Main Presentation:  

Solar Eclipses

Presenter: Connor Justice

This month in preparation for the October Annular Eclipse, Connor Justice will giving an updated talk on Solar Eclipses.

Title:  Light Pollution and Dark Skies in Southern Arizona and Beyond

Presentation:  The world at night is lighting up at an alarming rate. A host of ecological and social consequences comes with this rapid environmental change, but solving this problem is simple and cost effective. In this talk John will review what we know (and don’t know) about light pollution, how it affects us, and which mitigation strategies are most effective. From there he will describe an effort to revitalize the Southern Arizona chapter of DarkSky International (DarkSky International was formerly known as the International Dark-Sky Association) and the plans for regional advocacy and action in coming years.

Bio: John Barentine is the Principal Consultant at Dark Sky Consulting, LLC, and was formerly the Director of Public Policy for the International Dark-Sky Association. He earned a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin, and previously held staff positions at the National Solar Observatory, Apache Point Observatory, and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Throughout his career, he has been involved in educating the public about science. He is a member of the American Astronomical Society and the International Astronomical Union, and is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. The asteroid (14505) Barentine is named in his honor. His interests outside of astronomy and light pollution research include history, art and architecture, politics, law and current events.

Space Station Shot of Earth at Night. Credit: NASA

Astronomical Distances

Presenter: Doug Smith

Doug Smith will be presenting on Astronomical Distances.

Astronomer of the Month: Sir Arthur Eddington

Presenter: Pete Hermes

Pete Hermes will be detailing Sir Arthur Eddington for our ongoing astronomer of the month series.

TAAA’s next general member meeting will be held on Friday, July 7, 2023. The Main Presentation will start at 6:30 P.M. This will be a hybrid meeting (both in person and on social media). TAAA members will receive a Zoom link should they wish to attend remotely. The public may attend in person or online through our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TucsonAstronomy/. It will still be posted to YouTube afterwards.

Title:  The Shocking History of A Giant Lens!

Presentation:  Walking though your high school or college hallways you’re likely to find tchotchkes, curios, and relics of the past. Good chance you’ve passed them every day and never given a second glance. In this presentation, Max Lipitz asks the question: what if you did take that second look? And what if that curio was a giant camera lens that for the past decade sat unassumingly on the 3rd floor, of the northwest corner, of the Rochester Institute of Technology, (RIT) Carlson Center for Imaging Science Building (CIS)? The scuttle bug around the center was that it was built in support of the U-2 (Dragon Lady) spy plane program begun in 1955. However, that is far from the truth and the reality is far more astounding…as Max’s talk will reveal.

Bio:  Maxmillian (Max) Lipitz could best be described as a strange amalgamation of NASA obsession, photographic prowess, and insatiable curiosity. In his attempt to acquire empirical knowledge, he has accumulated thousands of useless facts over a period of decades. This has led him to be an oddball graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technologies Imaging Science Program; a highly interdisciplinary field that combines physics, math, computer science, and engineering. Whether it’s developing image processing algorithms to turn people into Simpsons characters or restoring a 31-year-old digital camera just because, Max puts his whole heart into everything he does. In the past he’s worked with Dr. Robert Kremens to develop next-generation probes (“Kremboxes”) to monitor wildfires in the thermal and visible spectrum, providing valuable data that could save thousands of lives. Currently Max works as a scientist at Tucson-based GEOST, developing ground and space based electro-optical systems.