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.
