LVAAS General Meeting
at South Mountain

A look at all types of large-scale collisions in our universe.  Within the Solar System, within the Milky Way, and among the galaxies.  What are the consequences, how is the evolution of the universe affected.  What we’re learning from the crowded environment of the Milky Way Black Hole.  And what we know about past and future collisions involving our nearest large neighbor – the Andromeda Galaxy – as it races towards us!

As Mother Nature keeps the topic of climate change in the news with increasing urgency, this talk provides a timely NASA/space/science update.  Beginning with a walk-through of the NASA climate webpages, the talk focuses on all key parameters, presenting the simple facts and logic behind climate change, with emphasis on the researchers (e.g., IPCC) and tools (especially complex models) which underpin the world’s understanding.

John Conrad followed his childhood interest in space and spaceflight – at the dawn of the Space Age – through Astronautical Engineering degrees from the US Air Force Academy and Purdue University straight into leadership in space programs for the Air Force, NASA, DOE, and industry. Now retired, he gives frequent talks to schools, astronomy clubs, museums, libraries, and other learning venues that draw on both NASA program and research information, as well as his extensive experiences, including rocket launching, satellite design, etc. NASA’s climate spacecraft and related research have been at the core of dozens of his Global Climate Change talks over the last 15 years.

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 meeting spaces, 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 1,600 feet above sea level, the site features five observatories and a pad for members’ 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.