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August 2022 Shows

Great Observatories of the World: Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA)

Saturdays, August 6 and 20 7:30 pm

Truly great observatories are designed and built to see things never possible before.  You probably have never heard of ALMA, the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, but it is making amazing discoveries nearly every day.  ALMA looks at light we can’t see with our eyes, light in between the infrared spectrum and radio waves.  This millimeter and submillimeter light from space has never been explored at the level ALMA is delivering.  As a great observatory, ALMA is challenging scientists to ask new and better questions about the origins of galaxies, stars, and planets, but is also showing the incredible power and beauty of the universe around us. This show will explain how ALMA works and take you on a whirlwind tour of stellar nurseries, protoplanetary disks, and other mind-blowing discoveries made by ALMA.

Presented by Eric Silkowski

NASA’s Artemis Program

Saturday, August 13 at 7:30pm

Through the Artemis Program NASA aims to send first woman and next man to the Moon and achieve sustainable human presence on the Moon and Beyond. A series of Space Launch System (SLS) missions will enable reaching this goal. NASA has set the launch date for the first SLS launch to be August 29th. Rocket City played a very important role in reaching this milestone. Join us to learn about the Artemis program and celebrate this important milestone.

Presented by Dr. Naveen Vetcha.

High Mountain Observatories

Saturday, August 27 7:30 pm

Presented by Tom Burleson

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Astronomy Day 2022 – October 22nd

Von Braun Astronomical Society will celebrate Astronomy Day on October 22nd in person at MonteSano State Park! Beginning at 1:00 p.m., events will include: solar viewing, mini-planetarium shows, rockets, vacuum-chamber demonstrations of what it’s like in space, and several other fun STEAM activities.

Astronomy Day is FREE and open to the public!

Participating Organizations

NASA, AIAA, HAL5, Alabama STEAMfest, US Space & Rocket Center, NSC Huntsville, Marshall Amateur Radio Club.

Daytime Planetarium Show Schedule

1 pm: Visual Astronomy by Tom Burleson

2 pm: James Webb Space Telescope by Dr. Naveen Vetcha

3 pm: Asteroids by Dr. Eric Silkowski

4 pm: Swanson Telescope Upgrade Project by Jeff Delmas

Keynote Speaker

At 7:00 p.m. VBAS will host special guest Ms. Alice Bowman, the Operations Manager for the New Horizons mission to Pluto and beyond.

VBAS Thanks AIAA Greater Huntsville Section for arranging the guest speaker for this year’s Astronomy Day.

New Horizons Mission Operations Manager Alice Bowman of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory is seen during a press conference after the team received confirmation from the New Horizons spacecraft that it has completed the flyby of Ultima Thule, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2019 at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Overview: Alice Bowman, the New Horizons Mission Operations Manager (MOM) will talk about the voyage of NASA’s historic mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt– which culminated with the first flight past the distant dwarf planet on July 14, 2015 and the first encounter with a Kuiper Belt object (KBO) on January 1, 2019. She’ll speak about this continuing journey through the eyes of the APL mission operations team and describe some of the technical, scientific, and personal challenges of piloting the New Horizons spacecraft across the solar system on its voyage to the farthest reaches of the planetary frontier.  

Speaker Bio: 

Alice Bowman is a member of the Principal Professional Staff at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland. She is the Space Mission Operations Group supervisor and the NASA New Horizons Mission Operations Manager (MOM). She supervises approximately 50 staff members who operate deep space and Earth-orbiting spacecraft, including NASA’s TIMED, STEREO, New Horizons, and Parker Solar Probe. As the New Horizons MOM, Alice leads the team that controls the spacecraft that made a historic flyby of the Pluto system in July 2015. And on New Year’s 2019, just after midnight, New Horizons made history again with a flight past the Kuiper Belt object Arrokoth – the most distant flyby ever conducted, 4 billion miles from Earth. Prior to operating spacecraft, she worked in the fields of computer modeling, drug research and long-wave detector research. 

