Free Pizza & conversation at 7:00 pm. Meeting, including annual Elections, at 7:30 pm. The May Monthly meeting at our planetarium on Monte Sano will feature a chance for you to bring, swap, sell and buy gently used astronomy equipment and books. Contact Joe Kutner if you have any questions at vicepresident@vbas.org
Each Third Friday of the Month meeting starts with FREE pizza at 7:00, followed by the meeting at 7:30. In May we will have our annual board elections as well as the swap meet. Hope to see you there!
VBAS volunteers will be at the GigaParts Technology Superstore, 6123 University Dr, Huntsville on Saturday May 18 to provide advice and outreach from 9:30am on International Astronomy Day!
Telescope Clinic 10:00am -1:00pm.
Bring that telescope you just can’t get to work, or think you might have broken and we’ll take a look!
Eclipse Show and Tell 4:00pm-6:00pm. Sign up to share your images and stories – even if you got clouded out!
Presentations to attend from Choosing your First Telescope to Stargazing with Binoculars and Getting Started in Astrophotography!
Learn about Light Pollution and what you can do about it with volunteers from Starry Skies South.
GigaParts has a large range of telescopes, binoculars, eyepieces, books and more to browse as well as plenty of other fun technology. And a snack bar!
Everyone welcome. Bring your friends to introduce them to your favorite hobby! See you there.
This past week was the 37th Chaos Communication Congress, where a diverse audience of nerds gather to discuss technology and society. I observed from afar via their livestreams and recordings, and thoroughly enjoyed two space-centric talks. Both are linked below, I hope you find them as interesting!
The Extremely Large Telescope (ELT)
Two presenters, lk and panic, walk us through the construction and design considerations of the ELT, which will be a… big scope.
How Many Planets in Our Solar System? Glad You Asked!
Michael Büker gives a fascinating and well researched talk on the progress of planetary identification through the past several hundred years.
Von Braun Astronomical Society will celebrate Astronomy Day on September 23rd in person at Monte Sano 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.
Free-admission planetarium shows will be hosted through the day. Show times will be 1:30pm, 2:30pm, 3:30pm, and 4:30pn.
7:30PM – Keynote Speaker:
MSFC Solar Sounding Rocket History, Present and Future!
Sounding rockets have been an important mechanism for testing new methods to observe the Sun for several decades and have played a significant role in advancing our understanding of our backyard Star. Some of the recent research efforts performed by our team at Marshall Space Flight Center include missions like the Hi-resolution Coronal Imager (Hi-C), the Chromospheric LAyer SpectroPolarimeter (CLASP) and the Marshall Grazing Incidence X-ray Spectrometer (MaGIXS). These instruments and the data collected from several successful ~5-minute suborbital flights have and continue to help us answer questions about solar atmospheric dynamics, magnetic field, heating and more. In this talk we will cover some important solar sounding rocket history highlights, results from some recent missions and some exciting missions on the horizon.
Genevieve Vigil
Genevieve Vigil earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington, Seattle, and a Ph.D. in EE from the University of Notre Dame in 2017. She turned toward Solar Physics as a NASA Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Solar Sounding Rocket group here at Marshal Space Flight Center from 2017-2020 and is currently a Civil Servant Researcher in the same group. Research interests include novel instruments, optics and detectors for high resolution imaging and spectroscopy, EUV and X-ray solar applications including solar atmosphere dynamics, magnetic field studies, and applications of machine learning.
Admission opens at 7:00pm; $5/adult, $3/student, 6 and under free.
Telescope viewing afterwards on clear nights
June 3 – The Magic Carpet Tour
We can use the star projector in the planetarium to pretend to fly anywhere on Earth – like a magic carpet! Gena Crook will demonstrate the motion of the stars across the sky at the equator, the north pole, and the southern hemisphere. We will also watch how the sun changes positions at these locations. You may be surprised if you haven’t actually been to the equator or the north pole in person! This program will put the star projector to work and allow us to see its unique educational capabilities.
