Previous Speakers (2016-2021)

This list is not just a catalogue of the great speakers and talks we’ve enjoyed over the past few years, on a wide variety of astronomical topics (both amateur and professional), but a thank you to all those speakers, especially the ones from the Covid era (March 2020 – May 2022) who have interacted with us only via Zoom talks. Zoom was a life saver, but didn’t have the same personal touch. But, as per 2022, we now have a Zoom and/or Live option, which gives us added flexibility. Some things turn out well in the end!

2016 Speakers

Jan 2016 – Dr. Jim Lynch, CCAS. “The Big Bang – In the Beginning…”

Feb 2016, Mr. Hugh Blair-Smith, CCAS.  “Left Brains for the Right Stuff.”

Mar 2016 – Dr. Michael Hunter, CCAS.  “LIGO: Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory: A Brief Introduction and Overview of a Millennial Event.”

April 2016 – Mssrs. Bernie Young, Joel Burnett, Hank Ricci and Charlie Burke. “State of the Werner Schmidt Observatory.”

May 2016 – Mr. Bernie Young. “The upcoming transit of Mercury.”

June 2016  – Dr. Anastasia Fialkov, HSCfA.  “21-cm line of neutral hydrogen.”,

July 2016 – Dr. Larry Marschall,  Gettysburg College. ” New information about Pluto gleaned from data collected by NASA’s New Horizons mission.”

August 2016 –  Dr. Tony Stark, HSCfA.  “Cosmology with the South Pole Telescope.”

Sept 2016 – Dr. Jim Lynch, CCAS.  “LIGO Revisited”

Oct 2016 –  Dr. Charles Lada, HSCfA.  “The Search for Stellar Origins from Antiquity to the 21st Century.”

Nov 2016 – Dr. Chat Hull, HSCfA.  “Star Formation Through Radio Eyes.”

Dec 2016 – Mr. Bernie Young, CCAS. “Apparent retrograde motion.”

2017 Speakers

Jan 2017 –  Mr. Tansu Daylan, HSCfA.  “Inner Milky Way Gamma Ray Excess”

Feb 2017 –   Dr Jim Lynch, CCAS. ” Is the Universe Stringy, Loopy, Neither or Both?”

Mar 2017 –   Dr. Frank Primini, HSCfA.  “Probing the nucleus of M31 with the Chandra X-ray Observatory.”

Apr 2017 –   Dr. Mike Hunter, CCAS. Observatory and Foundation Report.

May 2017 –  Dr. Stella Kafka,  AAVSO. “Discussing the Elusive SNeIa progenitors.”

Jun 2017 – Mr. Gary Derman, CCAS. “What is electricity? What is magnetism?  A discussion.”

July 2017 – Dr. Jim Lynch, CCAS.  “The Drake Equation, with emphasis on the 7th term.”

Aug 2017 – Dr. Tony Stark, HSCfA.”Star Formation in the Milky Way and Beyond.”

Sept 2017 – Ms. Katie Sisson, CCAS.    “Stellar Evolution and Structure”

Oct 2017 –  Mr. George Silvis, CCAS.  “Rømer and the Speed of Light”

Nov 2017 – Dr. Larry Marschall, Gettysburg College. “Tiny bit of shakin’ going on: Gravitational waves and the universe.”

Dec 2017 – Dr. Mike Hunter, CCAS.  “A History of Science.”

2018 Speakers

Jan 2018 –  Dr. Mike Hunter and Joel Burnett, CCAS. “A three part program for CCAS.”

Feb 2018 – Dr. Ken Brink, CCAS.  “How’s the Air? – Planetary Atmospheres.”

Mar 2018 – Dr. Frank Primini, HSCfA.  “Adventures in Gravitational Lensing.”

Apr 2018 –  Dr. Jim Lynch, CCAS.  “Spectroscopy – Basic Theory and What It Tells Us About the Universe. ”

May 2018 –  Mr. Jim Mitchell, DYHS,  and the DYHS honors students. “Astronomy honors projects.”

June 2018 – Dr. Ken Brink, CCAS. “Tides and Tidal Forces.”

July 2018 – Dr. Jim Lynch, CCAS.”Spectroscopy – Observational Basics, with a Live Demonstration.”

Aug 2018 – Drs. Anastasia Fialkov and Marion Dierickx,  HSCfA. “Mysterious Fast Radio Bursts” and “Galactic Collisions in the Local Group.”

Sept 2018 – Dr. Mike Hunter, CCAS.  “Astrophotography at CCAS.”

Oct 2018 – Dr. Tony Stark, HSCfA.  “The Cosmic Background.”

Nov 2018 – Dr. Martina Arndt, Bridgewater State University.  “The Beauty and Science of Total Solar Eclipses.”

