LVAAS General Meeting and Members' Picnic

Saturday July 12, 5 p.m. at LVAAS South Mountain Headquarters, Allentown PA

Rain date Sunday July 13, 5 p.m.

 

Speaker is in person
 

"Climbing the Cosmic Distance Ladder"

  

Featuring Linda Prince

How do we know that the Andromeda Galaxy is 2.5 million light-years away from us?  Did you know that the Earth-Sun distance (the astronomical unit) was unknown until it was measured by observing the transit of Venus in 1761?  Our knowledge about cosmology would not be possible without being able to measure distances in space.  Because of the vast size of the Universe, distance measurements cannot be made directly, but must be made indirectly, using smaller distances as rulers to measure larger ones, like climbing up the rungs of a ladder. This talk will summarize the story of measuring cosmic distances, from the time of the ancient Greeks to the present day. 

 

Linda Prince has had an interest in science since childhood and has been an amateur astronomer since she purchased her first telescope about 30 years ago.  When she couldn't find all those little objects in the sky with her scope, she sought help from an astronomy club on Long Island and now enjoys membership here at LVAAS.

 

 

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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