What an incredible milestone for our organization! Members of the Greater Hazleton Amateur Astronomical Society (GHAAS) recently had the honor of attending the Amazon Community Connect Reception in Northeastern Pennsylvania, where we were officially recognized as a recipient of the 2025 Amazon Community Grant Fund.
A Night to Remember
The event, held in a beautifully transformed venue decked out in Amazon’s signature orange and black, brought together community organizations from across the region to celebrate the impact of grassroots STEM education. Seeing our organization’s banner displayed proudly alongside so many other dedicated nonprofits was a humbling and inspiring moment for our entire team.
Society Director Paul Smaglik accepted the stunning glass award on behalf of GHAAS, which reads: “2025 Community Grant Fund — Awarded to Greater Hazleton Amateur Astronomical Society — In recognition of your commitment to the community.” It’s a recognition we don’t take lightly.
How We Got Here
This journey began when GHAAS was awarded a $10,000 grant to expand our educational outreach to local schools throughout the Greater Hazleton area. Our vision was bold: bring an immersive, portable planetarium experience directly to students who might never otherwise have access to one.
With the grant activated, we quickly got to work — purchasing a portable inflatable dome and a high-end HD projector, and our own Nick Risley dove deep into designing a custom open-source Newtonian Projector system. Nick’s design breakthrough was remarkable: where commercial fisheye-lens planetarium solutions can run anywhere from $4,000 to $9,000, our open-source build delivers a comparable full-dome projection experience for under $250. That kind of ingenuity is exactly what GHAAS is all about.
Progress, Challenges, and Perseverance
Of course, no meaningful project comes without its hurdles. We’ve encountered some technical challenges getting the projection to work seamlessly onto the dome interior, and we’re currently evaluating a different projector setup to resolve those issues. In the meantime, the equipment has already been put to great use — most notably at our October public star party at a Hazleton community park, where roughly 250 attendees turned out for a night of stargazing and sky presentations. Events like that remind us exactly why this work matters.
Looking Ahead
The road ahead is exciting. With the remaining grant funds and the determination of our team, we are committed to solving the remaining technical challenges and delivering a true mobile planetarium experience to students across the region. The goal has always been to spark curiosity — and with this grant, we have the tools to do exactly that.
To Amazon, thank you. This investment in our community is helping us make the universe a little more accessible for the next generation of scientists, explorers, and dreamers right here in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
Clear skies, and ad astra! 🌠
— The Greater Hazleton Amateur Astronomical Society
