May 2015 President's Message
by Bob Horton
Weather in New England can be so fickle. Astronomers are probably more aware of this fact than the average person. More often than we would like, celestial events that we look forward to seeing, like lunar eclipses, meteor showers, and northern lights, are hidden from our view by a curtain of clouds. But when a clear night does present itself, we New Englanders appreciate our time under the stars that much more!
Now that warmer weather is here, we can hope for the skies to be clear, too. But just in case we find ourselves contending with clouds, our speaker this month, T.J. Del Santo, will be guiding us to a closer view of our sky, by observing our changing weather, identifying different types of clouds and their meaning to storms that may come our way. We will also learn about some interesting atmospheric phenomenon that appears from time to time.
This is a great time of year to enjoy sky watching. In the early evening, the spring constellations are putting on their show for us. For the deep sky observer, this is the time to hunt down the galaxies in the Messier catalog. For the planetary observer, Jupiter is high in the south as the sky darkens, allowing for great views of the giant planet, complete with shadow transits, eclipses, and occultations of the Galilean moons. Seagrave is open every Saturday, so please join us at the observatory to enjoy these views. Bring along your own telescope, or enjoy using one of the society’s telescopes.
Beginning this Saturday, we begin a series of workshops geared towards the beginning astronomer, a list of which can be found in this newsletter. Thanks go out to Francine Jackson for coordinating these workshops, and to our members that have volunteered to run them. If you are new to this hobby and want to learn more, you will want to attend these. And if you are a seasoned amateur astronomer, please consider attending these workshops, too, and share your knowledge with others. This will be a lot of fun!
At our last meeting, the financial budget was approved by the membership for the year. When the topic of having Internet service installed at Seagrave was discussed, there was an overwhelming expression of support. In fact, several members made sizable donations, so much so, that our first year of Internet service is now paid for! On behalf of Skyscrapers, I wish to thank all of you that contributed to this project.
Finally, I must inform you of the passing of our oldest member, Chet Siok. I realize that some of our newer members might not have had the opportunity to know Chet, but many of us have known him for years and even decades. Chet died the day after our April meeting, and was 99 years old. It was only recently that Chet could not get around like he used to. Just last year, he was still coming up to the observatory on occasions, always happy to be there and eager to see all of his friends. With Chet, you could always count on him to have a big smile that made you feel welcomed. Let’s honor Chet’s memory by greeting each other at Seagrave the way he greeted all of us for so long a time!
I look forward to seeing you at the observatory.
