Welcome to the Keene Amateur Astronomers Club!
What We Do...
The Keene Amateur Astronomers Club is a group of people whose goal is the enhancement of Amateur Astronomy by fellowship,
sharing knowledge and enjoyment of the hobby. The KAA Club provides outreach programs when asked
and holds monthly viewing sessions at our own observatory. Regular monthly club meetings are held
at the Keene State college. Anyone interested is invited to attend. Our membership is open to
students, parents, beginners, backyard amateurs and also experienced professionals. And we provide
opportunities for our members to grow in one of the greatest hobbies in this world
or any other!
Founded in 1957, our club has a long and distinguished history. We are also members of the
Astronomical League. And we actively participate in the annual Stellafane Convention which is
consistently rated as one of America’s Top Star Parties!
Februry, 2010:
The February 2010 business meeting will be held at Keene State College at 7:00 pm on Friday, February 12th, with observing
immediately following at the club's Sullivan Observatory. The Februry observing session will be held beginning at 7 pm on
Saturday, the 13th, at the Observatory. All members and interested non-members are invited.
If you need directions, contact Bob Taylor, our club Secretary, by telephone at 802.257.9358 or by
email.
See you there!
"KAA Site of the Month"
We will be featuring a different website periodically for your interest. If you have a site you really like and think it has wide interest, please send it along to
us. The current
featured site is:
The Mag-7 Star Atlas Project. The Mag-7 Star Atlas plots stars
down to Magnitude 7.25, with double / multiple stars indicated by a thin horizontal bar. Plotted DSO's (Deep Sky Objects) include all
objects on the Messier list, the RASC's finest NGC list, and the Herschell 400 list --- more than 550 DSO's in total.
"Activities at The KAA Observatory"
In the photo on the left below, Chris Chase, of West Swanzey, stands next to a 12 and one half inch Newtonian reflector telescope designed
and built by the astronomy club. He was replacing the finder scope on the telescope at the club's Sullivan observatory. In the foreground
is a 9 and one quarter inch Schmidt-Cassegrain reflector telescope. On the right, clearing trees and opening up the view at the Sullivan
Observatory, from left, astronomy club vice-president Phinie Faux, club president Jim Fox, and club webmaster Jim Faux. The observatory is behind them.[Both photos were taken by Michael Moore of the Keene Sentinel Staff]
Keene Public Library and Keene Amateur Astronomy Club Team Up To Offer Month Long Lecture Series
This March, the Keene Public Library will host a four part Astronomy Lecture Series. Interested community members are invited to attend any
or all of the lectures that will be held each Thursday in March
in the library’s auditorium. The series is planned in conjunction with the Keene Amateur Astronomy Club.
Last year, the library and the Keene Astronomy Club worked together to bring the traveling exhibit “Visions of the Universe” to the region.
The exhibit and programming series was so successful that both groups decided to continue the partnerships. “Hopefully, we can make this February
Astronomy Series an annual event” said Gail Zachariah, Head of Youth and Community Services at the Keene Public Library.
This year, there are four very timely programs planned. The series kicks off on Thursday, February 4 with "
Black Holes, Worm Holes and the 'Star Trek' Dilemma".
On February 11, the speaker Patrick Slane from The Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics brings together the Beatles and astronomy in his
presentation "
Because the World is Round".
On February 18, Professor Emeritus of Geography Vincent Malstrom explores Archaeoastronomy and the Mayan calendar in the presentation
"
Cycles of the Sun, Mysteries of the Moon".
Finally, on February 25, architect and astronomer Claudio Veliz discusses recent discoveries
in "
Life in Our Time: The Search for Extraterrestrial Organisms on Mars and Europa".
The ISS
You can find the daily viewing times and tracks of the International
Space Station by logging into
NASA
and plugging in your zip code.
The Current Background Image - Stephan's Quintet(HCG 92)
This is a Hubble picture of a clash among members of a galactic grouping called Stephan's Quintet in the
constellation Pegasus. Stephan's Quintet is 290 million light-years (90 million parsecs) away. NGC 7320,
superposed in the foreground, is 40 million light-years (12 million parsecs) away. This is one of first
snapshots from the refurbished Hubble's 19-year-old telescope's new vision. A clash among members of a
famous galaxy quintet reveals an assortment of stars across a wide color range, from young, blue stars
to aging, red stars.
This portrait of Stephan's Quintet, also known as Hickson Compact Group 92, was taken by the new Wide
Field Camera 3 (WFC3) aboard NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Stephan's Quintet, as the name implies,
is a group of five galaxies. The name, however, is a bit of a misnomer. Studies have shown that group
member NGC 7320, at upper left, is actually a foreground galaxy about seven times closer to Earth than
the rest of the group.
To view the current background image, click
here.
Your Daily Astronomy News

The image of our moon at the right was photographed by Jim Faux on September 25, 2009 at 6:42 pm in North Truro, MA with a handheld Canon D20. [1/20 sec, F5.6, ISO200, 300MM]