SLAS Regular Meeting
Friday, June 21 2019 @ 7:30pm
Brown Hall Room 118
(NOTE: Brown Hall is the next building East of McDonnell Hall)
Washington University
Pre-Solar Grains: Solids from Other Stars Studied in the Lab
Josiah Lewis, PhD Washington University
Dr. Josiah Lewis of Washington University will be featured at the June meeting of the Saint Louis Astronomical Society. The meeting will begin at 7:30 PM Friday, June 21 in Brown Hall, Room 118, on the Washington University campus, Saint Louis, MO 63105. Brown Hall is just north of Goldfarb Hall, on the Forsyth Blvd. side of the campus. Free yellow zone and Danforth University Center garage parking spaces are available.
Presolar grains are dust-sized particles that are older than our solar system. They formed billions of years ago in the expanding atmospheres of aging stars and supernova explosions. The grains survived travel through deep space to be incorporated into solar system materials. Found in trace concentrations in asteroids, comets, and interplanetary dust particles, they offer the chance to use microscopes to study stars and the synthesis of the elements. Dr. Lewis will discuss his studies of presolar nanodiamonds, which are diamond particles too small to be seen with a regular microscope. He must use special instruments to analyze these incredibly tiny visitors to our solar system.
Dr. Josiah Lewis is a postdoctoral research associate in the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences at Washington University. He uses microscopes instead of telescopes to research extraterrestrial materials. He completed his PhD in physics at Washington University in 2017
Meeting Agenda
Welcome
Introduction of Officers and Guests
Josiah Lewis, PhD
Agenda
Jefferson College Observatory Update
Solstice Attendance Prizes
SLAS Regular Meeting
Friday, May 17 2019 @ 7:30pm
Room 162 McDonnell Hall
Washington University
Gravitational Lensing and the Dark Side of the Universe
“Gravitational lensing” is the very slight bending of light by any clump of matter. The matter’s gravity acts like a lens to create magnifications and distortions of galaxies that lie far behind the clump in space. The magnification is predicted by Einstein’s General Relativity Theory. The lensing has been identified as one the most powerful techniques to learn more about the distribution of dark matter in galaxies and galaxy clusters. The study of the evolution of dark matter provides some clues about how dark energy is causing the expansion of the Universe to accelerate. Dark matter and dark energy add up to nearly 95% of the Universe, but their natures are largely unknown. Dr. Plazas will talk about the fundamental role that gravitational lensing has played and will play in current and future galaxy surveys such as the Dark Energy Survey (DES), the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), and NASA’s Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST).
Andrés Plazas received a Doctorate in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Pennsylvania in 2012. He is now an associate research scholar in the Department of Astrophysical Sciences of Princeton University and also serves as a NASA Solar System Ambassador.
Meeting Agenda
Welcome
Introduction of Officers and Guests
Dr. Andres Plaza
Awards and Recognitions
Astronomy 101 - Lunar Observing Award - NASA/AL Mark Jones
SLAS Elections
Nominations:
Nominations are still open until elections are held
President: Jim Small
Vice President: Bradley Waller
Secretary: Mark Jones
Treasurer: Bill Winningham
Hospitality: Larry Campbell
Board Member at Large: John Newcomer
Star Parties needing a SLAS lead
SLAS Regular Meeting
Friday, April 17, 2019 @ 7:30 pm
162 McDonnell Hall, Washington University
NOTE: Room Change for April Meeting to Wilson Hall, Room 214
A Space Cornucopia: From Quasars to the Green Flash
by Bob "Astro Bob" King
Bob King, author, blogger, and photographer will be featured at the April meeting of the Saint Louis Astronomical Society.
The “Space Cornucopia” will be a tour of the night sky’s interesting objects. As Mr. King describes it, “Get the coffee ready. We'll stay up the entire night from dusk till sunrise starting with the zodiacal light before moving on to survey the heart of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies. From there we dive deep to hunt quasars and supernovae, check out the pre-dawn planets and wrap up with a green flash sunrise.”
