AN UNFORGETTABLE ECLIPSE!
-------------------------
 2003 November 10
 John Pazmino
 NYSkies
 john.pazmino{at}moondog.com

    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, 
john.pazmino{at}ferc.gov, or Bruce Kamiat, sn1951bk{at}prodigy.net. 
    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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