NSAS Activities for June

1 06 2011

Once again, another busy month for NSAS in June, with the high point being the field trip to Parkes and the Dish.  Our month begins as usual with the Theory Group on Tuesday the 14th, followed by the General Meeting on the 21st.  Our speaker will be Jonathon Horner from UNSW, and his talk will be “Jupiter – Friend or Foe”.  The GM is followed by the trip to Parkes on the weekend of 25/26 June.  This has been well-advertised, and we have about 25 people going, but if you’ve missed it, please contact us ASAP.  Finally, we finish up the month with the New Astronomer’s Group on Tuesday the 28th.  Observing will be on Friday the 3rd, and while we have it scheduled for Friday the 24th, everyone will be in transit to Parkes, so this will be cancelled.

As many of you know, from June NSAS moves to Regis Hall, Regis Campus, St. Ignatius for all future meetings.  It’s very easy to find, and there will be directions on the NSAS website, and as well.  It’s just as well, as we were outgrowing the Sports Pavilion with all the new members this year.


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Categories : Events, General Meeting, Meetings, NAG, Observing, Speakers, Theory Group

NSAS Events for May

2 05 2011

We have the usual busy month ahead in May for NSAS, with the Theory Group meeting Tuesday the 10th, the New Astronomers Group restarting after a break at Easter on Tuesday the 24th, and Bob Roeth entertaining us again with one of his “fifth Tuesday” math-rated astronomy exercises on the 31st.  The General Meeting his month is Tuesday the 17th, and we’re lucky to have been able to get Jason Spyromilio, from the European Space Organisation, who is visiting, to talk to us about the ESO’s new ELT (Extremely Large Telescope) project.  As usual, all meetings are at St. Ignatius, starting at 7:30 PM.  Also as usual, visitors are welcome to the General Meeting and NAG.


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Categories : Events, General Meeting, Maths, NAG, Speakers, Theory Group

Alex Filippenko to speak in Sydney

13 04 2011

 

Alex Filippenko, Professor of Astronomy and Richard & Rhoda Goldman Distinguished Professor in the Physical Sciences, University of California, Berkeley
Renowned supernova astronomer Alex Filippenko will give a public talk at Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum on Sunday 19 June from 3 pm. (The talk will run for about an hour, then time will be allowed for questions.)

The title of his presentation is Dark Energy and the Runaway Universe. For more details, see www.aao.gov.au/press/filippenko/ .

This is Professor Filippenko’s only scheduled public talk in Australia.

Professor Filippenko is  a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, has coauthored over 640 publications and is one of the world’s most highly cited astronomers. Winner of the top teaching awards at UC Berkeley, he was named the National Professor of the Year in 2006. He produced several astronomy video courses for The Teaching Company and appeared in numerous television documentaries.
He is visiting Australia to take part in an international conference, Supernovae and Their Host Galaxies (http://www.aao.gov.au/southerncross/).

The talk is free after you have paid for entry to the Museum. Enquiries: Ali Gordon, Powerhouse Museum, tel 02 9217 0509, alig@phm.gov.au .
It is strongly suggested that you confirm the talk time closer to the event by calling the Museum on 02 9217 0111.

In case you don’t know who this is, the Theory Group has been watching “Understanding the Universe”, by Alex Filippenko (Bob Fuller)

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Categories : Events, Theory Group

Events at NSAS in March

28 02 2011

NSAS has a full schedule of events for March, including:

Observing is scheduled at North Turramurra on Friday March 4th, and Linden on March 6th.

Tuesday the 8th of March the Theory Group meets again, and continues with it’s adventure in “Understanding the Universe”

Tuesday the 15th of March is the General Meeting.  We have an exciting speaker for you this month, Jeremy Mould from the University of Melbourne, who was formerly Director of the RSAA in Canberra, then at NOAO in the USA. He was a member of the team that determined the
Hubble Constant using the HST to observe Cepheid variables, a process  that took ten years, but which settled an argument that had lasted for decades. In 2009 the trio of Freedman, Kennicutt and Mould were awarded the Gruber Cosmology Prize for this work.  His talk will be on “The Hubble Telescope and the Hubble Constant”.

Tuesday the 22nd of March will be the second meeting of the re-started NAG.  Last month the new NAG members looked at telescopes, and this month the subject is “astronomical coordinate systems and finding your way in the sky”.

As usual, all meetings start at 7:30, and are located at the Sports Pavilion (Fr Mac Pavilion) at St. Ignatius College.  Visitors are welcome to all.

