September 2018 President’s message
by Steve Hubbard
There have been some exciting things going on Seagrave Observatory!
First of all, I want to send out a HUGE thank you to the Trustees! They spent a large portion of a recent steamy, hot weekend installing a new attic fan system in our meeting hall. I was there on a recent Saturday and the hall was noticeably cooler even without the A/C units going. This should make our warm weather meetings much more enjoyable.
Secondly, we had another great star party at Seagrave on Saturday, August 25. Unfortunately it wasn’t all that clear, but we did get a good amount of members and their telescopes out to compliment the society instruments also in use. In addition, we ended up with 35 to 40 enthusiastic members of the public who were treated to views of Jupiter, Saturn and Mars.
Speaking of star parties, we are going to hold additional ones over the next 3 months at the observatory.
The dates for these will be: Saturday September 15, Saturday October 20 (Which is also International Observe the Moon night) and Saturday November 17.
These are a great time to get a chance to look through a number of telescopes, enjoy time with fellow enthusiasts and also introduce the glories of the night sky to members of the public.
Finally...there are just a couple of other things I want to mention. First of all, thanks to Tracy Prell, we are collecting money from Amazon on a regular basis whenever anyone buys through Amazon using their Amazon Smile program. This is a simple, easy way to donate to a charitable group (us!) and doesn’t cost you a dime. Next time you’re on Amazon, check it out!
At every meeting we will also be collecting canned food stuffs to donate to the local food bank on behalf of Skyscrapers. Please try to remember to bring something and place it in the collection box in the meeting hall.
See you at the meeting and… be sure to sign up for AstroAssembly!!