Alice has a degree in chemistry and physics from the University of Virginia and has more than 30 years of experience in space operations. She is an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and has served on the International SpaceOps Committee since 2009.  

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July Planetarium Shows

Black Holes

Saturday July 2 at 7:30pm:

What are black holes?
How are they formed?
Will our sun ever become one?

Please come to our July 2nd family centered show for answers to these questions and more.

Presented by Brenda Rogers

James Webb Space Telescope

Saturday July 9 & 23 at 7:30pm:

On Dec 25th 2021, NASA (in collaboration with European Space Agency and Canadian Space Agency) created history by successfully launching the world’s largest and most complex space science observatory, The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). On its journey to the Sun-Earth L2 point (which is a million miles away from the Earth), JWST went through a series of complex deployments to fully unfurl as a telescope. Over the last few months, The Webb team carefully aligned the mirrors and took test images to make sure that the Telescope is ready for the first science images. NASA plans to release the first science image on July 12th. Join us to learn about this exciting journey of the telescope.

Presented by Dr. Naveen Vetcha

Meteors

Saturday July 16 at 7:30pm:

What is a meteor?
Where do they come from?
Why do we see them?
What popular meteor shower is coming in August?

Please come to our July 16th family centered show for answers to these questions and more.

Presented by Brenda Rogers

Vacation in the Stars

Saturday July 30th, 7:30pm

Summer is vacation time! Join VBAS presenter Beth Bero for a ‘Vacation in the Stars.’ We will explore all our space-related vacay destinations and learn the star lore of people from around the world who have looked up at the night sky and imagined adventures there.

Presented by Elizabeth Bero

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June Planetarium Shows

Astronomer William Herschel

Saturday June 11, 7:30: William Herschel made numerous discoveries that give cause for some to call him the father of modern astronomy. His most famous discovery doubled the size of the Solar System. Come learn about this musician/composer turned astronomer/telescope maker who left forever one of the biggest marks in the history of astronomy. 

Presented by Jared Cassidy, VBAS Planetarium Director

Summer Stars

Saturday June 18, 7:30: Come learn the brightest stars, constellations and star lore, just in time for your next camping trip! We’ll cover the basics: the brightest stars, most prominent constellations, meteor showers, what to do with binoculars or a small telescope, and where to learn more.

Presented by Don Martin

Standing Stones and Sungazers

Saturday June 25, 7:30: In recognition of the Summer Solstice a few days earlier, we will explore how ancient civilizations marked the passage of the year through monuments, monoliths and markers.

Presented by Alex Hall

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Planetarium Shows

June 17th – Member Meeting

Don’t miss the Monthly Meeting on Friday, June 17!

7:00 pm for Pizza, 7:30 pm for our speaker, Makaila Jennings, who will give a presentation on “How Distance Affects the Double Dip Transit Photometry Method’s Ability to Detect Exoplanets.”

In our quest of whether there is life outside of our solar system, the focus has been on finding planets known as Super-Earths with Earth-like qualities suitable for life, but large enough for us to see. The purpose of this study is to see how distance affects the double-dip transit photometry method of detecting exoplanets. The procedure is to set up a star-planet system in a large four-foot black box with a color-changing and intensity-changing LED bulb to simulate the star. A Hot Jupiter (foam ball) is suspended from a rotating motor, orbiting close to the star, and a suspended Super-Earth (a bead) orbiting further from the star at three different distances.

Makaila Jennings is a rising High school Junior. She is the winner of the 2021 Alabama Junior Academy of Science paper competition and she represented the State of Alabama at the 60th National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium in Albuquerque, NM. Her research is on “How Distance Affects the Double Dip Transit Photometry Method’s Ability to Detect Exoplanets.” Makaila is also the recipient of the 2020 Angela Award from the National Science Teachers Association.

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VBAS Equipment Sale and Annual Meeting – May 20th

VBAS will host an equipment sale and silent auction on Friday, May 20th, 2022 at 7:00pm. That date is also our regular monthly meeting and, in fact, our Annual Meeting at which we’ll elect new officers. Pizza will be served.

