• Some new mosaic images of Mars by Dr. Ken Kremer, science photographer/journalist and friend of the APO, will be featured on a new episode of PBS TV's NOVA on Wednesday, November 14th. The episode is entitled "Ultimate Mars Challenge" and features images taken from the newest Mars rover, Curiosity. In addition, another of Ken's mosaic images was featured in Scientific American. You can also watch the NOVA episode on the PBS website. 

• An informal reception was held on October 27 for trustees, advisors, and major donors to the APO. Everyone had the opportunity to take a tour of the roll off roof observatory building, and later met for cider, donuts, and conversation at the APO office on Park St. 

• George Viscome, a friend of the APO, took this image of comet C/2012 S1 (ISON) from his home in Lake Placid on October 26, 2012. This comet was discovered on September 21, 2012, and while it is currently too faint to see without a large telescope (about magnitude 17.5 at the time of the photo), it is predicted that by the end of next year this comet may be bright enough to be visible to the unaided eye. The image below flips between two photos that George took 22 minutes apart (at 5:38 am and 6:00 am), and you can see that it moves very slightly in the direction of the arrow. The image below covers an area of the sky about 1/4 the size of the full Moon. Thanks for sharing this image, George!
• Dr. Ken Kremer, science photographer/journalist and friend to the APO, frequently has his Mars mosaics featured on NBC News. Dr. Kremer's images often appear on NBC News on Friday's, when the topic is science. This mosaic was featured on October 19th, posted by NBC News Digital Science Editor Alan Boyle. The APO hosted Dr. Kremer for presentations of his 3-D images in July 2012. Ken is a contributing journalist for Universe Today, and many of his photographs are available for purchase at the APO office. 

• The APO after school program is underway, and it's a big hit! Students meet once a week to study astronomy, and work on cool projects. 

• Construction of the roll off roof observatory building is moving along quickly! 
• A mosaic image of Mars, created by Dr. Ken Kremer, appears on the Astronomy Picture of the Day website for August 27, 2012. The image shows Mt. Sharp on the horizon, which will eventually be explored by the newest Mars rover, Curiosity. A version of this image, showing Mt. Sharp in color, appeared in an NBC News Article written by science editor Alan Boyle. The NBC news article ends with a link to our website containing the description of Dr. Kremer's talks this summer. The APO hosted Dr. Kremer in July, in which he gave a presentation at the Wild Center showing some of his 3-D images of Mars. 

• APO Board Member and St. Lawrence University Astronomer and Professorof Physics Aileen O'Donoghue gave a talk on August 24th to Girl Scout Leaders at their camp in Lake Clear. There were about 30 people in attendance. Aileen spoke about the night sky and gave the scout leaders a preview of what they would see later that evening. The talk was followed by an observing session with a telescope and binoculars. Last year, Aileen gave the same talk but the observing session was washed out by the effects of hurricane Irene. This year, the sky was clear and there was plenty to see. 

• The APO held a ground breaking ceremony on Sunday August 12, 2012. The ceremony was well attended by around 75 member-guests. A news report of the ceremony can be found on the Adirondack Daily Enterprise website. 

• The construction of the roll off roof observatory is proceeding well! 
• Al Nagler, founder of Televue Optics, will present a telescope to the APO on Tuesday, August 14, 2012 at 4:30pm. The telescope is in honor of Al's late sister Trudy Deutch, who was a long time Tupper Lake resident. The presentation will be at the APO office. Everyone is welcome to attend, especially those who new Trudy. A news report of the presentation is available on the Adirondack Daily Enterprise website. 

• APO Board Member Gordie Duval gave a presentation to a group of cub scouts and their families at Camp Bedford in Malone. Gordie told the scouts about the constellations, and had them construct a "pocket solar system." Aided by Board Member Jeffrey Miller, an observing session was held afterward. The crowd was enthralled by the spectacular views of the Moon, Saturn, and a couple of meteors!

• Scientist and science journalist Ken Kremer gave two presentations at the Wild Center in which he showed many of his 3D photos of Mars, as well as his photos of Mars rover Curiosity, and several space shuttles. The audience enjoyed the presentations immensely, and asked many questions of Dr. Kremer.

• The transit of Venus on June 5th was truly spectacular. Not only did the skies over Tupper Lake clear (miraculously) but to witness this once (or twice) in a lifetime event - not be seen again for the next 5 generations - was truly awesome. To actually be able to witness one of our Solar System planets crossing the face of the sun is certainly memorable. We had more than 100 people at our venues: Several of our astronomers set up on Little Wolf Beach where 40 to 50 folk assembled; several more of our astronomers set up in the Wild Center parking lot where another 30 to 40 passed through from time to time; and we have more than 60 in the Wild Center Flammer Theater, watching the NASA and SLOOH live feeds. In addition, two more of our astronomers set up telescopes and handed out solar-safe glasses to over 100 people at St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY. 
• The Adirondack Public Observatory is very pleased to announce that we are receiving a donation of a 12" Meade LX200 telescope from the Sharing the Sky Foundation. Sharing the Sky Foundation was started by Dr. David H. Levy and his wife Wendee. Dr. Levy has been a guest lecturer for the APO over the past several years and is a frequent visitor to the Adirondack Park. "This is a very generous gift which will be a significant addition to populating our Roll-Off Roof Observatory with quality, state-of-the-art, telescopes", said Keith Wells, President of the APO. "This telescope will be gifted when our Roll-Off Roof Observatory is completed and a fixed mounting pier is in place ready to receive the telescope, targeted for mid-summer this year." 
• April 6, 2012: Venus will cross over the face of the Sun on June 5th, 2012. The last transit of Venus occurred in 2004, and the next won't happen until 2117. The APO is planning lectures and viewing of this rare event.
• March 2, 2012: Dr. Ken Kremer will present two talks this summer at the Wild Center about the exploration of Mars. Dr. Kremer is a freelance science journalist, speaker, scientist and photographer; his articles, space exploration images and Mars mosaics have been widely published in magazines, books and websites. Dr. Kremer will show some of his amazing 3D images of Mars, and give his eyewitness perspective on the launch of the Curiosity Rover.

• January 20, 2012: St. Lawrence University astronomers and APO Board members Aileen O'Donoghue and Jeffrey Miller made another trip to the Arecibo Radio Observatory. Student Heather Cutler, SLU class of 2012, accompanied them for the 5th NSF-Sponsored Undergraduate ALFALFA Workshop from January 15 - 18. The workshop brings together students and their faculty advisors to present their research, and learn to use the largest, single-dish radio telescope in the world. The Arecibo Legacy Fast ALFA (ALFALFA) survey is an on-going blind survey of extragalactic neutral hydrogen (HI). When the survey is completed, ALFALFA will have detected more than 25,000 extragalactic HI line sources. St. Lawrence is a member of the Undergraduate ALFALFA Team, a consortium of 16 institutions engaged in a program sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to promote undergraduate research within the ALFALFA project.