North Jersey Astronomical Group

The North Jersey Astronomical Group (NJAG) is an astronomy club composed of about fifty people interested in all aspects of stargazing, including the sun as well as the stars, the planets, and deep sky objects. The NJAG meets regularly (usually the second Wednesdays of each month except August) at Montclair State University in Upper Montclair, NJ. We also hold weekly Public Telescope Nights during the Fall and Spring semesters. These are clear Thursdays, and will resume on September 4, 2008.

The next monthly meeting will be Wednesday, July 9, at 8 PM. Dr. Charles Liu, CUNY College of Staten Island, will talk about "After Galaxies Collide." Galaxy collisions are spectacular cosmic events taking millions or even billions of years to complete. What's left in the aftermath? In one system, called G515, it looks like a quiet, hidden, supermassive black hole! Dr. Liu will trace the history of this enigmatic object, and investigate the black hole lurking within. He is a professor of astrophysics at the City University of New York’s College of Staten Island, and an Associate with the Hayden Planetarium and Department of Astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
You can print the meeting flyer.

The Wednesday evening monthly meetings are free and open to the public, and light refreshments will be served in Richardson Hall, Room 232 at MSU. Remember to pay the parking meter machine, even after dark.

Here are directions to MSU. For more information visit our club webpage at http://www.njastro.org.

At our annual dinner in March, 2004 Kevin supplied us all with eclipse glasses for the upcoming transit of Venus. Many people also won door prizes.

Our March, 2003 field trip to the Fells Planetarium in Philadelphia was also a lot of fun!

Weekly Public Telescope Nights will be on clear Thursdays starting again September 6, 2007.

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For 2008 the NJAG Club Officers are:

President: John Miksits
Vice President/Program Chair: Kevin Conod
Treasurer: Neil Goldstein
Membership: Joe Marzullo
Recording Secretary: Jim Piombino
Corresponding Secretary: Mike Wallace
Website ( www.njastro.org): Adrian Oradean
Trustee: Angelo Restivo
Observations: Joe Marzullo
Librarian:
Astrophotography: Angelo Restivo
Education/Outreach: Maja Britton and Mary Lou West
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The NJAG offers the following to the general public:

• Telescope Nights
• Photos of the Sky and of Astronomy Day Activities
• Monthly Meetings (see below)
• Membership Information
• Astronomy Links

NORTH JERSEY ASTRONOMICAL GROUP
P.O. Box 1472
Clifton, NJ 07015-1472

Programs in 2008:

Friday, July 25, 9-11 PM, Summer Stargazing at Riker Hill Art Park with the Newark Dreyfuss Planetarium staff.
Directions: Garden State Parkway exit 145 or NJ Turnpike exit 15W, Route 280 west, exit 4 to Eisenhower Parkway south, go through the light, go across the railroad tracks and up the hill. After half a mile turn left onto Beaufort Ave., bear right to continue on Beaufort, turn left at the sign for "Riker Hill Art Park." At the stop sign go straight. Bear right at the fork, park at the top of the hill. Telescopes will be set up in the field on your right at the very top of the hill.

July 9, Dr. Charles Liu, CUNY College of Staten Island, will talk about "After Galaxies Collide."

June 11, Theresa Moody, Raritan Valley Community College, New Jersey Astronomy Center for Education, "From a (neglected) Six Inch to Spitzer: A High School Teacher's Telescopic Journey."
An introduction to the International Year of Astronomy, 2009, and the Galileoscope kits.

May 14, Several Montclair State students present the astronomy projects they have done this year. 1. Blazar OJ 287 (Ed Knesevitch, Chrissy Vadovszki, Tim Buli), 2. Comet Holmes (Tim Buli, Chrissy Vadovszki, Ed Knesevitch), 3. Global Warming Calculations (Wesley Wan, Ted Gierlich), 4. Asteroid Warnings (Sam Petrocelli), 5. Galaxy Collisions (Phillip Bevacqua), 6. Supermassive Black Holes (Ed Knesevitch)

April 9, Erika Hamden, Columbia University, "The Orion Nebula Cluster of Stars" and also observing with the MMT.

March 12, Maja Britton, new Solar System Walk at the New Jersey Botanical Garden in Ringwood. Also, Adrian Oradean introduced the club's new webpage. njastro.org

February 20, 9-11 PM, Total Lunar Eclipse and spring stargazing at Riker Hill Art Park

February 13, "Some Public Astronomy Sites in China" by Mary Lou West.

January 9, NASA video "Passport to Pluto" about the New Horizons spacecraft, and Kevin and Heidi's baklava.

Programs in 2007:

December 12, annual Winter Solstice Party, bring snacks and drinks!

November 14, "Making Magnificent Models of Spacecraft" by Mary Hiller, Assistant Manager of the Dreyfuss Planetarium at the Newark Museum

Sunday, November 4, 6 PM, Annual Dinner, at Neil and Joyce Goldstein's house. Our speaker will be Dr. Ed Jenkins of Princeton University who will speak on "The Local Bubble in the Interstellar Gas." Cost is $5 at the door.

Friday, October 19, Fall Stargazing at Riker Hill Art Park, 8-10 PM

October 10, "Asteroid 4 Vesta" by Al WEitzgall, AAI

September 12, "Astrophotography for the Beginner" by Dave Trapani, NJAG

On Friday, July 20, Summer Stargazing at Riker Hill Art Park 8:30-10:30 PM
Directions: Garden State Parkway exit 145 or NJ Turnpike exit 15W, Route 280 west, exit 4 to Eisenhower Parkway south, go through the light, go across the railroad tracks and up the hill. After half a mile turn left onto Beaufort Ave., bear right to continue on Beaufort, turn left at the sign for "Riker Hill Art Park." At the stop sign go straight. Bear right at the fork, park at the top of the hill. Telescopes will be set up in the field on your right at the very top of the hill.

July 11, club members discussion and planning

June 13, Kevin Conod presented the latest 3D views of the sun from the STEREO spacecraft

May 9, Astronomy Projects by Montclair State U. students, including 1. Heights of Crater Rims on the Moon, Christopher Steingraber 2. Making a Moon Composite using GIMP, Nathaniel Frissell 3. Moon's Velocity, Kwang J. Bae 4. Recreating Galileo's Telescope, Sean Rodriguez 5. Puzzling Meteorites, Jonathan Norton 6. Cratering in Different Soils (slow motion video), Nick Malupis and Sean Rodriguez 7. Sunspots, Elizabeth Taylor 8. Solar Radio Bursts, Christine Vadovszki 9. Relationship Between the Radio Bursts from the Sun and Terrestrial Ionospheric Propagation, Nathaniel Frissell and Michael Papalos 10. Orbit of Titan from CCD images, Jonathan Norton and Ed Knesevitch

April 11, "New Horizons, the First Space Mission to Pluto" by Michael Dean Lewis, NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador

March 14, "Bicycling on Other Worlds" by Lonny Buinis of Raritan Valley Community College

February 14, cancelled due to snow

January 17, "Astronomy Update 2007: Highlights from the American Astronomical Society meeting in Seattle in January" Kevin Conod and Mary Lou West

Previous years' programs were also interesting.