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The UACNJ
The United Astronomy Clubs of New Jersey,
Inc. (UACNJ) was formed in 1988 as a loosely associated umbrella networking
group for New Jersey area amateur astronomy clubs. The UACNJ itself is
not a club, but a consortium of a dozen and a half clubs, united to better
help support, coordinate, and communicate ideas between the over 1400 individuals
who make astronomy their hobby, in and around the state.
The UACNJ helps promote and support amateur
astronomy in the New Jersey area by representing its member clubs with
its astronomical displays at major area events. The UACNJ's presence has been
seen regularly at the Rockland Astronomy Club's "Astronomy Forum"
in the spring, the Amateur Astronomers Association of Princeton's "New
Jersey StarQuest" June camp weekend, the Bucks-Mont Astronomical Association's
"Stella-Della-Valley" camp weekend in the fall, as well as the
UACNJ's own April Astronomy Day and September "UACNJ Symposium"
events, held at the UACNJ Observatory. The UACNJ maintains a Speakers'
Bureau for member clubs, awards Messier, Asteroid and Spectroscopic Certificates
to qualifying observers, and maintains this web site which provides information
on member clubs and links directly to all their web sites.
Our Observatory at Jenny Jump
The "UACNJ Observatory at Jenny Jump"
is located at Latitude 40° 54' 26.8" North, Longitude 74°
55' 31.8" West, and 1100 feet above sea level in Jenny Jump State
Forest, near Hope, New Jersey, in Warren County. The site is one of the
few dark sky locations left in the state.
The facility has a 16-inch
Newtonian telescope in its Greenwood Observatory and maintains
an education center with a 55-seat lecture room, gift shop and a modest New Jersey astronomy museum.
A research library, sleeping accommodations, meeting room, full bath and kitchen
facilities are available for observers.
Under construction are five other observatories. Three will be run by member
clubs (AAAP, AAI and SSG) while the UACNJ will maintain a solar
and a research observatory. A seventh observatory is in the planning stages
and will house the recently donated .7-meter Newtonian-Nasmuth Cassegrain instrument.
A radio telescope is in the works as well.
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