Past Meetings 2016

Mark Jones will be featured at the January meeting of the St. Louis Astronomical Society. The meeting will begin at 7:30 PM Friday, January 15, in McDonnell Hall, Room 162, on the Washington University campus, Saint Louis, MO 63130.

 

The transit of Mercury across the Sun's disk and the close approach of Mars are two of the highlights for 2016. Mercury passes directly between the Earth and the Sun only about fourteen times each century. The next transit after May 9, 2016 will not occur until November, 2019. Since the Earth is closer to the Sun than Mars, it moves faster. As a result, the Earth passes Mars about every two years. Closest approach this time will be on May 22 – but Mars will still be more than forty- seven million miles away. Mark Jones will discuss these events and include information on upcoming meteor showers, planetary conjunctions, Lunar occultations and other astronomical events for 2016. Many of these events will be visible to the unaided eye. 

 

Mark Jones, currently the Secretary of the St. Louis Astronomical Society, is a veteran amateur astronomer with decades of experience in experience in observing both daytime and night skies.

 

 

Astrophotography – taking pictures of objects in the night sky – is difficult. The objects, except for the Moon, are small and faint. Exposure times of minutes to hours are needed to construct a single image. Moreover, the Earth's turning will blur the image, unless the telescope "tracks" the object - moves to keep the object centered in the telescope's field of view. Digital images need to be combined and manipulated to bring out color and faint details. William Neubert will explain the basics of astrophotography. His presentation will be a non-technical review of his recent progress in digital astro- imaging. It will include some of the lunar, planetary, and deep sky images he has taken over the last three years. He will also discuss what the images show and how to interpret them, as well as demonstrate some strange artifacts he has encountered.

Bill Neubert is an amateur astronomer and accomplished astrophotographer. Some of his images have appeared in Sky and Telescope magazine, a nationally circulated monthly periodical.

 

 

How the motions of the sun and earth are used to tell time will be described. Some history and mathematics of sundials will be covered, but briefly. Various types of sundials will be described, including ones that are artistic, ones serve as memorials, and ones that are unusual. I will show some sundials I have made. Building a sundial requires determining the markings on it that indicate time, creating any artistic elements to be on it, and selecting construction materials and methods. Approaches for accomplishing this will be described. This will be an overview presentation, leaving mathematical details to a talk on some other sunny day.

 

Donald Snyder is a Senior Professor of Electrical and Systems Engineering at Washington University. His research interest in imaging science includes projects in x-ray and positron-emission tomography and in the recovery of optical imagery acquired using telescopes through atmospheric turbulence and with less than ideal optics. He served as a Topical Editor for the J. of the Optical Society of America (JOSA-A) and as an Associate Editor and President of the IEEE Information Theory Society. For more detailed biographical information (including publication citations ranging from work on random processes, radiology, telescope and microscope imaging, sundials and woodworking), see his website at http://DLS-WEBSITE.COM.

 

Cosmology – the study of the Universe as a whole – is one of the oldest areas of human thought. In the last century, cosmology has evolved from a branch of philosophy to a branch of physical science. The cosmologist's approach has changed from speculation to experiment and observation, from general theory to precision science. Dr. Redmount will talk about the evolution of cosmology science and the advances cosmologists are making to our understanding of the universe on its largest scales.

Dr. Ian Redmount is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics at Saint Louis University. He received his Doctorate from the California Institute of Technology and held several research positions before accept-ing the faculty position at St. Louis University in 1993. His research interests include black holes, spacetime wormholes, cosmology, and quantum field theory.

 

Dr. Heather Knutson will be featured at the May meeting of the St. Louis Astronomical Society. The meeting will begin at 7:30 PM Friday, May 20, in McDonnell Hall, Room 162, on the Washington University campus, Saint Louis, MO 63130.  See the home page for directions.

