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 building and use of inovative personal observatories. The need to fill a niche in setting up and using a small portable telescope on a nightly basis has prompted amateur astronomers to find ways of protecting equipment short of building full on observatory, which may be cost prohibitive, or impossible based on user space needs. Further, local ordinance in certain zones might prohibit them or at the very least require a building permit. There are other factors at work. The creativity with the growing number of amateur astronomers can be endless and has proven there are many ways to have your telescope at the ready when you need it...
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.
December 2nd OPTO-MECHANICAL DESIGN OF HIGH ACUITY SYSTEMS
December 2, 2010. Randy Moore has spent 40+ years as an optical engineer on both space based systems
and some ground based systems. Some of the space based projects that
he has been involved with have been the Viking Mars Cameras, the Hubble
Telescope (star tracker systems), the Chandra X-Ray Observatory and the
Spitzer Infrared observatory. His experiences in ground based systems was
primarily with real time atmospheric compensation (now in use on the
Keck systems in Hawaii) and laser systems. The opto-mechanical design of
high acuity systems may also be of some interest to Society members.
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 .
