• 18 Mar 2024 7:30 AM | Scott Miller (Administrator)

    Tuesday, 03/19/24
    07:30 PM - 09:30 PM

    Livestream

    Astronomy on Tap


    YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN4jBOBtoqE

    Astronomy on Tap Tucson #96: Galaxies Going Bananas + Space Drafts Trivia!


    On tap this month, we have Steward Observatory graduate student Haowen Zhang talking about how galaxies in the early universe are going bananas! We’ll also be hosting another trivia game featuring a Borderlands gift card as a prize, and of course, you won’t want to miss the latest Astronomy in the News with Steward postdocs Jackie Champagne and Danny Krolikowski!


    Website: https://astronomyontap.org/event/astronomy-on-tap-tucson-96-galaxies-going-bananas-space-drafts-trivia/


    Cost:  Free

    =============================

    Thursday, 03/21/24  3:30 PM
    In-person

    Physics North
    UC Berkeley
    Room 1
    Berkeley, CA 94720

    UC Berkeley Astronomy Colloquium

    Speaker: Adam Riess, Johns Hopkins University

    Website: https://astro.berkeley.edu/news/events/astronomy-colloquium/

    Cost:  Free

    =============================


    Thursday, 03/21/24
    04:00 PM - 05:00 PM

    Livestream


    Skeptical Inquirer


    The UFO Movie THEY Don’t Want You to See - Livestream


    In an age when misinformation, alternative facts, and conspiracy theories have become mainstream, UFOs have become one of the most talked-about phenomena throughout popular culture. What is in our skies? What do we know, and how do we know it? And most importantly: Are we being visited?

    Join us for a free Skeptical Inquirer Presents livestream with Brian Dunning, the producer of the feature-length indie documentary film The UFO Movie THEY Don’t Want You to See. Dunning and host Kenny Biddle will talk about the science behind today’s UFO/UAP phenomenon, why Dunning made the film - which is available to stream now on Amazon Prime and other online platforms - as well as the reactions to it so far from the UFO community. What answers does science have to give us? Dunning and his film will tell us.

    Register at weblink

    Website: https://skepticalinquirer.org/video/the-ufo-movie-they-dont-want-you-to-see-brian-dunning/


    Cost:  Free


    =============================

    Friday, 3/22/24  7PM
    In-person

    Telescope Makers Workshop
    Chabot Space and Science Center
    10000 Skyline Boulevard
    Oakland, CA 94619-245

    The Chabot Telescope Maker's workshop reopens! Chabot's TMW is one of only a handful of regularly scheduled telescope making workshops in the U.S., and probably the world; it meets every Friday evening throughout the year, except Memorial Day weekend. It has been in operation since December of 1930, founded by Franklin B. Wright, and is currently run by Eastbay Astronomical Society member Rich Ozer, with help from other EAS members, Dave Barosso, Barry Leska, and others. The price of admission is FREE. All you have to do is show up, buy a mirror blank and a "tool" (typically around $100 - $200 depending on the size of the mirror) and start "pushin' glass!" We supply you with instruction, the various grits you'll need to first grind, and then polish and figure your mirror, and all the testing equipment needed. With a small bit of luck, you could wind up with a telescope that costs 1/3 or 1/4 the cost of a store-bought telescope, that is yet optically superior! It does take time - depending on how much time you put in on it, and other factors, it could take a few months.. But, it's a fun project, great for kids, and at the end you get a great telescope!

    Enter from the main loading dock behind the main building.

    If you have a project, bring it with you so we can assess next steps.
    You can also bring any other equipment or literature you may have
    questions about.

    For more information call or email Richard Ozer at richozer1@... or phone (510) 406-1914.

