HOWARD
ASTRONOMICAL
LEAGUE
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HAL Meetings in 2024
HAL General Meetings (Open to the Public)
- We have resumed in-person General Meetings at
Robinson Nature Center (as well as on Zoom).
- For specific meeting dates, see the HAL Calendar.
- Additional information is announced via the HowardAstro Google Group.
- All HAL Meetings (and star parties) are held in locations which are smoke free by law. Help us protect our ability to use these facilities by not smoking.
General Meetings are held from 7:00PM to approximately 9:00 on the 3rd Thursday
of every month via Zoom (until further notice).
HAL Planning Meetings (Open to All Members)
Planning Meetings to discuss future club direction, events, meeting topics, outreach, etc. are open to all members. Attendance is encouraged.
They are usually held from 7:00 to 8:00PM on the 1st Monday
of every month via Zoom (until further notice).
Sometimes these meetings are rescheduled or cancelled due to holidays or board member unavailability.
Check our home page, posts to the HowardAstro Google Group, or the HAL calendar.
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HAL's COVID-19 Policy for Events - Updated May 2023
- In Howard County, COVID-19 community level is Low. We are following Howard County guidelines:
https://www.howardcountymd.gov/health/covid-19
https://www.howardcountymd.gov/News021822
- Face coverings are optional inside the Alpha Ridge HALO building. People may choose to mask at any time.
- If you are experiencing any flu-like symptoms or have tested positive for COVID, please be
considerate of others and refrain from attending HAL events.
- For HAL impromptu and member-only star parties, participants should wait for an invitation before approaching to look through others’ telescopes; respect each other’s desires for social distancing.
2024 General Meeting Topics / Speakers |
Jan. 18 |
Thursday, January 18th, 2024 beginning at 7:00PM
Topic: The ZWO Seestar S50: The Next Generation of Smart Telescopes
Presenter: Grace Coventry, Head of IT Services Division, Space Telescope Science Institute
Artifacts:
Meeting PDF
| Grace's Presentation PDF
| Video Recording on YouTube
| Chat Log
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Grace will be delivering a presentation entitled "The ZWO Seestar S50:
The Next Generation of Smart Telescopes". HAL has recently acquired a
Seestar
for use by our members at star parties and outreach events.
Grace will provide an overview of this exciting new development in the
field of amateur astronomy.
Specific subjects Grace will cover include:
- The smart digital telescope paradigm
- Two generations of smart telescopes
- ZWO Seestar S50 specifications and features overview
- A walkthrough of Seestar's observing modes
(Stargazing/Solar/Lunar/Planetary/Scenery)
- Image processing, with examples
- Uses for the Seestar
- HAL's plans for the Seestar
There's a lot of interest in the Seestar in HAL – a number of members
are acquiring them. Join us for a lively discussion about the future of
smart digital telescopes!
Bio: Grace Coventry is Head of the IT Services Division for the Space
Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. She is currently serving as
2nd Vice President of HAL.
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Feb. 15 |
Thursday, February 15th, 2024 beginning at 7:00PM
Topic: Total Eclipse of the Heart: Is it Geometry, or Just a Phase
Presenter: Christine Hirst Bernhardt, PhD Candidate, Astronomy Professor
Artifacts:
Meeting PDF
| Video Recording on YouTube
| Chat Log
Eclipse Information
(Professor Bernhardt's links including videos)
This talk will interactively explore why we have eclipses, and why
we don't have them every month. We will explore the perfect
triangles that allow for eclipses, our unique place in space and
time which caters to this observation, some fun stories of eclipses
in the past and connections to civilizations (and colonization) and
finally learn how and where to see the eclipse in April.
