Past Meetings 2015

 

"Beyond the Hubble…" will be an introduction to the major new observatories being built on the ground and planned for launch into space during the next few years. Huge new ground telescopes and advanced space telescopes promise to produce many advances in our understanding of the universe. Mr. Baldwin will
talk about the new facilities, and also about the areas of astronomy and planetary sciences in which some of the new discoveries are likely to occur. Mark Jones will talk about the major events that will occur in the night skies of 2015, including the close pass of Mercury by Venus in the early evening skies of mid-January.
Paul Baldwin is an aeronautical and astronautical engineer who has been following space exploration for over 35 years. He is currently Vice President of the St. Louis Astronomical Society and a founding member of St. Louis Space Frontier. Mark Jones, currently Secretary of the Astronomical Society, is a veteran amateur astronomer and astronomy outreach volunteer.

 

 

 

In March, 2009, NASA launched the Kepler Spacecraft – a 55-inch wide space telescope designed to search for planets around other stars. Kepler detects possible planets by the dimming of the parent star as the planet passes in front of it, blocking some of the starlight. Earth-based telescopes or the Hubble Space Telescope then follow up to confirm the discoveries. Of the more than 5,000 planet candidates detected by Kepler, over 1,000 have been confirmed so far. Dr. Smith will talk about the Kepler spacecraft, how it detects possible planets, and how it was rescued from termination after an equipment failure and given a second planet-hunting mission.

 

Dr. William H. Smith is Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences and a Fellow of the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences at Washington University. His research projects involve the design and development of opto-mechanical remote sensing instruments for spacecraft and research aircraft, climate change studies, and the development of medical diagnostics for long-term spacecraft missions.

 

 

 

Just this month, NASA's Dawn spacecraft slipped into orbit around the largest asteroid, Ceres. Dawn had, after a four year journey from Earth, visited the asteroid Vesta for fifteen months before moving on to Ceres. Asteroids are small bodies of rock and metal, ranging in size from a few feet across to 590 miles
across. Millions of them orbit the Sun, mostly between Mars and Jupiter.

 

But some come much closer. To date, almost 5800 asteroids are known to have orbits that cross Earth's orbit. Mr. Heuermann will present some of the early results from Dawn's exploration of Vesta and show some images of its approach to Ceres. He will also talk about the origin and nature of asteroids, what they might reveal about the early history of the solar system, and about some of the opportunities and dangers of close encounters with Earth.

 

 

Hailed by Science magazine as the 2014 "Breakthrough of the Year," the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft Rosetta is revolutionizing our understanding of comets. Aided by gravitational slingshot assists from Earth and Mars, the spacecraft reached its quarry and completed a ten-year, billion mile journey to become the first to orbit, rather than to fly by, a comet comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, in August, 2014. There it found a bizarre dust-covered world of pits, crevices, cliffs, cracks, boulders, "goosebumps," and even dunes. On November 12, Rosetta's Philae lander was launched. The microgravity of this tiny 4-km bi-lobed comet proved quite a challenge to the lander, which bounced several times from an unexpectedly hard surface, finally coming to rest in a heavily-shadowed cliff region whose location is still unknown, But before it went to "sleep" after battery depletion, it returned stunning images and other data from the surface, and it may yet awaken.

 

The Rosetta orbiter has continued to function, sending images and data 300 million miles back to Earth. A visit with the co-discoverer, Klim Churyumov, in Kyiv is recounted. Dr. Marcus will describe the nature and origin of comets as well as examine the early results of the Rosetta mission. He will explain how the comet will change as it approaches its nearest distance to the sun next August, and what scientists hope to learn from the 17-month long Rosetta observations.

 

Dr. Marcus is an avid astronomer with particular interest in the study of comets. In addition to observing them, he was editor of The Comet News Service, a quarterly and special edition publication of the McDonnell Planetarium in the mid-seventies and early eighties.