    =============================

    Friday, 03/22/2024 9PM-11PM for night observing and Saturday 03/23/2024
    10AM-12 Noon for solar observing
    In-person

    Foothill Observatory
    12345 El Monte Road
    Los Altos Hills, CA 94022

    Foothill Observatory now Open EVERY clear Friday night and Saturday morning

    The Foothill College Astronomy Department and Peninsula Astronomical Society (PAS) have reopened public viewing programs at Foothill College Observatory on:

    ·       Every clear Friday night from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. for star gazing

    ·       Every clear Saturday morning from 10 a.m. to noon for solar viewing

    Since we are still dealing with COVID, we are adopting the following guidelines to enable safe operation of the Observatory for both our public visitors and our PAS operators.  We ask that visitors please agree to complying with these guidelines before visiting the Observatory, and to direct any questions to info@....

    ATTENDANCE GUIDELINES
    COVID vaccinations and masks no longer required on the Foothill College campus.

    Websites:  https://foothill.edu/astronomy/observatory.html

    and  https://pastro.org

    =============================

    Friday,  03/22/2024 and Saturday 3/23/2024
    07:30 PM - 10:00 PM
    In-person

    Chabot Space and Science Center
    10000 Skyline Blvd
    Oakland, CA 94619

    Free Telescope Viewings

    Join Chabot astronomers on the Observatory Deck for a free telescope viewing! Weather permitting, this is a chance to explore stars, planets and more through Chabot’s historic telescopes. Chabot’s three large historic telescopes offer a unique way to experience the awe and wonder of the Universe. Our observatory deck offers breathtaking views 1,500 feet above the Bay. Three observatory domes house the Center’s 8-inch (Leah, 1883) and 20-inch (Rachel, 1916) refracting telescopes, along with a 36-inch reflecting telescope (Nellie, 2003).

    Are the skies clear for viewing tonight? Viewing can be impacted by rain, clouds, humidity and other weather conditions. Conditions can be unique to Chabot because of its unique location in Joaquin Miller Park. Before your visit, check out the Weather Station to see the current conditions at Chabot.

    https://chabotspace.org/weather-station/

    Website: https://chabotspace.org/events/events-listing/

    =============================


    Saturday, 03/23/24
    10:00 AM - 04:00 PM
    In-person

    Chabot Space and Science Center
    10000 Skyline Blvd
    Oakland, CA 94619

    Rocketfest

    Blast off to Chabot Space & Science Center for a day filled with hands-on fun! The Center is hosting our first-ever Rocketfest. These feats of engineering allow us to send satellites into orbit, study Earth’s upper atmosphere and eventually send humans to other planets. Discover more about rockets through hands-on activities, live science demonstrations, special guest speakers and more!

    Website: https://chabotspace.org/calendar/rocketfest/

    Cost:  $30 Adults, $25 Kids/Students/Seniors
    All ages, family-friendly.

    =============================

    Saturday, March 23rd, 2024
    Our meeting begins promptly at 7:30 P.M.
    In-person and Livestream

    Chabot Space and Science Center
    10000 Skyline Blvd
    Oakland, CA 94619

    This talk will be available live and publicly at:

    Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/EastbayAstroSociety/videos/

    Meeting will be held at the Chabot Space and Science Center Classroom 4 (the Room formerly known as Copernicus). Please enter through the side gate along the back road of the facility.


    Our guest speaker for the evening is Dr. Kristofer S. J. Pister, Whinnery Chair Professor in Electrical Engineering, U.C. Berkeley
     
    TITLE: Very Small Interplanetary Spacecraft – Crazy and Crazier
    This research project began with a simple question: what is the smallest spacecraft that can deliver a cell phone camera to within one diameter of a near earth asteroid, take a few thousand pictures, and then return to earth and download the images? Two proposed solutions have emerged, both weighing less than 0.1 kg: BLISS – the Berkeley Low-Cost Interplanetary Solar Sail, and BEARS – Berkeley Electrospray Autonomous Robotic Spacecraft.

    The spacecraft are designed with off-the-shelf technology, including sensors from cell phones for inertial and image sensing, solar cells and a LiPo battery, redundant radiation-tolerant computation, and both RF and laser communication. We assume that swarms of thousands of such spacecraft will be deployed, and that a mission failure rate of 50% for individual spacecraft is acceptable, allowing for aggressive optimization.

