Message From AAA’s President

Happy April everyone!

A quarter of the year is somehow already behind us but with Spring in the air (and the rain to prove it), that could only mean one thing – AAA is driving into high gear with everything that we offer to the City of New York, as well as the rest of the world.

Please check our calendar, at AAA.org, for our upcoming observing dates. As well as our last two lectures of the season, with the next being April 12th. Our classes are going at full steam, as is our Astrophotography meetup, led by Stan Honda. The telescopes we donated to the Brooklyn Public Library are not given a breather between being loaned out to eager users. Our podcast episodes are incredibly fun and informative. And perhaps most importantly, our member online discussions are wide-ranging, from discussions concerning rocket launches, comet sightings, and all things astronomical – proving that providing a community is, as always, most important.

I have spoken many times over the almost two years since I was voted in as president (the time has flown) of the hardships humanity faces – from Covid, to Putin’s war. Throw in inflation, Elon Musk’s contributions to astronomy, which need to be reconciled with his at times vacuous commentary, a greater divide amongst the US population than most of us have seen in a lifetime, along with the overall vertiginous nature of society, and there is much to cause anxiety. But as Yuval Harari reminds us in his writings, for the most part, humanity today lives magical lives compared to anything our ancestors could have imagined in their wildest dreams. And that concept of ‘reaching for the stars’, which seemed like just a dream a few generations ago, is a reality today. There is so much we have learned, and so much more we have yet to learn – whatever role AAA plays in that, big or small, makes me incredibly proud, as I know it does for all of our Board, Executive Committee members, and membership at large. 

If you’re not already a member, please consider becoming one and joining our community.

Brian Berg, President