The Amateur Astronomers Association of Pittsburgh (AAAP) is an Astronomical Organization founded on June 9, 1929, by Chester B. Roe and Leo J. Scanlon. Since its establishment, it has grown to have over 500 members and operates two observatories in the

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

region: the

Nicholas E. Wagman Nicholas E. Wagman (1905–1980) was an American astronomer and astrometrist. Beginning in 1930, Wagman was associated with Pittsburgh's Allegheny Observatory. He was director of the Observatory and also chairman of the University of Pittsburgh ...

Observatory and the Mingo Creek Park Observatory. The club also sponsors many star parties that are open to the public throughout the year. The club's motto is "We have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night", which is taken from Sarah Williams' poem "The Old Astronomer to his Pupil". The AAAP has been promoting popular astronomy in

Western Pennsylvania Western Pennsylvania is a region in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, covering the western third of the state. Pittsburgh is the region's principal city, with a metropolitan area population of about 2.4 million people, and serves as its economic ...

for 75 years and is one of the larger

astronomy club A list of notable groups devoted to promoting astronomy research and education. Africa * African Astronomical Society South Africa * Astronomical Society of Southern Africa Asia China * Chinese Astronomical Society India * Akash Mitra Mandal * ...

s in the nation, with over 500 members. During monthly meetings, upcoming celestial events such as

meteor shower A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate, or originate, from one point in the night sky. These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering Earth's atmosphere at extre ...

comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ar ...

occultation An occultation is an event that occurs when one object is hidden from the observer by another object that passes between them. The term is often used in astronomy, but can also refer to any situation in which an object in the foreground blocks ...

s, and

planetary alignment In astronomy, a syzygy ( ; ) is a roughly straight-line configuration of three or more celestial bodies in a gravitational system. Overview The word is often used in reference to the Sun, Earth, and either the Moon or a planet, where the latt ...

s are announced, and observations and techniques are shared so that all members may benefit from the experiences. Each meeting also features a special speaker, sometimes an AAAP member, as well as outside experts from various fields. Past speakers have presented topics including meteorite hunting in

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

, cosmological modeling using

supercomputer A supercomputer is a computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second ( FLOPS) instead of million instructions ...

s, and astrophotography with exotic equipment such as dry-ice cameras.

Facilities

Nicholas E. Wagman Observatory

The

Observatory is home to two permanent telescopes, including the Brashear 11-inch refractor. The Wagman Observatory hill, located in the northeast corner of Deer Lakes Park at , is an ideal location for an astronomical facility. At 1340 feet elevation, it is one of the highest points in

Allegheny County Allegheny County () is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in Southwestern Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,250,578, making it the state's seco ...

, and one of the few such sites not already occupied by a radio mast, microwave relay tower, or

water tank A water tank is a container for storing water. Water tanks are used to provide storage of water for use in many applications, drinking water, irrigation agriculture, fire suppression, agricultural farming, both for plants and livestock, chemi ...

. he hill is believed to have been used as a lookout by local Indian tribes such as the

Seneca Seneca may refer to: People and language * Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname * Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America ** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people Places Extrat ...

, who used it to watch game and the activities of neighboring tribes. The observatory provides an almost 100% view of the sky. Additionally, its location in a relatively rural country park protects it from most commercial or residential development, which could cause excessive

light pollution Light pollution is the presence of unwanted, inappropriate, or excessive use of artificial Visible spectrum, lighting. In a descriptive sense, the term ''light pollution'' refers to the effects of any poorly implemented lighting, during the day ...

. The AAAP owns and operates the Observatory, which was originally built in 1987 and expanded in 1995. It is the first and only amateur astronomical observatory in Western Pennsylvania dedicated to public education and enjoyment of the science of

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

. Members use the facility for recreational and scientific observations, as well as scheduled public viewing evenings known as Star Parties, as well as recreational and scientific observations by members. During these events, visitors can view celestial objects through the observatory's two large permanent telescopes: the Brashear 11-inch

Refractor A refracting telescope (also called a refractor) is a type of optical telescope that uses a lens (optics), lens as its objective (optics), objective to form an image (also referred to a dioptrics, dioptric telescope). The refracting telescope d ...

and the Manka Memorial Telescope, a 21-inch Newtonian Reflector, or any of the portable telescopes set up on the grounds by members. Additionally, the observatory is available for use by scout groups, science classes from local schools, and civic groups.

Mingo Creek Park Observatory

The Mingo Creek Park Observatory was dedicated on August 27, 2005. The observatory is located at , elevation 1150 feet in Mingo Creek County Park south of

in Nottingham Township east of

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

, PA. The Mingo Creek Park Observatory is owned and operated by the AAAP. The observatory was built in the spring/summer of 2004, and officially dedicated in August 2005. It has become the largest amateur

astronomical observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...

in Southwestern Pennsylvania dedicated to public education and enjoyment of the science of astronomy. The mission of the Mingo Creek Park Observatory is to educate and make freely available to a diverse public of all ages, programs on astronomy and the preservation of dark skies. The facility is used for scheduled public viewing evenings ( Star Parties), as well as the recreational and scientific observations of the membership. During Star Parties visitors are able to view celestial objects through the observatory's two large permanent telescopes, a 24-inch RC Reflector and the D&G 10-inch Refractor, or any of a wide variety of portable telescopes set up on the grounds by members. The observatory has been a destination and center of astronomical activities for scout groups, science classes from local schools, and civic groups. The AAAP has acquired a planetarium projector and dome that has become a popular educational tool for the new observatory. Visitors attending a star party can see a short basic planetarium program on the night sky, and step directly outside and look up (or through a telescope) to see what was just shown to them inside. This is especially useful on cloudy nights, along with the classroom astronomy displays, AV presentations, and computer projected lectures.

Greene County Site

Despite the Wagman observatory being in a remote region of

remains an issue for astronomers who wish to view the stars. The Greene County Site is not affected as much by light pollution, and is located on a privately-owned cow pasture where AAAP members are permitted to use portable telescopes and equipment for astronomical observations.

References

External links