{"id":3810,"date":"2025-12-26T09:37:04","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T14:37:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/?p=3810"},"modified":"2025-12-26T09:37:05","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T14:37:05","slug":"janfebmar2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.asnh.org\/ShootingStar\/2025\/12\/26\/janfebmar2026\/","title":{"rendered":"JanFebMar2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

President’s Annual Message<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Greetings:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope you\u2019re all doing great and had a wonderful holiday!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2025 was another year of achievements for ASNH. We\u2019ve seen an increase in our event attendance. Al Washburn has shared our Meteorite collection with even more enthusiastic groups. Jim Mazur has teamed up on the \u201cStar Hopper\u2019s Guide to the Universe.\u201d You might want to check it out\u2014it\u2019s fantastic! https:\/\/www.asnh.org\/Animation\/<\/a>. It\u2019s a large document, so it might take a few minutes to load.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our summer Solstice picnic was a blast, with great food and wonderful company. The Winter Solstice Fun Quiz was another enjoyable and knowledge-packed experience for everyone who participated. This year\u2019s 35th CSP was a resounding success. We had two nights of clear skies, delicious food, and amazing presentations. 2025 has been a good year for auroras, a few comets, so-so meteor showers, and good solar activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2026 looks to be another busy year, organizations are already scheduling events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happy New Year!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best regards and clear skies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Greg<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upcoming Observing Events<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Members with telescopes are needed for these outreach events. If the weather looks questionable for an observing event, check the ASNH website<\/a> after 4:00 pm. There will be a scrolling message on the home page if an event has been cancelled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturday, March 21, 7:00 pm<\/strong> (rain date, Saturday, March 28)
Hammonasset Beach State Park
Meigs Point Nature Center, 1288 Boston Post Rd, Madison CT (map<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More events will be added as the schedule for 2026 takes shape. Please check the online calendar for additions to our outreach events: https:\/\/www.asnh.org\/Outreach\/SPEvents.php <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upcoming Monthly Meetings on Zoom<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Tuesday, January 27, 7:00 pm
Tuesday, February 24, 7:00 pm
Tuesday, March 31, 7:00 pm

We will continue to use this format for monthly meetings for now. 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Recent Public Events<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

By Donna Pursley<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silver Sands in Milford, October 17, 2025<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Many started setting up before it was dark. When I was done setting up, I took a walk and counted 15 scopes!! I don\u2019t think I can remember when we had an event with this many scopes. There were a few people who had asked earlier if they could bring their scope \u2013 of course you can!  It was a very clear night with no Moon. All of us were too busy to count, but we think we had to have over 200 people. Even I had a line for my 6\u201d scope. I wasn\u2019t able to move off of Vega for over 2 hours. By then it was quieting down a little. Mike had his SeeStar set up and took pictures of both comets. I think others found the comets in their scopes and were able to share with the crowd. Saturn is very nice with its moons and the edge on rings. We needed to pack up around 9:30 to make sure we were out by 10. This was a very successful, busy night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Young\u2019s Park in Branford, October 18, 2025<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

After last night, we needed a break, and we got one. When we arrived at Young\u2019s Park there were the usual dogs running around the park. It was mostly cloudy. I think we were all standing around waiting for each other to make the first move to set up a scope. About 6 of us set up our scopes. There was one person waiting for us. Then a couple showed up about a half hour later. We were able to find Saturn and a few other things through the clouds and haze. After they left, we hung around for a while until it was called a night. Just about when the last scopes were being put into the cars, 2 more cars of people showed up \u2013 and there was a clear patch in the sky. The best that we could do was to tell them about the future events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Young\u2019s Park in Branford, November 8, 2025<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We started off with just one lonely scope set up. Then a few more started showing up. There was one visitor for quite a while. He had never looked through a scope before, but he was able to see Saturn, a few star clusters, a galaxy and a few double stars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We ended up with 7 scopes set up and around 40-50 people staggered throughout the night. That is a large crowd for Branford. There were many families which is always encouraged. The sky was on and off clouds, but we were able to find enough objects in the clear sky to keep everyone happy. When the last of the visitors left, we looked up and it was total clouds. Good timing. We were able to end our public events for the year on a good note.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Jim Mazur<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Family Astronomy Night at Hammonasset Beach State Park, October 24, 2025<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The last Hammonasset Family Astronomy Night of the year was held outside the Meigs Point Nature Center on Friday, October 24. The weather was clear and not too cold, a good combination for fall stargazing. Besides ASNH, two other groups participate in these events, the Thames Amateur Astronomical Society and the Shoreline Astronomical Society. About 15 telescopes were set up and we had about 200 visitors attend. Two planets were visible that night, Saturn with its rings and distant Neptune appearing as a small blue-green disk. We also viewed a variety of fall favorites including the Andromeda Galaxy, the Pleiades, the Perseus Double Cluster, the Dumbbell Nebula, and some colorful double stars. These events at Hammonasset are very popular with the public, and more astronomy nights are scheduled for 2026, starting with one on Saturday, March 21.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Osbornedale State Park in Derby, November 22, 2025<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

