Friday, JUNE 13 at 7:30 p.m.

David Pecker Conference Room, Willcox Hall, Pace University, Pleasantville, NY or on-line (link on WAA home page)

MOXIE – The Oxygen Generator on Mars

Piyush Khopkar
Software Engineer, NASA Solar System Ambassador

MOXIE is a technology demonstration that addresses the Mars 2020 (Perseverance) objective of preparing for future human exploration by demonstrating In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) in the form of dissociating atmospheric CO2 into O2. The primary goals of the MOXIE project are to verify and validate the technology of Mars ISRU as a springboard for the future, and to establish achievable performance requirements and design approaches that will lead to a full-scale ISRU system based on MOXIE technology.  Join us as Piyush Khopkar provides us with insight into this fascinating project.

Free and open to the public.  We encourage in-person attendance to better connect with fellow club members.

We are canceling the Star Party for April 26th due to predicted unfavorable weather (clouds and wind).  We will try again on Saturday, May 17th.

Friday, MAY 9 at 7:30 p.m.

David Pecker Conference Room, Willcox Hall, Pace University, Pleasantville, NY or on-line (link on WAA home page)

amateur Telescope making…it could change your life!

Andy Poniros
NASA Solar System Ambassador

While many amateur astronomers get started in the hobby by purchasing commercially available equipment, there is a thriving community of amateur telescope makers who build their observing instruments themselves!  From mirror grinding to intricate woodwork to 3D printing, there is lots to learn in the art of amateur telescope making.  Join us as Andy Poniros returns to WAA to give us insight into what goes into building your own telescope.

Free and open to the public.  We encourage in-person attendance to better connect with fellow club members.

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

David Pecker Conference Room, Willcox Hall, Pace University, Pleasantville, NY or on-line (link on WAA home page)

NasA’s commercial crew program and the role of robotics

 Carol Higgens
NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador

In this presentation we visit the International Space Station, the world’s premier space science research laboratory. We’ll take a look at what it’s like to live and work onboard the station, review the crucial services provided by NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, and discuss some examples of the use of robotics to assist astronauts and ground teams.

Free and open to the public.

In-person attendance is always more fun. We’ll have a couple of door prizes again in March.

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

David Pecker Conference Room, Willcox Hall, Pace University, Pleasantville, NY or on-line (link on WAA home page)

Exotic Sandy Clouds in the Atmospheres of Extrasolar Worlds

Genaro Suarez, PhD
American Museum of Natural History

Exoplanets and brown dwarfs are sufficiently cool to form clouds made of sand. It is crucial to understand these clouds to learn about the nature of extrasolar worlds. Dr. Suarez will present recent results about the physics and chemistry of sandy clouds and their effects on extrasolar atmospheres. The data provide a clearer picture of the diversity of exoplanets and brown dwarfs. He will also show exclusive observations from the James Webb Space Telescope that are helping us to decipher the phenomena occurring in the atmospheres of exoplanets.

Free and open to the public.

In-person attendance is always more fun. We’ll have a couple of door prizes again in February.

 

WAA Meeting and Lecture Friday, January 10th at 7:30 p.m.

David Pecker Conference Room, Willcox Hall, Pace University, Pleasantville, NY or on-line (link on WAA home page)

The James Webb Space Telescope:
Humankind’s greatest space science facility

James Beletic, PhD
Chief Scientific Officer, Teledyne Imaging Systems

This talk presents the scientific motivation behind the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the technical challenges and solutions, its orbit in space, its observing cadence, and details about the infrared focal plane arrays that are the unique “eyes” of the observatory. JWST’s technical performance will be discussed and of course many scientific images will be shown.

Dr. Beletic will speak to us remotely, but live attendance at Pace is encouraged. Come at 7:00 p.m. to meet fellow WAAers. There will be door prizes.

If the main entrance to Pace is closed, used Entrance 3 further down Bedford Road towards Pleasantville. Follow the route on THIS MAP

Dr. Beletic is the Chief Scientific Officer of Teledyne Digital Imaging, Space. In this role, he is responsible for engaging current and prospective space customers to grow Teledyne’s space business across the full suite of Teledyne’s imaging technologies. He coordinates Teledyne’s space imaging strategy and technology roadmaps. The Teledyne imaging business units involved in space missions are Teledyne Imaging Sensors, e2v Space Imaging, DALSA, and Judson Technologies.

