Next TAAA Monthly Meeting: Friday September 4, 2026
TAAA’s next general member meeting will be held on Friday September 4, 2026 at the University of Arizona Steward Observatory Lecture Hall auditorium room N210 at 933 N Cherry Ave., Tucson, AZ. The Main Presentation will start at 6:30 PM. This will be a hybrid meeting (both in person and on social media). TAAA Members can attend in person or by Zoom (link at the bottom of the email announcement to members). The public may attend in person or public streaming is available at https://www.youtube.com/@tucsonamateurastronomyasso2702/streams. The meeting will be available afterwards on that same YouTube channel.
Talk: Unmasking Nysa – And Other Adaptive Optics Results from LBT by Al Conrad, PhD. In this talk we will present recent observations of asteroid (44) Nysa using adaptive optics. Nysa has a one-of-a-kind shape and is orbited by a previously unknown moon. We discovered that Nysa, one of the brightest and largest known asteroids populating the main belt between Mars and Jupiter, possesses an extraordinary three-lobed structure and is accompanied by a small moon. The discovery, based on high-resolution adaptive optics imaging from the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) on Mount Graham, provides a rare glimpse into the complex history of one of the solar system’s most enigmatic asteroids. The observations were made possible by a high-contrast optical imaging instrument, dubbed SHARK-VIS, and a new adaptive optics system, which compensates for the blurring induced by atmospheric turbulence. We will also provide an update on other adaptive optics results from LBT, including recent observations of Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io.
Dr. Al Conrad received his PhD in Computer Science from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1994. Before joining LBT in 2014, he worked as software engineer and support astronomer at both Lick and Keck Observatories before moving to the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy to lead the development of the ground layer AO system for LINC-NIRVANA (LN). At LBT, Al has served as point of contact for LN, LBTI, and LUCI/AO commissioning. His current duties include the science archive, SHARK-NIR, SHARK-VIS, LN, and OSCO. His research interests include asteroid systems and developing novel techniques to study comets, planets, and the moons of planets, in particular Jupiter’s moon Io. He enjoys cycling, sailing, and outrigger canoe paddling.
Asteroid (44) Nysa. Minker et al., A&A, 2026