eclipse and major t 1/ 2

AN UNFORGETTABLE ECLIPSE!
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2003 November 10
John Pazmino
NYSkies


NYSkies successfully viewed the lunar eclipse of Saturday 8
November 2003 despite a gross calamity. Events began in the afternoon
with a meeting of the Observing Group at Amateur Astronomers
Association headquarters, 1010 Park Avenue, Yorkville, Manhattan. Many
attendees brought equipment to the meeting to use in viewing the
eclipse from Central Park later that evening.
This meeting proceded normally with announcements, reports, and a
briefing for the eclipse. NYSkier Stewart Rorer, the featured speaker,
explained and illustrated the series of transits of Titan across
Saturn, which begins in 2008.
When the meeting broke up at about 16:00 EST, some of us went to
Central Park as an advance team to set up for the lunar eclipse. They
took their apparatus with them. Eight others and I went for supper
first, intending to join the advance group later.
To avoid clogging the coffee shop with impedimenta, we, the supper
group, left our equipment in the meeting room. We moved it away from
the door so that it couldn’t be seen from outside, a street-smart
tactic used on previous occasions when attendees brought equipment.
Nine NYSkiers and others left for supper at a coffee shop, a block
away, at 16:30 after duly closing and locking the office.
After an hour of good cheer and banter the supper group returned
to the office at 17:40. Two, who had no gear with them, went to
Central Park for the eclipse. The remaining seven approached the
office and found its door now unlocked!
All our stuff was gone. Somebody -- bodies? -- within that hour
between 16:30 and 17:40 had emptied the room of our large and heavy
bags!
Our first thought was that building staff had to set up the room
for an other engagement that night and moved our stuff to safekeeping.
But no one from the staff knew anything about that. After a quick look
around in obvious storage spaces and finding nothing, we had to
conclude that a major theft had taken place. We called '911' by cell
phone.
The victims were
Alice Barner - NYSkies, AAA Board
Rik Davis - AAA Board and Vice President
Tony Hoffman - NYSkies, AAA Board
Bruce Kamiat - NYSkies, OG chair, AAA Board
John Pazmino - NYSkies, AAA member
Stewart Rorer - NYSkirs, OG guest speaker
The seventh in our supper group, Richard Rosenberg, brought no
equipment with him to the meeting and sustained no loss. He went to
Central Park to spread the word about what happened.
The missing equipment included
14x80 binoculars 20x80 binoculars 14x50 binoculars
Vivitar 600mm f8 lens Televue Pronto scope Nexstar 5 GPS scope
Ultima 8 scope 2 binocular tripods 2 camera tripods
2 telescope tripods about 20 eyepieces 2 digital cameras
telescope accessories 2 rolling luggages personal backpack
personal shoulder bag miscellaneous books, papers, personal items.
In Manhattan, a weekend evening under a full Moon produces
specially heavy police activity. Our 911 call was routed to the 19th
precinct, which handles our office's location. By 18:30 three
police officers arrived.
While waiting for the police, we watched the eclipse -- now having
no optical aid -- by angling a sightline across 85th Street. The sky
was clear with a few thin clouds here and there. The air was chilly
and crisp, temperature was between 0C and 5C.
Another tenant group in the building was preparing for a music
show in the cellar auditorium. Some folk from there stepped out to
admire the eclipse with us. Bypassers also stopped to watch; we
advised them to check out our advance team in Central Park near Turtle
Pond and the Delacorte Theater.
The police officers quickly and smoothly collected the details of
the theft, including an itemized list that Stew Rorer drew up while we
were waiting. Bruce Kamiat and John Pazmino explained our tenancy in
the building and our use of the office.
From their inspection of the room, the bulk and value of the
stolen property, plausible theft scenarios, and general knowledge of
the building, the police classified the incident as grand larceny
rather than burglary. The case was assigned to a detective to collect
criminal evidence and to speak with the building managers.
By 20:15 EST, the police had wrapped up and left. Any reader with
information relating to this larceny may contact John Pazmino,
, or Bruce Kamiat, .
We then collected what little was left, closed and locked the
office, and walked to Central Park. We got there at 20:25,
rubbernecking at the eclispse along the way, now in totality. On the
footpath near Turtle Pond we merged with the advance group, plus
others who came from home rather than from the Observing Group
meeting. All together we were about fifteen of us, with about two
hundred visitors.
Everyone was chatting away about the eclipse and astronomy.

Continued in next message.

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