President's Message: July & August
Published on 7/1/2017
“Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.” The quote, attributed to either Mark Twain or his friend and fellow writer Charles Dudley Warner, certainly applies to the astronomical community. The prevalence of cloudy skies throughout last spring and continuing thus far into summer has elicited a lot of atmob(discuss) chatter. It’s not unusual for a member to open up the clubhouse on a non-Saturday evening simply because a rare clear, moonless evening is in the offering.
Here’s hoping the weather is more cooperative on Eclipse Day, August 21, 2017. ATMoB members will be scattered along the eclipse path from Oregon to the Carolinas. Should the weather gods decide to frown down on some of us, we can always hit the highways in search of open skies. Wherever you go on Eclipse Day, best wishes for your success. We’ll swap stories at the September meeting, which has been set aside for a recap of the Great America Eclipse.
The July meeting will be our 900 th ! If my calculations are correct and we assume that July meetings continue to be voted in by the membership, and we further assume that no meetings will be cancelled due to inclement weather or an asteroid strike on Boston (if it happened in Chelyabinsk, it could happen in Beantown), our 1000th will occur at the September, 2026, meeting. For now, let’s enjoy Meeting #900 - another milestone in the rich history of ATMoB.
Clear Skies,
Glenn Chaple, President