NJAG Monthly Meetings 2016

Our guest speaker for the November 9th meeting will be Clif Ashcraft from Amateur Astronomers Inc. His presentation wil be about measuring double stars (solar systems with two suns).

"Speckle interferometry of close double stars": The orbits of close double stars can be seen in a few years. Come hear an expert tell us how you can get amazing detail with a good telescope and good computer software. 

The September 14 meeting of the NJAG will feature the following presentation:

Designing a TeeterScope: From Concept to Cosmic Time Machine

Explore the design options for a custom made Dobsonian telescope including aperture, focal length, stain color, and accessories. Where will your journey take you?

Our guest speaker will be Robert Teeter, telescope builder and owner of Teeter's Telescopes LLC -- and an MSU alumni!

The presentation will begin at 8 p.m. in room 110 on the first floor of the CELS building at Montclair State University.

Wednesday, July 13: Jay Gowers of the North Jersey Astronomical Group will give a presentation "Planetary Probes: Journey Through the Solar System and Beyond."  It covers a myriad of unmanned spacecraft which have visited our Solar System's other planets, moons, dwarf planets, asteroids, comets, the Sun, and deep space.  The talk also covers different mission profiles, milestones, and major discoveries made as a direct result. 

The presentation will begin at 8 p.m. in room 110 on the first floor of the CELS building at Montclair State University.

At the June meeting there will be a presentation about astrophotgraphy by Tolga Gumusayak, a member of NJAG and Amateur Astronomers Inc. His presentation is "The Science Behind Astrophotography." Do you think that an image is as "real" as what you see with your eye at the eyepiece?

8 p.m. in room 110 on the first floor of the CELS building, Montclair State University.

On Wednesday May 11 at 8 PM in CELS 110 we will have our annual “MSU Students Night.” They will talk to us about their projects in astronomy and physics. The four topics and speakers are:

• Using software defined radio to test the internet of things, and Experiences at Keck Observatory in Hawaii  – Kevin Miller

• Designing a windwalker:  An undergraduate open-ended physics project – Ceire Monahan

• Splash Dynamics – David Baron

• Application of non-equilibrium thermodynamics to pattern selection in fluid solid interactions  – Blas Ortega 

Dr. Marc Favata of Montclair State University will be the guest speaker at the April meeting of the North Jersey Astronomical Group. His presentation will cover the very first detection of gravity waves by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO).

Over a billion years ago in a distant galaxy, two black holes merged together. That event produced a violent disturbance in the fabric of spacetime -- gravitational waves which propagated throughout the universe. Those waves eventually reached the Earth on September 14, 2015, where they were detected by the twin LIGO detectors. 

The detection of these waves confirms a key prediction of Einstein's theory of relativity and opens up a new way of "listening" to the universe. He will discuss the meaning of Einstein's description of gravity, the history of LIGO, the challenges that had to be overcome to detect gravitational waves, and some of the details and significance of their detection.

This meeting and free presentation will be held at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, April 13, Room 110 in the CELS building, Montclair State University,1 Normal Ave, Montclair, NJ 07043. All are welcomed
!

At the March meeting of the North Jersey Astronomical Group Jason Kendall from William Paterson University will give a presentation about the history of astronomy. His presentation will be "History of Astronomy: Ptolemy to Galileo." In 1609, the world changed.  Galileo Galilei used a telescope to peel back the mystery of the heavens, and in so doing ignited a revolution. As is always the case, revolutions don't start without a spark. The world was ripe for his work because of the people that came before him, laying the groundwork that would change all of Western culture, and eventually the entire planet.

Mr. Kendall's presentation will be at 8 pm on Wednesday March 9. The meeting will be held in room 110 of the CELS Building at Montclair State University, 1 Normal Ave, Montclair, NJ. For more information and directions see: njastro.org.

Our guest speaker for the February NJAG meeting (Wed, 02/10/2016)  will be Dr. Jana Grcevich of the American Museum of Natural 

History (AMNH). Dr. Grcevich is a Postdoctoral Fellow in Astrophysics at AMNH and she will be speaking on "Dark Matter in Ghost Galaxies". 

The smallest, least massive galaxies – known as dwarf galaxies – present a number of mysteries. They are ghostly, with more dark matter by percentage than massive galaxies, and fewer than predicted. How can we investigate them?

Free & open to the public.