Club Officers
President - Phil Babcock | |
Phil has been interested in looking at the sky since he was a young child. That led to majoring in astronomy in college. After a hiatus from astronomy to raise 2 children, Phil got back into observing after retiring, and joined NHAS in 2019. He has participated in public sky watches and helped to grow NHAS’s "in-reach" program. Phil is a proponent of small, portable equipment, having a TeleVue 85 refractor and a few nice binoculars. When not observing, he enjoys bicycle riding, boating, travel, and time with family. |
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Vice President - Mike Atkinson | |
Mike has always had an interest in Astronomy. Classes in astronomy made up most of his required science in high school and college. He took his 11-year-old granddaughter out in the middle of the night to observe a total lunar eclipse, which sparked her interest, leading to borrowing from the NHAS Library Telescope Program and then a Dobsonian telescope and an NHAS family membership. Mike enjoys helping people find a spark to light a fire of inquiry. He participates in Sky Watches as often as he can, using both his telescope and binoculars. |
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Secretary - Paul Winalski | |
Paul has been an NHAS member since 2004. An avid amateur astronomer as a teenager, he actively resumed the hobby in 2003. His main astronomical interests are public observing, deep-sky objects, and carbon stars. Paul's current telescopes are a 14" TScope reflector, 85mm TeleVue refractor, and a Coronado PST H-alpha scope. |
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Treasurer - Pete Smith | |
Pete has been a NHAS member since 2011. A latecomer to astronomy, he went to the New England Fall Astronomy Festival at UNH and it convinced him to buy an Orion XT8i Dobsonian reflector and join up with NHAS. Pete enjoys visual observing and attending an occasional skywatch. He became interested in the Library Telescope Program. in March of 2012 when attending a "Mod Party" where NHAS members modify the Orion Starblast scopes to LTP standards. When not scouring the skies for nebulae and galaxies, he enjoys scuba diving, hiking, camping and listening to the blues. |
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Board of Directors
Chairman - David McDonald | |
Dave McDonald fell in love with astronomy in the 7th grade when he took out a book from his Junior High School library - Point to the Stars* He got his first 2.4" refractor in the 9th grade. He thought of becoming an astrophysicist but became a math teacher and high school principal instead. After leaving formal education for a time, he became the Education Director of the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center for ten years. He has also taught astronomy for Granite State College, Plymouth State University Graduate School, NHTI, and Belmont High School. He is now back in the high school class room teaching Math and various other STEM subjects. He is an active member of the NHAS and has his own cable TV show - The Sky This Month * Upon graduating from 9th grade, the librarian gave him that book to keep as he was the only person in three years to have checked it out regularly. |
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Director - Alison Bentley | |
Alison zoomed through astronomy textbooks for kids at 8 years old. She majored in astronomy at SUNY New Paltz, and in 1997, became the publicity officer & Dobsonian guardian of the Mid-Hudson Astronomy Association, which met there. She created the astronomy resources for several Girl Scout councils in NY and CT, and has been a presenter for observing events. She joined NHAS in 2018, has two master's degrees and studied astronomy online with the University of Oxford, University of Central Lancaster, and the University of York. She currently works from home for Southern NH University as a Counselor, recently became a new grandma, and won a Celestron 5" telescope. |
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Junior Director - Deb Slocum | |
Deb has been an amateur astronomer since she was 12 and read Sir Patrick Moore’s book. She is a retired electrical engineer and enjoys beekeeping as well as relearning astrophotography and processing. Her first astrophotos were taken with the 6" reflector she built and took to Goldendale, WA for the eclipse in 1979. She has been a member of NHAS for several years. She is currently building an observatory for her larger scope, but loves traveling and imaging in interesting dark sky places such as Chile, Hawaii, and National Parks with her William Optics Redcat 51 system. |
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Committee Chairs
Astrophotography - Herb Bubert | |
Herb has been a member of NHAS for fifteen years, ten of which he has spent imaging the night sky with various telescopes and cameras. One of his pet projects is imaging Saturn through one complete orbit of the Sun. He hopes to complete this project sometime in 2033. When he's not doing visual observing or Astrophotography, Herb works as a Property Manager on Newbury Street in Boston. |
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Educational Outreach - Steve Rand | |
Steve is a retired Earth-Space science teacher and has been an active NHAS member since 2012. As an undergraduate he was a lecturer at the Charles Hayden Planetarium in Boston. As an additional member of the Public Observing Committee and the Library Telescope Committee, Steve’s interest centers around furthering public awareness of Astronomy. |
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Library Telescope Program - Pete Smith | |
Pete has been a NHAS member since 2011. A latecomer to astronomy, he went to the New England Fall Astronomy Festival at UNH and it convinced him to buy an Orion XT8i Dobsonian reflector and join up with NHAS. Pete enjoys visual observing and attending an occasional skywatch. He became interested in the Library Telescope Program. in March of 2012 when attending a "Mod Party" where NHAS members modify the Orion Starblast scopes to LTP standards. When not scouring the skies for nebulae and galaxies, he enjoys scuba diving, hiking, camping and listening to the blues. |
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Observatory Management - Tim Printy | |
Tim has been an amateur astronomer since 1972. His biggest interests are astrophotography, comets, and meteors. He was the president of the Central Florida Astronomical Society in late 1980’s and has been an NHAS member since 2000. |
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Observatory Management - Dave Roy | |
Dave has been an NHAS member since about 2017. He enjoy observing and public outreach and looks forward to helping our communities better understand and appreciate the wonders of the night sky. By day, Dave is a heavy equipment and truck mechanic, and also has a background in the building trades. |
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Public Observing - Paul Winalski | |
Paul has been an NHAS member since 2004. An avid amateur astronomer as a teenager, he actively resumed the hobby in 2003. His main astronomical interests are public observing, deep-sky objects, and carbon stars. Paul's current telescopes are a 14" TScope reflector, 85mm TeleVue refractor, and a Coronado PST H-alpha scope. |
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Stellafane Coordinator - Joel Harris | |
Joel is a founding member of NHAS, telescope maker, former president (three times), former board member, former secretary, hybrid car nut, machinist, trumpeter, space and classical music lover, and Yogi. |
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Mailing List Manager - Pete Smith | |
Pete has been a NHAS member since 2011. A latecomer to astronomy, he went to the New England Fall Astronomy Festival at UNH and it convinced him to buy an Orion XT8i Dobsonian reflector and join up with NHAS. Pete enjoys visual observing and attending an occasional skywatch. He became interested in the Library Telescope Program. in March of 2012 when attending a "Mod Party" where NHAS members modify the Orion Starblast scopes to LTP standards. When not scouring the skies for nebulae and galaxies, he enjoys scuba diving, hiking, camping and listening to the blues. |
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Webmaster - Mathew Marulla | |
Matt has been an NHAS member since 2004 and served two terms as club president. He is a software, systems, and cloud engineer by trade, holds an Astrophysics degree, and is the former Chief Technology Officer at the SLOOH online observatory. When the New Hampshire weather permits, he images the skies with a William Optics 153mm APO refractor, a Takahashi 100mm APO refractor, and a William Optics 80mm APO refractor, all on an AstroPhysics 900GTO mount. |
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