President's Message: January 2011
by Tom Thibault
Dear Skyscrapers Members,
Our December Holiday Meeting was enjoyed by all those who attended. Te festivities began with our pot luck dinner, where members prepared a large selection of main dishes, fnger foods, and pastries. Following our delicious meal, Skyscrapers’ long time friend Dennis di Cicco, thrilled us all with his presentation, “Fun with 6 Billion Pixels: Building a Huge Hydrogen-Alpha Mosaic of the Winter Milky Way”. Dennis, in collaboration with fellow colleague Sean Walker, took on what could only be described as a daunting task of photographing an 85 degree swatch of the Milky Way from Canis Major to Perseus with exposures in hydrogen-alpha light. Their results were stunning.
Our business meeting followed, including the introduction of Alex Bergemann by Dave Huestis. Dave is sponsoring Alex for membership to be our youngest Skyscraper. Dave informed us of Alex’s achievements and read a written endorsement from Woody Spring, Rhode Island’s own NASA Shuttle Astronaut. Tese are quite the accolades to have been received for such a young amateur astronomer. Along with the support of our membership, I look forward to welcoming Alex as a junior Skyscraper member at our January Meeting. Te meeting concluded with “Certifcates of Recognition” being presented to Al Hall, Dick Parker, Jim Hendrickson, Francis O’Reilly, Bob Horton, Dave Huestis, Steve Hubbard, Jim Brenek, Steve Siok, the Kusmierz family, and yours truly. Te beautiful restoration of the Alvan Clark is due to their hard work and contributions. Let me again thank them on behalf of our membership for all their eforts.
Our Members’ Survey was included as part of the December Newsletter. Please take the time to fll out a copy and provide your feedback. It is our intention to utilize the returned information to develop future Members’ Night programs. It is our desire to tailor these nights with activities many of our members fnd of interest. A survey return box will be set up at our next couple of meetings, but surveys can also be returned by mail. Please address your Members’ Survey to Skyscrapers Inc., 47 Peeptoad Rd., N. Scituate, RI. 02857, Attn: Members’ Survey.
Lastly, I would like to wish you and your families a joyous Holiday Season. May all of your holiday wishes be granted. I look forward to seeing all of you next year.
Happy New Year.
Clear Skies
Tom Tibault
