Events on the Horizon – March 2021
If you see a “members only” event in the list below that you want to attend but can’t, become a member ASAP so you can take advantage of these useful opportunities to meet amazing people, gain new skills, and learn about the universe!
Course: Physics in Astronomy
Wednesdays, March 3, 10, 24, 31; April 7 and 14
7:00 – 9:00 p.m. EST
Location: Zoom
Cost: $60 for entire six-week course, AAA members only
Register HERE.
March 3: Force and Motion
Kepler’s Laws of planetary motion. Newton’s Laws of motion and force, and gravitation. Orbits. Newton’s form of Kepler’s Laws. Deriving g from G.
March 10: Understanding Telescopes
Representations of light. Reflection and refraction. Lenses and telescopes. Three functions of telescopes. Design and features of different telescope types. Math of brightness, resolution, magnification. Purchasing considerations.
March 24: Light, Electromagnetic Waves, Spectra
General wave characteristics. Light and E/M waves. Color. Speed. Dispersion by prisms & diffraction gratings. Uniqueness of each E/M wave for research.
Spectra: demo, types, information obtained from. Color index of stars. Doppler shift. Cosmic Background Radiation of 2.725 K and relevance to Big Bang theory.
March 31: Star Energy, Temperature, Heat Flow
Details of the fusion reaction in stars. Nature of temperature: °C, °F, K. Mechanisms for heat transfer.
April 7: Star Brightness, Distance, Class
Key star variables— M, m, L, T (°K). Distance via inverse square law. H-R diagram. Wien’s and Stefan’s laws. Big Bang and 2.725 °K cosmic background temperature.
April 14: Relativity, Gravity Waves
Primer on special and general relativity. Evidences and technological adaptions of each. LIGO and gravity waves.
Instructor: David Kiefer holds various Masters degrees, including a M.S. in astronomy from the Center for Astrophysics and Supercomputing in Melbourne, Australia. He has taught physics and astronomy at colleges in New York and New Jersey, and is presently a lecturer at Brooklyn College. A member of the AAA, Mr. Kiefer observes at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn and at upstate sites. He also teaches AAA Classes and is in the Class Coordination Committee.
Evergreen Messier Half-Marathon 2021
Friday, March 5
5:30 – 11:59 p.m. EST
Location: Evergreen Cemetery, 1629 Bushwick Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11207
Cost: FREE
Register HERE.
A fun night of observing and photographing Messier deep sky objects.
Lecture: Dr. Kelle Cruz and Tim Pickering Present, “Open Source Astrophotography”
Tuesday, March 9
7:00 – 8:30 p.m. EST
Cost: FREE
Location: Zoom
Register HERE.
About the Speaker: Tim was an active amateur astronomer as a teenager, who received his first telescope when he was 11, and built a 10” dobsonian telescope from scratch when he was 16. Tim decided to pursue astronomy as a career when an advisor told him that if he went to graduate school in astronomy, he would get to use the largest telescopes in the world— and get paid to do it. He was right, and in the past 20 years Tim has made stops at the MMT Observatory, the Southern African Large Telescope, and the Space Telescope Science Institute.
Livestream: Moon-topia
Monday, March 15
7:30 – 8:00 p.m. EST
Cost: FREE
Location: AAA Facebook Live
Moon-topia – a monthly look at a few of the amazing moons of our solar system.
AAA continues to follow official recommendations regarding COVID-19 and coordinates with any partner institutions regarding event cancellations.
For the status of any event, check the AAA Calendar or Upcoming Events on the AAA website home page.
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