Presented by Gena Crook
June 10 and 24 – The Universe is Trying to Kill You
Beyond the calamities that face us here on our planet, there are other forces in the universe that can do us in. Since our planet formed, it has been under constant threat of annihilation from both terrestrial and extraterrestrial influences. There are numerous terrestrial or natural events that can and do occur, such as hurricanes, volcanoes, and earthquakes, that have terrible outcomes. These disastrous terrestrial events pale in comparison to some of what lies out in the solar system and beyond that could cause our ultimate demise, such as giant meteors, comets, asteroids, exploding stars, and more. Join us as we take a somewhat lighthearted, tongue-in-cheek look at the dark shadow of doom that awaits us from within our solar system and the deep recesses of the universe.
Presented by Jared Cassidy, VBAS Planetarium Director
June 17 – Hairy Stars
To our forebears, comets were the oddest things. They didn’t look like the stars, they didn’t wander like the planets, and they were often seen following or preceding the Sun in the evening or morning sky. It’s no wonder that they were often associated with doom and change! The word ‘comet’ comes from an ancient Greek word meaning ‘long haired’ and in this presentation, we’ll look at what we know about these hairy stars from observations and space probes and how comets could be the key to exploring our galaxy!
Or copy and paste this URL: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1J6ysxclPQPsj1OJfS_jYItKWCCMZS38nRTD__4GuhtQ/edit?usp=sharing
Officer Elections in May
The following offices are up for election at our May 19th meeting (7:00 PM) and the nominating committee has found these candidates for office:
Vice President: Joe Kutner
Director of Facilities and Equipment: Tom Derington
Director of Education and Programs: Alexandra Hall
Treasurer: Eric Silkowski (incumbent)
Student Director: Greyden Kutner
Any member in good standing is eligible to be an officer. If you’re interested in running one of these positions, please contact Michael Buford at michaelcbuford[@]gmail.com
All planetarium shows begin at 7:30pm. Admission opens at 7:00pm. Telescope viewing afterwards on clear nights
March 4 – Huntsville’s Place in Space
As we prepare to go back to the Moon for the first time in over 50 years, the importance that Huntsville played both back then and right now is something to remember. Join Michael Buford for a look through the history of Huntsville’s amazing contributions in aviation, its massive importance during the Space Race, as well as Huntsville’s place in space now and in the future!
Written and presented by Michael Buford
March 11 and 18 – The Real Death Star: Neutron Stars…with a helping of Nuclear Pasta
George Lucas gave us the fictional Death Star, but did you know the universe is full of real death stars? Neutron Stars, remnants of supernovas, are the real thing. They can produce beams of energy sweeping through space that can sterilize an entire planet. When first discovered as pulsars they were even thought to be aliens! Join us as we explore these extreme stars where ordinary matter is crushed into a very unappetizing dish called “Nuclear Pasta.”
Presented by Eric Silkowski
March 25 – Spring Skies
Around the time of the Spring Equinox, the early evening sees the brilliant stars of the winter night sky setting, and a slightly less dazzling collection of constellations take their place. But our place in space at this time of year allows us a view into the deepest parts of the Universe to see many intriguing treasures. Indeed, this is the time of year that amateur astronomers plan marathons to try to observe as many as possible! In our show, we will explore the spring constellations, some of the objects that you can discover among them, and learn how the motion of the Earth around the Sun and the position of the Sun in our Milky Way galaxy combine to provide our fascinating Spring Skies.
The line in the picture is NOT kids waiting to check out the telescopes…. Help us solve our bathroom challenge!
When our tiny bathroom was built along with our first observatory in 1956, you had to climb stairs to view the stars, so no-one really thought about having a toilet that could accommodate a wheelchair, a parent with a child, or anyone with any mobility difficulties. There were even plans for a much larger facility with classrooms, labs and more bathrooms! But then Von Braun and friends got a bit busy building a rocket to go to the Moon.
Nearly 70 years later, we reach over 5000 visitors a year with our weekly planetarium show, observing nights, events and outreach into our community. But we still have that solitary toilet, down a narrow corridor, and the lines can get pretty long.