    Some simulations of spacecraft trajectories and performance will be presented, as well as some speculation on the theoretical limits to performance of such spacecraft.

    About the Speaker

    Kristofer S.J. Pister received his B.A. in Applied Physics from UCSD in 1986, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from UC Berkeley in 1989 and 1992.

    From 1992 to 1997 he was an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering at UCLA where he helped developed the graduate MEMS curriculum, and coined the phrase Smart Dust.

    Since 1996 he has been a professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at UC Berkeley. In 2003 and 2004 he was on leave from UCB as CEO and then CTO of Dust Networks, a company he founded to commercialize wireless sensor networks.

    He participated in the creation of several wireless sensor networking standards, including Wireless HART (IEC62591), IEEE 802.15.4e, ISA100.11A, and IETF RPL. Commercial impact of his work includes the adoption of nodal analysis for MEMS design, XeF2 etchers for semiconductor and MEMS fabrication, wireless sensor networks, and low power Bluetooth radios in AirPods.

    Website:  https://eastbayastro.org/events/

  • 18 Mar 2024 7:00 AM | Scott Miller (Administrator)

    Monday, 03/25/24
    03:30 PM - 04:30 PM

    Attend in person or via Zoom (see weblink)

    Stanford Linear Accelerator (SLAC) Colloquium Series
    2575 Sand Hill Road, Building 48
    Redwood Rooms C & D
    Menlo Park, CA 94025

    Zoom:  https://stanford.zoom.us/j/95023891262?pwd=ZUh0dFQwMGIyK3VrZTM2dnBvb0xmdz09#success


    Exploring the High-Redshift Universe with Millimeter-Wave Line Intensity Mapping


    Answering outstanding questions in cosmology - such as understanding the physics of inflation, dark energy, and reionization - requires observations of ever-increasing volumes of the universe. In this talk I will discuss a new technique for measuring large volumes at high redshift: line intensity mapping (LIM) of far-IR emission lines from galaxies. This technique is enabled by advances in millimeter-wave spectrometer technology. I will introduce SPT-SLIM, a pathfinder experiment at the South Pole Telescope which will demonstrate the use of superconducting on-chip spectrometers for LIM. SPT-SLIM targets galaxies from the peak of cosmic star formation, about 10 billion years ago. I will then discuss the future of mm-wave LIM and the technical advances needed to develop this technique into a next-generation cosmological observable.  

    Speaker: Dr. Kirit Karkare, SLAC

    Website: https://colloquium.slac.stanford.edu/events/2024-03-14-exploring-high-redshift-universe-millimeter-wave-line-intensity-mapping


    Cost:  Free

    =============================

    Tuesday, 3/26/2024

    7:00 PM-9:00PM

    In-person and recorded


    Mt. Diablo Astronomical Society

    Lindsay Wildlife Experience

    1931 First Avenue

    Walnut Creek, CA 94597

    Speaker: Professor Oscar Macias,  SFSU


    Title:  Gamma-ray emission from the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal galaxy due to millisecond pulsars

    Website:https://www.mdas.net  and

    https://nightsky.jpl.nasa.gov/event-view.cfm?Event_ID=133831

    =============================

    Thursday, 03/28/24
    07:00 PM - 09:00 PM

    In-person and Livestream

    KQED, The Commons
    2601 Mariposa Street
    San Francisco, CA 94110

    Science Is a Piece of Cake: Astronomy Cake-off


    Do you know your astronomy? Learn about all the planets and stars in our (rare night of fog-free) Bay Area sky via ... cake! KQED's Check, Please! Bay Area producer Cecilia Phillips is hosting a cake bake-off, where celestial bodies serve as our visual inspiration. Enter in the competition as a beginner, intermediate, or advanced baker, or come be in the audience to learn about the stars overhead and eat delicious cake.

