Next Meeting

When November 19th, 2008 at 7:30pm. Come early at 7pm to visit with your fellow members. Bring your slides to show after the program. Questions? Contact the VP Programs Where Physics-Astronomy Building Room A102 University of Washington Seattle Map What Hubble at 20: Looking Behind and Ahead Bruce Balick University of Washington, Astronomy Department Prof. Balick's interests range from star formation to the final throes of stellar evolution; in particular, how planetary nebulae that surround these stars might reveal the history of formation and evolution of stars in various phases in which gas infall or outflow is involved. He also works on chemical enrichment rates from low-mass stars. Prof. Balick and his collaborators focus on the nebular hydrodynamics and the construction of numerical models in which detailed physical processes are included. Balick is an active user of large optical and radio telescopes and the Hubble Space Telescope. He serves on the design team for the next generation camera, WFC3, to be installed in HST in 2008. He is a member of the Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee which monitors the progress and funding of interagency projects and advises Congress annually. Many thanks to our past speakers of 2008: Paul Rodman. On October 15, 2008, Paul gave a great lecture introducting Fermi's Paradox to the audience. This paradox focuses on the existence of extraterrestrial civilizations...or the lack thereof. His presentation included historical documentation, great video clips, and thought-provoking content. In the audience we even had a visiting LGM, or rather a visiting LGW...dressed in green with antennae. David Dorais, Rubie Sanborn Johnson, Edward J. Mannery, Burley Packwood, Bob Suryan, and Chris Laurel. At the "Show and Tell" presentation of June 18, David showed a nice DVD movie on cosmic collisions; Rubie and Edward showed us the RubyScope, a 6" reflector kit built for kids; Burley gave us an account of his trip to Whipple Observatory in Arizona; Bob showed pictures of Kitt Peak Observatory which he first visited 32 years ago; and Chris did a demo of his amazing 3D visualization software Celestia. Prof. Victoria Meadows. On May 21, 2008, Prof. Victoria Meadows of Univ. of Washington talked about how we will search for and identify planets that might support life around other stars, and described results from the new science of astrobiology that will help us recognize signs of life on these distant worlds. Denis Janky. On April 16th, 2008, Denis Janky, a fellow SAS member, shared with the audience observing tips, favorite galaxies for telescopes large and small, and other resources. Dr. Chris Brook. On March 19th, 2008, Dr. Chris Brook of University of Washington spoke on the cosmological simulations of galaxy formation. Paul Rodman. On February 22nd, 2008, Paul Rodman gave a very entertaining and extremely informative talk on planning and logging astronomical observations, which also included a demonstration using the software AstroPlanner. Previous Speakers A list of speakers at previous meetings can be found here.