Greetings, fellow astrophiles!
Our friends (and some fellow members) at the Mohawk Valley Astronomical Society (MVAS) were featured this past Sunday, May 21st in the Utica Observer-Dispatch. Link to the article is below:
Caption: Mark DiOrio / Observer-Dispatch From left, Zach Handzel, Carol and Chuck Higgins, and Joel Seif of the Mohawk Valley Astronomical Society, stand with a Meade 16-inch telescope at the Barton-Brown Observatory at the Waterville Public Library, May 17, 2016 in Waterville, N.Y.
From the article by Alissa Scott:
The club was formed in 1989 by a group of seven amateur astronomers at Hamilton College. The group would have its first public meeting July 12 of that year.
“The first meeting had 60 people in attendance,” according to information on the society’s website. “The evening’s speakers presented slides and photographs of the sky’s most noted features, from the moon to distant galaxies, the Milky Way, Comet Halley as seen from the Mohawk Valley and a brilliant aurora. Once the meeting adjourned, members and visitors used the telescope in Hamilton College’s observatory to view the moon and Saturn.”
It was an article published in the O-D previewing that first meeting that enticed Joel Seif, the club’s current president.
“I am the only person who comes to the meetings who was at the very first meeting,” Seif said. “I remember you couldn’t even find a parking space.”
Now, volunteering members meet on the second Wednesday of every month for a two-part session — about an hour of presenting, and then an hour of club business. The public is welcome to those meetings at the Waterville Public Library.
