LVAAS General Meeting, Members’ Picnic, and Flea Market

Far from existing as “island universes,” the galaxies we see today in the local universe are the product of nearly 14 billion years of interactions and mergers. “Galactic fossils” are the tell-tale remnants these interactions leave behind—tails, streams, shells, and other structures—which can be used to probe the specific histories of individual galaxies.

This presentation will focus on an ultra-deep imaging survey of the Virgo Cluster used to identify galactic fossils and explore how galactic interactions play out in one of the universe’s most violent and extreme environments.

Craig Rudick moved to the Lehigh Valley in 2024 and joined LVAAS in late 2025. He earned a Ph.D. in Astronomy from Case Western Reserve University in 2011, studying galaxy evolution. He received his bachelor’s degree in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Pittsburgh and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich) in Switzerland.

Craig transitioned from research astronomy to industry in 2013, taking a position as a Data Scientist. Today he works as a Product Manager for a small software company while continuing to share his passion for astronomy through LVAAS.

Founded in 1957, the Lehigh Valley Amateur Astronomical Society (LVAAS) is one of the oldest continuously-operating amateur astronomy organizations in the U.S. The mission of LVAAS is to promote the study of Astronomy and to maintain meeting spaces, observatories, and a planetarium.

LVAAS operates two astronomy sites: The South Mountain site in Salisbury Township is the headquarters of the Society. It has a planetarium with a Spitz A3P projector, a 21-foot dome, meeting space, the Red Shift store, library, workshop space, and three observatories. The Pulpit Rock site near Hamburg is LVAAS’s members-only dark sky site. At 1,600 feet above sea level, the site features five observatories and a pad for members’ scopes.

Members who receive training on the scopes may obtain keys to the observatories. LVAAS also maintains a rental “fleet” of telescopes that members may rent at low cost. Members also receive access to The Observer, our online newsletter, as well as reduced subscription prices to Sky and Telescope and Astronomy Magazine. If you want to learn more about astronomy and LVAAS, please join us at our next public star party.

Click here for weather at LVAAS locations.