Monthly Meetings on Zoom (continued):
October 27, 2020
Many people have been looking at the planets. Ham radio operators suggested activity on the Sun.
Donna Pursley had a lawn chair constellation viewing in North Branford. No scopes, just a laser pointer.
Don Straka has been using his binoculars and saw M31 and the double cluster in light polluted skies.
We had a little discussion about how the new LED streetlights are affecting the viewing from our homes.
Matt Baker was able to go to a nice location in Vermont and saw the Milky Way.
Laurie Averill talked about her brother who is on a zoning review board in Vermont and has made it a point to require full-cutoff lights.
Bob Carruthers talked about some interesting stories of past excursions out West.
Chris Predom had a link showing a really nice close up detail of the horsehead in Orion. This was made available to all using the Chat feature of Zoom.
November 24, 2020
Bob Carruthers had a telescope out on Halloween at Rocky Corner in Bethany. A dozen or so people showed up. It was a Blue Moon and considering that it was Halloween, the group decided to howl at the moon. The funny thing is that a howl came back.
Michael Amato saw the latest Comet Atlas. He said it didn’t look like much of a comet, it just looked like a little round smudge.
Al Washburn has been making drawings of Jupiter with the locations of the moons which are constantly changing. He also has been sketching the Moon.
Donna Pursley and Mike Zarick had the telescope out on Halloween. They used a cell phone mount to show the full Moon to people without them having to look through the scope.
Greg said that on past Halloweens they had the telescope next to a bowl of candy. There was a note that said if the person could tell what the scope was pointed at, they could have the whole bowl of candy. There were no winners.
Andrew Buynak has been visiting a Canaan hillside for viewing. The skies are very dark up there, very different than Milford. He has been able to see the Milky Way from edge to edge.
There has been much discussion about White Memorial in Litchfield for viewing. Pat Maturo likes the ‘Activity Field’ for viewing. It is a longer walk than the other field. A reminder that anyone can go to White Memorial any time. But it might be nice to check their website or call first.
Gary Zrelak said that our CSP location boy scout camp has been pretty much empty this year.
Upcoming monthly meetings on Zoom:
Tuesday, January 26, 7:00 pm
Tuesday, February 23, 7:00 pm
Tuesday, March 30, 7:00 pm
We will continue to use this format for monthly meetings through at least the beginning of 2021 and until it is safe to meet in person again. A week or two before each meeting, members will receive an email announcement with a link that will allow them to connect to the online meeting.
Just click the link or copy and paste in your browser and that will connect you to the meeting. You can do this on any device that has an internet connection and a browser. You can do this on a smart phone. You can display yourself if you like with your selfie camera on your device. If you don’t that’s okay, don’t feel you have to.
You can also dial in to the meeting. The number and password will be given in the announcement.
Cancellation of Public Events
Because of COVID-19, all of our public observing events have been cancelled until further notice.