A great club
March, 2010:
The March 2010 business meeting will be held at Keene State College at 7:00 pm on Friday, March 12th, with observing
immediately following at the club's Sullivan Observatory. The March observing session will be held beginning at 7 pm on
Saturday, the 13th, at the Observatory. All members and interested non-members are invited.
The club was formed in 1957 and formally incorporated on May 12, 1960 as a non-profit organization in the state of New Hampshire. In accord with IRS and NH regulations, the club is a tax-exempt organization and contributions to the club are IRS tax-deductible.
We originally met at members' homes and held star parties and lectures for various local groups, such as Keene State College, secondary schools, PTA's, Boy and Girl Scouts, church groups, and camps. In 1968, Mr. and Mrs. Howard Brooks of Sullivan donated an acre of land through a permanent lease for the club to build an astronomy observatory. In the fall of 1970, the Kingsbury Machine Tool corporation of Keene donated $3,000 toward the construction of the observatory. At that time, a 12 1/2 inch mirror was donated by the American Optical company of Keene. In November of 1970, the membership proceeded to erect a 20' by 20' observatory which was completed in Septemebr of 1971. The Observatory houses a 12.5" diameter Newtonian reflector telescope. The club's By-Laws were last revised in May, 2008.