarium shows; does other related duties as required.

Contact: email Bill Murray, William.Murray@sos.nj.gov

Telescope equipment at the AAAP Observatory for keyholder use, as of April 2022.  For information about keyholder training, contact observatory@princetonastronomy.org

  • Paramount-ME #1, robotic equatorial mount
    • TheSkyX planetarium and control software under Win10 computer. 
    • Celestron-14 Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, D=355mm (14-inch), f/11, FL=3900mm.
    • Stellarview 80 mm right-angle finder scope on the C-14.
    • Explore Scientific ED127 refractor telescope, D=127mm (5-inch), f/7.5, FL=950 mm, triplet air-spaced apochromatic refractor.
    • Numerous 2-inch and 1¼-inch eyepieces for these telescopes.
    • ZWO ASI 294 Pro color CMOS camera.
    • Starlight Xpress Ultrastar Colour CCD camera.
    • Starlight Live and SharpCap software cameras.
    • Verizon FiOS available inside the Observatory.
  • Paramount-ME #2, robotic equatorial mount
    • TheSkyX planetarium and control software under Win10 computer. 
    • Hastings-Byrne 6¼-inch refractor, f/14.6, FL=2310mm. This historic instrument, dates to 1879 with original air-spaced doublet lens and steel tube.
    • Takahashi Mewlon-250, D=250mm (10-inch) Dall-Kirkham reflector telescope, with 2-inch TMB dielectric diagonal and Feathertouch 2-inch Crayford focuser.
    • Numerous 2-inch and 1¼-inch eyepieces, e.g., Panoptic 27mm and 41mm.

Goodbye to the Winter Constellations.  As we begin to see the spring constellations in mid-evening we bid farewell to the winter deep sky objects.  I was fortunate to get great telescope imaging data for a less-commonly observed but amazing Messier object in Orion, Messier 78.  M78 is located above and to the left of Orion’s belt, not far from the more famous nebula M42. 

Messier 78 near the belt of Orion from a 24” telescope in Chile.  M78 is a reflection/ emission nebula with many new stars forming amidst giant clouds of gas and dust. Astrophoto by RA Parker.

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From the Program Chair

Posted on March 31, 2022 by ST Editors

By Victor Davis

The April, 2022 meeting of the AAAP will take place (virtually) on Tuesday, April 12th at 7:30 PM. (See How to Join the April Meeting below for details). This meeting is open to AAAP members and the general public. Participants will be able to log in to the meeting as early as 7:00 pm to chat informally with others who log in early. We will not be using the “waiting room;” participants will enter the meeting as soon as they log in. However, you will enter the meeting space with your microphone muted. This will help to remedy some of the background noise we experienced during some previous meetings. Please be aware you must unmute yourself to be heard by other participants.

For the Q&A session, you may ask your question using Zoom’s chat feature or you may unmute yourself and ask your question directly to the speaker. To address background noise issues, we are going to follow the rules in the table below regarding audio. If you are not speaking, please remember to mute yourself. You are encouraged, but not required, to turn your video on.

Meeting Event~TimeParticipant Can Speak?Participant Can Self-Unmute?
Pre-meeting informal chatting7:00 – 7:30Start All on MuteYes
Director Rex’s General Remarks7:30 – 7:40YesYes
Program Chair Victor’s  Speaker Introduction7:40 – 7:45YesYes
Speaker Presentation7:45 – 8:45NoNo
Q&A Session8:45 – 9:00Start All on MuteYes                                    
5-minute bio break9:00 – 9:05YesYes
“Unjournal Club” – No presentation scheduledN/AStart All on MuteNo
Business Meeting9:05 – 9:50Start All on MuteYes
Director’s closing remarks/Informal chatting9:50 – 10:00NoNo
   
Only the Business part of the meeting will be locked.

PaulADaniels

Featured Speaker: Dr. Paul Daniels, FRAS President, Federation of Astronomical Societies  (president@fedastro.org.uk)

The Mega-Constellation Threat  The plummeting cost of launching small satellites has led to several companies having ambitions to place tens of thousands of them (potentially 100,000+) into low Earth orbit over the next few decades. The growing threat is driven by economics and the growing desire for low-latency, high-bandwidth global internet service.  Dr. Daniels, a leader in the Royal Astronomical Society’s Megaconstellation Working Group (Optical) will discuss the serious threats to professional and amateur astronomy posed by the projected astronomical growth of these reflective and emissive objects:

