I am happy to report that of the seven new Orion telescopes that the SJAA acquired at the end of last year, we now have five of them out on loan. This was a long time coming, and I would like to thank not only the Board members for supporting and putting in time, but also other members who helped assemble and tune the scopes.
As a reminder, at the end of 2010, the SJAA found itself in a situation where we had to spend a certain amount of money by the end of the year. We decided that it was high time to invest into new, updated equipment. We created a list of scopes, all Dobsonian reflectors in the XT line from Orion, that met the spending criteria we had, and then placed the order. We not only purchased the scopes, but we assembled complete starter kits, including sky maps, Barlows, red LED lights, books and other accessories to make observing sessions as enjoyable as possible for budding new amateur astronomers.
If you are interested in taking advantage of this excellent program, please review the loaner program web page for details. It is also important to know is that you need to be an approved member of the club, so please be sure that your membership is up to date. If you are unsure of your status, please contact me (Rob Jaworski), as I am the membership chair (you can email me at rob <dot> jaworski <at> sjaa <dot> net). If you would like to join the SJAA, it's quick, easy and inexpensive.
Again, let me recognize all the effort that went into the loaner program revamp, and I hope that the people who are borrowing them are enjoying them!
See you in the dark!
Rob Jaworski
San Jose Astronomical Association
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