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Alachua Astronomy Club, Inc. |  Member Astronomical League |
 Member International Dark-Sky Association |
| Monthly Meetings 2001 |
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| 29°39' N, 82°21' W Altitude: 50 Meters (more or less) |
Updated Nov. 7, 2001 | ||
| (Click logo for home page) | Founded: September 1987 |
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Location
Doyle Conner Building
1911 S.W. 34th Street (at S.W. 20th Avenue)
Gainesville, Alachua County, Florida USA
- All monthly meetings are free and open to the public
- The Alachua Freenet Community Calendar often lists our monthly meetings
- Check detailed schedule for any changes in time or location
- The AAC Executive Council also meets the first Tuesday of the month
Click on date to see details
DATE (2001) GUEST SPEAKER TITLE OR TOPIC
January* 9 Howard L. Cohen Praising and Perverting the Heavens: Visions of Our Universe February 13 Frederick W. Hamann Quasars, Black Holes and the Birth of Galaxies March 13 Frederick G. Gregory Extraterrestrials: Ancient Historical Challenges to Religion April 10 Richard Schneider Is There a Fourth Dimension? May 8 Elizabeth Indianos The Gainesville Solar Walk & Various AAC Members June 12 Bud, Chuck & Randy Members Medley July 10 Joe Haldeman Astronomy in Science Fiction August 14 Jeffrey Pettitt Observe the Sun (tentative) September 11 Jack J. Fox Earth, Moon, Mars and Beyond! (Cancelled) October 9 David Ciardi Astrophysics with Infrared Interferometers: The Impending Revolution November 13 Rafael Guzmán Astronomy in the Twenty First Century: From Extrasolar Planets to the Early Universe December 8 None (Holiday Party) Help Celebrate Our 14th Anniversary * Scheduled for Bryant Space Science Bldg., Room 5/7, University of Florida (rather than Doyle Conner Bldg.)
Details of 2001 Meetings
Tuesday, January 9, 2001, 7:30 p.m. EST
Speaker: Dr. Howard L. Cohen, Vice President, AAC and Associate Professor of Astronomy, Dept. of Astronomy, Univ. of Florida (cohen@astro.ufl.edu)
Title: Praising and Perverting the Heavens: Visions of Our Universe
Location: Bryant Space Science Building (BRT), Room 5 & 7 (University of Florida Campus)
Note: This is a change from our usual meeting location due to a scheduling conflict.
(See locator maps — BRT is the home of UF's Department of Astronomy.)Preview: Ever since our ancestors first gazed upward, humans have tried to express, in both words and pictures, strong emotions aroused by the starry firmament above. This unusual presentation illustrates some of our most inspiring and creative literary images of the heavens. In addition, we will see how badly writers and artists have also managed to mangle stars and planets. Discover how the heavens go and do not go. Come see and hear how we have succeeded in both praising and perverting the heavens. And maybe you will even learn some astronomy along the way!
Tuesday, February 13, 2001, 7:30 p.m. EST
Speaker: Dr. Fredrick W. Hamann, Associate Professor of Astronomy, Dept. of Astronomy, Univ. of Florida (hamann@astro.ufl.edu)
Title: Quasars, Black Holes and the Birth of Galaxies
Location: Doyle Conner Building, 1911 S.W. 34 Street, Gainesville, FL
Preview: Quasars are bright beacons at the fringes of the observable universe. Soon after their discovery in the 1960s, the extreme energy output of quasars (often more than entire galaxies) was attributed to hot gas swirling into the gravitational abyss of a super-massive black hole. More recent studies support this basic explanation, but interesting puzzles remain. One of the most revealing results of recent research is that quasars, and the massive black holes that drive them, are apparently natural byproducts of the formation of normal galaxies—such as our own Milky Way. In a nutshell, it appears that, while galaxies form, considerable material gets dumped into their centers—leading to the formation of massive black holes that "light up," for a short time, as a quasar. By the present day, most quasars have burned out, but the evidence for their past energetic lives remains in the form of remnant black holes that still reside in galactic nuclei. I will review our present understanding of the quasar phenomenon, and delve into the relationships between quasars, black holes and galaxies.
Tuesday, March 13, 2001, 7:30 p.m. EST
Speaker: Frederick G. Gregory, Professor of History, Dept. of History, Univ. of Florida (fgregory@ufl.edu)
Title: Extraterrestrials: Ancient Historical Challenges to Religion
Location: Doyle Conner Building, 1911 S.W. 34 Street, Gainesville, FL
Preview: Some of the earliest considerations of the possibility of life on other worlds originated as a problem in theology. While this development is to be expected, a survey from the 13th century to the present day reveals that the issue has enjoyed a surprising staying power as a central problem in theology.
