Members Reports

Hecate, the snake woman on the moon?

By Clarence G. Underwood posted 22 hours ago

. The First Telescope! . Hecate, the snake woman on the moon? . By Clarence G. Underwood . As you can see from the picture above, there appears there a woman with a snake. The 8th century BC Greeks worshipped Hecate. A snake woman which originated in Caria. The Greeks and Carians serviced Egyptian Pharaohs in many fights. Perhaps this is where some of the enhanced cult information originated for the Greeks! Many cultures spoke of and worshipped a woman in the moon. The Carians shared a frontier with the Greeks. In the 19th century Sir Austen H. Layard found the Nimrud Lens during an excavation of some Assyrian ruins! Professor ...

BLUE SATURN Astro-photo-poem by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe

By Andrei Dorian Gheorghe posted yesterday

On the evening of November 24, 2025, among the blocks in my Bucharest neighborhood. . Saturn - I said - I knew you yellow to gray, why do I see you now disguised in light blue? . I am not disguised - he answered me - but some of your fellow earthlings made me up with electric lights. . #poetry

READINESS

By Mirosław Wójcik posted 2 days ago

Image details: The double firing burst (artist's impression) Credit: ESO https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso0828a/ ––– |READINESS| W e have to be ready that someday our ideas about the cosmos will collapse unexpectedly Being still focused on wars here, we're living in a fool's paradise what happens there… Undoubtedly, thanks to the state-of-the-art technology * , we have seen more than earlier. Intriguing riddles remain, however That's because the Universe, after all, conceals surprisingly many of them, keeping the ability do debunk paradigms Soon, we'll have to handle somehow with ...

STORIES FROM TARGOVISTE ASTRO-SPACE-FEST 2025 (PS) Astro-photo-poem by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe

By Andrei Dorian Gheorghe posted 11 days ago

C/2025 A6 (LEMMON) . Photo 1 (2025-10-20, Runcu Stone) by George Tanase Astro-haiku by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe Photo 2 (2025-10-24, Runcu Stone) by Valentin Grigore . . Only a simple comet... and so much upliftment of the soul! . #poetry

MODELED ON THOMAS DIGGES (1546-1595) By Andrei Dorian Gheorghe

By Andrei Dorian Gheorghe posted 12 days ago

I heard a lot about Copernicus, Bruno, Galileo and Kepler, but I have heard too little about Thomas Digges, who considered that the Sun is the center of an infinite Universe. . Maybe if we look at the world subjectively he was right… #poetry

During A Recent Eclipse by Clarence Underwood

By Clarence G. Underwood posted 12 days ago

During a recent eclipse! . By Clarence G. Underwood . As an Astronomy enthusiast there are Many things in the sky that I enjoy. Watching last years eclipse was quite A joy! Eclipses of the sun and moon are Something to see. For a solar eclipse one Needs eye protection but with a lunar Eclipse all you need is to look with your Naked eye and it you can see! With my Vintage telescope, it has a projection Screen you see. So with my naked eye I Can watch a solar eclipse it is great to See! Projecting an image is lots of fun And it is easy. So next time there is a Solar eclipse use a pinhole projector or Get a vintage telescope with ...

STORIES FROM TARGOVISTE ASTRO-SPACE-FEST 2025 (6) Astro-photo-poem by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe

By Andrei Dorian Gheorghe posted 13 days ago

MY LAST DAY AT THE EVENT . Moon and Venus. Then the ascension of the Sun - a living being . . . . . #poetry

Hamptons Observatory Needs Your Help

By Donna McCormick posted 13 days ago

This is the season when many worthy nonprofit organizations ask for your help. We’re doing the same. The main difference is that their annual appeal goals are in the six figures, while ours is far more modest--our annual budget is still only $25K a year. But year we need donors to be extra generous. Why? We’re facing the added expense (possibly upwards of $50K) of building a new observatory structure. For years, we've been trying to get up and running with a 45+ year old, used (by two previous owners) and battered building to house our 20” research-grade telescope (good news: it still works!). Despite extensive repair efforts by a skilled team of volunteers ...

The Foggy Night

By Clarence G. Underwood posted 13 days ago

. The Foggy Night . By Clarence G. Underwood . I was out last night observing the Crescent moon, suddenly the Bright light from the moon started To dim. The air got cooler, there was A mist in the air. The fog was rolling In, but the moon didn’t care. It Continued to shine, yes it was dimmed. But it was good to see that the fog Could not overcome him. Yes, the Features disappeared, but the outline Did persist. The crescent was yet seen Even through the foggy mist. The sun And the moon brighten the sky. I’m Sure ancient man worshipped them. Now we know why! Their light can Persist even while other things disappear ...