 

 

 

 

Although the five robot spacecraft now orbiting Mars provide global coverage in great detail of the Martian surface and atmosphere, the two functioning Mars rovers are the hands-on robotic geologists. The Opportunity rover, now in its eleventh year of operation, is studying the rim of Endeavour crater. It continues to uncover pieces of the past history of Mars, especially related to the presence and disappearance of water. Kathryn Powell will talk about the Opportunity rover mission, show some of the images of the surface of Mars, and highlight some of their important discoveries.

 

Kathryn Powell is a PhD student in the Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. She earned her B.S. in Astrophysics from RiceUniversity in 2013, and her A.M. in Earth& Planetary Sciences from Wash U in 2015. Kathryn is a member of the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity science team. Her research at Wash U focuses on reconstructing ancient Martian environments using remote sensing and rover observations. She aspires to lead the next generation of robotic exploration in the solar system.

 

 

William Iseminger of Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, will be featured at the June meeting of the St. Louis Astronomical Society. The meeting will begin at 7:30 PM Friday, June 19, in McDonnell Hall, Room 162, on the Washington University campus.

 

The Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, just 15 minutes east of Saint Louis, is the location of a Native American city that flourished from 600 A.D. to 1100 A.D. The Site preserves the remains of about 80 earthen mounds out of the 120 mounds constructed in the city. The Cahokia tribe included ancient astronomers who discovered much about the movements of the Sun, Moon, and stars centuries before the European invention of the telescope. They constructed a "Woodhenge" of upright logs, positioned to mark the changing of the seasons and the motion of the Moon. Mr. Iseminger will talk about the astronomy of the Mound City builders and about how the Historic Site and its Interpretive Center tell the story of this vanished civilization and its great city.

 

William Iseminger is the Assistant Site Manager for the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. He holds a Bachelor's degree from the University of Oklahoma and a Master's degree from SIU-Carbondale, in anthropology. A participant in excavations of Native American sites in South Dakota and Illinois, Mr. Iseminger is author of a recent book Cahokia Mounds, America's First City.

 

 

Dr. Pamela Gay will be featured at the July meeting of the St. Louis Astronomical Society. The meeting will begin at 7:30 PM Friday, July 17, in McDonnell Hall, Room 362, on the Washington University campus, Saint Louis, MO 63130. McDonnell Hall is accessible from Forsyth Boulevard via Tolman Way. 

 

In 2006, a group of astronomers attending a meeting of the International Astronomical Union voted to change the definitions of "planet" and "dwarf planet". As a result, Pluto was demoted to dwarf planet status. Ever since, people have been debating the new definitions and the new criteria for the designation "planet". To complicate matters, since the turn of the century about a half dozen extremely remote ice worlds, some about the size of Pluto, have been discovered and designated to be dwarf planets. Dr. Gay will talk about what makes a planet a planet and how some astronomers wish to change the 2006 definition. She will also discuss some of the small worlds scattered around our solar system and the smaller planets now being detected around other stars.

 

Dr. Pamela Gay is an Assistant Research Professor in the Center for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Research, Education, and Outreach of Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville. She is an astronomer, writer, and podcaster focused on the use of media to engage people in science and technology. Together with Fraser Cain, editor of the Universe Today astronomy news website, Dr. Gay produces Astronomy Cast, a weekly podcast that provides a discussion of astronomical topics, from planets to cosmology.

 

 

Mike Clements has been interested in amateur astronomy and telescope making for forty years. His best known achievement is construction of a telescope 70 - inches (1.8 meters) in diameter and 35 feet long. That is the largest amateur telescope in the nation and the largest modern - day amateur telescope in the world which is why he is now known as "1.8 Meter Mike". Mr. Clements will talk about building large telescopes and about his plans to make an observatory sized instrument mobile. His future plans are to put the 1.8 meter telescope on a trailer and then transport it around the country for public viewing of celestial objects that only a very large telescope can display in detail.

