6:30 pm – Introductory Presentation
Title: Annual Report
Speaker: Mae Smith, Ph.D.
TAAA President Mae Smith will give the club’s annual report for 2018.
7:30 pm – Main Presentation
Title: Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association: Sixty-Five Years of Celebrating The Skies
Speaker: Tim Hunter has been an amateur astronomer since 1950, and owns two observatories, the 3towers Observatory and the Grasslands Observatory. He is a past president of Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association, Inc. and a member of TAAA since 1975. He is currently the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Planetary Science Institute (PSI). In 1987, he and Dr. David Crawford founded the International Dark-Sky Association, Inc. (IDA), a nonprofit devoted to promoting quality outdoor lighting and combatting the effects of light pollution.
For this month’s main presentation, Tim Hunter celebrates TAAA’s 65th anniversary year. The TAAA was founded in 1954 as the Tucson Amateur Astronomers (TAA) by a small group of amateurs with the strong support of Dr. Edwin F Carpenter, Director of Steward Observatory.
Learn how TAA evolved into the current TAAA, one of the largest and most active amateur clubs in the United States. Ever since its founding, the TAAA has had a close relationship with Steward Observatory and the University of Arizona. In his talk, Tim will highlight some important landmarks of the TAAA as well as the changes in amateur astronomy from 1954. A special feature of the evening will be short presentations by several former TAAA Presidents.
(By Jim Knoll)
We have quite a few public events in the next two months and are all free unless otherwise noted below. All are weather dependent and could be cancelled if we have extensive cloud cover. They are also posted on the TAAA Calendar so you can get directions and additional information. The All our public events are also posted on then TAAA Facebook Page as an Event and you can follow one and get weather and other updates in real-time.
January 12. Catalina State Park. 6:30 – 9:30 pm. State Park entrance fee required.
January 19. Tucson Mountain Park Ironwood Picnic area. 6 – 8 pm.
January 20. Total Lunar Eclipse. University of Arizona Mall just south of Flandrau Science Center. We will have several telescopes set ups to view the total eclipse. Partial begins 8:33 pm. Total from 9:41 – 10:43 pm, and partial again after that. We will have telescopes operating from 8 – 11 pm. Flandrau Science Center will also be open late.
February 2. Tucson Mountain Park Ironwood Picnic area. 6:30 – 8:30.
February 9. Two events scheduled
— Tucson Star Party, co-hosted with Astronomy Magazine. Pima Community College East
Campus. Solar observing 10 am to 5:30 pm. Evening observing from 6:30 – 9 pm. Astronomy Magazine Blog Post: http://cs.astronomy.com/asy/b/astronomy/archive/2019/01/02/the-tucson-star-party-will-be-a-day-of-sun-and-stars.aspx.
— Agua Caliente Park. 6:30 – 8:30 pm.
Come join us for any of these events. They are a lot of fun and really good for a family activity.
Constellation of the Month:
Caelum
Presenter: Dennis Means
Dennis Means will start the night with a talk about the southern constellation Caelum.
Main Presentation:
Discussion of some Messier Objects
Presenter: Ralph Means
For our main topic, Ralph Means will be presenting “Discussion of some Messier Objects”.
6:30 pm – Introductory Presentation
Title: Astronomical League’s NEW Observing Programs
Speaker: Douglas Smith
Douglas Smith, Program Coordinator from the Astronomical League, will present a summary of the AL’s NEW observing programs added since February 2018. He will give us a heads up on the next Astronomical League observing program workshop. And he will discuss the upcoming Messier Marathon in March. Signup sheets will be available at the Feb meeting.
7:30 pm – Main Presentation
Title: Astronomy & Satellite Tracking at Steward Observatory
Speaker: Dr. Eric C. Pearce has been with Steward Observatory since 2016. His primary area of research is developing advanced systems and techniques to discover, track, and categorize artificial Earth-orbiting satellites. Dr. Pearce was previously Telescope Group leader at the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) project office in Pasadena, California. He holds a Ph.D. in Physics from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.
