June 2020 President’s message
by Steve Siok
Hello fellow Skyscrapers,
I am happy to report that during this unusual time in our history, Skyscrapers has been creative in offering our members and friends a new way to enjoy our monthly meetings. I want to thank everyone who helped make our first Zoom meeting a success. People attended from all over the world! I hope that you were part of that group as Stella Kafka of the AAVSO talked about Betelgeuse and its recent variability. If you missed her talk we plan post it on the Skyscraper website so you can enjoy it on your own.
Our next virtual Monthly meeting will be held on June 6, featuring J. Kelly Beatty from Sky & Telescope magazine. He will be discussing near earth asteroids. This meeting will be at our normal time, 7:00PM. You will get an e-mail with the Zoom password before the meeting. Stayed turned for future meetings as Steve Hubbard, our first VP, has assembled a fine list of speakers for the upcoming year!!
I also want to bring to your attention to the Night Sky Network. Skyscrapers has been a member society for several years but now you will be able to take advantage of more of its features and find out about more events. NSN is administered by NASA and provides information about astronomy activities around the world. There is a link to it on our website, so you can visit anytime. Now, we will be migrating some of our club records onto NSN and each of you will be getting a personal login onto the network. This will allow you to attend more virtual events from all over the world. I have watched several webinars as well as virtual observing sessions. If you are interested in doing some real research I recommend you read David Prosper’s article that is on our website. Perhaps you can do some of the exciting things that he recommends.
You can also become part of the Astronomical League (AL). Jeff Padell is our representative and has been working to get more members involved in the League’s observing programs. He has won several awards from the AL. Please contact Jeff to learn how to get involved!
Finally, I would like to offer my hope that we will be able to return to Seagrave soon. As of now we will continue our meetings remotely. I know that many of you continue to observe from your homes and I remind you to send us your photos or news to share.
Stay safe everyone and keep looking up.
