Events Calendar

Free and Open to the Public

In-person and via Zoom
Ask for the Zoom link from paulwaav@together.net or theresamarie11@GMAIL.COM
VAS Members will be emailed the Zoom link

The in-person will be at the Brownell Library on 2A near 5-Corners in Essex Junction.

If you attend via Zoom please get on-line before 7:30.  If you don't have Zoom installed, the application will automatically download and install when you click the meeting link.  This may take a couple minutes.

PRESENTATION:

A Visit with the Herschel’s and the Royal Observatory
By Richard Whitehead

A look at William Herschel and his family's impact on astronomy and his other accomplishments and the role the Royal Observatory played.  From a first hand perspective of visiting Herschel's house (now a museum) and the Royal observatory, Greenwich this summer.

Following the main presentation, our recurring monthly presentations will include Constellation of the Month  by Terri Zittritsch.

Free and Open to the Public

In-person and via Zoom
Ask for the Zoom link from paulwaav@together.net or theresamarie11@GMAIL.COM
VAS Members will be emailed the Zoom link

The in-person will be at the Brownell Library on 2A near 5-Corners in Essex Junction.

If you attend via Zoom please get on-line before 7:30.  If you don't have Zoom installed, the application will automatically download and install when you click the meeting link.  This may take a couple minutes.




PRESENTATION:


Out to the Cosmic Web: Structures of the Universe
By Neil Perlin

The solar system is huge – the distance to Neptune, the furthest known planet, is about three billion miles. But that’s trivial compared to the distance to the nearest star, Proxima Centauri, about 4 light years or twenty-five trillion miles.
After that, things get really huge. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is about 100,000 light years across, with each light year equal to about six trillion miles. In turn, the Milky Way is part of the Local Group of galaxies, about ten million light years across.
After that, things get mind-bogglingly immense. How immense? Consider superclusters that can exceed one-hundred million light years. Or the Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall at about ten billion light years. And out to the Cosmic Web, essentially the overall structure of the universe… as we understand it today.


Following the main presentation, our recurring monthly presentations will include Constellation of the Month  by Terri Zittritsch.

Free and Open to the Public

In-person and via Zoom
Ask for the Zoom link from paulwaav@together.net or theresamarie11@GMAIL.COM
VAS Members will be emailed the Zoom link

The in-person will be at the Brownell Library on 2A near 5-Corners in Essex Junction.

If you attend via Zoom please get on-line before 7:30.  If you don't have Zoom installed, the application will automatically download and install when you click the meeting link.  This may take a couple minutes.


PRESENTATION:

ZWO Seestar S50 Smart Telescope: The First Six Months
By Gerry Davis

I bought the ZWO Seestar S50 Telescope in the winter of 2025 because we would soon be moving from our house and land to a two-bedroom apartment with a terrace.  I had used my heavy tripod, equatorial mount, telescopes, and accessories for 7 years in my backyard.  This assembly served me well but weighed about 60 pounds and filled a garden cart.  Clearly, this gear would not fit in our apartment or be portable to use outside our new back door.
The Seestar S50 telescope arrived in its compact case complete with a small tripod and solar filter.  The system includes a 50mm aperture 250mm focal length (f5.0) apochromatic triplet optical tube and weighs 5.5 pounds (2.5 kg).  An altitude-azimuth computer-controlled mount points the system, and internal UV/IR and light-pollution filters are included.  A recent firmware upgrade now permits equatorial mount function.  The Seestar S50 internal computer controls it all … GoTo mount with planetarium library, autofocus, plate-solving, guiding, camera and video operation, and filter selection.  The entire system is managed through a smartphone or tablet using the Seestar app.  For real-time observation on screen, 10-30 second frames are stacked sequentially.  Within a few moments the details of galaxies and nebula begin to appear and grow.  Each frame can be stored as FITS and JPG files for future post-production.  The system can compose a “mosaic” of multiple overlapping frames for targets larger than the sensor size.  When the session on the target ends, the composite image stacked by the Seestar is stored as FITS file and JPG files.  Video files of solar system targets are stored as AVI files for future stacking.  Excellent images of the sun and moon result, while the focal length is too small for detailed views of planets.
In my experience, the Seestar S50 is an amazingly capable telescope system in a small, portable, affordable package.  The light weight, the fast set-up, and the comprehensive control system make it well-suited for travel, star parties, or any site other than a permanent observatory.  I look forward to many nights of clear skies with the Seestar S50 just a few feet out my back door.

Following the main presentation, our recurring monthly presentations will include Constellation of the Month  by Terri Zittritsch.