Dr. Pearce’s presentation focuses on the global network of telescopes and radar systems used to track nearly 5000 satellites and 14000 other man-made objects currently orbiting Earth. The nation’s ability to detect, track, identify, and maintain custody of these objects is essential to safely use space for both civil and military purposes. This mission is the primary responsibility of the U.S. Air Force Space Command. Dr. Pearce will explore the history of our role in developing this mission, our current stage of development, and future challenges. He will include information about its revitalization of astrographs (telescopes designed for the sole purpose of astrophotography).
TAAA Stargazing to view amazing solar system and deep sky objects. You will see planets, nebulae, star clusters, double stars, and lots more. We will have several telescopes for public viewing. Observing location is either Echo Canyon or Faraway Ranch and will be updated as we get closer. A talk is scheduled before observing Bonita Campground Amphitheater at 6:30 pm with observing from 7:30 – 9:30 pm. Please try to use red light flashlights and minimize white light (to include cell phones) that will hinder your night vision. Chiricahua National Monument website: https://www.nps.gov/chir/index.htm. Weather dependent — Follow the event on the TAAA Facebook page to get weather and other updates.
Join Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association and the National Park Service for the 32nd annual Star Party. The Star Party will be June 18 – 25, 2022. We average 50 telescopes for 8 nights. You will see Solar System planets, Galaxies Far Far Away, Star Clusters — some with several hundred thousand stars, Nebulae, multiple star systems (some with as many as 6 stars), and lots more. The skies are so dark you can clearly see the band of the Milky Way overhead. We start with a talk in the Visitor Center Auditorium about an astronomy topic at 8 pm. Observing at the telescopes goes from sunset (about 8 pm) to 11 pm. This event is free and open to anyone inside the Grand Canyon (park entrance fee required). For additional information, check out our Grand Canyon Star Party Webpage at: https://tucsonastronomy.org/upcoming-events/grand-canyon-star-party/. or visit the Grand Canyon Star Party webpage at: https://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/grand-canyon-star-party.htm.
We have a naked eye (from a dark site) comet visible (arrow). It is Comet 46P Wirtanen. Ed Foley, one of our TAAA members, took this picture from our Chiricahua Astronomy Complex dark-sky site during last weekend’s events (Saturday December 8, 2018). You can see one of our observatories as well. Those present observed it through several telescopes. It was also observed at last Saturday’s Ironwood Picnic Star Party and will be observed at this coming weekend (December 15) Agua Caliente Park star party.
Murphy-Wilmot Library will host a star party, supported by TAAA. We will have several telescopes set up to observe some great solar system and deep-sky objects.
Event will be Wednesday February 12, 2019 from 5:45 – 7:45 PM.
6:30 pm – Introductory Presentation
Title: Seasonal Night Sky Objects
Speaker: Mary Turner, PhD
Mary Turner, TAAA’s Chief Observer, takes us on a tour of the winter and early spring night sky. Mary’s use of astronomical data, images, and mythology brings the seasonal changes in the sky to life.
7:30 pm – Main Presentation
Title: Forged in Fire: The Volcanic History of Mars
Speaker: Dr. David Horvath from UA’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, is a planetary geophysicist investigating the interaction of processes acting on the surface and interior of terrestrial planets. His research focuses include Martian volcanism, the ancient hydrologic cycle of Mars, and the current methane-based hydrologic cycle of Titan. Dr. Horvath holds a PhD in Geophysics from the Colorado School of Mines.
Volcanism is widespread in the Martian geologic record, manifested as large shield volcanoes, extensive plains of flood basalts, and potentially global coverage of explosive volcanic ash. While most Martian volcanic activity occurred between ~3 and 4 billion years ago and has generally decreased over time, isolated, young (<500 million years old) volcanism is observed. Dr. Horvath will discuss the geologic record of volcanism on Mars, focusing on some of the youngest volcanic surfaces and their implications for observations by the recent InSight Mars lander.
