News Archives 2014
- December 13, 2014: The January/February 2015 issue of Adirondack Life magazine has an article written by Kenneth Aaron entitled "Universal Access: Tupper Lake's new observatory brings the stars closer to home." In the article, the author interviews APO directors Marc Staves, Gordie Duval, and Carol Levy, and discusses some of the sights he was able to briefly see on a partly cloudy night.
- December 1, 2014: The APO sadly reports that on October 13th, 2014, long time board member and observatory project supporter Anne Wojtkowski passed away. Anne had a fascinating career, beginning with her studies at the University of Massachusets, Amherst. She became the first woman to enter the engineering program at Boston University, from which she graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Aeronautical Engineering in 1956. She began her career at the Cambridge Consulting Firm, Arthur D. Little, where she was primarily engaged in the theoretical and experimental evaluation and development of thermal protection systems for use at extreme high and low temperatures; Anne was the first woman engineer the firm ever hired. In 1969 she began teaching at Berkshire Community College. By the time Anne retired as Professor of Engineering and Mathematics in 2004, she had taught over 30 different courses in engineering, physics, mathematics, computer programming, and energy. In November 1987, Anne was the first woman elected to be Mayor of Pittsfield, MA. Taking a leave of absence from BCC, she served two terms, leaving office in January 1992. Anne was the recipient of many honors of the years, including the Woman of the Year Award from the Berkshire Business and Professional Women's Association, 1985; the Massachusets Woman of the Year from the Massachusets Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs, 1985; The Society of Women Engineers Outstanding Woman in Engineering Award, 1988; the Boston University College of Engineering Alumni Award for Distinguished Service to Her Community, 1991; and the Berkshire Community College President's Award, 1999. Anne and her brother Wallie Everest, became members of the APO board when they donated their father's Old Town Pump Telescope to the observatory. You can read her full obituary, which was published in the Berkshire Eagle. She was truly a remarkable woman, and will be sorely missed.
- October 23, 2014: Award-winning science journalist and space journalist Andrew Chaikin gave a talk at the Wild Center on October 17. Andrew spoke about the history of the Apollo missions to the Moon. Chaikin has authored books and articles about space exploration and astronomy for three decades. He is best known as the author of "Man on the Moon: The Voyage of the Apollo Astronauts," which is widely regarded as the definitive account of the moon missions. First published in 1994, this acclaimed work was the main basis for Tom Hanks' 12 part HBO miniseries, "From the Earth to the Moon," which won the Emmy Award for best miniseries in 1998. Chaikin spent 8 years writing and researching " A Man on the Moon," including more than 150 hours of interviews with 23 of the 24 Lunar Astronauts.
- October 4, 2014: The APO received an 8" Meade LX200 Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope as a donation from Robert McDevitt from Hackettstown, NJ The telescope is in excellent condition, and came with bluetooth connectivity and a complete set of eyepieces. The Meade was used during public observing on October 3rd. Thanks, Robert!
- September 21, 2014: Jack LaDuke from WCFE Mountain Lake PBS shot this video feature about the APO. It shows why the heart of the Adirondacks is perfect for stargazing!
- August 25, 2014: The APO held our first astrophotography workshop from August 21-24. Astrophotos taken at the workshop can be found on our Facebook page.
- June 22, 2014: The APO set up a host of solar telescopes to participate in International SUN-day. Mane families attended, and we treated to beautiful views of sunspots and solar flares. There were many activities for kids: building a sundial, examining the effectiveness of sunscreen, and participating in a "Sun Scavenger Hunt."
- June 19, 2014: David Aguilar, the Director of Science Information at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, gave a presentation at the Wild Center on "The Quest for Alien Worlds and Alien Life." A noted author and artist, Aguilar showed the audience how he created drawings and models of alien life, and he explained the inspiration for his creations.
- June 7, 2014: APO Advisory Board Member Tim Connolly's photo of Comet C/2012 K1PanSTARRS was chosen as one of the five winners in the NEOShield Catching Comets photo contest. The NEOShield project has been set up to examine the options for preventing the collsion of a Near Earth Object (NEO) with the earth. More details about this photo can be found on Tim's Facebook Page. Congratulations, Tim!
- January 29, 2014: APO Advisory Board Member Tim Connolly took these photos of newly-discovered supernova SN2014J in the Cigar Galaxy (M82). Observing notes from Tim: "Last night (January 27) I fought the freezing temperatures and wind to image SN2014J, a type 1a supernova in the Spiral Galaxy M82 Bode's Nebula aka the "Cigar Galaxy." I observed it first through my 11mm eyepiece and the supernova was stood out quite visible. I estimated it at about a magnitude 11. I imaged it through my 8 inch Newtonian and canon 450D DSLR camera. I pasted the image with another image of M82 I took in September of 2013 for a comparison shot."
- January 24, 2014: Supernova 2014J was discovered on January 21 in the nearby galaxy M82, also known as the Cigar Galaxy. Ernie Rossi, a friend of the APO, took the photograph below on the 22 from Florida. M82 is about 12 million light years away, and early analysis of the supernova indicates that it is a type 1a supernova, caused by the explosion of a white dwarf in a binary star system. More details and information about supernova 2014J can be found at Sky&Telescope.
- January 20,2014: An article entitiled Stars Align at the Adirondack Public Observatory, written by Kim Martineau, details the history and progress of the APO. It appeared in the Adirondack Almanac, the Adirondack Explorer's online news journal.
- January 2, 2014: The cloudy weather had APO Advisory Board Member Tim Connolly missing the sun, so on a recent clear day he took out his solar telescope and took some photos. This photo was created by stacking 1200 seperate images. The telescope has filters to view the red light of Hydrogen, and shows filaments on the solar disc and prominences around the edge.
