PAST MEETINGS:

In January 2010, Tim Thompson of JPL talked about Globular Clusters.

In December 2009, Robert Eklund and Albert DiCanzio will presented "A Dialogue on the Galilean Imagination, Seen Through the Twin Lenses of Science and Poetry".

In November 2009, Jim Mahon gave a talk about the history of the Apollo program. Mr. Mahon has spent a career in aerospace and has contributed to the operation of our current Shuttle fleet. These days, he presents shows at the Santa Monica College Planetarium and works in science outreach at the Griffith Observatory, as well as in our community.

In October, we hosted a special screening of the The Journey to Palomar, the recent PBS television documentary on the famous Pasadena astronomer George Ellery Hale and his epic battle to discover the secrets of the universe. Producer/director Robin Mason was present to discuss the making of the film. More information and the film trailer can be seen at www.journeytopalomar.org and www.pbs.org/thejourneytopalomar.

At our September meeting, Vincent Lloyd of El Camino College spoke on "Big Bang Misconceptions".

In August, Robert Lozano presented "Cassini and Iapetus". Thor Dockweiler commented on "The Salt Ring of Saturn" and "Recent Developments in Determining Distances with Supernovae".

For our July meeting, Tim Thompson gave a talk on "Why String Theory?" Tim Thompson is president of the Mt. Wilson Observatory Association, and has spent a career of exploration at the Jet Propulsion Lab.

Dr. Marc Rayman, Engineer for the DAWN mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory talked about the DAWN missing, which will allow us close-up looks at two previously unexplored worlds in the Asteroid Belt, and how this data will enhance our understanding of the solar system's past.

In May 2009, we had an update on Comet Lulin, a tour of Saturn's strange moon Titan and a beautiful Hubble Space Telescope retrospective. Our science fair included demonstrations of interstellar scattering, wave resonance, liquid CO2, planetary rotation, spectral lines and a host of other exciting displays. Tons of fun, and a very special evening! Thanks to everyone who made it happen, and special thanks to our host, Joe Wise, for helping make this such a success.

In April 2009, Thor Dockweiler talked about "Apophis - 20 Years And Counting". This asteroid will come very close Earth in 20 years, and there is a small chance it may even hit us.

In March 2009, we explored the question: Are we really going back to the Moon? And then on to Mars? Will we relive the glory days of manned exploration? How do we plan to send humans out beyond Earth? Our local rocket scientist, Jim Bartlett, gave us the inside picture on the Constellation Program, our next great step into space.

In February 2009, Fabio Altenbach (Astronomy and Astrophysics, UCLA and Caltech) gave a talk on why objects in the cosmos take the forms we see..

Our January 2009 meeting featured Dr. Richard Ellis of Caltech, and with his topic "Dark Energy: Should We Be Worried?" Dr. Ellis is one of the world's leading researchers in this area. He has been Director of Palomar and Caltech Observatories.

With over 300 planets now detected around other stars, we're getting a new perspective on what our own Solar System may have been like in its early days. In December 2008, Andrew Booth, Ph.D. (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), gave a talk about the search for extrasolor planets using the Keck Telescope.

Our November 2008 meeting focused on two remarkable gamma ray satellites, VERITAS and the newly-launched Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope. Dr. Rene Ong, Professor of Physics and Astronomy at UCLA, explained how he uses data from these instruments to study some of the most exotic processes in the cosmos.

October 2008: The previous months have seen the sun magnetically quieter than it's been for decades. Is this just a slight glitch, or could it signal real changes? What have we learned about the sun's "dark" secrets? Jed Laderman (El Camino College) gave us a perspective on our favorite star.

In September 2008, Dr. Omer Blaes of UC Santa Barbara gave a talk about the fascinating "sounds" produced by Black Holes.

In August 2008, our club member Greg Simonian spoke about CERN, where the "Large Hadron Collider" is nearing completion. This is the trailblazing European research site where outer space meets inner space, and where we'll get a new look at conditions in the first moments of the universe, hot on the trail of the Big Bang.