  • The pollution of the sky at optical and radio wavelengths has the potential to end almost all professional ground-based astronomy over the next two decades, seriously hamper amateur astronomers’ contributions to astronomy and their enjoyment of the night sky and contamination of the pristine natural sky that is the birth right of all the people of the world and which has inspired young and old for generations.
  • The vastly increased number of objects in Earth orbit will lead to a rapid growth in space debris that could endanger the lives of astronauts, damage existing satellites and, in worst case, potentially deny humanity access to space for any purpose for decades.
  • The lower cost of getting to space makes it, the Moon and asteroids prime targets for the next era of commercial exploitation. The rush to occupy large volumes of near-Earth space by powerful companies, backed by powerful military nations, is likely to raise international tensions.

Dr. Paul Daniels’ interest in astronomy began in the days of the Apollo missions stargazing through a friend’s 4” Newtonian and watching for meteors in the garden. He became fascinated with ephemerides he read in the BAA Handbook and how such events were calculated. He went on to graduate from Queen Mary College, London University with a degree in Astrophysics, where, as an undergraduate, he served as the college astrophysical society’s Secretary and Chairman.

He earned his PhD from Sheffield University, studying aspects of dust particle accretion and the structure and evolution of comets. At the Max Planck Research Institute, he developed prototype software for the satellite X-ray telescope ROSAT before moving on to a career in the computing industry, and eventually worked for 30 years as a freelance IT contractor.

Dr. Daniels joined the Guildford Astronomical Society in 2000 to renew his interest in astronomy, and was the club’s president between 2012 and 2018. He remains an active member. He’s a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, and served on its council for several years, recently as Vice-President of Astronomy. He currently serves on their International and Education and Outreach committees and chairs their IT Working Group. He is an active participant in the RAS’ Megaconstellation Working Group (Optical) and has contributed to conferences and workshops seeking to raise awareness of this growing threat. Dr. Daniels is currently the President of the UK’s Federation of Astronomical Societies, a group of 200 member organizations representing 12,000 amateur astronomers in the United Kingdom.

AAAP webcast:  This month’s AAAP meeting, beginning with Rex’s opening remarks and ending at the beginning of the business meeting, will be webcast live on YouTube and recorded for subsequent public access on AAAP’s YouTube channel. Be aware that your interactions during this segment, including questions to our guest speaker, may be recorded for posterity. 

YouTube Link: Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton, April 12, 2022 Meeting, 7:30 PM EST

This session will be recorded and saved on YouTube. Send me an email at program@princetonastronomy.org if you have any concerns. 

Using Zoom: While we are social distancing, the AAAP Board has chosen to use Zoom for our meetings, based our belief that many members have already have used Zoom and its ease of learning. One of its great features is you can choose whether you want to install the software on your computer or use it within your browser.

How to Join the April Meeting: For the meeting, we are going to follow a simple two-step process:

  1. Please make sure you have Zoom installed on your computer. You do not need a Zoom account or need to create one to join the meeting. Nor are you required to use a webcam.
  2. Please visit our website for the Zoom link.

This session will be recorded and saved on YouTube. Send me an email at program@princetonastronomy.org if you have any concerns.

NOTE: The Zoom site has many training videos. If you’re unsure how Zoom works you might want to view the videos on how to join a meeting or how to check your computer’s audio and video before the meeting.

“Unjournal Club”

There is no “Unjournal Club” presentation scheduled this month. As you may know, guest speakers receive a baseball cap with the AAAP logo embroidered upon it as a “thank you” for making a presentation to us. We’re expanding the hat giveaway to members who contribute an “Unjournal Club” presentation to encourage participation.

We hope to make these short presentations a regular feature of our monthly meetings. We’d like to know what members are doing or what members are thinking about in the broad range of topics encompassed by astronomy. A brief ten-minute (or so) presentation is a good way to introduce yourself and the topics you care about to other club members. If you are interested in presenting a topic of interest, please contact either director@princetonastronomy.org or program@princetonastronomy.org.

A look ahead at future guest speakers:

May 10, 2022Kenneth Chang, science writer for the New York Times who describes his beat as “chemistry, geology, solid state physics, nanotechnology, Pluto, plague and other scientific miscellany” also writes frequently on space missions and astronomy. He has not yet decided on a title or topic for his presentation.
June 14, 2022Bill Murray, AAAP Outreach Chair and astronomer at the New Jersey State Museum will once again (following a Covid hiatus) give club members a private sky tour at the museum’s planetarium. He’ll show off the refurbished planetarium’s state-of-the-art Digital Sky 2 8K projection system. This is an opportunity to put aside Zooming and commiserate with AAAP members in the real world.
July – August, 2022There will be no monthly meetings of AAAP during the academic hiatus of July and August, though the observatory (and public observing every clear Friday night) will be operating. There are not yet guest speakers confirmed for post-summer – and hopefully post-pandemic – meetings. It is not known whether we’ll have the option to meet corporeally, though we intend to include a Zoom component for the foreseeable future.

