April Monthly Meeting – Neutrinos!

On April 5, 2018, the Hamilton Centre met for its regular monthly meeting. There were about 40 people present, including some from the general public, and we had a full and varied agenda.

Welcome and Thank Yous

Ed Mizzi began the proceedings with a welcome to everyone. He displayed a slide with the agenda on it and briefly introduced the topics for the meeting. He mentioned two upcoming outreach events and encouraged members to get involved. Ed also recognized several club members for stepping up to help with club activities and business. They included Roger Hill and his never-ending work with Orbit, as well as Roger’s new Heavy M.E.T.U.L. initiative, an attempt to get more people involved with observing the night sky. Ed thanked Martin Palenik for the countless hours of work he did on refurbishing our Celestron Edge 14” telescope. Dilip Mahto assisted with getting the mount and OTA back onto the pier in the observatory. John Devonshire was also recognized for his work with getting the club exposure by regularly updating, monitoring and adding items to our website, Twitter account and Facebook page. Chris Talpas was thanked for filming monthly talks and uploading them to YouTube and Troy McCoy was thanked for his monthly What’s UP in the Sky slides and descriptions. Andy was recognized for his great work on organizing our October 2018 banquet.

Last, but far from least, in his absence, we thanked Ron Shields and wished him luck with his new home in Elliott Lake. Ron was an avid amateur astronomer, helping out in any way he could, including at the observatory, outreach and being a Board member. He always found time to help, regardless of when and where. Ron will be greatly missed.

Club News and Updates

Ed gave an update on membership. Our total is now 113. The two newest members are Barry Stephens and Eric Gaydos. We welcome them to our club and to the RASC.

Ed reported that there are two outreach events on the books, both involving Girl Guide groups, one on June 2 and the other on June 22. Members are welcome and encouraged to help with these fun events.

Next up was a short video describing the night sky for April and highlighting planets, deep sky objects and the Lyrid meteor shower, which occurs on April 22. However, meteors from this shower may be visible several days before and after that date. Best to look late at night, after midnight.

Ed then talked about Roger Hill’s work with his Heavy M.E.T.U.L. (Messier Explore the Universe Lunar) nights, when members and non-members could join him at the observatory and make attempts at procuring RASC certificates for studying the night sky. We have had two successful nights and a third is scheduled for April 20. Club members and members of the public are welcome to bring their own telescopes or use one of the club’s loaner Dobs.

Andy Blanchard then took the floor. He discussed our sister club in New Zealand and that we had sent them one of our MallinCams. He is excited that, at some point, we will be able to look in (via video conferencing) on their meetings and vice versa. Andy also indicated that they should be able to share the southern sky with us once they get the MallinCam up and running.

Andy continued with an announcement about our October Club Banquet, to be held on October 13 at the Legion Hall. Our guest speaker will be none other than James Edgar. Tickets are now on sale for $35 each, cash or cheque.

Ed then discussed the May 3 meeting and what will be on the agenda, highlighting Paul Delaney from York University speaking about “Saturn and the Cassini mission”.

We then took a 10 minute break to give people a chance to stretch and chat with fellow members.

Guest Speaker, Peter Jedicke and Those Pesky Neutrinos

After the break, Andy Blanchard introduced the night’s guest speaker, giving an excellent summary of the work that Peter Jedicke has been involved with and a brief introduction to his topic. Peter’s lecture title was “Those Pesky Neutrinos”, an overview of the history of discovering neutrinos, the people involved and where do we go from here. Andy thanked Peter with a gift of appreciation for the time he spent both preparing and providing his findings.

Ed then adjourned the meeting but not before informing members of three upcoming meetings:

• April Board meeting, at the observatory, Apr. 12, 8 PM. All members are welcome.
•  May Monthly meeting, at the Legion, May 3, 8 PM. Members and the Public are welcome.
• May Board meeting, at the observatory, May 10, 8 PM. All members are welcome.

Thanks to all who attended.

Meeting adjourned at 10:00 PM.

by Ed Mizzi