Some of the items up for auction include a Meade 10″ LX200, Celestron SP-C 102, 1000mm fl refractor, and an Intes 63MK Telescope (6” Maksutov). Sale items include eyepieces, adapters, diagonals, filters, small refractors, and more!

A list of items and prices can be found here.

The spreadsheet has two tabs – one lists sale items and one lists silent auction items.

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May 2022 Shows

May 7th, 7:30pm

Mom’s are Out of this World!

On this Mother’s Day eve, join us for a presentation to learn a little global Mother’s Day history and then hear some stories about a few celestial moms while we explore our planetarium night sky.

Presented by Alex Hall

May 14th, 7:30pm

Eclipses

On Sunday night beginning at about 8:30 pm we will be treated to a total LUNAR eclipse.  The eclipse ends slightly before 2:00 am on Monday morning.  Tonight at VBAS we will talk about why and when lunar eclipses happen.  Watching a lunar eclipse is always more enjoyable if you understand what is happening!  We will also talk about the upcoming total SOLAR eclipse in 2024.  It might be time to start making your plans for that incredible event.

May 21st & 28th, 7:30pm

3D Printing in Space

Join us for a tour of 3D printing processes and learn how they are being used in space exploration.

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The Sun and Eclipses Discussion – This Friday!

Crisscrossing the continental United States in October 2023 and April 2024, two solar eclipses will take place, one annular the other total. To prepare for these two eclipses, the American Astronomical Society has been holding a series of eclipse workshops; the most recent of these workshops took place on April 8 and 9. For our April 15, 2022 monthly meeting (at 7pm), we will discuss The Sun and Eclipses, review the AAS workshop discussions, and reminisce about the 2017 total-solar eclipse.

Presented by Mitzi Adams

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“Bear Hunt” Observing Event on April 1st

VBAS is planning an observing event for the evening of Friday, April 1st. The first part of the evening is a “Bear Hunt”, which is an attempt to find many of the deep sky objects (DSOs) in the constellation Ursa Major, the “Big Bear” and in nearby Canes Venatici, the “Hunting Dogs”. Designed for new and experienced observers, we’ll have observing guides and fun games and certificates for finding some key objects.

The evening is also the ideal time of the year for a Messier Marathon. You’re welcome to stay as long as you want in the added effort to hunt down as many of the Messier objects as you can find in our annual Messier Marathon.

Bring your scopes and join the fun!  Setup starts at 6:30pm.

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April 2022 Shows

Saturdays, April 2, 9, and 30 7:30 pm
Astronomer William Herschel

William Herschel made numerous discoveries that give cause for some to call him the father of modern astronomy. His most famous discovery doubled the size of the Solar System. Come learn about this musician/composer turned astronomer/telescope maker who left forever one of the biggest marks in the history of astronomy.

Presented by Jared Cassidy

Saturday, April 9 10 and 11 am, 12 and 1 pm
The Zoo in the Sky

VBAS will be doing 45 minute planetarium shows on the hour during the North Alabama Zoological Society (NALZS) Kid’s Festival. All proceeds will go to NALZS.

Presented by Alex Hall and Gena Crook

Saturday, April 16 7:30 pm
Magic Carpet Tour

With a magic carpet we could travel anywhere we wanted, right? Tonight the planetarium star projector will become a magic carpet and take us to the north pole, the equator, and beyond! Why? So we can see the stars and the sun from different places on Earth. The sun’s path across the sky and the effects it has on earth at different locations might surprise you!

Presented by Gena Crook

Saturday, April 23 7:30 pm
Hubble Space Telescope

The Hubble Space Telescope-one of humanity’s most successful scientific creations will turn 32 in April. For 32 years, it has been providing scientists and the public with spectacular images of most distant stars and galaxies as well as planets in our solar system. Come learn about the Hubble Space Telescope and its amazing discoveries.

Presented by Dr. Naveen Vetcha