August 2021 President’s message
by Steve Siok
Hello again everyone.
Great time to observe except for the bugs! It’s August. And real summer! Time to go to Stellafane for all of you that make the trek to Springfield, Vermont. Wishing you clear skies on Breezy Hill. I hope you enjoy Stella Kafka’s talk about the changing magnitude of Betelgeuse.
It is exciting to talk also about our August meeting, which will be held on August 14. This will be our first in-person meeting after the pandemic, so please make an effort to come to Seagrave. Our speaker will be Joe Farah, who is a Smithsonian Fellow at the Center for Astrophysics. He will speak about the Event Horizon telescope array and how it was used to image the central black hole in M87. Joe was an undergrad at the time he worked on the team. For everyone who lives far away or would prefer a remote ZOOM, we will be sending out the link. Thanks to Linda and Kathy who have devised the way remote watchers will experience the meeting hall view of the talk.
Also that night we will once again hope for clear skies so we can conduct our first nighttime observing session. I welcome everyone with a new instrument to bring it to Seagrave. The moon, Jupiter and Saturn will be well placed for observing. Both Jupiter and Saturn will be within a week of opposition so they will be quite large. The moon will be at first quarter so good views of the terminator and shadows of crater walls. Take care everyone. See you soon.
