Category: news
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New Horizons Spacecraft Approaches Pluto
The New Horizons spacecraft, launched in January 2006, is now in the Pluto system and returning photos. It will fly by Pluto and its 5 known moons on July 14. This region of the Solar System contains a number of Pluto-like objects; what makes Pluto particularly interesting is that it appears to have an atmosphere…
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Incoming! Comet C/2014 Lovejoy Makes An Appearance
Comet Lovejoy is at its best this week and next, especially now that the Moon is gone from the evening sky. The comet is glowing at about 5th magnitude well to the west of Orion early in the week — nice in binoculars and possibly visible very dimly to the unaided eye, depending on your sky conditions.…
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LHAAC and MAS members repair telescope
The 16 inch telescope now in the observatory is not the original one. The 17.5 inch telescope originally built by members of the Mattatuck club was removed some years ago to be equipped with automatic tracking. The project languished but is now back on track. Members of the two clubs are working to complete the…
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Observatory repaired
The observatory at White Memorial was built in 1996 by the Mattatuck Astronomical Society and has been showing signs of age. In November, 2013, members of MAS and LHAAC got together to repair the rails for the roll-off roof. We believe those repairs will outlive most of us. The 17.5″ telescope has been installed, replacing…