Historically in September, CMAS has not held star parties, so as not to conflict with the Stellafane convention in Vermont. This major gathering of amateur telescope builders worldwide was held last week:
This weekend, the action is in Maine on Mount Desert Island, for the 4th Annual Acadia Night Sky Festival. Once again, the hippest happening in the entire world is near to CMAS. If you’re free, cruise by, and bring your scope. Two years ago, 1,000 guest had to share just a dozen or two telescopes for lack of greater numbers of volunteer astronomers:
www.acadianightskyfestival.com
CMAS will be hosting an impromptu star party a Brower Observatory this Saturday, September 15, beginning 8 o’clockish. It being difficult for most of us to go back in time to Stellafane, and. for some, not much easier to escape to Bar Harbor for the weekend, Colin welcomes all to join him for a dark, dark night, with the Moon and Sun setting together. Yep; it’ll be not just a new Moon, but no Moon! Any members who could holler ahead and arrange to meet Colin earlier, if you’ve been following his thread on Cloudy Nights:
you know he needs some extra hands to help him swap some mirrors.
Planning ahead a little further, we need a slam-dunk, enthusiastic show of overwhelming support at Galaxy Quest on Saturday, October 6th, at 6:00pm. CMAS will be hosting a joint star party with the Downeast Amateur Astronomers and the Penobscot Valley Star Gazers. A few carloads of our Northern brethren will be bringing their friendship and expertise, along with their Takahashis and Astro-Physics, for a fraternal visitation. Anyone who drives four hours each way to see us deserves a vast throng of CMASers greeting them as they stretch their tired legs out of their cars. Plan to arrive early to join us for dinner at a restaurant in Lincolnville, the name of which I don’t yet know, prior to a fabulous night of star gazing. The menu has been carefully chosen to suit all tastes from burgers to lobsters, and all budgets from modest to kingly:
http://downeastaa.com/
http://gazers.org/
Recently, the club received donations of two classic telescopes and one good modern scope. Ya know, we got a terrible shortage of scopes, and we are constitutionally unable to turn away good glass. Jacob is currently evaluating a 1980s Meade 8″ Schmidt-Cassegrain and, even cooler for its provenance, a homebuilt 4’5″ Maksutov of similar vintage. Yep, that’s right; there had been a movement beginning in the 1950s for the skilled and determined to build their own Maks! The third scope is already at Brower for inspection this weekend, a 6″ f/5 Celestron equatorial Newtonian. It is an honor to receive such an fine collection of scopes. The donors have been thanked, but we are still in the process of appraising the scopes as charitable donations to our 501(c).
Finally, The Eagle Hill Foundation is pleased to announce a major initiative for astronomy in Maine:
http://www.eaglehill.us/programs/astronomy/observatory.shtml
Eagle Hill is bringing serious study of astronomy to Maine’s dark skies, with a program, observatory, planetarium, and online access to remote telescopes (essential for those nights when conditions may be better elsewhere). The program would be perfect for someone like my nephew, a soon-to-be college student who may not major in astronomy, but would love a semester’s credit for something far more engaging and memorable than could be found in classroom. It would also suit amateur astronomers desiring one great leap in their knowledge. As a member of the advisory board, I have heard this program evolve from a dream to a curriculum, and encourage all of Maine’s astronomers to become familiar with it, so that we can support it. I’m thinking just now of a friend in New York who loves astronomy, but can only see the Moon from his light-polluted rooftop. Enrollment in Eagle Hill’s astronomy program would be his perfect vacation!