STORIES FROM TARGOVISTE ASTRO-SPACE-FEST 2025 (5) Astro-photo-poem by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe

By Andrei Dorian Gheorghe posted 14 days ago

SKY LOVERS . Free people in a mountain place, games with telescopes, serenity . . . . . . #poetry

STORIES FROM TARGOVISTE ASTRO-SPACE-FEST 2025 (4) Astro-photo-poem by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe

By Andrei Dorian Gheorghe posted 15 days ago

LAUNCHES AT RUNCU STONE (with special thanks to astronaut Dorin Dumitru Prunariu and model rocket maker George Radu) . Astronaut next to miniature rockets - nostalgic dimension . . . . . . #poetry

“Comets and Interstellar Visitors: Exploring the Dynamic Sky” (A Free, Virtual Lecture)

By Donna McCormick posted 16 days ago

On January 22, 2026, at 7:00 PM, ET, Hamptons Observatory and co-host Suffolk County Community College will present a free, virtual lecture by Dr. Ariel Graykowski, a research scientist from the SETI Institute who will talk about comets, interstellar visitors such as 3I/ATLAS and its unique features, as well as how professionals and citizen scientists are collaborating in an effort to learn more about our universe. Registration is required for this free, virtual lecture: https://bit.ly/DynamicSkyTalk From icy visitors from the outer solar system to rare interstellar interlopers like 3I/ATLAS, comets are among the most dynamic ...

The Oldest Recognized Constellation

By Clarence G. Underwood posted 18 days ago

The Oldest recognized Constellation By Clarence G. Underwood Astronomy is a science of old. It has been a topic Of man for ages untold. We have found signs of Ancient societies, but sky watches have probably Been around as long as man could see! Found in A cave somewhere in France, no doubt after man Learned to dance. The arts emerged as a communication Form. A way for ideas to be sent along. Yes, ideas would Be carried along in time. The way some words are Transmitted through rhymes. Some 17,000 years ago Someone painted a Bull and the Pleiades you know! Yes, Taurus is the oldest constellation we have found. It seems that the ...

MAGELLANIC CLOUDS – AN ASTRO-HAIKU DIALOGUE WITH DANUT IONESCU By Andrei Dorian Gheorghe

By Andrei Dorian Gheorghe posted 19 days ago

Danut Ionescu was a great popularizer of astronomy in Romania, where he ran a magazine and a radio show in the 1990s, then moved to New Zealand, where he remained an active amateur astronomer with astropoetic flashes. This time he insisted that the work below also include two photos of the Magellanic Clouds (satellite galaxies of the Milky Way), the first by the founding president of SARM, Valentin Grigore (July 7, 2019, Vale de la Luna, Atacama, Chile), and the second even by Danut Ionescu (January 12, 2024, Tokoroa, New Zealand), as “a symbol of unity and friendship through Astronomy”. Special thanks for technical support to Alex Vizitiu. . MAGELLANIC ...

STORIES FROM TARGOVISTE ASTRO-SPACE-FEST 2025 (3) Astro-photo-poem by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe

By Andrei Dorian Gheorghe posted 20 days ago

THREE KINDS OF SATURN . In the center of a light-polluted public square, an astronomer pointed to the planet Saturn (first with a few satellites, then with its famous ring) through his advanced digital telescope. . I retreated to the edge of the square to also review the same planet with the naked eye like a realistic friend and not as an amplified one. . . . . #poetry

BEYOND SCIENTIFIC PATTERNS

By Mirosław Wójcik posted 20 days ago

Image details: Wide-field view of the region of the sky around JADES-GS-z14-0 Credit: ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso2507d/ ––– |BEYOND SCIENTIFIC PATTERNS| S omething there makes us truly amazed because it slips out certain scientific patterns According to them, it's to be something. However, arisen facts are drawing a completely different picture Evidently, so intriguing that main space agencies came into meaningful silence… Simultaneously all of the most important research instruments were engaged to trace the trajectory ...

STORIES FROM TARGOVISTE ASTRO-SPACE-FEST 2025 (2) Astro-photo-poem by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe

By Andrei Dorian Gheorghe posted 21 days ago

A RULER, A TELESCOPE AND A STAR . In the 1390s, Voivod Mircea the Elder and the Romanian army defeated Sultan Bayezid and the Ottoman army in the Battle of Rovine. . After about 630 years, in front of a statue of the former Romanian ruler, an astronomer was doing telescopic demonstrations, and I didn't know if Mircea the Elder was interested in these or simply admired the star Vega. . . . #poetry

STORIES FROM TARGOVISTE ASTRO-SPACE-FEST 2025 (1) Astro-photo-poem by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe

By Andrei Dorian Gheorghe posted 22 days ago

DEEP SKY OBJECTS AND A SINGLE STAR . In the center of a light-polluted public square, an astronomer showed a star cluster, a galaxy and a nebula through his ultramodern digital telescope. . At the edge of a light-polluted public square, I could only photograph a single star, but it was the "flying eagle", Altair. . . . . #poetry