Thanks to Bill Thomas, Ira Polans, and Dave Skitt for their valuable advice and assistance.

As always, your comments and suggestions are gratefully accepted.

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AAAP Telescope Loaner Program

Posted on March 31, 2022 by ST Editors

The AAAP Telescope Loaner Program is about to become real! David Skitt has been pulling together and fortifying the various sets of equipment into kits, and in collaboration with feedback from the membership, the loaner program facilitator, Todd Reichart, has drafted a simple statement of program rules and a simple loan contract. Once the kits are in good order, we look forward to promoting their availability on the AAAP website.

The program is open to all members of the AAAP and may be opened to youth and educational groups at the discretion of the AAAP board. There will be no charge to users of the loaner program, and the initial borrowing period for any kit will be 90 days. If equipment is lost or damaged while in the possession of borrowers, they will be expected to work with the AAAP to find a mutually agreeable way to replace, repair, or be forgiven of the loss.

The objective of the program is to get idle equipment into the hands of eager astronomical observers with a minimum of hassle to both borrowers and the lender. If any members have idle equipment that they would consider donating to this initiative, it would be gratefully accepted.

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AAAP Merchandise

Posted on March 31, 2022 by ST Editors

by Rich Sherman

CapThe new AAAP merchandise store is up and running and several members are already sporting their new AAAP gear.  Take a moment to check out the hats, mugs, and apparel at:  https://aaap1962.logosoftwear.com/.

The password is SiderealTimes.

Note that it takes about 3 weeks to receive your order.  So if you want some fresh, new AAAP gear for summer and fall observing, now is a good time to visit the store.

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Minutes of the March 8, 2022, AAAP Members General Meeting (online)

Posted on March 31, 2022 by ST Editors

by Gene Allen, Secretary

The meeting was convened on Zoom by Director Dr. Rex Parker at 1930 with the agenda for the evening. Latest from NJDEP/WCSP is nothing further. Observatory carpet needs to be replaced and we are seeking someone with carpet experience to be liaison with a commercial installer. Zoom poll coming up in the meeting. He promoted the JPL Night Sky Network briefly and asked members to register there. Nearly 100 members have joined the AAAP Discord channel. Coming into spring galaxy season.

At 1942 Program Chair Victor Davis introduced featured speaker Dr. Rosanne Di Stefano, and her presentation “Planets in External Galaxies.” She led a group of researchers who used Chandra X-ray Observatory satellite data to find a planet that eclipses an x-ray binary star in the Whirlpool Galaxy, Messier 51, 28 million light years away. A question period followed from 2031 to 2100.

We reconvened at 2105 for a Zoom poll about member participation at in-person events, with 41 attending on Zoom.

The Night Sky Network will be holding a training session next week for conducting public events for the release of First Light images from the James Webb Space Telescope which are expected in June. Members are encouraged to attend. NSN also offers a Roster which will be considered for our use. One advantage of the NSN Roster is that members who are registered can contact each other unless they elect privacy.

Use of the AAAP Discord Server has been growing. This is another way for members to interact. The Board is considering whether adding a New Member channel would be more confusing or more helpful.

Member Debra Mayes has been working at revamping the AAAP Facebook pages and looking into securing admin rights

Observatory Co Chair Dave Skitt reported that:

  • A number of Keyholders have resigned from their duties. In order to maintain reasonable manning levels, the Board approved that the number of teams be reduced from 6 to 5. Knowledge of telescopes and the night sky is not a prerequisite, so new members will be invited to begin Keyholder training as a way to learn about both.
  • The Observatory Public Nights season will be delayed and begin on April 15. There is a tentative visit by 30 Scouts on April 2.
  • We are still waiting for the state to respond to our proposed Observatory column repairs.
  • The Loaner Program is getting close. Member Todd Reichart is working on verbiage.

Assistant Director Larry Kane announced that he would like to Pass on his role as AAAP Archivist and Editor Surabhi Agarwal volunteered on the spot.

