Noted astrophotographer Adam Block shared his stunning photos of galaxies far, far away and his secrets to taking pictures of deep space.
Location: Virtual ZOOM meeting
Speaker-Astro Photographer Adam Block
Attendees: Andrea De La Cruz, Laura Clymer, Peter Mack, Bob Bishop, Don and Kathy Jorgensen, John and Cindy Dooling, Harold Burtzloff, Beckie Penman, Mark Goligoski, Dan Contorno
President Andrea brought the meeting to order by announcing The Club annual Christmas dinner will be held again this year at Lil Abner's. Date is 12/19/2024 starting at 6pm. Next week's meeting is hybrid followed by two weeks of dark/no meetings. The year 2025 will see us back at our old meeting place located at the Northwest Fire Training facility.
Discussion of our successful participation in the Marana Holiday festival and Tree Lighting Ceremony. Our booth gave away over 500 peppermint mints and candy canes. All members of the club who were in town participated.
Don mentioned Wreaths Across America, which we support with funding from our foundation, is having a gathering pre-Christmas. If interested see Don for more information.
Happy Bucks:
Don and Kathy spent time with the son of Rotary PDG of Los Angeles. He will be associated with the Optics Department at the University of AZ. Kathy had a "reunion" with past co-workers from AZ School of The Deaf and Blind.
Bob-Was invited to ceremony ring in something important in Washington D.C. Also looking forward to a gathering of pilots/survivors from the field of aviation aerobatics.
Peter-AZ cool mornings
Mark-Attended NAU graduation ceremonies where his son participated. Rather than traditional mortar board his son and others graduating from the same department wore hard hats.
Harold-Enjoyed setting up booth and working with Beckie.
John & Cindy-Happy bathroom remodel is nearing completion and just generally happy.
Laura- Happy to be hosting one party and attending two others in the coming week.
Beckie-Enjoyed working with Harold at booth. Looking forward to Christmas with grandkids and journey to Polar Express in Flagstaff.
Dan- Alias, Pixel 7 Pro, enjoyed working the booth.
Andrea-Hanging with family for the holidays.
Speaker Adam Block
Guest speaker presented "How to Become an Expert Astrophotographer ... Without Owning a Telescope!"
Adam developed the public observing programs at Kitt Peak National Observatory (1996 – 2005). Later, he founded the Mount Lemmon SkyCenter (2007) at the University of Arizona, which uses 24-inch and 32-inch telescopes for public outreach. He currently continues to work in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Arizona.
Adam’s images are used as references by amateurs and professional researchers alike. He has had more than100 NASA Astronomy Pictures of the Day. The Space Telescope Institute, Chandra Observatory, Spitzer, and many observatories around the world have used his images for various purposes. The images have also appeared in Nature, Time and National Geographic magazines, and other popular astronomy literature. Some of his work has permeated into worldwide popular culture, being featured as cover art for Dance/Electronica musical artist Paul van Dyk, and sold on high-quality silk scarves in Europe. He has discovered asteroids, a supernova, and a galactic star stream.
In his off-time, Adam is a competitive Table Tennis player.