Saturday, January 27, 2024
Presenter:

Title: “Navajo Astronomy as Learned at Little Singer Community School”

The first snowfall has happened on the peaks and is a demarcation on the Navajo calendar, indicating it is time to share stories about the night skies.

Asterisms such as the Female Revolving One (Cassiopeia), the Male Revolving One (Ursa Major), and the Central Fire (Polaris) provide the hogan in the night sky. When studying the night sky, we establish our orientation with the hogan and search for the other Navajo asterisms.

The book Sharing the Skies, Navajo Astronomy by Dr. Nancy Maryboy and Dr. David Begay, accompanying resources from the Indigenous Educational Institute, and teachings from home, provide our students with cultural content when interpreting the night skies.

Saturday, February 24, 2024
Presenter: Dr. Larry Wasserman

Title: “Things that go bump in the night - Eclipses, Transits, Conjunctions, and Occultations”

Occasionally two or more objects appear close to each other in the sky. Dr. Wasserman will discuss each of these events, what we can learn from these various events, with emphasis on those which are scientifically important.

Bio: Dr. Wasserman is the longest-tenured astronomer at Lowell Observatory, having begun working here in September 1974. As a graduate student at Cornell he worked with Dr. Carl Sagan, who was his thesis advisor. In 1974, he came to Lowell Observatory where over the years he has been involved in observing and predicting occultations in our Solar System. He has also studied double stars and Kuiper Belt Objects.

Saturday, March 23, 2024
Presenter: Dr. Padraig Houlahan

Title: “An Overview of the Seestar 50 Digital Telescope”

The Seestar 50 is a new kind of telescope that can be controlled with a mobile device. Since it blends many different features and capabilities, it has become very popular, since it allows even novices to take interesting astronomical images easily. In this presentation, Padraig will provide examples and critiques of images taken with one and address the device's pros and cons.

Speaker Bio: Padraig has been involved in Astronomy for most of his life; He holds a Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of Texas (Austin), and has taught Physics and Astronomy at various colleges. He also has spent considerable time in I.T. administration, at Oregon State University and Lowell Observatory. His main interests are in various types of celestial imaging.

Saturday, April 20, 2024
Presenter: Lisa Prato, Lowell Observatory

Title: “Planet Formation in Young Binary Star Systems”

Description: Most stars are located in binary or multiple groups. Astronomers have discovered some transiting planets around both stars in close binary star systems and around individual stars in wider binary systems but it is unclear how robust the planet formation process is in these complex environments. She will discuss her team’s work to characterize the planet-forming circumstellar disks and the stars themselves in young binary systems to better understand the frequency and character of planets in dynamically challenging locations.

Bio: Lisa Prato grew up in the Boston area and attended the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where she completed undergraduate degrees in Astronomy and in English and discovered the world of scientific research. After another year at UMass as a non-degree graduate student, Prato moved to Colombia, South America, and worked for 3 years as a professor in the Department of Physics at the Universidad Industrial de Santander in the city of Bucaramanga, teaching classes in astronomy and astrophysics and working toward a masters degree in Physics. Prato returned to the US to complete a PhD in Astronomy at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, followed by two postdoctoral positions at UCLA, one with the Nobel Laureate Dr. Andrea Ghez and one with Dr. Ian McLean. Prato is a Tenured Astronomer on the science faculty at Lowell Observatory and an Adjunct Professor at Northern Arizona University; she works with postdocs, undergraduates, interns, and gradate students on young binary stars and planet formation.

Saturday, May 25, 2024
Presenters: Padraig Houlanhan, Ernie Webb, Thom Tomas, Barry Malpas, and others

Title: “The Total Solar Eclipse, and Recent Solar Activity”

With all the recent solar events, several members of CAS will provide short presentations on the recent Total Solar Eclipse, as well as the Solar Sunspot Maxima and resulting Aurora.

