Members only event! Dr. Francisco Reyes has invited AAC's members to a special Star Party at UF Rosemary Hill Observatory in Bronson. Sun sets at 5:29 pm.
Please arrive after 4:00 pm and 30 minutes before sun sets to set telescopes. You may drive up to 30" dome or the 18" dome to setup scopes but must park in parking lot which is right of Dorm (Dorm on left side of street) or both sides of street (in grass/dirt) before Dorm.
We are starting at 4 pm to have extra time to visit and snack for those interested.
Event Alerts - Members please register to attend. A "GO" or "NO GO" will be emailed to registrants by noon the day of the event.
Agenda:
7:00 - 7:15 General Meeting & Announcements 7:15 - 7:30 Short topic presentation by a club member 7:30 - Public Presentation
Speaker:
Dr. Amy Mainzer
Professor, Planetary Sciences
Professor, Lunar and Planetary Laboratory
Member of the Graduate Faculty
University of Arizona
Topic: Near-Earth Orbit (NEO) Surveyor Mission
Abstract:
Planetary defense has become a high priority program for NASA, and rightly so. Dr. Mainzer will talk about the NEO Surveyor mission, for which she is the principal investigator (PI). This is a planned space-based infrared telescope designed to carry out a comprehensive survey of the Solar System for potentially hazardous asteroids. The mission's launch is currently scheduled for the first half of 2026. The mission will be a successor to the Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) mission, an Earth-orbiting satellite that uses infrared sensors to characterize asteroids and comets, which Dr. Mainzer was also the PI for.
About the Speaker:
Dr. Mainzer received a B.Sc. in Physics from Stanford University with honors (1996), an M.Sc. in Astronomy from California Institute of Technology (2000), and a Ph.D. in Astronomy from the University of California, Los Angeles (2003). She did her PhD thesis on an infrared camera for NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA).
She was a systems engineer at the Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center in Palo Alto, where she was the lead engineer responsible for the design, construction, testing, and in-orbit checkout of the Spitzer Space Telescope’s fine guidance sensor. As a Senior Research Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) from 2003-2019, Dr. Mainzer specialized in astrophysical instrumentation and infrared astronomy.
Dr. Mainzer is currently serving as the Chair of the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences (DPS), the world's largest professional society of planetary scientists. She is also serving as the Chair of NASA's Planetary Advisory Committee (PAC).
She is active in education and public outreach. She appears in several episodes of the History Channel series The Universe. She also appears in the documentary featurette "Stellar Cartography: On Earth" included on the Star Trek Generations home video release (March 2010). Mainzer is also in the 2016 documentary about the life of Leonard Nimoy and the effect of Spock on popular culture called "For the Love of Spock", which was directed by Leonard Nimoy's son Adam Nimoy. She serves as the science consultant, co-executive producer and host for the live-action interstitials on the PBS Kids series Ready Jet Go!
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Dr. Amy Mainzer is one of the world's leading scientists in asteroid detection and planetary defense. Prof. Mainzer uses orbital and ground-based facilities for this work. As PI of NASA's NEOWISE mission, Mainzer has overseen the largest space-based asteroid-hunting project in history. She also served as the Deputy Project Scientist for the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission. Dr. Mainzer’s research focuses on characterizing the populations of asteroids and comets through statistical measurements of their sizes, orbits, albedos, and rotational states; she also has studied brown dwarfs, ice giant planets, and star forming regions.
Interesting fact - Asteroid 234750 Amymainzer, discovered by astronomers of the NEAT program at Palomar Observatory in 2002, is named after her.
Meeting by Zoom
Speaker: James Albury
Planetarium Director and host of the YouTube Series "The Sky Above Us"
Topic: Winter Stars
James C. Albury grew up in Miami, FL where he started volunteering at the Miami Museum of Science and Space Transit Planetarium at the of age 14. He began by helping with ushering, but by age 15, he began working part-time as a console operator for the planetarium. Albury enjoyed astronomy and the planetarium environment so much, that he stayed with the Miami Science Museum until age 22 when he moved away to college.
