Constellations of the Month:  

Pavo and Octans

Presenter:  ???

This month we will be going over the last two of the 88 constellations, Pavo and Octans.

Main Presentation:  

Lunar Evolution

Presenter:  Doug Smith

Afterwards Doug Smith will be giving the main topic presentation on Lunar Evolution.

TAAA’s next general member meeting will be held on Friday, May 6, 2022. The Main Presentation will start at 6:30 P.M. and is open to the PUBLIC via https://www.facebook.com/TucsonAstronomy/. 

A Members Only meeting will follow, therefore MEMBERS should attend the meeting via Zoom.

6:30 pm – Main Presentation

TITLE:  Information About TAAA Leaders & Committees 

PRESENTATION:  This is a great time to learn what has been going on with the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association from “The Inside”. Several key TAAA leaders will present what they or their committees have been working on over the past year.

Sometimes the TAAA’s size and scope can be overwhelming. Please take this opportunity to digest all that we do in our community. Come with questions and comments for our leaders!

7:15 pm – Members Only Meeting

TITLE:  Election Results

PRESENTATION:  The NVRC will announce the results of our Leadership Election 2022.

Constellations of the Month:  

Volans and Horologium

Presenter:   Peter Hermes

With only 4 remaining until we’ve gone through all 88 constellations , Peter Hermes will be overviewing the southern constellations Volans and Horologium.

Main Presentation:  

White Dwarfs and Neutron Stars

Presenter:  ???

We will be finishing up the last of the Star classification talk from previous meeting with White Dwarfs and Neutron stars.

The Main Presentation will start at 6:30 P.M, followed by Mary Turner’s popular Seasonal Night Sky Presentation. Both are open to the public via https://www.facebook.com/TucsonAstronomy/.  

TITLE:  Resolving Black Holes with the Event Horizon Telescope 

PRESENTATION:  Black holes, predicted almost a century ago by Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, were believed to power some of the most energetic phenomena in the Universe. However, their compact sizes make them extremely difficult to resolve. In 2017, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration brought together many radio telescopes around the world to form an Earth-size virtual telescope, and successfully captured the first ever images of a black hole—in the center of galaxy M87. This result enables astrophysicist to study the detailed astrophysics around black holes and test General Relativity itself. In this talk, presenter Chi-wan Chan will cover the theoretical background of black holes, the observation technique used to resolve them, and some of the open questions in black hole astrophysics.

BIO:  Chi-kwan “CK” Chan is a computational astrophysicist working with cutting edge technologies to advance both theoretical and observational research. He has developed new algorithms to study magnetohydrodynamic turbulence, used graphics processing units (GPUs) to accelerate general relativistic ray tracing, designed cloud computing infrastructures to handle big observational data, and applied machine learning algorithms to speed up and automate data processing. Some of his active projects include simulating and understanding accretion disks, capturing images of black holes, and visualizing astrophysical simulations in virtual reality. He’s also a true wildcat, having received his bachelors and doctoral degrees from the University of Arizona. He is a Data Science Fellow at the UA Data Science Institute and an affiliate member of UA’s Applied Math GIDP.

Constellation of the Month:  

None

Presenter:

We do not have a constellation of the month for this meeting.

Main Presentation:  

Uncommon Star Types Like Pulsars

Presenter:  ???

Due to a lack of attendees, our main topic from last month has been reschedule to this month. Our discussion will be a continuation of our recent topic on Star classification, and cover uncommon star types like pulsars.

6:30 pm – Main Presentation

Title:  Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics in the 2020’s:  The Astro2020 Decadal Survey 

Presentation:  Every 10 years Congress charges the National Academy of Sciences with undertaking a survey of Astronomy and Astrophysics over the coming decade.  The “Astro2020 Survey”, carried out by a main survey committee and roughly a dozen expert sub-panels, identified the most compelling scientific questions to be addressed, and recommended a comprehensive strategy by the National Science Foundation ( NSF), National Aeronautics and Space Administration(NASA)  and the Department of Energy (DOE) to address those objectives.  This survey—in which several Arizona astronomers participated—also fully addressed, for the first time, the state of the astronomy profession and its societal impacts.  Dr. Kennicutt’s talk will cover some of the highlights from the report (released last November), followed by time for questions and discussion.

Bio:  Robert Kennicutt studies observational extragalactic astronomy, and holds part-time faculty positions at Steward Observatory and Texas A&M University.  He has worked at the University of Arizona since 1988, with a break in 2005-2017 to serve as the Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy at the University of Cambridge.  He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of London, the Royal Astronomical Society, the American Astronomical Society, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.  Along with Fiona Harrison at Caltech, he co-chaired the Astro2020 Decadal Survey.