News From Last Month's Club Meeting

OAC Meeting News:

September 10, 2023
OAC meetings are held in-person AND via ZOOM. Join us!
Contact president@oaklandastronomy.net for an invitation.
 

7:00 PM to...

• Opening:   Welcome Guests and New Members.
• Major Presentation:  September's meeting topic, "Tales of an Itinerant Astronomer" was presented by Gary Dietz, club president.   Gary shared his summer experience as a volunteer astronomer at six National Parks this year: Bryce Canyon, Yosemite, Lassen, Redwoods, Crater Lake, and Great Basin.   He also explained the volunteer application process and the variety of astronomy-related opportunities available at the National Parks. Gary encouraged anyone interested to sieze the opportunity to enjoy this rewarding experience.   Thanks, Gary, for sharing the photos!   (By the way, if there is a topic you would like to know more about or a topic you would like to present, send an email to vicepresident at oaklandastronomy.net!)

8:30 PM

• Visual Observers Guide:  Dave Holt presented the "September Visual-Observers Guide", which includes the finest NGC objects in Right Ascension Hours 21 to 22 from the RASC Handbook along with some of Dave's favorite double stars available to us magnitude-limited urban observers.   Download this month's Visual Observer Guide, along with corresponding bookmarks for Stellarium and SkySafari, from the "Observation Tab" of the club website under "What's Up?"
• Outreach Report:
  • Recap of Club Events since our last Meeting:
  • August 12 The Club Picnic at Addison Oaks was followed by the Public Perseid Party. The skies were perfect for this event that reached 400 guests! Thanks to all who made this event special for so many guests, especially the 13 club members who shared their scopes that evening!!!
  • August 17-20 Our annual Dark-Sky, club-member-only, new-moon campout was a great experience!   Tom will do a recap and members will share their amazing photos from the event--coming up after this report.
  • August 25 Our third Q1-Moon program of the summer for campers at Addison Oaks was nearly a clouded-out event, but we were fortunate to be able to share lunar views with about 30 campers for nearly a half an hour before the clouds ruled the night!   Thanks, Bill Slogeris for sticking it out despite the odds! .
  • September 9 Despite the cloudy skies, four club members, Brian Winter, Tom C, Bill and myself, as well as ten hopeful guests showed up for last night’s Public Star Party at Addison Oaks. The forecast was about three hours behind schedule, as the skies did open-up after 11:30. Unfortunately, we had all packed up by then. .
  • Upcoming Club Events, September:
  • September 14-17, The Great Lakes Star Gaze is an annual gathering of amateur astronomers from all over Michigan; some even travel from the U.P. to attend! Several OAC club members have enjoyed this outing for a number of years; it is a great way to make friends across the State! To learn more, check out the web information at: http://www.greatlakesstargaze.com/schedule.php
  • September 15-16, For those not attending the GLSG, we can enjoy the stars at Addison on this new-moon weekend. Look for a weather update email later this week!
  • September 22, All hands on-deck!! for the West Bloomfield Marsh Bank Park Family Campout.   Seriously, we like to field 10+ telescopes for the 250+ campers who year-after-year have rated the astronomy portion of their campout experience as the best activity of the program!
  • September 22-23, The Great Lakes Association of Astronomy Clubs (GLAAC), of which our club is a proud member, is once again hosting Astronomy at the Beach (AATB) at Island Lake Recreation Area. As I shared with you in an earlier email, our club has a date conflict with the two-day AATB program. Please join us with your scope on Friday the 22nd at West Bloomfield and on Saturday night the 23rd at Island Lake Recreation Area for AATB. (By the way, Mark Jeffery, past club president, will be sharing more of his amazing meteor collection at the AATB main tent—what you saw at the club picnic was just a teaser!) Invite your friends to come. You can find more information for the AATB event on our Club's events page, on our Club's Facebook page, or directly at: fb.me/e/30AOKLPcq.

• News from the Vice-President:   Tom shared that 17 members plus 5 family members participated in this year's campout.   Rain preceded our visit and left some soggy areas, but all-in-all there was plenty of dry room for all of us to enjoy magnificent Milky Way views under clear skies.   Saturday's image processing seminars were timely!   Kudos to Bob Berta, Mike Close (and Tom Croskey!) for generously sharing their knowledge and passion for astrophotography.   In other campout news, Bob Berta surpirsed us with live accordion entertainment, several of us observed the passing of an unusually fast and silent 'Aircraft', and Bill Slogeris led us on 'exciting field trips' as we searched the farm field for his lost drone!   Our friendly campground host forwarded photographic evidence of at least one aforementioned aircraft; sadly, Bill's aircraft was harvested along with the crops shortly after we broke camp.
• News from the President:  Gary updated the status of the 2.5 mile 'Solar System Trail' project at Addison Oaks.   Parts have been sourced by Oakland County Parks and are scheduled to be installed this coming April or May as the weather permits.
• Open Discussion:   Jerry asked for help with a SSA program at Addison Library and shared his pictures from the campout. Dana, Matt Schie, Bob Berta, and Bill Slogeris shared beautiful images from the campout as well!   Great captures, guys, Thanks to all of you for sharing!

9:00 PM

• Adjourn