Both Larry Kane and Dave Skitt shared that they are planning expeditions south to some location near Austin, Texas to try for better weather for the total solar eclipse on April 8, 2024. Member David Owen added that he knows of an astronomy club with a dark sky sight that might be willing to host AAAP.

It was noted that NEAF 2022 has been cancelled due to continuing Covid issues and supply chain issues that have caused a number of vendors to withdraw for this year. NEAF 2023 will be on April 15 &16.

The meeting was formally adjourned shortly at about 2200.

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Minutes of the Board of Trustees, March 1, 2022, AAAP Meeting (online)

Posted on March 31, 2022 by ST Editors

by Gene Allen, Secretary

The meeting was convened on Zoom by Director Dr. Rex Parker at 1930 with the agenda for the evening. Officers also in attendance were Treasurer Michel Mitrano, Program Chair Victor Davis, Outreach Chair Bill Murray, Observatory Co-Chairs Dave & Jen Skitt, and Secretary Gene Allen. Members attending were Sidereal Times Editor Surabhi Jan-Agarwal, John Church, Ira Polans, Rich Sherman, and via email submissions, Debbie Mayes.

Meetings Venue

The University is continuing to be closed to us as outsiders due to Covid for the spring but there may be a chance to return in the fall. However, substantial impending construction on campus will remote all Peyton Hall parking, further threatening its suitability for us.

The Institute for Advanced Studies has more than adequate facilities for our use and members Lee Sandberg (current IAS Public Communication Liaison) and Bob Vanderbei (former scholar) both support and will present our request to the incoming new director.

We are also investigating the possibility of meeting in the NJ State Museum Planetarium.

Because of our forced transition to Zoom meetings, we have acquired some members too remote to ever attend in person. We anticipate the need to develop a hybrid meeting format which includes a video component even when we can once again meet in person.

Social Media & Meeting Recordings

Confusion remains about the credentials needed to rework our Facebook pages. Member Debbie Mayes is digging into it, with support and assistance from members Dave Skitt, Jim Poinsett, Bill Murray, and John Miller. Either we gain access, or we have to start over.

Assimilating New Members

Some new members jump right in but others hang back, intimidated by the apparent expertise of some of our members or just bewildered at where to start. It has been worse since the Zoom meetings but was not easy before.

We can try to develop Discord as a forum through which to ask questions and request help. Adding another channel could be confusing, but a New Members channel might be helpful.

NSN can offer members a way to contact other members.

We could develop a Welcoming Committee and schedule a Meet & Greet event, if we had a venue

We could schedule a Bring Your Scope to the Observatory Field for Help event.

At present there is no one tasked with or focused on member engagement.

Night Sky Network

Rex has been encouraging members to register as AAAP members on NSN, and there has been a surge in new registrations. We need some members to learn more about what NSN offers and develop our participation there. If we could make the NSN Membership Roster work in place of our own, it would offer 3 advantages:

 – Members would maintain their own contact information

 – Members could choose to contact each other

 – All Board members could be listed as Coordinators so as to access or download the current Roster whenever needed

Gene is looking into the feasibility of this alternative.

Observatory and Outreach Public Policy

While we all feel as if relaxation of Covid protocols is imminent, nothing has yet changed. For the present time, we will continue with the limitations imposed last year on activity at the observatory. Outreach will continue to be limited to hosting at the observatory.

Observatory Maintenance & Equipment

A number of Keyholders have declined to continue in that capacity. There are a few in training but it was decided to reduce the number of teams from 6 to 5. That increases the frequency of duty but keeps the team staffing level more reasonable. A suggestion to drop Full Moon nights from the schedule was rather strongly opposed as too confusing. It was reported that visitor attendance at the Planetarium is 3-4 times higher that it was before Covid.

The water line that froze and ruptured in the bathroom due to a leaking supply valve in the Nature Center has been repaired, hopefully in such a way that precludes future failures, whether or not park maintenance fixes the problem.

The leak soaked the carpeting, which was removed and discarded. The Board approved hiring professional installation of replacement carpet. We will seek someone with experience or interest to coordinate the professional installation. Concern was expressed about replacing the carpet before the park fixes the leaking valve. We told that the park may never fix it and were assured that a leak would not reach the carpet again.

Once again it was repeated that all state requirements have been met and we are awaiting their approval of our project to replace the deteriorating piers.

The Ultrastar camera has been installed on the Explore Scientific refractor once more.

There was some discussion about managing Zoom meetings, that one can mute all or not, and putting “spotlight” on the guest speaker avoids attendees unmuting and popping up on the screen.

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