In July 2008, Tim Thompson of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory gave a lecture on The Nature and Evolution of Galaxies. Mr. Thompson has worked on the Spitzer and AIRS projects for JPL. He is President of the Mount Wilson Observatory Association.

In June, Thor Dockweiler gave a talk about the Tunguska impact event, prompted by the 100-year anniversary.

In May, JPL's Trina Ray, an insider on the Cassini Mission, gave a presentation on Saturn and its moons--from the jets of Enceladus, to saucer-shaped inner moons, to enormous lightning storms and strange ring phenomena.

At our meeting on April 11, UCLA's Andrea Ghez spoke about her groundbreaking work on the center of the Milky Way, which she believes harbors a supermassive black hole.

In March, Dr. Luisa Rebull, Research Scientist at the JPL/Caltech Spitzer Science Center, gave a talk on the Spitzer Sapce Telescope and its usefulness for the research of star formation and the origins of our solar system.

Our February talk was given by Stephen J. Edberg of the Jet Propulsion Lab. Dr. Edberg, a popular speaker well-known to the astronomical community (and to many in our club) shared his perspectives on the smaller and cooler members of the solar system and stellar systems, from dust to brown dwarfs and the company they keep.

In January, David Saltzberg told us about his expeditions to Antarctica to study a elusive particles that may hold some of the deepest secrets about our universe: neutrinos.

In December 2007, Bob Eklund, of the Mt. Wilson Observatory Association, who grew up among astronomers at Yerkes Observatory and has spent the last quarter-century doing public outreach at Mt. Wilson told us about these storied places, and how he has blended astronomy and poetry in his life. In addition, Fabio Altenbach briefed us on free astronomy software.

Our November 2007 speaker, Nate McCrady of UCLA, is an expert on star clusters. He gave a lecture about the different type of clusters, their formation and their importance for understanding the universe.

At the October 2007 meeting, Richard Ellis, Steele Professor of Astronomy at the California Institute of Technology gave a talk on "Cosmic Dawn : Gravitational Lenses and the First Galaxies in the Universe".

In September 2007, Jed Laderman gave two talks: "From Druids to the DaVinci Code" and "The Night Time Stars - Who Are They?" Laderman is a science instructor with the Los Angeles Center for Enriched Studies.

Additionally, Robert Lozano made a presentation on his recent visit to Hawaii.

The August meeting on 10 August 2007 reatured Bryan Crandall, Professor Emeritus of Physics of East Los Angeles College, speaking on "Dark Matter - What Is It Good For?" providing an update on recent research pertaining to same, and continuing in a series of dark matter talks over several years.

Previously, club president Thor Dockweiler showed us a pictures of the comet McNaught.

At the meeting in June, James Bartlett presented the inner workings of NASA's space shuttle fleet. (Jim is an engineer working for the company that builds the shuttle's main engines. He recently spent time at Cape Canaveral but has now moved back to California).

In April, Genesis Project Manager Don Sweetnam from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory explained how the Genesis spacecraft returned samples to Earth and how the scientific payload was rescued after a malfunction.

In March, Trina Ray from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory gave us an update on the Cassini mission and on the latest disvoveries about Saturn and its moons.

At the February meeting, Michelle Thaller from Caltech explained how the Spitzer Space Telescope is giving us revolutionary new insights into the universe.

MOUNT WILSON DATES

CLUB PHONE NUMBER

(310) 495-7595

CASSINI AT SATURN

After a journey of 2.2 billion miles, NASA's Cassini Spacecraft fired its main engine to brake down from a cruise velocity of 12,000 mph. The craft entered an orbit around Saturn. The spacecraft is currently studying the ringed planet and many of its 31 known moons. Late in 2004, Cassini released Europe's Huygens probe, which successfully landed on Saturn's largest moon Titan and produced spectacular results. Follow this amazing mission here!

OVER THREE YEARS ON MARS

The mars rovers "Spirit" and "Opportunity" have are well beyond their three year anniversary of their arrival on Mars. They were not supposed to last that long, but both are still going strong. The scientific output of this mission has been nothing but amazing. Follow this mission here!