    Website: https://www.kqed.org/event/3960


    Cost:  In Person: $20 / Livestream: Free.


    =============================

    Friday, 03/29/24
    08:30 PM - 10:00 PM

    In-person

    Sonoma State University Public Astronomy
    Observatory
    1801 East Cotati Ave
    Rohnert Park, CA 94928

    Public Astronomy Viewing Nights


    Sonoma State University hosts astronomical viewing nights open to the public.  Events are weather dependent.  Check the weblink for cancelations prior to attending.

    Website: https://phys-astro.sonoma.edu/public-events/public-viewing-nights


    Cost:  Free

    ==============================

    Friday, 03/29/24
    08:45 PM - 10:45 PM

    In-person

    San Jose Astronomical Association
    Houge Park
    3972 Twilight Drive
    San Jose, CA 95124

    In Town Star Party


    Come join San Jose Astronomical Association (SJAA) for an evening of stargazing.

    Event details:

    • Events are held at the parking lot of our headquarters, Houge Park San Jose. The event duration is 2hours. SJAA volunteers will share night sky views from their telescopes.
    • Please refrain from bringing your own telescopes (Binoculars are welcome). If you like to be avolunteer with or without a telescope please email at "itsp@sjaa.net".


    Register at weblink

    Website: https://www.meetup.com/sj-astronomy/events/298247790/


    Cost:  Free

    ==============================

    Friday, 3/29/24  7PM
    In-person

    Telescope Makers Workshop
    Chabot Space and Science Center
    10000 Skyline Boulevard
    Oakland, CA 94619-245

    The Chabot Telescope Maker's workshop reopens! Chabot's TMW is one of only a handful of regularly scheduled telescope making workshops in the U.S., and probably the world; it meets every Friday evening throughout the year, except Memorial Day weekend. It has been in operation since December of 1930, founded by Franklin B. Wright, and is currently run by Eastbay Astronomical Society member Rich Ozer, with help from other EAS members, Dave Barosso, Barry Leska, and others. The price of admission is FREE. All you have to do is show up, buy a mirror blank and a "tool" (typically around $100 - $200 depending on the size of the mirror) and start "pushin' glass!" We supply you with instruction, the various grits you'll need to first grind, and then polish and figure your mirror, and all the testing equipment needed. With a small bit of luck, you could wind up with a telescope that costs 1/3 or 1/4 the cost of a store-bought telescope, that is yet optically superior! It does take time - depending on how much time you put in on it, and other factors, it could take a few months.. But, it's a fun project, great for kids, and at the end you get a great telescope!

    Enter from the main loading dock behind the main building.

    If you have a project, bring it with you so we can assess next steps.
    You can also bring any other equipment or literature you may have
    questions about.

    For more information call or email Richard Ozer at richozer1@... or phone (510) 406-1914.

    =============================

    Friday, 03/29/2024 9PM-11PM for night observing and Saturday 03/30/2024
    10AM-12 Noon for solar observing
    In-person

    Foothill Observatory
    12345 El Monte Road
    Los Altos Hills, CA 94022

    Foothill Observatory now Open EVERY clear Friday night and Saturday morning

    The Foothill College Astronomy Department and Peninsula Astronomical Society (PAS) have reopened public viewing programs at Foothill College Observatory on:

    ·       Every clear Friday night from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. for star gazing

    ·       Every clear Saturday morning from 10 a.m. to noon for solar viewing

    Since we are still dealing with COVID, we are adopting the following guidelines to enable safe operation of the Observatory for both our public visitors and our PAS operators.  We ask that visitors please agree to complying with these guidelines before visiting the Observatory, and to direct any questions to info@....

    ATTENDANCE GUIDELINES
    COVID vaccination and masks no longer required on the Foothill College campus.

