Monthly Meetings on Zoom

By Donna Pursley

Our ASNH General Meetings are a little different now. We are holding them via Zoom. We can still see those who share their screens, but Zoom allows for dial-in calling also so no one is left out.

Here is a short summary of some of the discussions that have been happening during our meetings.

August 25, 2020

Jim Mazur showed images he took:

1) Jupiter with Io.  He took with his 14inch Meade and Canon Camera.  It was a video with about 600 frames that he processed.

2) Saturn. Same night and same setup as the Jupiter picture.

3) Milky way with a meteor streaking through it.  Taken with a wide-angle lens, Canon camera, 15 second shots to get the meteor.

Bob Caruthers showed us his sketch of Mars.  He’s also done drawings of the Moon and has looked at Jupiter and Saturn as well.

Michael Amato saw Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and some meteors.

There was discussion around Mars getting closer/bigger.  No dust storm is expected on Mars.

Michael Amato asked if we should plan a club trip to see the next total eclipse.  We spoke about where to go.  We have a few years to plan.  Rochester could have bad weather.

September 29, 2020

Bob Carruthers said that Saturn’s rings and the shadow looked really good.

Michael Amato said he could see the darker features of Mars.

Bob Carruthers and Gaianne Jenkins commented about seeing the comet in July. They showed it to some friends.  Don Straka also saw the comet in binoculars.

Bob Carruthers has been looking for naked eye objects. The Moon looked really cool going in and out of the clouds.

Jim Mazur has been doing some binocular observing in his backyard around Sagittarius. There is a really nice orange star in Cepheus.

An asteroid passed within 30,000 miles of the Earth.

Dave Noble was in Flagstaff, Arizona at Lowell Observatory. It was sunny (time zone thing). He talked about the telescopes and how nice it was to be there. Bob Carruthers said that he has looked through the scope that was in Dave’s background.

Gaianne Jenkins saw the 2-day-old moon.

Andrew Buynak’s wife bought him a small scope in August, a 4 ½ inch Starblast.  He is learning to use it.

Someone saw a shooting star that broke into pieces.

Most agreed that the Comet NEOWISE looked better in binoculars than in a scope.

Don Filer visited Tony Mallilo in Littleton New Hampshire. Tony is an old club member. They had very dark skies up there.

Greg reported that Mike Dzubaty had passed away.