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Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston
A general interest astronomy club

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President's Message: May

As stated in our bylaws, one of the purposess of ATMoB is to “promote interest in amateur observational astronomy and in the instruments used therefore.” At the April meeting three such projects were brought to our attention.

The first came from Acton-Boxborough 7th-grader Arianna Roberts, who is President of the astronomy club at her school. Arianna has become involved with the citizen science CATE (Continental American Telescopic Eclipse) Project. She will join one of some 60 teams spread across the path of the August 21 total solar eclipse to study the structure of the corona during totality. ATMoB members Tom McDonagh and Bruce Berger have taken Arianna under their wings and have eagerly promoted her project to the membership. A GoFundMe site has been set up to help Arianna raise the $3645 needed to purchase necessary equipment (which will be donated to ATMoB after the eclipse). As of the end of April, $2480 – two-thirds of the total – have been donated. Donations can be given through her GoFundMe site (https://www.gofundme.com/citizen-cate-solar-eclipse-phase-2) or handed over to Tom or Bruce at our May meeting. For more info on Citizen Project CATE go to http://www.citizensciencecenter.com/link-chain-citizen-cate-experiment/.

Another citizen science project was presented by member James Synge. Project PANOPTES (Panoptic Astronomical Networked Observatories for a Public Transiting Exoplanets Survey) essentially involves the use of home-built wide-field instruments to monitor stars for transiting planets. James has expressed an interest in constructing such an instrument and welcomes help from any interested ATMoB members. You can contact James at james.synge@gmail.com. Find our more about Project PANOPTES at http://www.projectpanoptes.org

Our third project takes us back to the past via a request from Joe and Rhoda Morris, makers of replica scientific instruments. They plan to construct reproductions of historical telescopes (Galileo’s, Newton’s, and one of Herschel’s) for a planetarium being constructed in China. They are particularly interested in a 6½-inch f/13 mirror to be used with a replica of Herschel’s 7-foot scope. You can contact them by email (k1ugm@comcast.net) or phone (781-245-2897). Check out their website (http://www.scitechantiques.com). Joe and Rhoda do some amazing work!

If you were unable to attend the April meeting, you can access the recording made by Chris Elledge and posted on the internet (https://youtu.be/4hKMvWOSqHI).

Clear Skies,
Glenn Chaple, President