Astronomy, Photography and Weather

Meeting of amateur astronomers in Poltava (Sep 20, 2009)

Hey guys,
just thought I should share it with you...  :)

Today, Sep. 20th,  we had our first local meeting of amateur astronomers in Poltava city. Even more, today we have founded our Society of amateur astronomers in Poltava.

Only 3 of us are actually inhabitans of Poltava city, more people are from oblast (100-150km in the neighbourhood). Besides, on today's meeting we had two guests - Jim Wiggins from CA, USA and Karen Waterfton from Scotland (living not far from the most of you afaik). Jim is a traveller and solar eclipse chaser, you can found more info at his website: www.iwiggins.com

Next are some photosnaps:

2PM - After the meeting. Poltava, Zhovtneva st.
(http://i37.tinypic.com/jqn593.jpg)

3PM - having dinner in cafe
(http://i38.tinypic.com/1z14pzt.jpg)
(I am third to the left, Karen is first to the left, Jim is third to the right)

Fragment of Sikhote-Alyn meteorite (weights >100g) which Alexander Repnoy has taken together with him.
(http://i38.tinypic.com/2hyba1.jpg)

7PM - Quickly gazing at Jupiter in Poltava gravimetric observatory (via 200mm refractor)
(http://i35.tinypic.com/259y7pi.jpg)
Boris Sincheskul (he works at the observatory) is standing in the centre.

BTW, today was some kind of special day...  ;) http://astrophotoweather.smfforfree4.com/index.php/topic,642.msg12006.html#msg12006

Now as we've made our first step with our society, we are planning to organize a sidewalk astronomy event in Poltava city (and Kremenchuk too) during the Galilean Nights (October 22-24, 2009). I hope we will be lucky with it.  ::)

Hey Roman, all the very best with the new Society, lets hope it goes from strength to strength. That's a nice looking refractor, who is the manufacturer?

Thanks John!  :)

That refractor is "ABP-2" (read AVR), D=200mm, F=3000m. It was bought by observatory in 1960, is used since 1964 for visual observing of lunar occultations, and since 1974 - also for photoelectric observations.
I do know that it is manufactured in USSR, but I don't remember the exact place. Very possible, that it was manufactured at Kazan Optical and Mechanical Plant (http://www.baigish.ru/eng/about_comp/) (Tatarstan, Russia). At least this fact is true for the same instruments in observatories of Moscow and Rostov-na-Donu (I have just found that info on the web).

Fantastic!  It's always good when like minds meet! :)

Really enjoyed the report and images Roman, thanks very much for sharing them with us and for keeping us updated on the new astro society. Looks like you are in fine company with like minded individuals, I can see the future of amateur astronomy in your country within the hands of you and the other members. I hope it turns into a massive and successful society. You certainly have all the ingredients there, - scopes and passionate people.

I bet that even the view through that finder scope is fantastic never mind the main instrument!

Best of luck.

Nice report Roman, looks like you all had a good time too. I've got something about the size of that finder on my rig ...

Thanks for your kind words everyone!  :)

First meeting of POLA (Society of amateur astronomers in Poltava) have taken place at Poltava gravimetric observatory on Sunday, Feb.14, 2010. (it was the day of Chinese New Year by the way)  ;)

It was an important event for us and it was sucessful, as there were 8 participants: 4 (of 6) members of our society, 2 astronomers from observatory and 2 guests from amateur astronomers' clubs of Dnipropetrovsk and Kyiv.

(http://astronomy.pl.ua/photos/POLA_1sobranie.jpg)

We were talikng about:
- the events of the last year: UAF-2009 (Ukrainian astronomy forum), "100 hours of Astronomy", "Galilean Nights", meetings in Poltava and Krasnograd
- results of clubs' work during IYA-2009
- different questions inside our society
- popular astronomy
- asteroidal occultations and announce of the amateur conference which is planned for March 20th in Dnipropetrovsk.
- possibilities of future meetings and observations under dark skies

Now looking forward for at least a few more meetings during this year.

Great stuff Roman and congratulations on your success, thanks for sharing the image with us. Best of luck with your future meetings.  :)

Thanks Martin  ;)

On Saturday, March 27th we had our first sidewalk astronomy evening this year, which was in the coincidence with "Earth Hour" (see WWF website for more info). Weather was good, we needn't to worry about it - cloudless skies and enough warm.

We had time both for observations and for communications, and not forgetting to follow the rules of "Earth Hour" - we didn't use any piece of electricity (except of mobile phones and cameras). However, it was enough dark at the observatory grounds, so we hadn't noticed whether the city became darker during that hour.

30 people or so have intended our event, there were also a few parents with their kids.
There were 3 of us, organizers: me, Mykola F. Tyshchuk and Steven Jensen.
Also there were reporters from local newspaper "Selo Poltavs'ke" and info-agency "Novyny Poltavshchyny".

We were looking at the skies from 18:20 to 20:50 EET. Had luck to catch the evening star (Venus), then we observed consequently the Moon, Mars, Saturn, Orion Nebula, Pleiades, Mizar/Alcor. Atmosphere of our meeting was very good, not only young people & kids but also older people were excited after a view through a telescope, and they were thanking us for such an opportunity to get closer to the sky. Some of visitors have seen a "falling star", but I wasn't one of them.  ::)

A few photos of mine...

Mykola F. Tyshchuk invites everybody to the telescope dome (of 160mm refractor).
(http://astronomy.pl.ua/reports/eh2010/eh2010_01-700px.jpg)

Watching through my 76mm Newton.
(http://astronomy.pl.ua/reports/eh2010/eh2010_02-700px.jpg)

(http://astronomy.pl.ua/reports/eh2010/eh2010_03-700px.jpg)

(http://astronomy.pl.ua/reports/eh2010/anim01_300px.gif)

It looks like everyone had a great time Roman!  :D  It still looks pretty cold there with the remnants of snow on the ground.

Nice one Roman, its good to get the young people involved too and get them interested in astronomy at an early age.

Great result Roman, love these updates and the cool images. It's fantastic that your'e doing so much astronomy outreach - there's nothing more rewarding than passing on the astro torch to the younger generation. It looks cold there though!  :)

Thank you for the comments guys!  :)

Here are some more photos...

<all images below © Yulia Pashkovs'ka, infoagency "Novyny Poltavshchyny" (автор фотоматеріалів Юлія Пашковська, Новини Полтавщини (http://poltavanews.com.ua/)) >

starting sidewalk astronomy event at 18:20...
(http://poltavanews.com.ua/media/15074/8.jpg)

got captured me too...
(http://poltavanews.com.ua/media/15055/12.jpg)

inside telescope's dome...
(http://poltavanews.com.ua/media/15056/14.jpg)

(http://poltavanews.com.ua/media/15057/15.jpg)

Oh no, it feels like spring already!  ;)
 But these remnants of snow are nothing comparative to those I had seen today on one of the country roads. In one place (shaded hill) the road was particularly blocked with masses of snow of 10...100cm thick! I guess it won't completely melt in next 2 weeks.

Finally we had our first good observing session outside the city (20km eastwards, Bortle class 4, I guess)

Weekend, perfect clear and hot weather, new Moon, moderately dark skies, hundreds of mosquitoes - all inclusive!  :)

12.06.2010 21:52 (setting up), note the Scorpio to the right
(http://astronomy.pl.ua/photos/stepne_100612.jpg)

Will write more a bit later

Love the photo Roman!!, really captures the observing session well, that looks like a fabulous location in that beautiful field, would love to have been there with you. Tell us more about how the session went.  :)