While the society usually finds receptive ears in its grant requests for new outreach equipment, servicing our vintage planetarium projector and purchasing telescope parts, we have struggled to find someone willing to help with a fundamental visitor comfort issue.
We usually bring in porta potties for large daytime events, but this is not a good permanent solution. They usually don’t have lights, and no HVAC either, which could be more than miserable in the freezing cold or humidity and heat.
The nearest sewer line is at the RV park toilet block – a long, long way uphill of us. It is unclear whether we’d be allowed to install a new larger septic any more – that isn’t allowed for main residential construction on Monte Sano and we’re close to the edge of the outcropping which isn’t ideal for a leach field.
We are seeking funds (likely ~$45,000) to install a semi-permanent toilet trailer, with an ADA stall and ramp and at least one additional stall – or a similar solution that solves our visitor needs. You’ve probably seen these kinds of trailers at events in our downtown or elsewhere. The City Parks and Rec even looked to see if it had anything, but nothing small enough was available.
We have the water and power hookups, and we can afford regular pumping (although we’d love to get that sponsored too!) It’s not a sexy ask, but everyone will benefit and having better toilets will allow us to increase the number of events we can do on site. We will use any funds raised towards site preparations, materials, and facilities acquisition and – if we raise more than we need – we’ll use the funds for ongoing maintenance (pumping, toilet paper and the like!) Of course, if anyone reading has a suitable ADA toilet trailer, or works for an RV shop or similar and wants to talk to us about building what we need – we’d be delighted to engage. also, if any planner, environmental health person or other suitably qualified professional wants to help us investigate the septic/sewer ideas, again, reach out.
“Can’t you rent a toilet trailer instead?” We’re a non-profit with no credit history and no fixed income (other than planetarium shows). Rental agreements and financing agreements would require personal guarantees and that’s not something the volunteers want to sign up for (we love what we do, but there are limits!)
“Shouldn’t the Park provide the toilets?” Our lease with the Park is very clear that we are responsible for the maintenance, upkeep and improvement of our facilities. They would be happy for us to improve things, but it won’t be on their dime.
“How long will it last?” If we take care of it, and also provide some protection for it, then it should last a decade or more. That buys us a lot of time to figure out a solution that will last for the next 70 years!
“Will you sell stickers or T shirts?” We’ve had some truly awesome crowdfunding ideas (I give a crap about VBAS… VBAS, best place for a Full Moon.. and so on). We’re looking into that. If you want to help, reach out!
We’d like to thank the Huntsville Redditors, Fox54, and WLRH for talking about our needs and supporting us.
All planetarium shows begin at 7:30pm. Admission opens at 7:00pm. Telescope viewing afterwards on clear nights
February 4 – The Sun and Solar Cycle 25: Connections Between the Sun and the Solar System
What if you flipped a light switch and there was no light? What if Google Maps stopped working or was inaccurate? This planetarium program will “illuminate” you (pardon the pun) and teach you how the Sun could affect you in ways other than sunburn. Understanding and predicting the rise and fall of sunspots, the solar cycle, is important for modern society and for human exploration of space.
Presented by Mitzi Adams
February 11 – African American Astronomers
During Black History Month VBAS will be celebrating the accomplishments of three African American Astronomers. Two brilliant scientists from the recent past and one currently doing state-of-the-art research. This is an educational program designed for students and people of all ages.
Presented by Gena Crook
February 18 – Huntsville’s Place in Space
As we prepare to go back to the Moon for the first time in over 50 years, the importance that Huntsville played both back then and right now is something to remember. Join Michael Buford for a look through the history of Huntsville’s amazing contributions in aviation, its massive importance during the Space Race, as well as Huntsville’s place in space now and in the future!
Presented by Michael Buford
February 25 – African American Astronomers
During Black History Month VBAS will be celebrating the accomplishments of three African American Astronomers. Two brilliant scientists from the recent past and one currently doing state-of-the-art research. This is an educational program designed for students and people of all ages.
Telescope Clinic 10:00am -1:00pm.
Eclipse Show and Tell 4:00pm-6:00pm. 
Presentations
