Regular Monthly Meetings

The AAAA and the Story County Conservation Board host monthly educational programs for the public from January to November. Meetings are on the 3^rd Saturday of each month, except December, at 7:30 PM. Visitors are encouraged to join us. A list of the programs for this year can be found below.

All programs will be held at the Story County Conservation Center at McFarland Park unless noted otherwise in the program for that month. Afterwards, weather and and sunset permitting, we will move to the club's observatory located just East of the Story County Conservation Center for astronomical observing. Telescopes and binoculars will be available for your viewing pleasure.

At each of our meetings we include a short description of a few of the astronomical sights that can be seen during the coming month.

2010 Programs

• January 16
  The search for water on the Moon
  Jim Bonser

  Jim Bonser will present about the results of the LCROSS mission.

• February 20
  The Inquisition and the Telescope
  Sam Wormly

  Galileo (1564-1642), is one of the most remarkable men who ever lived. More than any one of his predecessors or contemporaries he introduced 'controlled experiment' as a means of gaining knowledge of nature. Join us as we explore how Galileo helped change our view of our place in the universe on this 400^th anniversary of using a telescope to view the heavens.

• March 20
  Mercury, Up Close and Personal
  Jake Ewalt

  What we've learned from missions to Mercury, including the current MESSENGER probe. We'll also have tips on viewing this easy-to-observe but often-overlooked planet.

• April 17
  Relativity & Cosmology: An Introduction
  Rich Schuler

  Rich Schuler will present an introduction into gravity, relativity and cosmology. The talk will cover the theories of special and general relativity, dark matter, dark energy and the fate of the universe. Rich is currently a Lecturer in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at ISU.

• May 15
  Sun and Solar viewing
  Jim Gohman

  The structure and dynamic function of the Sun has been well studied and our closest star has shed light on the structure of stars in general. We are about to leave a time of quiet solar activity in Sun cycles. See how we may be expected to be affected by the changes. Solar viewing obviously presents special problems in “safe” viewing.

• June 19
  Update on the Kepler program
  Steve Kawaler

  By this summer, the first results from Kepler should be public. Steve will review what we've learned from monitoring the brightness of over 100,000 stars with such stunning precision. There will be planet discoveries of course, but he will also discuss what the subtle brightness changes seen in these stars can tell us about their insides, and their evolution.

• July 17
  Picnic

   

• August 21
  Astronomical Observatories: What's Next?
  Rich Schuler

  Rich will present the telescope designs and astronomy programs planned for the near future. Topics will include future designs of both ground and space based observatories. Rich is currently a Lecturer in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at ISU, and worked for a year as the electro-mechanical technician for the 9.2 meter Hobby-Eberly telescope in West Texas.

• September 18
  Cosmic rays
  Sam Wormley

  Where are they from? How are they affected by the Earth and the Sun? What is their relationship to Carbon-14 dating and to triggering lightening? How does their energy compare to the Large Hadron Collider?

• October 16
  Radio Telescopes
  Joe Kollasch & Tony Jeffries

  Types of Radio observations and plans for our own radio telescope.

• November 20
  Lagrange Points
  Jim Gohman

  Josef Lagrange, 18^th-century mathematician proved that there are five Gravitational “wells” in the Sun-Earth system. Sun-Earth Lagrange points are regions of space where the pull of the Sun and Earth combine to form a “gravitational well”. The flotsam of space tends to gather there much as water gathers at the bottom of a well on Earth. See how these have become important in positioning satellites.

We hope you can join us!

© 2010 Ames Area Amateur Astronomers