    Websites:  https://foothill.edu/astronomy/observatory.html

    and  https://pastro.org

    =============================

    Friday,  03/29/2024 and Saturday 3/30/2024
    07:30 PM - 10:00 PM
    In-person

    Chabot Space and Science Center
    10000 Skyline Blvd
    Oakland, CA 94619

    Free Telescope Viewings

    Join Chabot astronomers on the Observatory Deck for a free telescope viewing! Weather permitting, this is a chance to explore stars, planets and more through Chabot’s historic telescopes. Chabot’s three large historic telescopes offer a unique way to experience the awe and wonder of the Universe. Our observatory deck offers breathtaking views 1,500 feet above the Bay. Three observatory domes house the Center’s 8-inch (Leah, 1883) and 20-inch (Rachel, 1916) refracting telescopes, along with a 36-inch reflecting telescope (Nellie, 2003).

    Are the skies clear for viewing tonight? Viewing can be impacted by rain, clouds, humidity and other weather conditions. Conditions can be unique to Chabot because of its unique location in Joaquin Miller Park. Before your visit, check out the Weather Station to see the current conditions at Chabot.

    https://chabotspace.org/weather-station/

    Website: https://chabotspace.org/events/events-listing/

    =============================

    Saturday, 03/30/24
    10:00 AM - 05:00 PM

    In-person


    Lawrence Hall of Science
    1 Centennial Drive
    Berkeley, CA 94720

    Sunprint Kit Celebration at the Lawrence Hall of Science


    Celebrate Spring Break with solar science! We’ll have a printmaking station all week featuring our Sunprint® Kits paper in Forces That Shape the Bay. Use your creativity, a variety of fun materials, and the sun’s power to express yourself and create stunning art. On Sunday, April 7, come back from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. to see your Sunprints on display for all to see and vote on your favorites to win a prize! Every visitor gets a free Sunprint Kit when they spend $40 at The Discovery Store all week long!

    Website: https://lawrencehallofscience.org/events/sunprint-kit-celebration/


    Cost:  Free with admission

    =============================

    Saturday, 03/30/24
    10:00 AM - 02:00 PM
    Other Dates For This Event:
    • Saturday, 03/30/24
    • Sunday, 03/31/24
    • Monday, 04/01/24
    • Tuesday, 04/02/24
    • Wednesday, 04/03/24

    In-person

    Lawrence Hall of Science
    1 Centennial Drive
    Berkeley, CA 94720

    Through the Looking Glass Pilot


    Help us test a new activity for your future scientists aged 6 and under. Explore nature with various optical tools that can focus far beyond what our eyes typically see. Zoom in and zoom out with microscopes, periscopes, binoculars, and lenses carrying different magnifying powers. Which tools will you choose to help find what’s hidden in nature? The first hour each day (10:00 - 11:00 a.m.) is members only.

    Admission is free for UC Berkeley students & staff, Members, children 2 and under, Museums for All, and active-duty military.

    Website: https://lawrencehallofscience.org/events/through-the-looking-glass-pilot/


    Cost:  Free with museum admission ($20 for guests 3+)


    =============================

    Saturday, 03/30/24

    6:00 PM - 10:00 PM

    San Francisco Amateur Astronomers

    Muir Woods Community Clubhouse on Mt.Tam
    40 Ridge Avenue
    Mill Valley, CA 94941

    A Night for Beginning Astronomers


    The SFAA is hosting a night dedicated to our members beginning in visual astronomy. Beginners will bring their optical instruments and experienced members will be present to provide assistance. Cosmic delights for the evening include: Jupiter with its Great Red Spot visible and its moon Io casting a shadow, an excellent opportunity to view Comet Pons-Brooks, the great Orion Nebula, and the home of Star Trek’s Vulcans.

    Join us for a BYOF picnic (cookies provided!) prior to the event at 6:00 PM. Sunset will be at 7:30 PM, therefore we suggest arriving no later than 7 PM to allow for setup.

    To register, either as a beginner seeking support or an experienced astronomer wanting to mentor, please click here.

    Website: https://www.sfaa-astronomy.org/event-5570880


    Cost:  Free

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