Bob King has been an amateur astronomer since he was 10 years old. In 1979, he moved to Duluth, Minnesota, and worked as a photographer and photo editor for the Duluth News Tribune until retiring in 2018. He teaches community education astronomy classes, lectures widely and writes the Astro Bob blog (astrobob.areavoices.com) about what’s up in the night sky. He is author of Night Sky with the Naked Eye and Wonders of the Night Sky You Must See Before You Die. His third book, Urban Legends from Space, will publish this fall.
The St. Louis Astronomical Society is an organization for individuals interested in astronomy and telescopes. The public is invited to attend its meetings, telescope observing sessions, and special events.
Meeting Agenda
Welcome
Introduction of Officers and Guests
Bob "Astro Bob" King
Star Parties needing a SLAS lead
SLAS Regular Meeting
Friday, March 15, 2019 @ 7:30pm
Rocks From Outer Space
by Professor Bruce Stinchcomb
Florissant Valley Community College
Professor Bruce Stinchcomb of Florissant Valley Community College will be featured at the March meeting of the Saint Louis Astronomical Society.
Meteorites are the pieces that remain after a chunk of metal or stone smashes into the Earth. Most of the material that bombards our planet every day is about the size of the head of a pin, or smaller. These meteoroids hit the upper atmosphere at speeds of thousands of miles per hour and vaporize, causing the air around them to glow. We see the glowing streaks as meteors. Perhaps two dozen rocks from outer space each year are large enough that some pieces survive their passage through the atmosphere to strike the surface. Professor Stinchcomb will talk about the different kinds of meteorites and where they come from. He will also explain what these space rocks reveal about the early history of the Earth, Moon, and other solar system objects.
Bruce Stinchcomb is a retired Professor at Saint Louis Community College at Florissant Valley. In addition to a long teaching career, Dr. Stinchcomb is the author of several books about meteorites and about fossils.
Meeting Agenda
Welcome
Introduction of Officers and Guests
Professor Bruce Stinchcomb
Outreach Awards for 2018 - Night Sky Network
Star Parties needing a SLAS lead
SLAS Regular Meeting
Friday, February 15, 2019 @ 7:30pm
162 McDonnell Hall, Washington University
Probing the Sub-Microwave Universe
by K. Michael Malolepszy Saint Louis Astronomical Society
In addition to telescopes that use regular light waves to form images, there are now instruments that “see” the universe in invisible radiation. X-rays, heat, and radio waves are examples. In the high, frozen deserts of northern Chile is a device, nicknamed ALMA, which detects sub-microwave energy. Michael Malolepszy will talk about recent radio astronomy developments focusing on the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). While not strictly a radio telescope (sub-microwave energies have higher frequencies than radio energies), it does operate very much like a radio telescope interferometer such as the Very Large Array (VLA) near Socorro, New Mexico. ALMA is array of 66 high-precision, movable antennas, which can be linked together to form one image. Mr. Malolepszy will explain how ALMA is similar and how it differs from the VLA. He will also present a survey of ALMA’s capabilities and recent results.
Michael Malolepszy is a veteran amateur astronomer. Now employed in a technical support role for the Department of Biology at Washington University, he formerly worked as a Radio Telescope Array Operator at the Very Large Array. He is also a planetarium operator at the James S. McDonnell Planetarium
Meeting Agenda
Welcome
Introduction of Officers and Guests
Mike Malolepszy
Astro 101: Events for 2019 - Mark Jones
Outreach Awards for 2018 - Night Sky Network
Outreach volunteer training for Saturday
Homemade Fest Saturday night!!
Star Parties needing a SLAS lead
SLAS Regular Meeting
Friday, January 18, 2019 @ 7:30pm
162 McDonnell Hall, Washington University
Comets after Rosetta and New Horizons -
What Have We Learned from Space and Ground Based Observations
Erika Gibb, PhD
University of Missouri St. Louis
Meeting Agenda
Welcome
Introduction of Officers and Guests
Dr. Erika Gibb
Astro 101: Events for 2019 - Mark Jones