News From Last Month's Club Meeting

OAC Meeting News:

March 10, 2024
OAC meetings are held in-person AND via ZOOM. Join us!
Contact president@oaklandastronomy.net for an invitation.
 

7:00 PM

• Opening:   Welcome Guests and New Members.
• Major Presentation:  March's meeting, "The Chemistry of Astronomy", was presented by club member Matt Montney.   Thank you, Matt! Your delivery was interesting, easy to follow, and informative--especially your eye-opening diffraction grating demonstrations. Blending chemistry and astronomy, Matt tied the fingerprinting of Earth's elements to the pursuits of professional astronomers (and to our hobbyist explorations of the stars and distant galaxies), explaining how UHC and other filters work their magic at our telescopes. Thanks for a very well-done program, Matt!   (By the way, if there is a topic you would like to know more about or a topic you would like to present, please send an email to Tom, vicepresident at oaklandastronomy.net).

8:15 PM

• Visual Observers Guide:  Veteran observer Dave Holt briefly reviewed the new format for this year's "Monthly Visual-Observers Guide", noting that his selections will be from Peter Birren's delightful book, "Objects in the Heavens".   In March we will focus on the host of galaxies in the constellation Leo the lion.   Finding Leo's galaxies will be great practice for the planned late-Spring Messier marathon; the dates neatly coincide with the upcoming dark-sky eclipse trip!   Contact Dave (alcor@oaklandastronomy.net) if you will be marathoning!   As always, you can download this month's Visual Observer Guide, skymap, and .skylist files, from the "Observation Tab" of the club website under "What's Up?"
• Club Events Report:
  • Since our last club meeting:
  • February 9,   Once again, Mother Nature trumped our plans for a club outing on a new moon night.
  • February 10,   Over 100 folks enjoyed Shelby Township's lanter-lit walk and our club's “star talk”, even though the clouds once again prevailed. David, Frank, Brian Wesensky, Bill, Sebastian, Jim, Dave H, and John P shared their love of the night sky with the crowd, along with a few telescopes set-up indoors! Thanks to all who contributed to a good time on a poor observing night.
  • February 16/17,  The Q1-Moon Public Star Party at Addison Oaks was trumped by another event, the culling of the deer herd in the park. The culling was almost as pervasive as the clouds, it lasted for nearly the entire month of February nights!
  • February 24,   On a gloriously blue and cloud-free morning, Matt Schie captivated 25 guests at the Franklin Library with his Eclipse Primer Program.   Support from the club was outstanding as Bill, David, Mike Boyd, Tom C, Scott, and Brian Wezensky shared their solar-safe telescopic views with our appreciative guests. Thanks to all!
  • March 2,   At last! A very nice Q3-moon weekend night for club members to observe together!   Fifteen and a half club members enjoyed rewarding views of Winter’s best.   A few milestones were reached that evening as Jerry, with help from Bill, captured his first ASI Air photo. Scott and Frank honed their Celestron go-to skills with John.   Dave Gruber and his daughter Sarah, thanks to collimation assistance from Dave Holt and Bill, truly enjoyed their new StarSense DX130 for the first time!  (Unfortunately, Helene, the ‘half’ in this story, became stuck on the muddy spot on the otherwise relatively dry roadway.   Thankfully, Dana noticed the situation and rescued her with his dependable Jeep.   Helene decided to call it a night and come back another time to enjoy the stars.)
  • March 7,   Thank you, Jerry, Bill, Scott, John, Penny, Frank, and Dave Brooks who shared their evening with our guests at Rochester’s Bloomer Park.   The skies were friendly, and the guests were grateful.   A good night!
  • March 8,   Our planned Cranberry Lake Farm event in Oakland Township was cancelled due to rain.
  • March 9,   Even though Dave Holt completed all the necessary forms and submitted them to the proper authorities, the request for a March Marathon with clear skies was once again denied.   (With any kind of luck, we can execute “Plan C”: pursue the Messier’s under the clear skies at our Eclipse-Weekend-Getaway in early April.
  
  
  • Upcoming community-sponsored March and April Events are posted on our Events website.   In addition to the community-sponsored events, plans were discussed for March's star party and club observing evenings.   The full copy of club-member events for this period will be emailed to club members after tonight's meeting.

8:30 PM

• News from the Secretary:  Bill reviewed the features and benefits available to club members who enroll in the free weather app "Astrospheric".   If you haven't already done so, contact secretary@oaklandastronomy.net for the access code and instructions.
• News from the Vice-President:  Tom shared that 46 club/family members have signed up for the total solar eclipse trip in April.   By midmonth, Tom will email additional information about activities planned for the eclipse weekend.   Tom also reminded members to save the dates for the summer camp out and the annual summer club picnic.
• News from the President:  Gary graciously yielded his time to allow members to share recent image captures.
• Open Discussion and Image Sharing:   Rick Jones showed off his Rosette Nebula taken with his new Vaonis scope.   New club member Nick wowed us with his images of the Cresent and Elephant Trunk nebulae.   And George shared his beautfiul Orion Nebula, first-light from his new Hestia hybrid telescope.   Thanks to all, you make it look so easy!

9:00 PM

• Adjourn