NHAS LogoNew Hampshire Astronomical Society
To join NHAS click here. To request a skywatch, or send a general question, please use the information request form.

To contact a specific member of the NHAS staff, please use the email links below.

To reach us via U.S. Mail:
New Hampshire Astronomical Society
P.O. Box 5823
Manchester, NH 03108-5823

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Club Officers
Chris Smith President - Chris Smith

Chris has been an amateur astronomer and astrophotographer since 2015, after a night spent watching the total lunar eclipse through an old field spotting scope. Shortly after that night, he acquired his first telescope - a humble Orion Starblast 4.5 reflector - and the obsession firmly took hold. Since then, his equipment has expanded in pursuit of fainter deep-sky objects and sharper solar and planetary images. He is currently working on a project to photograph all of the Messier Catalog objects. By day, Chris serves as a cybersecurity executive and business leader.


Mike Atkinson Vice President - 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.


Paul Winalski 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.


Pete Smith 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.

 

Board of Directors
Tom Cocchiaro Chairman - Tom Cocchiaro

Tom has been an NHAS member since 2006 and has been involved in a wide range of club committees and activities from the Education Outreach Committee and Library Telescope Program to public observing, sidewalk astronomy and coordinating major-event participation like Market Square Day and First Night in Portsmouth, N.H. As co-founder of the New England Fall Astronomy Festival he continues to wear many hats including sponsorship solicitation, coordinating guest speakers, and event promotion. Early in his membership, Tom also secured a $5,000 grant for NHAS from the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation that made it possible for the club to purchase the new laptops, video projectors and screens used in public outreach presentations. When not involved in NHAS activities, he manages parking operations for the City of Portsmouth and serves as one of only three NASA Solar Systems Ambassadors in the state. One of the astronomy equipment addicted, he has way too much astronomy 'stuff' to list in this limited space.


David McDonald Director - David McDonald

Dave McDonald fell in love with astronomy in the 7th grade when he took out a book from his Junior High School library - Point to the Stars* He got his first 2.4" refractor in the 9th grade. He thought of becoming an astrophysicist but became a math teacher and high school principal instead. After leaving formal education for a time, he became the Education Director of the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center for ten years. He has also taught astronomy for Granite State College, Plymouth State University Graduate School, NHTI, and Belmont High School. He is now back in the high school class room teaching Math and various other STEM subjects. He is an active member of the NHAS and has his own cable TV show - The Sky This Month

* Upon graduating from 9th grade, the librarian gave him that book to keep as he was the only person in three years to have checked it out regularly.


Alison Bentley Junior Director - 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.

 

Committee Chairs
Herb Bubert Astrophotography - Herb Bubert

Herb has been a member of NHAS for fifteen years, ten of which he has spent imaging the night sky with various telescopes and cameras. One of his pet projects is imaging Saturn through one complete orbit of the Sun. He hopes to complete this project sometime in 2033. When he's not doing visual observing or Astrophotography, Herb works as a Property Manager on Newbury Street in Boston.


Steve Rand 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.


Pete Smith 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.


Tim Printy 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.

Dave Roy Observatory Management - Dave Roy

Dave has been an NHAS member since about 2017. He enjoy observing and public outreach and looks forward to helping our communities better understand and appreciate the wonders of the night sky. By day, Dave is a heavy equipment and truck mechanic, and also has a background in the building trades.


Paul Winalski 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.


Joel Harris 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.


Pete Smith Mailing List Manager - 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.


Mathew Marulla 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 an Explore Scientific 127mm APO refractor, a Takahashi 100mm APO refractor, and a William Optics 80mm APO refractor, all on an AstroPhysics 900GTO mount.

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