January 2013
President's Message January 2013
By Ed HaskellBy the time you read this we will have all survived … er, enjoyed, the holidays season and will be resolving to accomplish all that we wished we had done in 2012. This is an annual rite which hopefully leads to steady improvement. As you reflect on your approach to the year ahead please consider your relationship with Skyscrapers.
I have previously remarked on the close connection between volunteering and the success of the Society. Arguably one of the vital determinants of that success is how well the leadership positions are staffed. The Nominating Committee is beginning its yearly assignment of recruiting members with the talent and dedication required to fill the elected positions for the next term. You have an important role to play in how well the committee accomplishes its mission.
The Nominating Committee operates openly but without much fanfare as it attempts to find at least one qualified candidate for each position. Its members take seriously their charge to solicit other members to come forward and declare their desire to serve the Society. The committee interviews each of these prospective candidates in an attempt to fit the abilities and experience of each into one of the positions open for election. Part of this process involves educating prospects on what each of the positions requires in terms of experience and commitment. From this exercise emerges the committee's slate of candidates.
If you have an interest in serving please bring yourself to the attention of the committee.
A second, lesser known, duty of the Nominating Committee is to serve as a recruiter for other than the elected positions. For example a member may have come to the committee's attention who might be a prospect for an elected office but who, on further learning of what was required or for other reason, decided that they were not interested in standing for election now. This member might be well suited for some other function. There are numerous areas where volunteers are needed. If the committee inquires into your interest in serving in a non-elected position, either as a result of your initiative or theirs, please give thoughtful consideration to helping out.
Thanks for all you do for Skyscrapers.
Mining for Hubble's Hidden Treasures with PixInsight
Josh LakeJosh Lake, winner of the 2012 Hubble's Hidden Treasures image processing contest, will share his methods for composing the winning image of NGC 1763. He'll illustrate the basics of navigating the publicly available Hubble Legacy Archive data, then demonstrate the powerful tools and methods of the PixInsight imaging platform. He'll cover methods for combining two channels of narrowband data into a full color image, drawing out dusty detail with local histogram equalization, and finishing an image with Adobe Photoshop. Josh's main objective is to bring sophisticated image processing options to a wide public audience, and he believes that anyone can compose beautiful images from their own telescopes, the HST, and other instruments if shown the right software tools and tutorials.
Attention Astrophotographers: Your images are needed for the January Meeting!
Our January meeting will feature Josh Lake, winner of the 2012 Hubble’s Hidden Treasures image processing contest.
Josh will be showing us how to get the most out of astronomical images, and he is hoping that some of you might want to share some of your own images as part of the evening’s program.
The idea is that you will supply master FITs files or camera raw images ahead of time, and Josh will spend some time doing image processing work to demonstrate “before” and “after” shots of your work.
If you are interested, please contact me at Robert_Horton@brown.edu, and I will forward your e-mail to Josh so that he may contact you.
