Club Officers
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President - Phil Babcock |
Phil has been interested in looking at the sky since he was a young child. That led to majoring in astronomy in college. After a hiatus from astronomy to raise 2 children, Phil got back into observing after retiring, and joined NHAS in 2019. He has participated in public sky watches and helped to grow NHAS’s "in-reach" program. Phil is a proponent of small, portable equipment, having a TeleVue 85 refractor and a few nice binoculars. When not observing, he enjoys bicycle riding, boating, travel, and time with family. |
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Vice President - Kushal Sahare |
My love for astronomy began in my childhood, when I would gaze at the stars through my homemade telescope (an assembly of two lenses and a cardboard tube). I came to the US in 2014 to pursue my master's in mechanical engineering and have been working at DEKA R&D on medical devices. During my work, my love for astronomy and science led me to enrol in another master's degree in astrophysics at Swinburne University (I graduated in 2025). When I am not working, I like to go stargazing and try my hand at astrophotography. |
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Secretary - Paul Winalski |
Paul has been an NHAS member since 2004. An avid amateur astronomer as a teenager, he actively resumed the hobby in 2003. His main astronomical interests are public observing, deep-sky objects, and carbon stars. Paul's current telescopes are a 14" TScope reflector, 85mm TeleVue refractor, and a Coronado PST H-alpha scope. |
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Treasurer - Pete Smith |
Pete has been a NHAS member since 2011. A latecomer to astronomy, he went to the New England Fall Astronomy Festival at UNH and it convinced him to buy an Orion XT8i Dobsonian reflector and join up with NHAS. Pete enjoys visual observing and attending an occasional skywatch. He became interested in the Library Telescope Program. in March of 2012 when attending a "Mod Party" where NHAS members modify the Orion Starblast scopes to LTP standards. When not scouring the skies for nebulae and galaxies, he enjoys scuba diving, hiking, camping and listening to the blues. |
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Board of Directors
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Chairman - Alison Bentley |
Alison zoomed through astronomy textbooks for kids at 8 years old. She majored in astronomy at SUNY New Paltz, and in 1997, became the publicity officer & Dobsonian guardian of the Mid-Hudson Astronomy Association, which met there. She created the astronomy resources for several Girl Scout councils in NY and CT, and has been a presenter for observing events. She joined NHAS in 2018, has two master's degrees and studied astronomy online with the University of Oxford, University of Central Lancaster, and the University of York. She currently works from home for Southern NH University as a Counselor, recently became a new grandma, and won a Celestron 5" telescope. |
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Director - Deb Slocum |
Deb has been an amateur astronomer since she was 12 and read Sir Patrick Moore’s book. She is a retired electrical engineer and enjoys beekeeping as well as relearning astrophotography and processing. Her first astrophotos were taken with the 6" reflector she built and took to Goldendale, WA for the eclipse in 1979. She has been a member of NHAS for several years. She is currently building an observatory for her larger scope, but loves traveling and imaging in interesting dark sky places such as Chile, Hawaii, and National Parks with her William Optics Redcat 51 system. |
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Junior Director - Mike Atkinson |
Mike has always had an interest in Astronomy. Classes in astronomy made up most of his required science in high school and college. He took his 11-year-old granddaughter out in the middle of the night to observe a total lunar eclipse, which sparked her interest, leading to borrowing from the NHAS Library Telescope Program and then a Dobsonian telescope and an NHAS family membership. Mike enjoys helping people find a spark to light a fire of inquiry. He participates in Sky Watches as often as he can, using both his telescope and binoculars. |
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Committee Chairs
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Astrophotography - Rich DeMidio |
Rich has been an NHAS member since 2000 and served two terms as secretary and two prior terms as president. He has also been very active in public observing and focuses primarily on visual Astronomy with his Obsession 18-inch Dobsonian Reflector. Rich takes a lot of pride in old school observing utilizing maps and memorizing the sky. When not observing, he enjoys photography, wildlife, and fishing. When not involved in a hobby, Rich works for IBM as a Senior Managing Consultant. |
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Visual Observing - Wyatt Davis |
Wyatt has been an NHAS member since 2017 and has served on the Public Outreach Committee and as 2021 NHAS President. He is an avid visual observer with a particular interest in deep sky observing and built his own backyard observatory – The M40 Observatory in Rye – to house his 10" Teeter Dobsonian reflecting telescope. Wyatt is a native Texan and former member of the Texas Astronomical Society; he and his wife Janet have lived in New Hampshire since 2017. He has attended multiple internationally famous star parties, including the Texas Star Party and the Okie-Tex Star Party. He is a Principal and co-founder of Clarkson Davis, a consulting firm serving nonprofit organizations, and is Pitmaster for Llano & Rye, a Texas-style barbecue joint founded by him and his wife in 2025. |
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Educational Outreach - Steve Rand |
Steve is a retired Earth-Space science teacher and has been an active NHAS member since 2012. As an undergraduate he was a lecturer at the Charles Hayden Planetarium in Boston. As an additional member of the Public Observing Committee and the Library Telescope Committee, Steve’s interest centers around furthering public awareness of Astronomy. |
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Library Telescope Program - Pete Smith |
Pete has been a NHAS member since 2011. A latecomer to astronomy, he went to the New England Fall Astronomy Festival at UNH and it convinced him to buy an Orion XT8i Dobsonian reflector and join up with NHAS. Pete enjoys visual observing and attending an occasional skywatch. He became interested in the Library Telescope Program. in March of 2012 when attending a "Mod Party" where NHAS members modify the Orion Starblast scopes to LTP standards. When not scouring the skies for nebulae and galaxies, he enjoys scuba diving, hiking, camping and listening to the blues. |
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Observatory Management - Tim Printy |
Tim has been an amateur astronomer since 1972. His biggest interests are astrophotography, comets, and meteors. He was the president of the Central Florida Astronomical Society in late 1980’s and has been an NHAS member since 2000. |
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Public Observing - Paul Winalski |
Paul has been an NHAS member since 2004. An avid amateur astronomer as a teenager, he actively resumed the hobby in 2003. His main astronomical interests are public observing, deep-sky objects, and carbon stars. Paul's current telescopes are a 14" TScope reflector, 85mm TeleVue refractor, and a Coronado PST H-alpha scope. |
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Stellafane Coordinator - Joel Harris |
Joel is a founding member of NHAS, telescope maker, former president (three times), former board member, former secretary, hybrid car nut, machinist, trumpeter, space and classical music lover, and Yogi. |
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Webmaster - Mathew Marulla |
Matt has been an NHAS member since 2004 and served two terms as club president. He is a software, systems, and cloud engineer by trade, holds an Astrophysics degree, and is the former Chief Technology Officer at the SLOOH online observatory. When the New Hampshire weather permits, he images the skies with a William Optics 153mm APO refractor, a Takahashi 100mm APO refractor, and a William Optics 80mm APO refractor, all on an AstroPhysics 900GTO mount. |
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