Tuesday, April 10, 2001, 7:30 p.m. EDT
Speaker: Richard Schneider, Partner, Schneider Laboratories, Co-Owner, Eye Research Laboratory, Inc., Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Nuclear Engineering Sciences, University of Florida.
Dr. Schneider is a registered professional engineer. He has been the principal investigator on numerous grants and contracts with the Navy, NASA, DOE, USAF, and Army. Recipient of numerous awards including NASA's top civilian award, the Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement.
His fields of interest include lasers, optics, and engineering physics. Dr. Schneider holds over thirty patents. He is a published author who has written two books, and over 60 articles for scientific journals and over 100 for international and national scientific meetings.
Dr. Schneider retired after 25 years as Professor of Nuclear Engineering Sciences at the University of Florida. Now is a Professor Emeritus. He is presently the Managing-Partner of Schneider Laboratories, Ltd., and is co-owner of Eye Research Laboratory, Inc., both in Alachua, Florida.
Title: Is There a Fourth Dimension?
Location: Doyle Conner Building, 1911 S.W. 34 Street, Gainesville, FL
Preview: A presentation aimed at a general audience about the fourth dimension! Dr. Schneider will discuss questions and topics such as: Is there a fourth dimension? Is there a curved space? Other worlds: Flatworld and the worm king. The Möbius Ribbon. The metric of space and how it changes. What is time? The space-time continuum. The red shift and the distant galaxies. Was there a Big Bang? And finally, the semantic levels. Only concepts will be discussed, use of equations will be avoided. Dr. Schnieder's avocation is to make complicated concepts of physics understandable to interested persons, having not necessarily a technical background. His topics represent a logical ladder starting with a very easy concept, the dimensions and will end up with the final rung, the semantic levels.
Tuesday, May 8, 2001, 7:30 p.m. EDT
Speaker: Elizabeth Indianos (Tarpon Springs Artist) and Various AAC Members
Title: The Gainesville Solar Walk
Location: Doyle Conner Building, 1911 S.W. 34 Street, Gainesville, FL
Preview: Did you know that from 1993 to 1996 Gainesville had a simple solar system model along one of its busy streets? Vandals stole most of the signs but two years ago the City of Gainesville authorized construction of a new and more elaborate "Solar Walk." Since then the AAC and the Department of Cultural Affairs has been working with Tarpoon Springs artist Elizabeth Indianos to design and build the Solar Walk. Learn more about solar system models, the history of the Solar Walk project and AAC's involvement. The artist will also be present at this meeting to show and explain her design concept in this unique project that combines both science and art. (This undertaking is the second joint project between Elizabeth Indianos and the AAC—the first being the astronomical design that now decorates the lobby of the new Gainesville Royal Park Stadium 16 Theater.)
Tuesday, June 12, 2001, 7:30 p.m. EDT
Speaker: Bud, Chuck & Randy
Title: Members Medley
Location: Doyle Conner Building, 1911 S.W. 34 Street, Gainesville, FL
Preview: Three veteran AAC members share their decades of observing experiences.
Tuesday, July 10, 2001, 7:30 p.m. EDT
Speaker: Joe Haldeman
Title: Astronomy in Science Fiction
Location: Doyle Conner Building, 1911 S.W. 34 Street, Gainesville, FL
Preview: TBA (presentation adapted from talk at the 2001 Winter Star Party)
Joe Haldeman is an award winning writer of science fiction. He has won numerous awards for his writings. More recently Joe has also turned painter. The following is taken from his biographical outline:
AWARDS: THE FOREVER WAR won the Hugo, Nebula, and Ditmar Awards as Best Science Fiction Novel of 1975. "Tricentennial" won the Hugo Award for Best SF Short Story of 1976. In 1978, MINDBRIDGE won the Galaxy Award for "Science Fiction and Spirituality." "Saul's Death" won the Rhysling Award for best science fiction poem of the year, 1983. "The Hemingway Hoax" novella won the Hugo and Nebula Awards for Best Novella of 1990. THE HEMINGWAY HOAX novel won the Italian "Futuro Remoto"Award as Best Novel of 1991. "Eighteen Years Old, October 11th" won the Rhysling Award for 1990. "Graves" won the World Fantasy Award and the Nebula Award for Best Short Story of 1993 . "None So Blind" won the short story Hugo in 1995. FOREVER PEACE won the novel Hugo, Nebula, and John W. Campbell Awards in 1998, the first such "triple crown" in 22 years.