Post meeting information

Link from Thom Tomas presentation: Experiences Involving Totality

Saturday, June 22, 2024, 3:00-7:00PM

Title: “CAS Summer Picnic”

We have the ramada (the large one next to the playing field) reserved at FoxGlenn Park.

Bring your own food, or something to share. The club will provide drinks, paper plates, napkins, cups and ice.

Saturday, July 20, 2024
Presenters: Klaus Brasch & Leo Aerts

Title: “ The Moon as it Never Was”

In 1874, James Nasmyth and James Carpenter published a remarkable book, The Moon: Considered as a Planet, a World and a Satellite, which quickly became one of the most influential works on the lunar surface ever written. In addition to containing the most spectacular and detailed images of Moon at the time, it was also the first serious scientific treatise dealing with the origin, formation and geology of our Moon during the Victorian era. How well has it stood the test of time? Better than might be expected.

Saturday, August 17, 2024
Presenter: Michael Stump

Title: “Night Photography”

This presentation covers photogrpahy of the night sky excluding planetary and deep sky. Included is photography of the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights), Milky Way, Star Trails, Meteor Showers, and the applicaiton and tools used in this field.

Saturday, September 21, 2024
Presenter: Chad Davies

Title: “Charting an Astronomical Dynasty-Four Generations of Cassini's”

Between 1625 and 1845, the Cassini family was one of the most pre-eminent scientific names in Europe. Beginning first in Italy before moving to France, they would chart both the heavens and the Earth with unprecedented precision. This presentation will review the work of the four men who would carry the Cassini name from Bologna to Paris.

Bio: Chad Davies, is physics faculty at Coconino Community College. He earned his PhD at the University of Florida working in computational galactic dynamics before embarking on a career in physics and astronomy education that has taken him from Kansas, through Georgia, before arriving in Flagstaff. He is the host and producer of The Scientific Odyssey podcast where he explores the intersection of science, history and philosophy.

Saturday, October 19, 2024
Presenter: Tom Tomas

Title: “ NASA's EZIE Mission”

From our Earth-bound perspective, we will begin by examining our relationship between Earth, Sun, Self, and Shadow. Next, we will study our closest star as a natural system. Thirdly, and most importantly, we will examine the Earth as a natural system and its interactions with solar weather. The evening presentation will focus on the NASA EZIE mission that the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory leads. The EZIE satellites, which are yet to be launched, will gather data above the north and south magnetic poles, with magnetometers on the ground, across the globe, providing multiple points of reference to better understand Earth's magnetosphere and its reactions to solar weather.

Bio: Tom is an experienced educator of over 30 years with a Master's degree in Bilingual/Multicultural Education from NAU, who currently teaches, coordinates STREAM Programs, serves as a lead teacher, and is a MakerPlace Outreach Specialist at Little Singer Community School. He facilitates educational outreach while working with eight diverse indigenous community schools covering NASA missions: Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer (EZIE), Parker Solar Probe (PSP), and Dragonfly.

Saturday, November 23, 2024

Due to the Lowell Grand Opening Event on November 16 this meeting has been moved to November 23rd, time and location are the same.

CAS Member Activity Presentations

Theme: “See Below”

Each year CAS members are active in the pursuit of their avocation of Astronomy. At this meeting 4-6 members will present 10-15 minute overviews of the activities and achievements they were involved in during the preceding year.

Member's Presentations

Klaus Brasch, Jim Glish and Ernie Webb who will present some of their astrophotography of the recent comet, aurora, etc., and Barry Malpas who will discuss "Celestial Short Stories, Facts and Trivia for Public Star Parties".

Saturday, December 7, 2024

CAS Holiday Party

Location: The Peaks Flagstaff
Time: From 2:00-6:00PM

Further details on getting to the location are being sent in an email to all club members.

Title: “Grand Canyon Star Party”

Saturday, June 1-8, 2024
Link: TBD
Club Contact TBD

Title: “Flagstaff Festival of Science”

Saturday, June 1-8, 2024
Link: TBD
Club Contact TBD