April 12, 2024 at 7:30 p.m.

Live at David Pecker Conference Room, Pace University, Pleasantville, NY or via ZOOM (Zoom link on WAA homepage)

The History of the Universe, from 1919 to Today

Jeremy Tinker, PhD
Associate Professor at the Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics and the Department of Physics at NYU

Dr. Tinker will review the discoveries that led to our current understand of the state of the universe, starting with the confirmation of Einstein’s relativity, through the discovery of the expansion of the universe, and the pursuit of the nature of the universe that led to the discovery that the expansion of the universe is speeding up.

Dr. Tinker at the Jantar Mantar Observatory, Jaipur, India.

Free and open to the public.

Friday, November 10 at 7:30 pm

Live at David Pecker Conference Room, Willcox Hall, Pace University or Via ZOOM (link on Home page)

The Right Stuff…Past, Present, & Future

Andy Poniros
NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador

Andy will discuss his recent experiences interacting with the U.S. space program, including a trip to California to meet and interview Apollo-Soyuz and three-time space shuttle astronaut Vance Brand. He’ll take us behind the scenes to where the “Right Stuff” began at Edwards Air Force Base in California. He will interview Eileen Collins, the first woman to pilot and command a U.S. space shuttle. Andy will also discuss the future of manned space exploration.

Besides being a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, Andy Poniros is a radio show host, a Board member of the Northeast Astronomy Forum, an amateur tele-scope maker, and a space enthusiast.

Friday, May 12 at 7:30 p.m.
LIVE at Willcox Hall, Pace University, Pleasantville or VIA ZOOM
Link to the meeting is on the home page

Introduction to Astrophotography
Jordan Webber, Senior Vice President, WAA

The hobby of astrophotography has changed radically in the last decade with the introduction of CMOS cameras, specialized accessories and powerful image acquisition and processing software. The learning curve can be steep but every journey stars with a single step. This talk will be aimed primarily at folks who don’t know anything about astrophotography and are thinking about getting started or are just interested in how it works in a general sense. More experienced astrophotographers will benefit from Jordan’s experience and may add their insights during the discussion.

Friday, April 14 at 7:30 p.m.

Starquakes
Christopher Lindsay
Department of Astronomy, Yale University

Christopher Lindsay is a third year PhD candidate and Gruber Science Fellow at the Yale Astronomy department working with Sarbani Basu. He graduated in 2020 from the University of Southern California with degrees in Astronomy, Environmental Studies, and Jazz Studies. He went on to receive an M.S. and M.Phil from the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in 2022.

Currently, he is  primarily interested in using asteroseismology to study interior mixing and angular momentum transport processes in evolved low mass stars. Understanding what is going on inside stars requires a combination of data analysis and stellar modeling techniques. During his undergraduate studies, he was an observer for the Mount Wilson node of the Birmingham Solar Oscillations Network and studied high angular degree solar oscillations with data from the Solar Dynamics Observatory.

Lindsay was raised on the island of Oahu in Hawai’i, which, due to proximity to the University of Hawai’i’s Institute for Astronomy, spurred his interest in Astronomy from a young age. He’s taken multiple trips to Mauna Kea, including a recent observing run with Keck .

WAA Lecture Friday, February 11 at 7:30 pm via Zoom

Diurnal, Seasonal, and Inter-Annular Variations of Gases in the Mars Atmosphere
Br. Robert Novak, PhD
Professor Emeritus, Department of Physics, Iona College

The NASA Infrared Telescope is a 3.2-meter telescope located on top of Mauna Kea (4200 m above sea level) on the Big Island of Hawaii. iSHELL is a high resolution (R > 70,000) infrared spectrometer that was installed on the telescope in September 2016. Spectral/spatial images taken by iSHELL can detect gases in Mars’s atmosphere such as water (both H2O and HDO), carbon dioxide, and methane. Searches have been conducted for other organic gases, such as ethane and propane, but up to now, only methane has been positively detected. Since January 2017, Br. Novak has taken data to measure these gases during Mars’ early northern winter (January 2017, Mars Year 33), mid-northern summer (MY 34), mid-northern winter (MY 35), and early northern spring (MY 36). He will discuss the detection and variation of these gases in the course of a day, from season to season, and from one year to the next.

Br. Robert Novak was Chair of Physics at Iona. He works with the NASA Astrobiology group at Goddard Spaceflight Center, and has published a number of important papers on the Martian atmosphere and evidence for an ocean on Mars in the distant past.

On-line via Zoom. 7:30 p.m.

Building a Gravitational Wave Telescope out of Stars

Tyler Cohen, BSc
Graduate Research Assistant, New Mexico Tech

Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of spacetime. A consequence of Einstein’s theory of general relativity, they were first detected from inspiraling black holes in 2015 by LIGO. Now, another observatory is on the verge of detecting gravitational waves of a different sort. Its detector is the size of the Milky Way galaxy and constructed from some of the most exotic stars in the universe. Tyler will discuss how the North American Nano-hertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves uses pulsar timing to search for low-frequency gravitational waves, and the premier radio telescopes that this work has brought him to.

Tyler Cohen is a PhD student at New Mexico Tech and a tour guide at the Very Large Array radio telescope in New Mexico. A Westchester native and former WAA member, he went on to receive his BSc. in physics and astronomy at Stony Brook University. He has since worked at the Gemini Observatory on Mauna Kea, Hawaii and Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.

On-line via Zoom
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81808419156?pwd=WUxkZDg1a1YyUWVSd2NZN1JqWVVmdz09

Magnetic Anomalies on the Moon

Dany Waller

Graduate Student, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

Swirls are a unique class of lunar features. They occur across all types of terrain on the Moon and are associated with strong magnetic anomalies. Although the Moon does not currently have an active magnetic field like Earth, it may have had one in the past. The current magnetic anomalies may be left over from that time. Magnetic fields can provide radiation protection from the solar wind, influencing physical and chemical properties of lunar soil.

Lecture Friday, January 10th at 7:30 pm

Lienhard Hall, 3^rd floor, Pace University, Pleasantville, NY

Why Go Back to the Moon?

Andy Poniros

NASA Solar System Ambassador

Andy has been a NASA volunteer since 1997 and a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador since 2004. He has a degree in Electrical Engineering and has worked as a Medical Imaging Engineer for 45 years. He is certified by NASA to handle Lunar samples, is a science correspondent for radio station WPKN in Connecticut where he produces astronomy and space mission radio shows and podcasts. He’s also an amateur astronomer and telescope maker.

Pre-lecture socializing with fellow WAA members and guests begins at 7:00 pm!