BOOKS INCLUDE: WAR YEAR (short novel) Holt, 1972; COSMIC LAUGHTER (anthology) Holt, 1974; THE FOREVER WAR (novel) St. Martin's Press, 1975; MINDBRIDGE (novel) St. Martin's Press, 1976; PLANET OF JUDGMENT (Star Trek novel) Bantam, 1977; ALL MY SINS REMEMBERED (novel) St. Martin's Press, 1977; STUDY WAR NO MORE (anthology) St. Martin's Press, 1977; INFINITE DREAMS (short story collection) St. Martin's Press, 1978; WORLD WITHOUT END (Star Trek novel) Bantam, 1979; WORLDS (novel) Viking, 1981; WORLDS APART (novel) Viking, 1983; NEBULA AWARDS 17 (anthology) Holt, 1983; DEALING IN FUTURES (short story collection) Viking, 1985; TOOL OF THE TRADE (novel) Morrow, 1987; BUYING TIME (novel) Morrow, 1989; THE HEMINGWAY HOAX (short novel) Morrow, 1990; WORLDS ENOUGH AND TIME (novel) Morrow, 1992; VIETNAM AND OTHER ALIEN WORLDS (essays, fiction, poetry) NESFA Press, 1993; 1968 (novel) Hodder & Stoughton, U.K., 1994, William Morrow, Inc., June 1995; SAUL'S DEATH (poetry collection) Anamnesis Press, May 1997; FOREVER PEACE (novel) Berkley, October 1997; FOREVER FREE (novel) Ace, 1998; THE COMING (novel) scheduled for Dec 2000, Ace .
Tuesday, August 14, 2001, 7:30 p.m. EDT
Speaker: Jeffrey Pettitt
Title: Observe the Sun (tentative)
Location: Doyle Conner Building, 1911 S.W. 34 Street, Gainesville, FL
Preview:A presentation about solar observing and solar filters. There is more to solar observing than "meets the eye," especially if you use filters specially constructed for observing the Sun. Mr. Pettitt will speak about his work at the Davis Memorial Solar Observatory and explain what can be accomplished by amateurs who want to do solar observing. He will also discuss types of solar filters, what you can expect to see through them, and how to use solar filters safely. Finally, Mr. Pettitt will conclude with a brief discussion of solar eclipses with specific emphasis on the 1998 Caribbean and 1999 Eurasian solar eclipses.
Mr. Pettitt got started in solar work about six years ago at the Davis Memorial Solar Observatory in Deltona, Florida. He lives in Orlando, Florida and is currently a representative for Daystar Filters, a world recognized company specializing in the manufacture of high quality, solar ultra-narrow bandpass filters (hydrogen alpha and calcium K-Line). His day phone number is (407) 333-9348 and he can be reached at jpegemini@aol.com.
Weather permitting, Mr. Pettitt will set up a solar telescope to view the Sun at Shoney's Restaurant on Archer Road.at 5:30 p.m. prior to the talk. (Shoney's has a better western horizon than the Doyle Conner Building.) Many AAC members meet at 6:00 p.m. for an informal supper at Shoney's before each monthly Tuesday meetings. Join us. Subscribers to the AAC E-Mail list will be notified if any plans change.
Notes: H-alpha is a dark spectral line (wavelength 656.28 nanometers*) in the red part of the visible solar spectrum. In the violet end of the solar spectrum, the K and H-lines of ionized calcium (wavelengths 393.37 and 396.85 nanometers* respectively) are the most prominent dark lines in the visible portion of the Sun's spectrum and in the spectra of other solar type stars.
- Filters "tuned" to these spectral lines (such as made by Daystar, Coronado and Thousand Oaks) allow only residual light from these lines to pass through. This light originates in the Sun's lower atmosphere (the chromospherei or "color sphere" so named because of its red glow from hydrogen). Thus, features of the Sun's chromosphere not normally visible when viewed in "white light" (all colors) become visible.
- Such features include
- plages (Fr. for beach) Bright regions in the chromosphere showing magnetic lines and corresponding to bright regions faintly seen on the Sun's surface (the photosphere or "light sphere")
- spicules "Spike-like" jets of tenuous gas in the upper chromosphere seen at the the solar limb, or as fine dark mottles (blotches) when seen against the solar disk
- prominences "Flame-like" or "cloud-like" structures seen extending above the chromosphere when viewed at the Sun's limb, or as dark filaments when seen projected against the solar disk
*nanometer (nm) A billionth (10-9) of a meter (equivalent to 10 Angstrom units or 0.001 microns).
