| When |
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010, 7:30PM
| Where |
Physics-Astronomy Building
Room A102
University of Washington Seattle
| What |
Real Time Spectroscopy with RSpec
Tom Field
At the next meeting, Tom Field will give a presentation of his new program "RSpec" that does real-time astronomical spectroscopy. He will review a bit of the history and science around spectroscopy and then discuss various projects that amateurs can undertake. As many members know, spectroscopy is one of the primary tools that are used in astronomical research. If you've got a DSLR, webcam, or classical CCD and a even a small telescope, RSpec and a simple grating is all you need to get into this interesting aspect of astronomy. Tom says, "Spectroscopy isn't rocket science, but it is one of the last frontiers for amateurs to get involved in on a large scale. It's exciting to be able to actually see the composition of stars with some simple backyard gear. And, once you have some hands-on spectroscopy experience, you'll find that a lot of the articles in Sky & Telescope and on the web take on a whole new meaning in light of your new understanding of the field."
Many thanks to our past speakers of 2008, 2009 and 2010 to date:
On June 6th, 2010, Denis Janky of the SAS spoke on "Advancing as a Visual Observer" through systematic planning and logging of one's observations.
Dr. Joshua Bandfield On May 19th, 2010, Dr. Joshua Bandfiled of the University of Washington gave a talk on "Thermal Infrared Spacecraft Measurements of Mars and the Moon," describing how the compositions and temperatures of a planet influence the planet's appearance in the infrared and introduced many stunning visuals and their interpretation from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the Mars Global Surveyor, the Mars Odyssey and the Mars Exploration rovers.
Jerry Galt On April 21st, 2010, SAS member, Dr. Jerry Galt talked about "CCD Astro-Imaging and Calibration," covering the ins and outs of how modern CCD astro-cameras work, and the implications this has for calibrating and processing the images they capture.
Keith Allred On March 17th, 2010, Keith Allred of the SAS Astrophotography SIG, presented "Imaging New Mexico Skies from Seattle," a discussion of his quest to build a remote-controlled, computerized observatory in New Mexico, accompanied by a live demonstration of astro-imaging from the lecture hall.
Alan Bedard On February 17th, SAS member Alan Bedard presented "Photometry: Measuring the Stars," in which he described his recent work imaging cataclysmic variables and eclipsing binary stars with affordable gear at his observatory in Washington state.
Rick Dickson On Dec 16th, 2009, SAS member Rick Dickson spoke on using TheSky planetarium software for planning observing sessions and learning the sky.
Dr. Ken Croswell On Nov 18th, 2009, Dr. Ken Croswell spoke on the "Lives of Stars" and held a signing for his new book of the same title.
SAS Board On October 21st, SAS business and upcoming board elections were discussed in the club's annual business meeting.
Ron Hobbs On September 16th, Ron Hobbs, JPL Solar System Ambassador from the Museum of Flight spoke on "Barnstorming the Solar System," discussing unmanned missions and their findings throughout the solar system.
Dr. John Wisniewski On August 19th, Dr. Wisniewski introduced SAS members to his work on exoplanet detection in "Imaging Circumstellar Disks: Exoplanet Diagnostics."
Rick Dickson On July 15th, Rick discussed "Utilizing Microsoft's Worldwide Telescope to Enhance the Astronomical Experience."
Jon Bearscove, SAS. Jon's June 15th talk "In Galileo's Footsteps" retraced Galileo's path through astronomical discovery and trial for heresy with photos from Jon's recent trip to Italy.
Jerry Galt, SAS. Jerry's April 15th talk "Observatory Construction At Home and Afar" recounted his adventures building a prototype observatory for astrophotography in his backyard, and another one at a rugged dark sky site in Oregon.
Ron Hobbs, Museum of Flight, JPL Solar System Ambassador. Ron's March 18th talk "The Great Martian Road Trip" covered robotic exploration of Mars, past, present and future.
Maxine Nagel. Maxine's February 18th talk "Constellation Quiz" presented a star hopping tour of the Northern sky.
Professor Bruce Balick. On November 19th, Prof. Balick spoke about Hubble'spast, present, and future as well as the upcoming James Webb Telescope.
Paul Rodman. On October 15, 2008, Paul gave a great lecture introducting Fermi's Paradox to the audience. This paradox focuses on the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations...or the lack thereof. His presentation included historical documentation, great video clips, and thought-provoking content. In the audience we even had a visiting LGM, or rather a visiting LGW...dressed in green with antennae.
David Dorais, Rubie Sanborn Johnson, Edward J. Mannery, Burley Packwood, Bob Suryan, and Chris Laurel. At the "Show and Tell" presentation of June 18, David showed a nice DVD movie on cosmic collisions; Rubie and Edward showed us the RubyScope, a 6" reflector kit built for kids; Burley gave us an account of his trip to Whipple Observatory in Arizona; Bob showed pictures of Kitt Peak Observatory which he first visited 32 years ago; and Chris did a demo of his amazing 3D visualization software Celestia.
Prof. Victoria Meadows. On May 21, 2008, Prof. Victoria Meadows of Univ. of Washington talked about how we will search for and identify planets that might support life around other stars, and described results from the new science of astrobiology that will help us recognize signs of life on these distant worlds.
Denis Janky. On April 16th, 2008, Denis Janky, a fellow SAS member, shared with the audience observing tips, favorite galaxies for telescopes large and small, and other resources.
Dr. Chris Brook. On March 19th, 2008, Dr. Chris Brook of University of Washington spoke on the cosmological simulations of galaxy formation.
Paul Rodman. On February 22nd, 2008, Paul Rodman gave a very entertaining and extremely informative talk on planning and logging astronomical observations, which also included a demonstration using the software AstroPlanner.
| Previous Speakers |
A list of speakers at previous meetings can be found here.