Grand Rapids Amateur Astronomical Association
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Grand Rapids Amateur Astronomical Association
The Grand Rapids Amateur Astronomical Association (or "GRAAA") is an astronomy group located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was formed in 1955 by an enthusiastic group of individuals led by businessman James C. Veen, with a love of astronomy and science. Veen initially provided a meeting place in his office, but died in an automobile accident in 1958. The Association participates in public education activities at various metropolitan venues, comet watches, meteor observing, as well as opening their Observatory to the public two nights per month, excluding winter. Besides the public education programs, members involve themselves in many other pursuits from observing programs to astrophotography and CCD imaging. The Association owns/ operates the Veen Observatory, located S.W. of Lowell, Michigan, situated on private land per a ninety-nine year lease granted by James M. and H. Evelyn Marron. Construction was started in 1965 and the Observatory was dedicated in 1970, originally with a ...
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Grand Rapids, Michigan
Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Michigan, second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the central city of the Grand Rapids metropolitan area, which has a population of 1,087,592 and a combined statistical area population of 1,383,918. Situated along the Grand River (Michigan), Grand River approximately east of Lake Michigan, it is the economic and cultural hub of West Michigan, as well as one of the fastest-growing cities in the Midwestern United States, Midwest. A historic furniture manufacturing center, Grand Rapids is home to five of the world's leading office furniture companies and is nicknamed "Furniture City". Other nicknames include "River City" and more recently, "Beer City" (the latter given by ''USA Today'' and adopted by the city a ...
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Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the largest by area east of the Mississippi River.''i.e.'', including water that is part of state territory. Georgia is the largest state by land area alone east of the Mississippi and Michigan the second-largest. Its capital is Lansing, and its largest city is Detroit. Metro Detroit is among the nation's most populous and largest metropolitan economies. Its name derives from a gallicized variant of the original Ojibwe word (), meaning "large water" or "large lake". Michigan consists of two peninsulas. The Lower Peninsula resembles the shape of a mitten, and comprises a majority of the state's land area. The Upper Peninsula (often called "the U.P.") is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac, a channel that joins Lak ...
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Veen Observatory
The James C. Veen Observatory is an astronomical observatory owned and operated by the Grand Rapids Amateur Astronomical Association. Built during the 1960s and opened in 1970, it is located 3.6 miles west-southwest of Lowell, Michigan, United States. Its two domes house the main instruments (a Meade 16-inch LX-200 and a Celestron C-14) and a roll-off structure houses a 17-inch Dobsonian. The Grand Rapids Amateur Astronomical Association takes pride in its James C. Veen Observatory near Lowell, Michigan, a multifaceted educational and research facility named after the co-founder and first president of the GRAAA. The GRAAA hosts public nights at the Veen Observatory, every other Saturday evening from April through November. Members of the GRAAA can be trained for free on the various telescopes, gain key access to the observatory, and can reserve any of the scopes for observation time using the member reservation calendar. The observatory also a large meeting room, an extensive ...
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Lowell, Michigan
Lowell is a city in Kent County of the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 3,783 at the 2010 census. Lowell is part of the Grand Rapids metropolitan area and is about east of the city of Grand Rapids. The city is mostly surrounded by Lowell Township to the south, but the two are administered autonomously. Lowell is situated just north of where the Flat River meets the Grand River. The city's downtown area is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Downtown Lowell Historic District. History The earliest modern residents of the Flat River and Grand River were the Grand River Odawa, who established several villages along the Grand River. In the first decades of the 19th century, the village was led by Wabiwindego and Keewaycooshcum, and later by Cobmoosa. In the 1830s, Cobmoosa purchased the land under the Odawa village in the name of his father, fur trader Antoine Campau. The Odawa remained at their village on the Flat River until 1858, when th ...
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501(c)(3)
A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 501(c) nonprofit organizations in the US. 501(c)(3) tax-exemptions apply to entities that are organized and operated exclusively for religious, charitable, scientific, literary or educational purposes, for testing for public safety, to foster national or international amateur sports competition, or for the prevention of cruelty to children or animals. 501(c)(3) exemption applies also for any non-incorporated community chest, fund, cooperating association or foundation organized and operated exclusively for those purposes.IR ...
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List Of Observatories
This is a list of astronomical observatories ordered by name, along with initial dates of operation (where an accurate date is available) and location. The list also includes a final year of operation for many observatories that are no longer in operation. While other sciences, such as volcanology and meteorology, also use facilities called observatories for research and observations, this list is limited to observatories that are used to observe celestial objects. Astronomical observatories are mainly divided into four categories: space-based, airborne, ground-based, and underground-based. Many modern telescopes and observatories are located in space to observe astronomical objects in wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum that cannot penetrate the Earth's atmosphere (such as ultraviolet radiation, X-rays, and gamma rays) and are thus impossible to observe using ground-based telescopes. Being above the atmosphere, these space observatories can also avoid the effects of atm ...
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Amateur Astronomy Organizations
An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, self-taught, user-generated, DIY, and hobbyist. History Historically, the amateur was considered to be the ideal balance between pure intent, open mind, and the interest or passion for a subject. That ideology spanned many different fields of interest. It may have its roots in the ancient Greek philosophy of amateur athletes competing in the Olympics. The ancient Greek citizens spent most of their time in other pursuits, but competed according to their natural talents and abilities. The "gentleman amateur" was a phenomenon among the gentry of Great Britain from the 17th century until the 20th century. With the start of the Age of Reason, with people thinking more about how the world works around them, (see science in the Age of Enlightenment), things like the cabinets of curiosities, and the w ...
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Clubs And Societies In Michigan
Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises * Club (cigarette), a Scottish brand of cigarettes * Club (German cigarette), a German brand of cigarettes * Club Med, a holiday company Food * Club (soft drink) * Club Crackers * Club sandwich * Club (biscuit), a brand of biscuits manufactured by Jacob's (Ireland) and McVitie's (UK) Objects * Club (weapon), a blunt-force weapon * Golf club * Indian club, an exercise device * Juggling club * Throwing club, an item of sport equipment used in the club throw * Throwing club, an alternative name for a throwing stick Organizations * Club (organization), a type of association * Book discussion club, also called a book club or reading circle * Book sales club, a marketing mechanism * Cabaret club * Gentlemen's club (traditional) * Health club ...
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