On April 1st, MIT's Dr. Marcia Batusiak will give her talk 'The Cosmologist Left Behind" that was the adapted from her latest book "The Day We Found the Universe'. She will talk about the critical work of Vito Slipher who rebuilt and mastered the delicate Lowell Observatory spectrograph under Edwin Hubble. Hubble usually gets credit, but Siphler was first to see the signs that the universe is expanding.
May 6th NASA CHALLENGES
On May 6th, Hugh Blair-Smith follow-up. Hugh gave us a spell binding talk in August reviewing his
remarkable career in “machine language” level software
building in support of several historic NASA programs and
programming for the inertial guidance system for the Apollo
spacecraft, which landed the world’s first man on the moon.
Hugh provided us a
nice mix of stories covering machine-level programming
challenges in terms we all could follow. Hugh is back... not to be missed.
June 3rd STUDYING VARIABLE STARS
On June 3rd, AAVSO member James Carlson will talk about studying variable stars. Carlson served as CCAS Observatory director since its inception until 2007.The American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) provides data for basic research. Individuals are assigned personal observing codes and make daily, even hourly, reports regarding the activity of stars as they brighten and fade.
July 1st GALILEO'S UNIVERSE
On July 1st, Dr. Laurence Marschall is the author of two new books on astronomy "GALILEO'S NEW UNIVERSE" and "PLUTO CONFIDENTIAL". Dr. Marschall is on the faculty of Gettysburg College where he teaches courses in astronomy, physics, and science writing. Educated at Cornell University (B.S., 1966) and the University of Chicago (Ph.D., 1971), he joined the Gettysburg faculty in 1971. Whatever Dr. Marschall brings to CCAS is always interesting.
August 5th OSCILLATIONS IN THE SUN
On August 5th, amateur astronomer Tom Leach will discuss the science studying wave oscillations in the Sun called helioseismology. Temperature, composition, and motions deep in the Sun influence the oscillation periods and yield insights into conditions in the solar interior. Sunspots form in areas of magnetic activity during the period surrounding solar maximum. In between these activity cycles the sun's surface has very little magnetic activity known as solar minimum.
September 2nd
On September 2nd, Werner Schmidt Observatory Director Dr. Mike Hunter will discuss getting ready for the Baby Boomers... changes at the Werner Schmidt Observatory and other factors.
October 7th ARE WE ALONE?
On October 7th, Dr. Jon Greenberg will discuss the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence a topic that holds many questions: Is there intelligent life elsewhere in the universe? Is there intelligent life on earth? What are the odds of finding intelligent life elsewhere? What is the (in)famous Drake equation? How is the search being conducted? What would happen if we received an authentic modulated signal from an extraterrestrial source? Should we answer it? Dr. Greenberg is a past president of CCAS and has a personal Observatory from his home in Eastham.
November 4th COSMIC CONVERSATIONS
November 4, 2010. Stephan Martin, M.S., is an astronomer, educator, and writer who has taught astronomy and physics at colleges and educational centers across the U.S. for over twenty years. He will be leading a trip in July to see the complete solar eclipse on the path of the Moon's umbral shadow as it crosses the South Pacific Ocean where it makes no landfall except for Mangaia (Cook Islands), Easter Island (Isla de Pascua) and several isolated atolls. He is author of a new book "Cosmic Conversations" a collection of interviews with scientists, spiritual teachers, indigenous peoples, and cultural “creatives” that explores and expand our ideas about the nature of the universe and our role in it.
Please contact
Astronomers please contact Tom Leach if you wish to join the lecture series as a speaker. We are accepting suggestions for future topics or leads on speakers .