The month ends with observing on March 25 at North Turramurra.


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Categories : Events, General Meeting, NAG, Theory Group

NSAS Events for November

8 11 2010

Sorry, seemed to have missed out on this at the start of the month.

Tuesday the 9th is the Theory Group, with yet another two lectures in “Understanding the Universe”.  We now have a couple of sets of “catch-up” DVDs for anyone wanting to join the Group now.

Tuesday the 16th is the GM, and the speaker is Tui Britton, from Macquarie Uni, who will speak on Star Formation.

Tuesday the 23rd is the NAG, with the program to be announced.

Observing this month is Friday the 26th, and hopefully we will finally get a clear Observing night after so many cancellations.


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Categories : Events, General Meeting, NAG, News, Theory Group

NSAS events for October

5 10 2010

October started out bad for Observing, but we have two more chances on the 8th and 29th.  The Theory Group meets on Tuesday the 12th at 7:30.  Saturday the 16th NSAS will support the Macquarie Open Night.  Contact the Committee if you’d like to participate, or just come along.  This months General Meeting is the AGM on Tuesday the 19th at 7:30.  As the AGM, there will be no speaker, but come out and elect next year’s Committee, and help with your ideas on where you want the Society to go in the next 12 months.  Tuesday the 26th, the NAG is back as a result of popular demand, at 7:30.  Program to follow.  All events except Macquarie are at St. Ignatius, as usual.


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Categories : Events, General Meeting, NAG, Observing, Theory Group

NSAS Events for September

1 09 2010

NSAS starts off September with the Theory Group on Tuesday the 14th at 7:30, with more lectures in the “Understanding the Universe” series.  Murray Suters will chair.  The GM will be on Tuesday the 21st at 7:30, followed by our September speaker, Dan Zucker from Macquarie University Physics Dept, whose presentation will be “Building Galaxies in our Backyard”.  See the separate abstract.  The New Astronomers Group follows on Tuesday the 28th at 7:30.  Roy Jordan will announce the agenda later in the month.  All meetings will be at St. Ignatius, and as usual, visitors are welcome to all the meetings.

Observing will be the Friday nights, 10 and 17 September at North Turramurra, with Sat the 18th as the weather alternate.


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Categories : Events, General Meeting, NAG, Observing, Theory Group

NSAS Events for August

31 07 2010

In August, the first NSAS event is the Theory Group on Tuesday the 10th, where this dedicated group will see further lectures in the series “Understanding the Universe”.  The August General Meeting is on Tuesday the 17th, and the guest speaker is Orsola De Marco, Associate Professor of Physics at Macquarie U.  She will present a talk on the subject “Planetary Nebulae:  death shrouds of lonely stars or aftermath of binary interactions?”.  See the separate post for an abstract.  The New Astronomers Group meets Tuesday the 24th, and after the big turnout in July, we suggest anyone with a scope who has questions on how to set it up, use it, or observe, come along.  All meetings are at St. Ignatius at 7:30PM.


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Categories : General Meeting, NAG, Theory Group, Uncategorized

NSAS Events for June

28 05 2010

NSAS starts out in June with the Theory Group on Tuesday night the 8th.  The lectures this month are ” Galileo and the Copernican Revolution”, and “Refinements to the Heliocentric Model”.  On Tuesday the 15th is the June General Meeting.  The speaker this month is George Hobbs of CSIRO and ANTF, who will speak on “Pulsars and Gravitational Waves”.  “Observations of millisecond pulsars may provide the first means to detect the elusive gravitational waves that are predicted by General Relativity.  If these waves are detected then we’ll have a means to study supermassive black hole binary systems and even probe the universe less than a second after the big bang.  The Parkes telescope in Australia is providing the World-leading data sets for this search.  I will describe our project, explain how pulsars are discovered and observed and how, using the pulsar observations, we will hopefully be able to detect gravitational waves.” Finally, if everything is sorted out, the New Astronomers Group meets Tuesday the 22nd, with the program TBA.  Observing for the month of June will be on the Fridays 11th and 18th, with Saturday the 19th as backup.


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Categories : Events, General Meeting, NAG, Observing, Theory Group, Uncategorized

Theory Group Meeting Tuesday the 11th

9 05 2010

The Theory Group will meet Tuesday the 11th at 7:30 at St. Ignatius.  The two lectures are:  “Early Studies of the Solar System” and “The Geocentric Universe”.  See you there, and visitors are welcome.


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Categories : Theory Group, Uncategorized

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