In 1988, Albury relocated to Gainesville, FL to pursue a degree in Astronomy from the University of Florida. He graduated in 1992 with a Bachelor of Science in Astronomy and pursued post-baccalaureate studies in astronomy shortly thereafter.
Careers in astronomy being what they were, Albury worked from 1993 - 2007 for UF's Office of Academic Technology and then as a manager with Lifestyle Family Fitness in Jacksonville, FL from 2007 - 2009. In 2009, Albury was able to professionally return to his first love (Astronomy) when he became the director of the Kika Silva Pla Planetarium at Santa Fe College. He has produced numerous planetarium shows in the 11 years that he has been the planetarium’s director.
Albury was also a co-host with Dean Regas of the internationally syndicated PBS show “Star Gazers” (the world’s only weekly television program on naked-eye astronomy). Albury and Regas hosted the show together from October 2011 to November 2019. In February 2020, Albury launched his own astronomy series on YouTube titled “The Sky Above Us”. Each episode gives viewers a sneak-peak at the celestial events, planets and constellations that are visible in the sky during the coming weeks. (http://www.theskyaboveus.org)
Between January 1, 2019 and December 31, 2020, Albury served as President of the Southeastern Planetarium Association (SEPA); a professional organization for the support of planetaria and staff in Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and all U.S. Territories off the southeastern coast of the U.S. He currently serves on the SEPA Executive Council as Past-president (2021-2022) and advises the current President and Vice-president. (http://www.sepadomes.org)
Albury has spoken around the country and internationally on various astronomical topics, including the challenges and opportunities for public interest in astronomy and astronomical outreach.
Lastly, Albury has a very supportive family in his wife Kandra and three children Drea, Myra and Bryce; without whom none of this would be possible.
Agenda: 7:00 - 7:30 General Meeting & Announcements 7:30 - 7:45 Refreshments 7:45 - Presentation
Dr. Paul Weissman
Senior Scientist Emeritus
Planetary Science Institute
Topic: Rosetta Mission to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Comets are time capsules containing primitive material left over from the epoch when the Sun and its planets formed. By studying the gas, dust and structure of the nucleus and organic materials associated with the comet, via both remote and in situ observations, the Rosetta helped to reveal the history and evolution of our Solar System. Rosetta launched in 2004 and arrived at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on 6 August 2014. It was the first mission in history to rendezvous with a comet, escort it as it orbited the Sun, and deploy a lander to its surface, also a first. Rosetta was a European Space Agency (ESA) mission with contributions from its member states and NASA. The mission ended on 30 September 2016.
Dr. Weissman received his Bachelor of Arts in Physics from Cornell University in 1969. He earned two Masters of Science degrees, one in Astronomy from the University of Massachusetts in 1971 and his second in Planetary and Space Physics from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1973. Dr. Weissman was awarded his Ph.D. in 1978 from the University of California, Los Angeles for his work on the Physical and Dynamical Evolution of Long-Period Comets. He has worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in a multiple array of capacities, including as a research scientist in the Earth and Space Sciences Division (1979), Mission Scientist for the Mariner Mark II Project (1981 – 1982), Co-Investigator on the Visual Infrared Mapping Spectrometer Science Development Team (1984 – 1988), Deputy Project Scientist on the Comet Rendezvous/Asteroid Flyby Project (1987 – 1992), Co-Investigator on the Near Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (NIMS) experiment on the Galileo spacecraft (1988 – 2003), Deputy Study Scientist for the Champollion Lander on the International Rosetta Mission (1995 – 1996), Project Scientist for the Champollion/DS4 Comet Lander and Sample Return Mission (1996 – 1999), and the Astronomy Science Lead at Table Mountain Observatory (2003 – 2015). Dr. Weissman was a Senior Research Scientist at JPL from 1995 until he joined PSI in 2015.
Dr. Paul Weissman is a leader in comet studies, and his research focuses on the characterization and understanding of comet nuclei. His research includes the evolution of comets, their connection with the asteroid population, and their role in the evolution of the solar system. Other studies, relevant to comet evolution include examining the dynamical history of the Oort Cloud and its evolution over the formation of the solar system.
Interesting fact - Minor Planet 3197 Weissman is named after him.