Dec 2018 – Dr. Jim Lynch, CCAS.  “The Solar System – Its Formation and Basic Dynamics.”

2019 Speakers

Jan 2019 – Hugh Blair-Smith, MIT. “Left Brains for the Right Stuff: Computers, Space, and History.”

Feb 2019 – Dr. Ken Brink, CCAS. “Plasmas and Their Role in the Cosmos.”

Mar 2019 – Dr. Jim Lynch, CCAS. “The Formation of the First Stars and Galaxies: Dr. Loeb’s Book Simplified for Us Amateurs.”

April 2019 – Dr. Charles J. Lada, Senior Astrophysicist, HSCfA,“Exploring the Great Hunter: Unlocking the secrets of star birth in Orion.”

May 2019 – Mr. Jim Mitchell, DYHS.  “The Dennis-Yarmouth HS Astronomy  Honors Project Program.”

June 2019 – Dr.  Jim Lynch, CCAS. “The proposed “observational projects” initiative.”

July 2019 – Dr. Larry Marschall, Gettysburg College. “ON BEYOND PLUTO”

August 2019 – Dr. Antony Stark, Senior Astronomer, HSCfA. “Imaging Black Holes”

Sept 2019 – Dr. David Wilner, Associate Director, Radio and Geoastronomy Division, HSCfA. “New Eyes on Planet Formation.”

Oct 2019 – Dr. Jim Lynch, CCAS.  “Modern Galaxies – A Brief Overview.”

Nov 2019 – Dr. Mark Reid, HSCfA. “Mapping the Milky Way: the BeSSeL Survey.”

Dec 2019 – Mr. Gary Walker, CCAS and Maria Mitchell Observatory. “Is sCMOS the next Imaging Revolution?”

2020 Speakers

January 2020 – Dr. Jim Lynch, CCAS. “Basics of Optics for Amateur Astronomers.”

February, 2020 – Dr. Ken Brink, CCAS. “Oceans in Space.”

March 2020 – Dr. Glen Gawarkiewicz, WHOI and Mr. Paul Fucile, WHOI and CCAS. “Cubeseats.”

April 2020 – Postponed until March 2021 due to pandemic (Dr. Jim Gates)

May 2020 – DYHS Honors Projects. (Jim Lynch and Hank Ricci).

June 2020 – DYHS Honors Projects (cont’d) plus “Sudden Ionospheric Disturbances” Mr. George Silvis.

July 2020 – Brother Guy Consolmagno, Vatican Observatory. “Astronomical Ideas that Were Almost Correct.”

August 2020 – Dr. Tony Stark, HSCfA. “Astronomy Can Save Your Life: The Search for Near-Earth Objects.”

September 2020 – Dr. Charles Lada, HSCfA. “Adventures in Exploring Star Birth in the Uncharted Realm of the Cold Universe: 1970-1990.”

October 2020 –Dr. James Head, Brown University. “The Apollo Lunar Exploration Program.”

November 2020 – Dr. Larry Marschall, Gettysburg College. “An Astronomer Looks at Climate Change.”

December, 2020 – Dr. Frank Primini, HSCfA. “The Chandra Source Catalog.”

2021 Speakers

January 2021 – Dr. Jim Lynch, CCAS. “What are Time and Space?”

February 2021 – Dr. James Head, Brown University. “The Chinese Space Program.”

March 2021 – Dr. Jim Gates, Brown University and Ms. Cathie Pelletier. “Proving Einstein Right.”

April 2021 – Dr. Emily Levesque, University of Washington. “The Last Stargazers.”

May 2021 – Dr. Keith Thorne, Caltech/LIGO Livingston. “Listening for Bumps in the Ocean of Night: Discovering Gravitational Waves With LIGO.”

June 2021 – Mr. George Silvis, CCAS/AAVSO. “SIDS, SNEWS, and AAVSO.”

July 2021 – Dr. Tom Spirock, Stellafane. “Lucky Imaging Results Using the 13” Schupmann Telescope at Stellafane and the 6” Warmer and Swasey Refractor at Mount Wilson.”

August 2021 – Dr. Antony Stark, Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics “The CMB-S4 Experiment”

September 2021 – Dr. Jim Lynch, CCAS and WHOI.  “An Introduction to CCAS and Amateur Astronomy.”

October 2021 – Dr. Jim Head, Brown University. “Life on Mars: Was Mars’ Ancient Climate ‘Warm and Wet’ or “Cold and Icy.’”

November 2021 – Dr. Daniel Davis, Stony Brook University. “Turning Left for Three Decades: Still Gazing After all These Years.”

December 2021 – Dr. Delilah Gates, Princeton University. “Observational Signatures of Black Holes: Learning from Light?”