 

Exoplanets are planets in orbit around other stars. More than 3,000 such worlds have been discovered. More continue to be detected by both ground - based and space telescopes. Most of the first group of exoplanets were giant gas worlds, like Jupiter and Saturn. Improvements in technology have made it possible to detect
even Earth - sized planets. Of greatest interest is the detection of Earth - sized planets at distances from their host stars suitable for life to exist. Dr. Knutson will talk about how exoplanets are detected, the characteristics of some exoplanets, and how the composition of their atmospheres can be determined. The presence of certain chemicals in exoplanet atmospheres could indicate that life exists on those worlds.

Dr. Heather Knutson is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences at the California Institute of Technology. She is a member of the Institute's Center For Planetary Astronomy. Dr. Knutson received the American Astronomical Society's Annie Jump Cannon Awards in 2012 for her outstanding research work. She is interested in the physics and chemistry of exoplanetary atmospheres, planet formation and migration, and the search for new low - mass eclipsing planetary systems.

 

 

Mike Roberts of KSDK News, Channel 5, will be featured at the June meeting of the St. Louis Astronomical Society. The meeting will begin at 7:30 PM Friday, June 17, in McDonnell Hall, Room 162, on the Washington University campus, Saint Louis, MO 63130.

 

Weather forecasting has evolved from little more than folklore ("Red skies at night, sailor's delight…) to a technology-based science. Satellite images, Doppler radar scans, and large scale computer modeling have replaced woolly caterpillars and grandma's knees. Mike Roberts will talk about modern meteorology and the tools and methods used to predict the weather.

 

Mike Roberts joined KSDK News Channel 5 in 1996. Prior to that he reported the weather for television stations in Kansas City, St. Louis, and Omaha. He has won four Emmy awards and in 2008 received the American Meteorological Society's Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Seal of Approval. Mr. Roberts is also an adjunct instructor at Saint Louis University in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. He has recently retired from KSDK News Channel 5.

 

 

Jane Rix will be featured at the July meeting of the St. Louis Astronomical Society. The meeting will begin at 7:30 PM Friday, July 15, in McDonnell Hall, Room 162, on the Washington University campus, Saint Louis, MO 63130. McDonnell Hall is accessible from Forsyth Boulevard via Tolman Way.

Sketches of the sky have been made since hu-mans could first draw. As time has pro-gressed, many amateur astronomers have moved on to digital photography to record the view through a telescope. However, drawing the sky can create a greater bond and under-standing of the objects being viewed.

Jane Rix is a self-taught artist whose main body of work includes realistic portrait pencil sketch-es. Learning to draw well is about learning how to "see" things and the relationship the item has with other objects. This program will be a hands-on exercise that demonstrates how to "see" and how to work through the issues that develop during drawing. This presentation is for the beginner as well as for more advanced artists.

 

 

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John Wharton, of the Saint Louis Science Center, will be featured at the August meeting of the St. Louis Astronomical Society. The meeting will begin at 7:30 PM Friday, August 19, in McDonnell Hall, Room 162, on the Washington University campus, Saint Louis, MO 63130. McDonnell Hall is accessible from Forsyth Boulevard via Tolman Way.

 

The first total eclipse of the Sun visible from the Saint Louis area since 1442 will occur on August 21, 2017. The Moon will completely cover the brilliant visible surface of the Sun for up to 2 minutes and 43 seconds for observers within a path that stretches from Oregon to South Carolina, but that is only about seventy miles wide. Observers in this narrow path will see the sky darken, feel the temperature drop, and, view the Sun's glowing corona –its faint upper atmosphere. The corona is only visible to the unaided eye during a total solar eclipse. The corona is a region of extremely rarified gas, heated to millions of degrees, and shimmering as it shines against a darker than twilight sky. Mr. Wharton will explain why and when a total solar eclipse occurs and how to view the hour-long partial eclipse phases safely. He will also show the path of the total solar eclipse through Missouri, particularly through the Greater St. Louis area.

