VTC Astronomy Club

We are the Vermont Technical College Astronomy Club. The club was founded during the summer of 1998 by Jason Lewis, Peter Chapin, and Fred Woodworth. Our goals are to expose club members to the basics of astronomy. We try to star gaze when the Vermont weather permits. We explore how to use starcharts, telescopes, binoculars, and our own human eyes to find and observe stars, other galaxies, planets, and nebulae.

See our records of what club members have viewed in the sky in The VTC Astronomy Club Notebook

2002-2003 Club Officers

• Rob Fredrickson - President
• Ben Malo - Vice President
• Andy Stowell - Treasurer
• Jeremy Devoid - Secretary
• Peter Chapin - Advisor (personal astronomy page)

Club Equipment List

• Meade T-mount and T-mount adapter for use with a K-mount
• Meade ETX-90EC
  f 13.8 Maksutov-Cassegrain
  1250 mm focal length
  3.5 inch aperture
  fork type; double tine mount
  Computer controlled Clock drive
  camera piggyback mount
  Hard Carry Case
  Dew Cap
  
• Celestron "Comet Catcher" Rich Field Telescope (Circa 1986)
  f 3.6 Shmidt-Newtonian
  500 mm focal length
  5.5 inch aperture
  Equatorial mount
  Clock drive
• Meade 8" LX10 f/10 Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope
  
  2000 mm focal length
  8 inch aperture
  alt-azimuth fork mount
  worm-gear drive system
  heated dew cap
  

Club Library

• How To Use An Astronomical Telescope, by James Muirden
• The Cambridge Star Atlas, second edition, by Wil Tirion
• Astrophotography for the Amateur, by Michael Covington

Links of Interest

• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
• Space Telescope Science Institute
• Christa McAuliffe Planetarium
• Astronomy Picture of the Day
• Weather Reports: Intellicast
• Sky & Telescope
• Charles Messier