SMA Meeting
7 May 2020, 1900
Hosted on Zoom
SMA held its second monthly meeting using Zoom to enable participation by the membership and guests from remote settings due to the the ongoing SARS CoV-2 pandemic. Russell Pinizzotto was the host.
21 members and guests participated in this event.
Initial Remarks:
Rob Burgess began the meeting announcing that the Board of Directors would meet virtually at 1000 hrs on May 16, 2020 and that the next SMA meeting would occur, also virtually via Zoom, on 4 June 2020 at 1900 hrs and represent the delayed Annual Meeting for the election of new members to the Board of Directors as 3 Directors will be retiring. 25% of members will need to be present to meet by-law requirements for this process. Three candidates have come forward to join the Board.
Web-site changes for SMA have been created and can be viewed on the internet at the Southern Maine Astronomers site. These changes include increased tab selections regarding club equipment, affiliations, summaries of past meetings, and images by members.
Club members had the opportunity to describe their activities relevant to astronomy including books of interest since the last meeting.
Invited Presentation: Introduction to Deep Sky Astrophotography by Are Jerahian
Ara Jerahian was introduced by Rob Burgess and his activities in astrophotography. The presentation that followed was comprehensive involving the essentials necessary to be successful including details regarding telescope types, mounts, balancing loads, guidance, camera types, filters, imaging requirements for planetary as well as deep sky objects. Essentials of pre-imaging preparation as well as post-imaging processing needed to be successful were discussed in detail. Results were shown of work achieved in last two years demonstrated the high quality that diligent effort can achieve.
Constellation of the Month: Hydra
Russell Pinizzotto continued his series on the night sky with the wonders that can be found in Hydra, the largest constellation that can be seen low in the sky at this time of the year. Included were the Hydra cluster of 157 bright galaxies, the M48 open cluster, the carbon star Mu Hydra, V Hydra (one of the brightest red stars with B-V of +5.5), M83 (the Southern Pinwheel Galaxy), and Alphard the solitary one. The maps and images inspire all to hope for clear skies and dark nights.
George Bokinsky, Secretary