 

John Wharton is Managing Director of Facility Operations for the Saint Louis Science Center. He came to Saint Louis at the inception of the Science Center in 1983, having been selected to be the Center's first Planetarium Director. Mr. Wharton represents the Science Center as a member of the Saint Louis Eclipse 2017 Task Force. The Task Force, comprised of representatives from several area colleges and universities, two Metro area astronomical societies, and numerous Missouri city and parks administrators, is assisting government, school, and business managers and the general public with preparations for the event. More information about eclipse viewing in the Metropolitan St. Louis area is available at www.stlouiseclipse2017.org

 

 

Dr. Gary Gackstatter of Saint Louis Community College, Meramec Campus, will be featured at the September meeting of the St. Louis Astronomical Society.

Chaco Canyon National Monument in northwestern New Mexico was established in 1907 to protect the remaining stone buildings of Chaco Native Americans. The motions of sun, moon, planets, and stars were woven into the culture and beliefs of the Chaco Canyon people. Constructed more than a thousand years ago, their great houses featured many celestial alignments and devices. St. Louisan Gary Gackstatter will talk about the buildings, culture, and astronomy of these ancestors of the Pueblo tribe. He recently visited Chaco Canyon, and was inspired to write a modern symphony "Chaco -- A Journey Of The Spirit". It was first performed in Meramec's theater last May.

 

Gary Gackstatter is Coordinator of Music and conductor of the Symphonic Band and Meramec Orchestra. A member of the Meramec music faculty, he is also an active composer and musician, as well as an artist.

 

 

Dr. Kater Murch of Washington University will be featured at the October meeting of the St. Louis Astronomical Society. The meeting will begin at 7:30 PM Friday, October 21, in McDonnell Hall, Room 162, on the Washington University campus, Saint Louis, MO 63130.

On September 14, 2015, ripples in the fabric of the universe – gravitational waves – were detected by the new LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) facility. The waves were caused by the merger of two black holes far away in space, more than 1.3 billion years ago. That violent event stretched and compressed space by less than the width of an atom. The measurement of that small of a ripple challenges our most advanced technology. It also pushes the limits allowed by quantum mechanics, the branch of physics involved with matter and energy at very small scales. Dr. Murch will talk about the limits on the precision of measurements imposed by quantum mechanics. He will explain how scientists using LIGO and other instruments are learning to view the universe through gravitational waves rather than light waves.

Dr. Kater Murch is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics at Washington University. He received his Doctoral degree from the University of California in 2008 and joined the Washington University faculty in 2013. His research interests involve superconducting electrical circuits, quantum
computers, and experiments on the limits of quantum measurement.

 

 

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Ms. Maggie Duckworth will be featured at the November meeting of the St. Louis Astronomical Society. The meeting will begin at 7:30 PM Friday, November 18, in McDonnell Hall, Room 162, on the Washington University campus, Saint Louis, MO 63130. McDonnell Hall is accessible from Forsyth Boulevard via Tolman Way. Yellow zone and street parking are available to the audience.

Mars One is a privately funded organization dedicated to placing a human settlement on Mars by 2030. Over 20,000 persons applied in 2013 for the 24 Mars colonist positions planned for the initial colony. Following the recent conclusion of the second phase of selection, Ms. Duckworth is one of the 100 applicants remaining. She will explain why humans have not yet set foot on Mars and how

Mars One plans to establish the first colony. She will discuss the challenges that future Martians will face, the mission cost, and whether the first humans on the red planet will be sponsored by government agency or private commercial enterprise. She will also talk about her own experiences with Mars One selection and training, and what it might be like to live on another planet.

Maggie Duckworth followed her award of a degree in Electrical Engineering by establishing a business in costuming and distribution of the largest gauge zippers in the world. As she proceeds with the astronaut selection process, she continues to publicize the Mars One project, giving presentations at colleges, schools, conventions, and societies, and being interviewed on multiple media platforms.