Sorry, new user registration is disabled


 

LVAAS General Meeting

Sunday September 8, 7 p.m. at South Mountain

In Person, and via Zoom
 

Occultation Timing: New and Improved

Featuring Steve Conard

Occultation timing has been used for several decades to measure the size and shape of asteroids, producing chord accuracies in the 100 meter range from distances of several AU.  Many amateurs have tried this, but given it up due to the difficulty in collecting data and the rarity of high probability events.  In the past several years, a number of advances have been made which have greatly decreased the barriers to success.  This talk will give the basics of occultations timing, with an emphasis on the tools that are responsible for generating nearly four times the data than five years ago.  The latest hardware will be shown along with results of recent observations.

Steve Conard has been an amateur astronomer for more than 50 years. His love of telescope making as a teenager turned into a 42 year career working for the Johns Hopkins University developing optical systems as an optical engineer. Most of his career was spent working on NASA astrophysics and planetary missions. This includes being in the role of lead engineer for the LORRI camera on the New Horizons mission to Pluto for more than 20 years.
 Mostly retired and now living in Wellsboro, Steve recently founded the Pennsylvania Wilds Astronomy Club. He regularly volunteers at several Pennsylvania State Parks and is working to control light pollution in the Wilds by working with several advocacy groups. His other interests include hiking, railtrail biking, and his antique motorcycle.

 

Prospective new members who wish to attend the meeting should email membership@lvaas.org.



—    LVAAS    —

THE LEHIGH VALLEY AMATEUR ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY -- 620B East Rock Road -- Allentown, PA 18103 -- 610-797-3476 -- www.lvaas.org

WELCOME!

Founded in 1957, the Lehigh Valley Amateur Astronomical Society (LVAAS) is one of the oldest continuously-operating amateur astronomy organizations in the U.S. The mission of LVAAS is to promote the study of Astronomy and to maintain a meeting space, observatories, and a planetarium.

LVAAS operates two astronomy sites: The South Mountain site in Salisbury Township is the headquarters of the Society. It has a planetarium with a Spitz A3P projector, a 21 foot dome, meeting space, the Red Shift store, library, workshop space, and three observatories. The Pulpit Rock site near Hamburg is LVAAS's members-only dark sky site. At 1600 feet above sea level, the site features five observatories and a pad for member's scopes.

Members who receive training on the scopes may obtain keys to the observatories. LVAAS also maintains a rental "fleet" of telescopes that members may rent at low cost. Members also receive access to The Observer, our online newsletter, as well as reduced subscription prices to Sky and Telescope and Astronomy Magazine. If you want to learn more about astronomy and LVAAS, please join us at our next public star party.

Click here for weather at LVAAS locations.