2013 Saturday Morning Physics

The schedule for Winter Term 2013 Saturday Morning Physics is now available. There are a series of 8 talks, held Saturday Mornings between February 2 and April 13. (There are no talks on February 22 and March 1). The February 2nd talk will be held in Hill Auditorium on the campus of University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. The other talks will be held in rooms 170 and 182 of the Dennison Building also on the campus of the University of Michigan.

For more information go to: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/physics/events/saturdaymorningphysics

10th Annual FAAC Astronomy Show & Swap Meet

Dear Fellow Amateur Astronomer,

You and fellow Club members are invited to attend the Tenth Annual FAAC (Ford Amateur Astronomy Club) Astronomy Show & Swap Meet. It will be held at the Holy Cross Lutheran Church, 30650 Six Mile Road in Livonia, Michigan on Saturday, March 16, 2013. Attached is a flyer describing the Swap Meet. This year in addition to the sale of new / used Astronomy Equipment and Astronomy Presentations throughout the day, we will be featuring a Planetarium on site for kids to get their first exposure to Astronomy.

Swap Meet Flyer

Calendar of Open Houses and Other Events

I added a link to the calendar of open houses and other events.

Note the next event is on Thursday November 1st, Terence Dickinson at the Ann Arbor District Library. I added this as a comment to Veronica's earlier post, but I'll repeat it here (the internal links to the books are to the Ann Arbor District Library card catalog).

7:00 - 8:30 p.m. Downtown Library: Multi-Purpose Room

Terence Dickinson was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1995—that nation's highest civilian achievement award—for his commitment to popularizing the wonders of astronomy. The editor of Canada's SkyNews magazine; author of the internationally bestselling Nighwatch: A Practical Guide to the Universe and The Backyard Astronomer's Guide; and a commentator for Discovery Channel Canada, Dickinson is perhaps better known for the distinctively accessible narrative style found in his several stargazing guidebooks (14 of which are still in print with over 2 million sold). In short, Dickinson is one of that rare breed of astronomer’s astronomer who, like the late Carl Sagan, is also a gifted people’s astronomer.

Who better then to explain the science behind those mind-blowing Hubble telescope photos of the cosmos comprising his latest book, Hubble's Universe: Greatest Discoveries and Latest Images ? (The book cover is shown above). There is no one better—and Dickinson will be here in Ann Arbor to do just that at 7 p.m. on Thursday, November 1, with his illustrated talk, “A Voyage to the Edge of the Universe.” He’ll then sign copies of the book (which will be for sale) following the event.

For all events, see the Calendar.

Mars Science Lab Curiosity.

On Friday, September 28, Nilton Renno (from the University of Michigan Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences) gave a talk to the club entitled “Mars Science Lab Curiosity.”

Back in March, Nilton had given us a talk entitled “Deliquescence and Liquid Water on Mars.” In short, it is now known that liquid salty water is present on the surface of Mars, at least in some locations and during some parts of the Martian year (most of the time water is present in the form of ice).

There was another spacecraft on its way to Mars, the Mars Science Lab Curiosity, which was scheduled to land in August. After his first talk, Nilton agreed to come back for a second talk, after the lander made it to Mars. This was a somewhat risky proposition since many past attempts to land spacecraft on the red planet have ended in failure, and a talk about a failed Mars mission might be rather short.

As it happened, Curiosity successfully landed on the surface of Mars on August 6. There were only a few minor issues. Thus Nilton's second talk on September 28.

During the September talk, Nilton described the mission and its goals. Unfortunately it will take some time to sort out the science results. At the time of the talk, Nilton could only give us a few hints.

Photograph by John Causland.

Links:

• Photographs from This Talk.
• A List of Other Lowbrow talks (if you follow this link, you will find powerpoint files for some talks).
• The NASA Mars Science Laboratory Website.