Mtg&Talks: "Observing in a Light-Polluted World" & "The Kennedy Space Center"

At the Warren Astronomical Society's Cranbrook meetings, we spend the first hour or so of the meeting on club business and observing reports, then have two presentations, one short and one full-length.

Main Talk:
There was a time, not so long ago, when night skies were dark and clear and the stars were diamonds on a sea of velvet. Sadly, those skies are lost for most of us because of ever expanding cities and light pollution. The Constellations are all but invisible and the Messier objects that used to be visible in a 3 or 4 inch telescope are nothing but a “faint fuzzy.” We could become armchair astronomers, or, if we are really serious about seeing the things that we have lost, we can travel to a dark sky spot, which is difficult or impossible for most of us. Alternately, we can purchase a large and heavy telescope, a so-called light bucket.

Now, there is another alternative, Electronically Assisted Astronomy or Near Real Time Viewing. This does not mean traditional astrophotography. It does include video (analog) astronomy and near real-time (digital) viewing. As an added bonus, we have at our disposal small hand held computers that will accurately tell our telescope where to point. We have at our fingertips tools that were not available in even the best professional observatories just a few years ago. We will discuss EAA, concentrating on what I have tried and what works, what is easily available, and, look at what the future has in store for us.

Lawrence “Larry” Hoffman is a retired ophthalmologist. He got his first look through a telescope 70 years ago and has been hooked on Astronomy since then. In high school and college he attended meetings of the Detroit Astronomical Society and ground his first mirror, for an eight inch Newtonian, in a basement off of Second Avenue. He remembers when you could see the Milky Way from Broadstreet and Boston. Over the years he has had a wide variety of telescopes and mounts, strongly believing that you can never have too many scopes or too many mounts. He currently belongs to two Astronomy clubs in Michigan and two in Florida. His motto is, “When you stop learning you are dead. It’s just that nobody bothered to tell you.”

Short talk:
The Kennedy Space Center is NASA's primary launch center for human spaceflight. The center offers 1 to 3 hour bus tours and has numerous additional sights and displays that you can easily spend all day exploring. Rebecca Blum visited there this spring, and will tell us what she saw.

Rebecca has just completed the 10th grade at Cranbrook Kingswood High School. She has been interested in science, especially astronomy, since she could first speak. This may have something to do with the fact that her grandfather is Jon Blum, who joined the WAS at about the time that she was born. She previously gave a presentation here at our meeting about Space Camp, which she has attended every summer for several years. She would like to become an astronaut and go to Mars.
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After each Cranbrook meeting of the Warren Astronomical Society, a number of Club members go to the Redcoat Tavern (31542 Woodward Ave., Royal Oak, MI 48073) for a snack, a drink, and/or informal chat. Guests are also invited to join us there. We generally leave from the Cranbrook meeting when it ends about 10 PM, and meet at the restaurant a few minutes later.

Directions: Head south on Woodward. The Redcoat will be on your left, on the east side of Woodward, two blocks north of 13 Mile and just north of Burger King. Make a Michigan left and find parking either in front or the large back lot.
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If you would like to present at a future meeting, please email Jonathan Kade at firstvp@warrenastro.org.
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The views expressed in presentations are those of the speakers and do not necessarily represent, and should not be attributed to, the Warren Astronomical Society.