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Opening
Welcome Guests and New Members.
Major Presentation
David Kastl presented "The Magic of DSLR Astrophotography". David credited Roger Clark's astrophotography website (clarkvision.com) as pivotal in enriching his journey to capturing celestial light with a DSLR camera. Making it look simple, David shared his approach to tracking objects, site selection, camera settings, and post- processing of his favorite object, the Milky Way. David's favorite wide field tool is a readily available "previously owned" DSLR camera with an appropriately sized sensor and, of course, used lenses. Thanks, David, for sharing your journey and beautiful images. Members and guests, 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 vicepresident@oaklandastronomy.net.)
Election of 2025 Club Officers
Club president, Gary Dietz, thanked outgoing officers Bill Slogeris and Tom Croskey for their dedication to the club over the past four years and thanked the many other club members who have worked together to make 2024 a fun and rewarding experience for all of us—and that included the 45 club members who participated in 29 public outreach events this year (so far). Great participation! Gary presented the uncontested slate of officer candidates to the club and accepted a unanimous voice vote of approval. Club officers for 2025 are: President Gary Dietz, Vice President George Raub, Treasurer Steve Appledorn, Secretary Rob Bittner, and Outreach Director John Pannuto.
Visual Observers Guide
Veteran observer Dave Holt shared highlights of December's targets in Auriga, which includes a host of rewarding open star clusters. Thank you, Dave! Download this month's Visual Observer Guide, .skylist, and skymap files from the "Observation Tab" of the club website under "What's Up?"
Club Events since our Last Meeting and a Look Forward
- November 14 The skies for West Bloomfield’s Adult Night Hike were cloudy, but Gary Dietz, Tom Croskey, Brian Winter, and David Kastl engaged the hikers with a timely Stellarium experience. Thanks all, for a well- executed "Plan-B"!
- November 22 Friday night's Q3 club-observing also succumbed to November's cloudy streak.
- November 23 The skies for Oakland Township's "Night under the Stars" at Oakland Township's historic Cranberry Lake Farmhouse continued the same unwelcome cloudy night trend. Nonetheless, Dave Holt, with club members Penny, David Kastl and Dave Brooks, shared an engaging presentation on Saturn with our guests. Thanks, all!
- November 29/30 Despite Bill Slogeris's cajoling of Mother Nature, the Thanksgiving New-Moon Club- Observing Weekend fared no better than any of our other November outings. Nice try, Bill.
- December 6-7 The December Star Party… yet another victim of cloudy nights...
- Upcoming Community-Sponsored events for December and January were reviewed and are posted on the Events Page of our club's website. The complete copy of 2025 planned club events, including club-member events and public events, will be mailed to club members after tonight's meeting. Look for event-specific emails asking for your RSVP's in the coming weeks.
News from the Vice-President
Tom Croskey acknowledged the generosity of the donors whose contributions made the second equipment auction of the year possible and briefly reviewed the high bidders for the Fall equipment auction.
Open Discussion and Image Sharing
The local November skies were not friendly at all, yet Scott McLain, Bob Berta, Tom Croskey, David Kastl, and guest Gary Bertollini produced some amazing pictures to share. Thanks to all for sharing such gems! Lastly, Ken Bertin reminded us that his Facebook page not only sports some great cartoons, but also has worthwhile write- ups on celestial objects as well. As you scroll through the pages, you’ll find that Ken is almost done presenting the Messier objects.