December 2017

Hello Everyone,

WOW!! Some of you may remember that in the October issue of "The Skyscraper", I mentioned that the month was really going to be exciting and it was. We should all be proud of our activities this October.

AstroAssembly was a success.  We had a great lineup of speakers on both Friday and Saturday. I hope that some of us will be inspired by the great amateur projects that were highlighted this year. No, I do not think that anyone will attempt to put a 37" telescope on their roof like Mario Motta, but I always love to listen to how passionate and dedicated he is to astronomy.  His collaboration with professionals was especially interesting.  The weather was  mixed but even though the skies were dreary and a little rain fell during mid day, we had a robust number of attendees.  I thank all the members who worked hard during the year and on that day to make AstroAssembly possible. This is our only real fundraiser and the profits make up a large percentage of our revenues for the year. 

International Observe the Moon Night (InOMN) was a great deal of fun.  We hosted two speakers.  Dr. Kim Arcand discussed her latest project, using 3D printing to build models of the remnants of star systems, such as planetary nebulae and supernovae.  This was a shorter version of a talk that she will give at a monthly meeting in the new year. Member and former president Conrad Cardano helped visitors understand the surface features visible on the moon. Although there were clouds, we were able to catch glimpses of the first quarter moon through the telescopes and with the naked eye.  TJ Del Santo, weatherman at Channel 12, attended and filmed a short segment at the observatory.  It appeared on the 11PM newscast that night.  We were on TV! Thank you to all those who helped with InOMN.

The other exciting news this month has to do with our August speaker.  As you may remember, Dr. Rai Weiss from MIT explained the design and operation of the LIGO gravitational wave observatories and described the actual discovery of the waves from a pair of colliding black holes.  In October, Dr. Weiss received the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work, along with his close colleagues.  He is the second Nobel Laureate to speak to our group.  (A few years ago, Dr. Robert Wilson spoke about the discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation.)  To make it more exciting recently LIGO detected the merger of two neutron stars , called a "kilo-nova". The gravitational waves "chirped" for over 100 seconds and the merger lit up the entire electromagnetic spectrum!

Back on Earth, I want to remind you that I hope to see everyone at our annual Holiday Party on Saturday, December 9th at the North Scituate Community Center.  At 5:30, we will share a pot luck feast followed by our speaker at 7PM.   

On behalf of Kathy and myself, I wish you and your family a happy holiday!

Wishing you clear skies,