Tuesday, September 11, 2001, 7:30 p.m. EDT (Cancelled due to terrorist attacks on USA)
Speaker: Jack J. Fox, Chief, Spaceport Technology Projects Office
E-Mail: jack.fox-1@ksc.nasa.gov
Title: Earth, Moon, Mars and Beyond!
Location: Doyle Conner Building, 1911 S.W. 34 Street, Gainesville, FL
Preview: A presentation of NASA's past, present and future missions. Includes discussions of Russian MIR space station, International Space Station, Space Shuttle replacement, Hubble Space Telescope, Mars Pathfinder, other current and future interplanetary missions.
Biography: Jack Fox is Manager of Spaceport Technology Projects for Spaceport Engineering and Technology at the Kennedy Space Center. He is responsible for the development of Spaceport technologies involving Range and Weather, Command and Control, Integrated Vehicle Health Management, Exploration Ground Systems, Launch Site Support Systems and Flight Experiments for possible application on the Space Shuttle, future launch vehicles and spacecraft.
Jack received a Bachelor of Science Degree in 1983 in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from the Ohio State University. He also received a Master of Science Degree in 1995 in Engineering Management from the University of Central Florida.
Jack has been with NASA since 1983 and is actively involved with the surrounding communities making presentation to civic groups and local schools. He enjoys playing golf, spectator sports, collecting baseball cards and antique radios. Jack resides in Orlando, Florida with his wife and their two daughters.
See Jack at Pad 1, NASA Kennedy Space Center
Tuesday, October 9, 2001, 7:30 p.m. EDT
Speaker: David Ciardi, Assistant Scientist, Dept. of Astronomy, Univ. of Florida (ciardi@astro.ufl.edu)
Title: Astrophysics with Infrared Interferometers: The Impending Revolution
Location: Doyle Conner Building, 1911 S.W. 34 Street, Gainesville, FL
Preview: Infrared interferometers present intense technological challenges which slowly been met over the past few decades. Currently operational infrared interferometers have relatively small telescope apertures and poor sensitivity. However, new interferometers based upon the Keck 10m and VLT 8m are in current development. The Keck Interferometer achieved "first fringes" earlier this year. With the larger apertures available to interferometry, a scientific revolution is impending. Additionally, space-borne interferometers are currently being developed. An overview of infrared interferometers will be given with a general description of how an interferometer works. In particular, I will discuss the potential scientific impact of interferometry.
Tuesday, November 13, 2001, 7:30 p.m. EST
Speaker: Rafael Guzmán, Assistant Professor, Dept. of Astronomy, Univ. of Florida (guzman@astro.ufl.edu)
Title: Astronomy in the Twenty First Century: From Extrasolar Planets to the Early Universe
Location: Doyle Conner Building, 1911 S.W. 34 Street, Gainesville, FL
Preview: The new generation of large ground-based telescopes and space observatories are opening up new windows into the universe. Among the most exciting new discoveries are the detection of planetary systems outside our Solar System, and the observations of very distant galaxies at an epoch when the universe was only 10% of its current age. These observations require a new generation of complex astronomical instruments. The University of Florida has become a leading institution in the construction of instruments for large telescopes in the infrared regime. A brief description of these instruments and the scientific research astronomers at UF are currently undertaking in proto-planetary systems and high-redshift galaxies will be presented.
Saturday, December 8, 2001, 6:00 p.m. EST (dinner served at 6:30 p.m.)
Speaker: None but lots of fun!
Title: "Holiday Party" and Celebration of AAC's 14th Birthday!
Location: Gainesville Garden Club, 1350 NW 75 Street
Preview: AAC will hold its annual December holiday party — a potluck dinner. (There will be no regular Tuesday meeting in December.) Club will buy drinks and paper products. (There will be a food sign up sheet at our October and November meetings — see below.)
Since this year we are renting the Garden Club for our event, the AAC is requesting a small donation to help cover costs:
Adults $5.00 per person Children Free if under 18Food to Bring If you miss signing up at the October or November meetings, please respond to webmaster@floridastars.org and indicate what food dish you will bring:
- Wings, ham rolls, cheese & crackers, finger sandwiches, taco salad w/chips, dessert or other (please designate)
- Also indicate the number of adults and children (give ages) who will attend.
Last year we celebrated our 13th anniversary. This year we celebrate our club's 14th anniversary. Good food, games, our traditional astro slide quiz, lots of prizes, sci fi space music, and an astro video!
Begins approximately at sunset. Lasts till whenever.
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