August 23-24, 2019

2019 WRAP-UP

Photos by Richard Sanderson click on each to enlarge

Friday night was reasonably clear, but sadly, Saturday night was overcast.  Still, what we did see on Friday was striking!

 

Saturday morning program 9 AM The morning kicked off with a welcome over coffee and donuts at the Northfield Mountain Environmental Center.  The Conjunction's Swap Table, where astronomical items and treasures are bought and sold all day long, also opens at 9. 10:00 AM How I Got Bit by the Astro-bug.  Renowned astronomy author and educator Phil Harrington recalled how his fascination with the night sky was kindled many years ago.  Phil then invited members of the audience to share their own stories about the people, places, events and books that inspired their lifelong passions for astronomy.    All Day: Conjunction "Barlow Bob" Memorial Solar Star Party Named in honor of "Barlow" Bob Godfrey, a highly enthusiastic popularizer of solar observing and friend of the Conjunction, our solar star party will feature spectacular close-up views of our nearest star through specially-filtered telescopes. If you have a solar scope, please bring it along to share Bob's star with others. Saturday afternoon program 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM My Astronomy Travels by Julie Kaufman, eclipse-chaser and member of the Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston Lunar Observing by Richard Nugent, former science teacher and member of the Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston The Future of Human Spaceflight by retired physicist James Johnson, Ph.D., who currently is a planetarium educator and member of the Albany Area Amateur Astronomers Saturday evening address 7:30 - 9:00PM Microquasars: What X-ray and Radio Observations Tell Us About the Accretion-Ejection Phenomenon by Diana Hannikainen, Ph.D. Diana Hannikainen studied for her BSc in Physics and Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, and then moved to Finland, in part to explore her Finnish roots. While there, she embarked on graduate studies at the University of Helsinki, and received an MSc followed by a PhD in Astrophysics. The subject of her PhD thesis was multiwavelength observations of microquasars, a topic she continued throughout her research career. While still a student, Dr. Hannikainen was lucky to have forged a strong collaboration with researchers at the University of Sydney, Australia, which allowed her to escape the long, cold Nordic winters from time to time. It was during a stint at Sydney, working on her PhD, that she discovered the correlation between radio and X-ray emission in microquasars, which opened up a whole new avenue for interpreting accretion and ejection phenomena in these objects. A couple of years ago, she switched careers and moved to Cambridge, MA, to take up the position of Observing Editor at Sky & Telescope magazine. After so many years of observing the skies at the extremes of the electromagnetic spectrum, Dr. Hannikainen is thrilled to be reacquainting herself with the visible night sky.

Have questions?  E-mail them here.

Back to Conjunction Home Page