Here’s some interesting news sent to us from Warren Westura, an amateur astronomer and member of the United Astronomy Clubs of New Jersey (UACNJ).

Seems they’ve got themselves a truly magnificent new telescope, a 48-inch reflector donated by the U.S. Air Force! Get this: It’s surplus equipment from the Reagan-era “Star Wars” missile defense research program. This is something any observer in Warren’s neighborhood should know about. Here’s his letter to us, lightly edited.

“We are a group of astronomy clubs, called the United Astronomy Clubs of New Jersey (UACNJ). It consists of about 14 clubs across New Jersey, and sometimes Pennsylvania and New York, dedicated to astronomical education and with a common observation site for the clubs situated at Jenny Jump State Park in New Jersey — one of the last reasonably dark-sky sites in the state.

“We provide weekly astronomy lectures on all Saturday nights, April through October, rain or shine, with stargazing following (weather permitting). Our site includes a 16" scope at our Greenwood observatory and other member clubs from the area maintain secondary or primary observatories at the facility.

“Recently, the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) won a competition sponsored by the U.S. Air Force for a 48-inch surplus scope (used for missile identification in the Star Wars Missile defense program) and asked us if they could mount the thing at the Jenny Jump State Park site. We agreed, and it now appears that we will open this to the public sometime later this summer.

“This scope could be the largest one open to the public east of the Mississippi and the second largest after the Hale 60-incher at Mt. Wilson. We are also installing a visual solar telescope and rebuilding two other scopes — a 20-inch and 28-inch.”

Feel free to contact Warren directly if you need more information about the group or its new telescope:

Warren Westura UACNJ Public Relations wwestura@optonline.net

Thanks, Warren.

We've requested an image of the scope, and we'll post it as soon as we get it.

Warren's letter is a good opportunity to remind you to send us your club news. Also, if you haven't already done so, be sure to submit your group and post its public events to our online community.