6:30 pm – Introductory Presentation
Title: Variable Stars, the AAVSO and the Astronomical League
Speaker: Douglas Smith
Douglas Smith will present a history of Variable Star observing and discoveries, the importance of this work. A description of what a variable star is and the process that causes the variability. He will discuss the AAVSO and their purpose and look at their website. He will also discuss the Astronomical League’s three observing programs for variable stars.
7:30 pm – Main Presentation
Title: Train Wrecks Across Time: A History of Galaxy Mergers
Speaker: Barry Rothberg, Ph.D., Large Binocular
Telescope Observatory
The collision and merging of galaxies is one of the most violent events in the Universe. Galaxy mergers are far from rare, and are responsible for reshaping and creating galaxies, forming millions of new stars, enriching and forging new elements, and birthing and fueling the most powerful and destructive engines in the known Universe. But galaxy mergers have not only reshaped the Universe over the last 13 billion years, but have served as a means of reshaping humanity’s understanding of astronomy and physics. In this presentation, we will start on a journey beginning several centuries earlier, and see how galactic train wrecks have helped further the development of astronomical optics, altered and remade our basic understanding of physics, and inspired astronomers to see how the Universe is both vast and ever expanding. We will also see how galaxy mergers will impact our own future. Our Milky Way galaxy and one of our galactic neighbors, the Andromeda galaxy, are hurtling towards each other, destined to collide and eventually merge. Our understanding how galaxy mergers occur and their outcome will serve as a means of seeing our own inevitable future.
This will be a star gazing event that will be part of A Colossal Fourth. A Colossal Fourth is the name for a series of events taking place over the week of July 4th.
Observing: 8 – 9:30 pm
Viewing Location: Vail Lutheran Church, south of the buildings
Star Party supporting the Intermountain Center @ Flandrau Science Center. The event will feature a talk by Dante Lauretta, Professor of Planetary Science and Cosmochemistry at the U of A. The event will go from 5:30 – 8:30 pm with the star party on the UA Mall south of Flandrau from 7:30 – 9:30. For more information, see the Intermountain Center website: http://intermountaincenters.org/.
The Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association will have some Solar Telescopes to safely view our star The Sun. We will look for Prominences, Flares, Sunspots, and other activities happening on the Sun. The Fair will be set up on the concourse of the Kino Sports Complex. There will be lots of activities and booths supporting Autism and Science.
Star Party-Elfrida Library
ELFRIDA, AZ (Near CAC)
Viewing Location: Outside the Library
Come join the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association for some safe daytime viewing of our closest star the Sun. We will have a solar telescope setup outside the Elfrida Library. We will look for Solar Prominences & Flares, Sunspots, and other activity on the Sun.
Star Party-Elfrida Library
ELFRIDA, AZ
Viewing Location: Outside the Library
Estimated # Participants: 25
Come join the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association for some evening viewing of some exciting astronomy wonders. We will have telescopes setup outside the Library to view some planets, star clusters, multiple star systems, nebulae, and lots more.
Come join us for a presentation from the fundamentals of amateur astronomy. Bill Clarke will be discussing Home-made AltAz mounts and Gus Gomez will be showing us the constellation Corvus.
6:30 pm – Introductory Presentation
Title: Seasonal Night Sky Objects
Presenter: Mary Turner
Mary Turner, TAAA’s appointed Chief Observer, takes us on a tour of the spring night sky. As usual in her popular talks, Mary’s use of astronomical data, images, and mythology brings the seasonal changes in the sky to life.,
7:30 pm – Main Presentation
Title: Gravitational Waves and Things that Go Boom in the Night or The Start Of The Age of Multi-Messenger Astronomy
Presenter: Dr. David Sand. Dr. Sand received his undergraduate degree in Physics from UCLA and his PhD in Physics from Caltech. He is now an Assistant Professor in Astronomy at the University of Arizona, and an observational astrophysicist with many interests. He is particularly interested in time domain astronomy (how astronomical objects change in time), especially in the progenitors of supernova. In his free time, he enjoys the outdoors with his wife Debbie and daughter Delilah .
In his presentation, Dr. Sand talks about the ‘time domain’ revolution in astronomy, and how we are finding new ways to study stars that merge, burp and explode by looking at their imprints on space-time via gravitational waves. He will highlight recent results on the gravitational wave detection of the merger of two neutron stars, and look to the future of this field. Dr. Sand’s interest in things that go bump in the night led to his team’s search for electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational waves.
Main Presentation:
Hands on German Equatorial Mount
Presenter: Conner Justice
Come join us for a presentation from the fundamentals of amateur astronomy. Conner Justice will present “Hands on German Equatorial Mount”.
Constellation of the Month:
Lupus
Presenter: Rob Hallberg
The “Constellation of the Month” is “Lupus”, presented by Rob Hallberg.
6:30 pm – Introductory Presentation
Title: TAAA Grand Canyon Star Party; its value and current need
Presenter: Jim O’Connor, TAAA Grand Canyon Star Party South Rim Coordinator
Learn about this year’s TAAA Grand Canyon Star Party (GCSP) on June 9-16, 2018. Thanks to planning by the GCSP South Rim Coordinator and the National Park Service Ranger Leader, and the many participants who attend, the public gains a rich education in astronomy and environmental awareness. Jim will discuss our current need for his successor as TAAA GCSP Coordinator, and share some stories that highlight the joys of participating in astronomy outreach. As he says, “you never know what life you’ll touch, or who might touch yours.” Further information about TAAA and the Grand Canyon Star Party can be found at https://tucsonastronomy.org/upcoming-events/grand-canyon-star-party/.
7:30 pm – Main Presentation
Title: Volcanic Activity in the Solar System and the Frontier of Exovolcanology
Presenter: Dr. Christopher Hamilton, Assistant Professor, Lunar and Planetary Lab, University of Arizona
Volcanic activity on Earth is primarily controlled by plate tectonics, with additional Large Igneous Provinces (LIPs) fed by mantle plumes. LIPs are common on terrestrial bodies throughout the Solar System, but without plate tectonics, volcanism differs vastly on extraterrestrial worlds. Dr. Hamilton’s presentation compares and contrasts styles of volcanism within our Solar System, and their implications for our detecting and understanding highly volcanic exoplanets in other solar systems.
