LVAAS General Meeting

Sunday May 4, 7 p.m. at LVAAS South Mountain Headquarters, Allentown PA

 

NOTE: This meeting is NOT at our Pulpit Rock location on the Appalachian Trail, as was stated in a recent video report by a meteorologist from the region.

 

Speaker is via Zoom
 

"Citizen Science, Variable Stars, and the AAVSO"

Featuring Dr. Brian Kloppenborg

"Citizen Science, Variable Stars, and the AAVSO" introduces the exciting world of citizen science in astronomy, focusing on how you can actively contribute to scientific discovery. The talk covers engaging citizen science projects, such as those on Zooniverse, and collaborations like JunoCAM, IOTA, and SAS. It includes a detailed look at variable stars, featuring examples like SS Cyg, T CrB, and Cepheid variables, and highlights recent discoveries, such as the Great Dimming of Betelgeuse and the newly discovered Iota Del. Finally, the talk introduces the AAVSO, its resources, and how you can start observing variable stars either visually or digitally.

Dr. Brian Kloppenborg is an astrophysicist and entrepreneur currently serving as the Executive Director of the AAVSO. He earned a Ph.D. in Physics with an astrophysics specialization from the University of Denver and a B.A. in Physics from Hastings College. Before joining the AAVSO, Dr. Kloppenborg worked as a Research Scientist at the Georgia Tech Research Institute, where he led multidisciplinary teams as a subject matter expert, lead engineer, product owner, and project director.


Dr. Kloppenborg’s research focuses on combining photometry, spectroscopy, astrometry, and long-baseline optical interferometry to deepen our understanding of eclipsing binaries, novae, and young stellar objects. His work has been published in esteemed journals, including Nature, The Astrophysical Journal, and the Journal of the AAVSO.


Throughout his career, Dr. Kloppenborg has been dedicated to fostering collaboration between amateur and professional astronomers, advancing scientific discovery, and promoting educational outreach in astronomy.

 

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.

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