At the invitation of the Kellogg Environmental Center, we set up our telescopes on a hilltop in Osbornedale State Park. We had 7 scopes, and about 30-35 people came to look through them. The weather was cold but typical for late November. Those who came were a mix of adults and children, and they were enthusiastic about looking through our scopes. The sky was mostly clear but there was a lot of light pollution, making it difficult to see even the more prominent constellations. Still, we were able to show people Saturn, Neptune, and at the very end of the session, Jupiter. We also looked at some double stars, the Perseus Double Cluster, the Andromeda Galaxy, and several other targets. Even with the bright skies, it was an enjoyable evening of observing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Club Meteorites Travel to New York State<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By Al Washburn<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On September 24, 2025 the ASNH meteorite collection was presented twice at Mohonk Mountain House Resort, outside New Paltz, New York. The first session, at 2 pm was intended for children and included a meteor drop box and magnets to test the samples to identify their basic type. The second session, at 9 pm, was for adults, and included a PowerPoint presentation on meteorites, followed by the opportunity to handle and ask questions about the samples.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Observing Reports<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

By Michael Amato<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On October 9 before dawn at about 4:00 AM, my brother Anthony and I took out our Unistellar telescope to observe Comet Lemmon. As our image shows, the comet was looking nice through the scope. Since we purchased this telescope, viewing the sky has really been great. We also tried to observe Comet SWAN, but it was too low for us to see. By the third week of October, both comets will be easy to see in the western evening sky. We are looking forward to observing them then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On October 21, after getting some nice views of Comet Lemmon, my brother Anthony and I turned our Unistellar telescope onto Comet SWAN. It looked bluer than green to us and our image shows that. We were not able to observe a tail on the comet but that blue green color was very impressive. I love comets!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On October 26, Anthony, our friend Joe and I made a 25-minute exposure on Comet Lemmon with our Unistellar scope. There are some dark streaks in the comet’s tail which were caused by the solar wind. While our scope was continuing to make a long exposure to the comet, the three of us continued to observe the comet with an 8X40 and 10×50 binoculars. Even with our binoculars, we could see the bright streaks in the comet’s tail. When our scope finished with Comet Lemmon, we turned the scope to view two faint comets, C2025 T1 Atlas and C2024 E1 Wierzchos. These were only small smudges in our scope, but we were able to add them to our comet count for the evening. It was a great night for the three of us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Last fall, Rose and I made a trip to London, England. While we were there, we took a boat up the Thames River to see the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. An imaginary line divides the Western Hemisphere and the Eastern Hemisphere. In the accompanying image Rose and I have our right legs in the Eastern Hemisphere and our left legs are in the Western Hemisphere. Everyone was taking photos like this over there. We also toured the Royal Observatory, and that was worth the whole trip. One interesting photo was a telescope that was put into the ground during the 1800s pointing straight up. The reason the astronomers tried this was because they figured that pointing the scope straight up from underground would allow them to view the sky without too much interference from the atmosphere. After a couple of years, the scope was being damaged by ground water and they had to haul it out and end the project. There were a lot of photos showing the astronomers that worked there and the telescopes they used. Finally, we went to a room that housed quadrants, sextants and alidades. If you go to England someday, make sure you see the Royal Observatory and stand on two hemispheres at once.<\/p>\n\n\n

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In early December, my brother and I observed a large group of sunspots going across the Sun’s face with two of our telescopes. He took this image on December 3. On December 4, it looked like more sunspots were growing on the Sun’s face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Astronomy Links<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

From Ray Kaville<\/p>\n\n\n\n

World’s first space rendezvous:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/airandspace.si.edu\/stories\/editorial\/worlds-first-space-rendezvous?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAYnJpZBExOTdKTklFYkhSZHlXRE8wd3NydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR5-3McOd5VCz31Gm6-aVPOnTxFS6Mp2gsd9lNxZMD16brGtaUIjvlMccsRI1A_aem_lijfeANCC2635e23EA6VNg<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An ancient perpetual calendar:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/peabody.yale.edu\/news\/perpetual-calendar<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A good documentary about Neptune:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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