Christine Hirst Bernhardt is a National STEM education leader and
PhD candidate at the University of Maryland. In 2021-2022 she served
in Congress as an
Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow
to advance education policy initiatives. Her passion for all things
space fostered the Excellence in Astronomy Teaching award and
participation on
NASA's SOFIA
mission. Christine identifies and
addresses national needs in Earth and Space education as the chair
of the
National Astronomy Education Coordinator team
and US member of the Global Leadership in Earth Science Education. Christine has
developed programs and curricula such as a high-altitude balloon
program, student space symposium and international space camp. She
holds Master's in both Space Studies and Science Education. Her
Doctoral research centers on international astronomy education and
teacher learning with a social justice lens. She is interested in
international science education and using Earth and Space topics as
a gateway to STEM in early learning.
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Mar. 21 |
Thursday, March 21st, 2024 beginning at 7:00PM
Topic: Laser Communications in Space
Presenters: Dave Israel, Chief Architect, Exploration and Space Communications projects division, with Armen Caroglanian
Moderator: Jimmy Acevedo
Artifacts:
Meeting PDF
| Video Recording on YouTube
| Chat Log
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Join us for an informal, panel-style discussion about NASA’s recent successes building
laser communications infrastructure in orbit. We’ll breeze through a brief overview
presentation of laser communications technology, then chat with
Laser Communications Relay Demonstration
(LCRD) principal
investigator Dave Israel (and possibly other guests). We plan to leave plenty of time
for audience questions, so please come ready to engage!
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Apr. 18 |
Thursday, April 18th, 2024 beginning at 7:00PM
Topic: Weather in the Outer Solar System is Cloudy and Stormy
Presenter: Dr. Richard G. Cosentino, Staff Scientist at STScI
Artifacts:
Meeting PDF
| Video Recording on YouTube
| Chat Log
Provided after our meeting:
The clouds on the
outer planets
look very different from the
what we see here on Earth, but then at other times they look
more familiar than anyone might expect. I will talk about the
general morphology of Jupiter's atmosphere, it's distinct
banding and wind patterns, and of course the Great Red Spot.
The discoveries from the Juno mission and the circumpolar
cyclones at Jupiter's poles provide the opportunity to look at
the other outer planets that all have polar storms of varying
sizes. We will look at Saturn's Hexagon, the recent north pole
of Uranus coming into view, and large dark spots on Neptune.
I'm originally from Buffalo NY and went to undergrad at SUNY
Buffalo for Electrical Engineering and Engineering Physics,
after which I worked for several years as a green building
consultant working for a small firm that collaborated with
architects on historical renovations and new buildings. Still
loving astronomy and after a ski trip to Colorado, decided to
change career paths and went back to school for astronomy at CU
Boulder and then moving to New Mexico Tech, right next to the
VLA to eventually earn my PhD in Physics. My PhD focused on
modeling jet streams in Jupiter's atmosphere and what we could
learn from observatories like Hubble and IRTF about waves and
turbulence from cloud structure. I went to NASA Goddard for my
postdoc where I continued studies of Jupiter's atmosphere,
including the Great Red Spot and smaller spots and storms, and
also worked on the OSIRIS-REx mission as an instrument
scientist for a spectrometer which aided in finding the sample
site for asteroid Bennu. I am now working in the instrument
division at STScI on the
Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and
the calibration reference file pipeline.
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May 16 |
Thursday, May 16th, 2024 beginning at 7:00PM
Topic: Great American Solar Eclipse of 2024: Collective Experience of the Howard Astronomical League
Presenter: Jim Johnson, Former HAL President
Quick Zoom Link.
More options on home page.
Jim Johnson's Bio from 2022.
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Two years prior to the 2017 eclipse, then President Chris Todd gave a
presentation to generate interest in the eclipse and he provided many
thoughtful planning considerations. I know that I, for one, benefited
from this presentation. Just prior to the eclipse date, I asked
eclipse observers to record notes and images related to their eclipse
experience. I called these notes in to use as a basis for a review of
HAL's collective eclipse experience, which I presented at HAL's
September 2017 meeting.
