August 2019

As you all know, the trustees have embarked upon an aggressive repair and renovation effort this summer. Much needed upkeep and upgrades are being done and overdue maintenance items are being addressed. 

I was recently at the observatory for a Saturday night session. The trustees have been hard at work and have gotten off to a terrific start.

Repairs to the roof of the Alvan Clark dome have been done and a new handrail and handicapped bar have been placed in the stairwell. Repairs to the door to the main observing floor have been done and a new system to make it easier to open the upper door on the dome will soon be in place. Materials have been collected to replace the roofs on the 2 roll off building as well as siding where needed. In addition to all of this hard work, the trustees have done a fantastic job at keeping the grounds looking neat and well maintained. We owe them all a vote of thanks for all of their hard work this year.

As part of our upkeep and improvement efforts this year, we have been receiving very generous donations to help offset the cost of this work from our members. The numbers are still coming in, so I can’t report any totals yet, but we are above our goal number. This allows us to consider other items that may have been lower on the priority list and really get ahead of where we were. 

To all of you who so generously donated to Skyscrapers this year, THANK YOU! It is very gratifying to see so much support of from our members that will help us keep amateur astronomy in RI going for many years to come. 

And don’t forget! We have a member’s star party at Seagrave Observatory set for Saturday, August 31 and Saturday September 21. August and September are usually a couple of the best months of the year for stargazing. Earlier nights, cooler but not cold and thankfully few mosquitoes. Hope to see you there!