History and Tradition in the MAS

In 1990-91, the Madison Astronomical Society confidently celebrated its 60th anniversary with a slate of special events and public outreach. Everyone knew that the club had formed in 1930. That had been the conventional wisdom for decades and there appeared to be documentary evidence to back it up. But conventional wisdom is not always wise and mistakes do happen. What IS the club’s actual birthdate?

Anniversaries, birthdays and other traditions are important. Honoring the past preserves those traditions and helps us focus on who we are and where we’re headed. MAS anniversaries and traditions are meaningful and we’re fortunate that much of our story has been preserved...

Public Star Party

2024 Moon Over Monona Terrace is on September 13th

What: One of the biggest star parties in the US
When: Friday, September 13th, 7:30 to 10:00 pm
Where: Monona Terrace Convention Center (rooftop)

MAS will have multiple telescopes, binoculars and other instruments set up so members of the public can explore the moon and other celestial objects.

Free and open to the public but tickets are required for admission. Visit https://www.mononaterrace.com/event-group/moonmononaterrace to get tickets.

MAS Member Discussion Roundtable

Due to a conflict created by our Moon Over Monona Terrace star party on Sept. 13th, the regular September monthly meeting will take place on Friday, September 6th. There will be no guest speaker presentation at this meeting. Rather, we will have a moderated discussion among all those present. Topics can include:

Preparing for a large public event: Our upcoming “Moon Over Monona Terrace” event is one of the largest star parties in the midwest. Are you ready for hundreds of people wanting to look through your telescope?

Back in the Astronomical League: MAS recently rejoined the AL 30 years after quitting. Do you have thoughts?

Welcome of new members and visitors: have you only recently joined the MAS? This is a chance for us to meet new member...

Astronomy With the Highest Energy Light in the Universe

Major breakthroughs have been made in astronomy by expanding observations to far longer and far shorter wavelengths than we can see with our eyes. The shortest-wavelength photons are gamma rays, the highest energy photons in the Universe. Some of these photons are trillions of times more energetic than the human eye can detect. There is a surprising variety of astronomical sources glowing or flashing in these very-high-energy gamma rays. They are powered by some of the most extreme objects in the Universe: exploding stars, white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes...

Remodeling the Milky Way

Thanks to high precision stellar distances and velocities obtained with the European Space Agency mission Gaia, astronomers are doing all sorts of Milky Way investigations that I personally never imagined would be possible. From identifying the ingredients that first formed the Milky Way, to unscrambling the young clusters around the Sun back to their point(s) of origin 40 million years ago to building highly accurate three-dimensional maps of the interstellar medium, we are in a Golden Age for Galactic astronomers. I will share some of these advances, how they are unravelling our old picture of the Milky Way, and pointing the path to something better.

If you’re interested in some background before the talk, check out the recent article about Bob’s resear...

Three Myths of Science Education

Few people question the importance of science education in American schooling. It’s the key, after all, to economic growth, develops the ability to reason more effectively, and enables us to solve everyday problems. Good science teaching results in all these benefits and more—or so we think. But what if all this is simply wrong? What if the benefits we assume science education produces turn out to be an illusion, nothing more than wishful thinking? In this talk, Rudolph will examine the reasons we’ve long given for teaching science and assesses how they hold up to what we know about what students really learn in science classrooms and what research tells us about how people actually interact with science in their daily lives...

A Window to the Universe in My Backyard….

Having a backyard observatory is like having my own window to the universe. Any clear night I can roll the roof back and marvel at all the wonders available to see.

Having a backyard observatory means not having to spend time setting up or breaking down my equipment. I can be ready to start imaging in just a few minutes and in the morning; just roll the roof closed and I can head off to work.

I designed my observatory with Shapr3D on my iPad. I looked at many different designs and chose the most useful features for my own needs.

Brian’s biographical sketch:

My astrophotography journey started a little over 25 years ago as an extension of my photography hobby...

1919 and the new Universe… Echos and Beyond, the Modern Eddington Experiment

When Einstein published his general theory of relativity it reinvented one of the most fundamental characteristics of the Universe, and as such it came with predicted phenomena that would settle the issue of whether or not the “King” of Newtonian gravitation was really dead. One of the predictions concerns the existence of a value for the curvature of spacetime based on the presence of mass...

The April 2024 Total Solar Eclipse: Prepare to be Gobsmacked!

Bob Hamers and Jeff Shokler will help you prepare for your total eclipse experience by sharing the insights, tips, and lessons learned from their own eclipse experiences. During the talk, they’ll help you consider your eclipse viewing and/or imaging goals, discuss the many ways one can enjoy experiencing a total solar eclipse (including the numerous phenomena to keep an eye out for), and share important safety considerations.

If photographing the eclipse is one of your goals, they’ll also talk about the kinds of imaging gear that is most appropriate for photographing total eclipses, and how to plan and prepare for taking pictures – particularly under the demanding, tight timelines total eclipses present imagers...

Chasing ghost particles: searching for neutrinos from high-energy sources in real time.

Neutrinos are tiny, nearly massless particles that interact very rarely. Because of this, astrophysical neutrinos can travel very far, all the way to the South Pole, carrying information directly from their sources. The IceCube Neutrino Observatory has detected these astrophysical neutrinos, but only a few sources have been identified thus far. We search for these neutrinos from transient sources – sources that vary in their brightness over time, such as gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), supernovae, novae, or mergers of compact objects. These sources often have very energetic processes happening inside them to accelerate particles and produce these neutrinos...