 

 

Chap will be selling copies of his book as well as custom Tee-shirts at the meeting.  Cash, Check or Credit Card will be accepted for sales.
Eclipses occur when the Sun, Earth, and Moon align. A total eclipse occurs when the alignment is nearly perfect. On September 27, the Moon will move into the Earth's shadow, and the total lunar eclipse will be visible from anywhere on the night side of the Earth, including Saint Louis. This will be the last total lunar eclipse visible here until January 21, 2019. On August 21, 2017, the Earth will move into the Moon's shadow, and a total solar eclipse will occur. The last total solar eclipse visible from the Saint Louis area occurred in 1442. The Moon's shadow will be only about 100 miles wide as it sweeps across the United States from Oregon to South Carolina. Chap Percival will talk about both the lunar and the solar total eclipses. He will explain when they will occur and how to view them. He will also talk about safe ways to view the solar eclipse during its partial phases before and after the total solar eclipse.

 

Chap Percival is a veteran astronomer and science educator, a former planetarium director, and an author. He earned a Masters degree in planetarium education from Michigan State University, and a Masters in Instructional Technology from the University of Virginia. His current book, "Go See the Eclipse" provides detailed information about the 2017 solar eclipse.

 

For pictures and descriptions of his bood and shirt, visit his website at http://www.goseetheeclipse.com/

 

When NASA's New Horizons spacecraft flew by Pluto and its five moons on July 14, it provided the first detailed views of these ice worlds over four billion miles away. Dr. Wojtkowski will show some of the spectacular and mystifying images sent back by the robotic spacecraft, and she will describe the puzzling geology being revealed. Pluto is one of the largest of the thousands of ice worlds detected so far in the Kuiper Belt, a region far beyond the orbit of Neptune. New Horizons is now traveling an additional one billion miles on its way to a much smaller Kuiper Belt object.

 

Dr. Kari Wojtkowski is a graduate of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Missouri, St. Louis. Her research there centered on the early stages of star formation. In particular, she stud-ied the chemical composition of the clouds of gas, dust, and ices that condense to form new stars. Dr. Kojtkowski cur-rently teaches courses in physics, earth sciences, and astronomy for Lindenwood University—Belleville and Southwestern Illinois College.

 

 

The ancient rock record of our neighboring planet, Mars, holds significant clues about the planet’s watery past and the possibility of habitable environments in its early history. The Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, made a spectacular landing in August 2012. Now three years into its mission, Curiosity has discovered ancient dry stream and lake beds, and is characterizing the sedimentary stratigraphy in Gale Crater. Ms. Fox will discuss some of the more recent exploration campaigns as Curiosity has begun the ascent of Mount Sharp, the 5 km sedimentary central mountain in Gale Crater.

Valerie Fox is a PhD candidate in Earth and Planetary Science at Washington University in Saint Louis. She studies the geologic history of Mars using images and data from Mars orbiting spacecraft as well as from Mars rovers. She is also actively involved in the operational and science teams for both Opportunity and Curiosity, and with the science team for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s Imaging Spectrometer. She received her Bachelor’s degree in physics from Carleton College, Minnesota in 2012 and Master’s degree from Washington University in 2014.

 

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SLAS Regular Meeting
Friday, December 18, 2015 7:30pm
McDonnell Hall, Washington University
The View from Saturn: A Decade of Discoveries
by Richard Heuermann SLAS

 

Richard Heuermannwill be featured at the December meeting of the St. Louis Astronomical Society. The meeting will begin at 7:30 PM Friday, December 18, in McDonnell Hall, Room 162, on the Washington University campus.

 

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has been orbiting Saturn since 2004. Its robotic telescopes and sensors have monitored Earth - sized storms, changes in the rings, and geological activity on several of Saturn's moons. Cassini's European - designed probe landed on
the surface of Titan, a moon larger than Mercury. It found river valleys and lakes formed, not by water, but by liquid natural gas. Mr. Heuermann will talk about the spacecraft and some of its discoveries over the past decade.

 

Rich Heuermann was, until retirement, the Outreach Program Coordinator of the NASA Missouri Space Grant Consortium at Washington University, as well as the Administrative Officer of the University's Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. He is a member of the Saint Louis Astronomical Society. He continues to work with astronomy outreach programs.