On 17 July 2019 the Santa Fe Stargazers met at the Vista Grande Public Library for their regular monthly meeting. Ten members were attendance, including one new member. Following introductions, Sam Finn gave the evenings presentation on Gravitational Wave Astronomy. Owing to the topical nature of the presentation and as an experiment, Jim Kraemer recorded and will be making a set of YouTube videos of the presentation.
Sam underestimated the time required for his presentation, which ran long; so, no working group reports were made. (These are included below.) Following the presentation, questions, and refreshments the meeting adjourned at 9:00 PM. Note: the Santa Fe Stargazers do not meet in August. The next regular meeting of the Santa Fe Stargazers will be Wednesday, 18 September 2019 at the Vista Grande Public Library.
Working Group Reports:
Outreach: Robert Powers, Tom Aldern, & Sam Finn will be attending a two-day outreach training for National Parks Rangers & Staff. Our participation in this training was made possible by the connections established by Robert Powers between the Pecos NHP and the SFS.
Upcoming outreach events scheduled include events at Fort Union NHM (27 July: called on account of weather; and 30 August); Pecos NHP (30 August); and Astronomy Day (with the VPGL, 5 October). An outreach event to take advantage of the 11 November Mercury Transit is in the early stages of planning.
Observing: June 29 saw a successful, if abbreviated, observing event at “Lot 1” in Lamy. Robert Powers brought the only ‘scope; Elisabeth Foree brought several sets of binoculars. Approximately 6 additional SFS members came and enjoyed the views, which lasted to approximately midnight when seeing deteriorated. The next Members-Only observing event will be held on 3 August at the Galileo Basin Cowboy Shack Trailhead.
Meetings: the Santa Fe Stargazers do not meet in August. The next regular meeting of the Santa Fe Stargazers will be Wednesday, 18 September 2019 at the Vista Grande Public Library. Our speaker for this meeting is tentatively scheduled to be Jim Baker, who will provide a first-person report on the southern hemisphere eclipse.