At the June 2021 HAL meeting, I embarked on a three-part series of HAL
presentations that will culminate in a review of HAL's collective
experience at the 2024 eclipse. The series title is
The Great North American Solar Eclipse of 2024,
and the three parts are:
Part 1 –
An Amateur Astronomer's Guide to Solar Eclipses,
(June 17,
2021) A general guide to solar eclipses and solar eclipse observing.
Part 1: June 2021 YouTube recording
Part 2 –
HAL Lessons from the Great American Solar Eclipse of 2017
(July 21, 2022). This presentation is the best “pre-game show” that I
can recommend to prepare for the 2024 eclipse. While each and every
HAL member or guest experience in 2017 was amazing, our collective
experience is something quite special and worth revisiting. I prepared
this presentation by starting with the with the 2017 collective
experience, and added notes to derive helpful lessons for the 2024
eclipse. This presentation provides a sense of the variety of sites to
which HAL members and guests traveled, their travel and lodging
experiences, various experiences with weather, traffic, observation
notes, and photos of sites, equipment, and the eclipse. This is a good
place for someone to get a sense of what to expect in April.
Part 2: July 2022 YouTube recording
Part 3 –
The Collective Experience of the Howard Astronomical League.
This part of the 2024 series has not yet been written, but I will be
soliciting your eclipse notes and images for compilation into HAL's
record of the 2024 eclipse. This compilation will be presented at the
May 2024 HAL meeting.
I encourage all to review parts 1 and 2 as you complete eclipse
observing and travel preparations, and to get a sense of the kinds of
information that I will be asking you to collect for the 2024
collective experience presentation as the eclipse date draws nearer.
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June 20 |
Thursday, June 20th, 2024 beginning at 7:00PM
Topic: Cosmic Visions
Presenters: Chris Hoff and Sam Harnett, Founders of The World According to Sound
Chris Hoff and Sam Harnett from
the Ways of Knowing podcast are coming to talk about
Cosmic Visions,
their radio series about the history of astronomy. Their show takes
listeners from the first lunar calendars and the development of zero
to the discovery of exoplanets and gravitational waves. Chris and Sam
will talk about the stories in the podcast, how they made the show,
and what they learned about astronomy along the way.
Chris Hoff and Sam Harnett are the founders of
The World According to Sound podcast,
which started as a series of 90 second
podcasts in 2016 and has evolved into a series of award winning
in-depth audio programs. Their philosophy is that intentional,
communal listening is a way to reclaim autonomy in a visually
dominated world. Their radio show minimizes speech and makes sound
the focus, to give listeners a sonic space to have their own
thoughts. Chris Hoff began his career in audio as an engineer for
public radio and later podcasts. Sam Harnett started as a reporter
covering labor and technology. They first met as volunteers at KALW in
San Francisco, where they invented games to pass the time like who
could put the basketball through the metal triangle rafters of 1970s
public school architecture. They are currently producing their radio
program as well as performing live experiential shows.
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July 18 |
Thursday, July 18th, 2024 beginning at 7:00PM
Topic: Two Years of JWST Science (tentative title)
Presenter: Dr. Kelly Lepo, Education and Outreach Scientist, Office of Public Outreach, STScI
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Topic Description: [forthcoming]
Bio: Dr. Kelly Lepo is an Education and Outreach Scientist at the Space
Telescope Science Institute, where she supports outreach efforts for the
James Webb Space Telescope. She received a PhD in Astronomy and
Astrophysics from the University of Toronto. During her time in Canada,
she made numerous local and national media appearances to talk about
everything from the 2012 Mayan Apocalypse to the Super Blue Blood Moon.
She previously served as the Coordinator of the McGill Space Institute,
taught physics at Gonzaga University, and helped build the Large Hadron
Collider at CERN.
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2020 Meetings - Speakers and Topics
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2022 Meetings - Speakers and Topics
2023 Meetings - Speakers and Topics
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