During 2013-2023, Jim was the President of Teledyne Imaging Sensors (TIS), which is a world leader in the development and production of high performance infrared focal plane arrays. TIS sensors are operating in instrumentation at every major ground-based telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, the Hubble Space Telescope, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Pluto New Horizons, OSIRIS-REx, the Euclid dark universe mission, and weather satellites such as the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES). The next generation of infrared space astronomy missions (SPHEREx, Roman Space Telescope, NEO Surveyor, ARIEL) are made possible by Teledyne’s imaging sensors. TIS plays a vital role in National Defense and supplies infrared arrays, cameras, and electronics to the commercial laboratory instrumentation market.

Dr. Beletic has over 40 years of experience in instrumentation, with specialization in visible and infrared image sensor technologies. His career is a unique combination of international work experience that includes scientific positions at major research centers (Harvard University, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Georgia Tech Research Institute), leadership positions at the world’s foremost astronomical observatories (European Southern Observatory, Keck Observatory), and senior level management of an industry leader in infrared sensors (Teledyne).

Dr. Beletic is an active leader in the international astronomical community, chairing review panels for scientific projects, teaching seminars, giving invited talks, and hosting international conferences. Asteroid 14669 is named after him in recognition of his contributions to astronomy.

 

Friday, December 13, 2024, 7:30 p.m.

Live at the David Pecker Conference Room, Willcox Hall, Pace University, Pleasantville, NY and on Zoom (link on the WAA home page)

Seeing the Invisible: What does a Black Hole look like?

Eliot Quataert, PhD
Charles A. Young Professor of Astronomy
Princeton University

Prof. Quataert is an astrophysics theorist who works on a wide range of problems, including stars and black holes, accretion theory, plasma astrophysics, and how galaxies form, using both analytic calculations and numerical simulations. He received his undergraduate degree at MIT and PhD from Harvard and was a postdoc at the Institute for Advanced Study. After being on the faculty at UC Berkeley, he moved to Princeton in 2020.

Free & open to the public. In-person attendance is always more fun!

 

 

WAA November Meeting

Friday, November 8 at 7:30 pm
David Pecker Conference Room, Willcox Hall, Pace University, Pleasantville, NY

LIVE and via Zoom (link on WAA home page)

Evaporating Exoplanet Atmospheres

W. Garrett Levine
Department of Astronomy, Yale University

Among the most surprising discoveries in the exoplanet era is the number of short-period planets with orbits smaller than that of Mercury. Because these planets are so close to their host stars, theoretical models hypothesize that their atmospheres are at-risk of evaporating due to intense stellar ultraviolet and X-Ray irradiation. Some of those predictions have recently been confirmed with data from telescopes including Hubble and JWST. This talk will describe how this new branch of research places longstanding results from solar system geoscience in an exoplanet context and will conclude with a discussion of how amateur astronomers are supporting these ongoing observational campaigns.

The speaker will be with us at Pace, so WAA members and guests are encouraged to come to the meeting.!

Free & open to the public.

 

 

Friday, October 18 at 7:30 p.m.

Live at David Pecker Conference Room, Willcox Hall, Pace University, Pleasantville NY or via Zoom

Monster Black Holes at the Edge of the Universe

Zoltan Haiman, PhD
Department of Astronomy, Columbia University

Black holes as massive as several billion solar masses appeared within a billion years after the Big Bang. The origin of these objects remains a mystery. Prof. Haiman will present state-of-the art speculations on how such massive black holes may have formed in the early universe from black hole remnants of the first stars, via rapid gas accretion, or via successive mergers. Observations with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and with the space-based gravitational-wave detector called Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) will help us understand the origin of massive black holes, as well as their subsequent growth through gas accretion and mergers.

Free & open to the public. In-person attendance encouraged. Meet & greet WAA members.

If you wish to attend via Zoom, the link is on the WAA home page.

Please note: this is the 3rd Friday of the month. The second Friday is Yom Kippur. The remaining talks in 2024 will be on the second Friday of the month.

 

Friday, September 13, 2024 7:30 p.m.
Via Zoom Only

Members’ Night

One of the most popular meetings of the year is our annual “Member’s Night.” Club members present talks on a vast range of subjects of astronomical interest, including their astronomy trips, observations, new equipment, imaging techniques, and other topics.

Members interested in presenting should email WAA’s Vice President for Programs, Pat Mahon, at waa-programs@westchesterastronomers.org.

This meeting will be held online via Zoom only.