The meeting was held at the new Boxford Community Center at 10 Elm Street in Boxford, as well as via Zoom. There were 28 participants (23 in-person and 5 on Zoom). A quorum of members was present, and the Business Meeting was official.

Guests and new club members were asked to introduce themselves:

Ben and Elizabeth from Beverly
Jerry from Marblehead
Jonathan from Burlington
Todd from Boxford
Scott from Andover
Jacob from Plaistow

Officer Reports:

President – Kathi Freeman:

Kathi was unable to attend.

Vice President – Justin Murray:

Justin called for approval of the September Business Meeting Minutes, which were approved by unanimous decision!

Treasurer – Ron Sampson:

Ron was unable to attend.

Secretary – Tolga Yazicioglu:

Tolga reported no updates.

Membership Director – John Gall:

John was unable to attend, but provided a report read by Tolga. We currently have 136 active members, 11 of whom are honorary. We have 7 new members since our last meeting.

At Large Board Members – Rob Braczyk & Rob Vincent & Matt Bowler:

No updates reported.

Collins Observatory at Salem State – Dennis Gudzevich:

Dennis provided an update on the Collins Observatory, which has a Meade LX200 12” ACF. The observatory is typically open on clear Mondays 7pm-10pm when school is in session.

Back in December 2025, the main gear on the winch for the observatory broke (again!). Dennis reported that the Observatory is still closed, and will remain closed until the repairs can be made.

Although still closed, but making progress. Working to design a new mounting plate for the speed reducer and working on procuring a drive wheel for moving the dome.

Dennis is also trying his best to continue operating Salem State, but might need to step away soon. Volunteers needed!!! If someone is interested in the future of operating Salem State, please connect with Dennis!

Star Parties – Brewster LaMacchia:

Brewster was unable to attend, but provided a report to the BoD that was shared by Justin.

We had a busy September with events at Parker River (and some very cool activities that they added: glow in the dark chalk and readings from Edgar Allen Poe), Maudslay State Park, and our big annual Sails and Trails event at Battis Farm. We had some clouds at all three but it stayed clear enough that attendees got to see quite a bit. And we had a lot attendees, probably 100, 50, and 120+ respectively.

Also quite a few new members came out, both with and without scopes. I think we also got a few people that joined after attending.Huge thanks to everyone that came out to help!

Coming up we have events in October at Sanborn Elementary (Andover), Parker River, and we're still resolving which days in the 3rd week for Preston Beach. This time they will have the lights shut off. There's three November events on the sign up page, those should be our last star parties for 2026.

Brewster has more of the volunteer light up badges and will have them at Sanborn (and the other events) for anyone who didn't get one.

Scope Clinic – Bryan Stone & Ron Sampson:

If you have anything on your telescope that you need help with, or if you need help with your telescope, Bryan & Ron can assess your scope, making recommendations, and performing some minor repairs.

Justin gave a brief overview of the Scope Clinic. He also helped Ben with some tips and tricks for using his XT8 before the meeting.

Old Business:

Lifetime Honorary Memberships

In February 2026, a Motion was made, seconded, and Approved to provide honorary memberships for anyone who has been an NSAAC member for 30+ years (not required to be continuous). Let Kathi know if you qualify and would like to take advantage of the offer.

Active Committees

Let Kathi, any BoD member, or Member at Large know if you’d like to join any of the current Club Committees:

Telescope Sales Committee
No updates, but Justin gave an overview of the Committee
Young Astronomer’s Program
No updates, but Justin gave an overview of the Committee
Marketing & Social Media Committee
No updates, but Rob gave an overview of the Committee

New Business:

October Board of Directors Meeting

Next Board Meeting is tentatively scheduled for Monday 12 October at 8PM via Zoom. Reach out to Kathi if you’d like to attend.

November Club Meeting

Next month’s meeting in November will be a “Gear Swap”. In lieu of a speaker in November, bring in equipment that you’re looking to sell, swap, or just show off!

Business Meeting was Adjourned by Vice President Justin Murray at 7:48PM

Following the Business Meeting, we were joined by Will Golay of Harvard who gave us a presentation on Radio Observations.

Walter (Will) Golay is a graduate student at the Harvard Center for Astrophysics. He completed his undergraduate degree in Physics and Astronomy at the University of Iowa in 2023, where his thesis focused on a previously unknown energetic electron distribution in the coronae of radio-loud stars using observations from the NRAO Very Large Array (VLA). He has also used the NRAO Very Long Baseline Array to uncover a co-rotating radio source in a close binary star.

His research at the Center for Astrophysics is broadly unified by using radio observations to uncover the nature of energetic astrophysical plasmas and transient events. His latest work focuses on the late-time radio emission from tidal disruption events (TDEs) when a star wanders too close to a supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy. He is also interested in studying stellar radio emission processes to understand and search for radio emission from star-planet interactions.

Respectfully Submitted,

Tolga Yazicioglu, Secretary

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