Reliving the 17th Annual

Connecticut River Valley Astronomer's Conjunction

 

Fri. - Sun., July 9 - 11, 1999

1999 PROGRAM

SATURDAY MORNING PROGRAM

All of Saturday's activities took place at the Environmental Center. The morning featured a round-table discussion focusing on "ASTRONOMICAL COLLECTIBLES."  Phil Harrington, George Bottasso, Rich Sanderson, and others brought along displays of antique astronomy books, planispheres, magazines, post cards, equipment, and other collectibles.

SATURDAY AFTERNOON PAPERS -

MOONS OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM by Jack Megas, planetarium educator at the Seymour Planetarium in Springfield, Mass., founder of the Conjunction and an expert on the legends and mythology of the stars and constellations.

THE HANDS-ON UNIVERSE PROGRAM AND THE DISCOVERY OF KUIPER BELT OBJECT 1998FS144 BY HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS, by Hughes Pack, astronomy teacher at Northfield Mount Hermon School, Northfield, Mass (See Sky & Telescope, March 1999, page 80.)

THE HISTORY OF WOMEN IN ASTRONOMY, by Robin Symonds, director of the Bassett Planetarium at Amherst College in Amherst, Mass.

OBSERVING THE 7-HOUR-OLD CRESCENT MOON, by Ted Poulos, member of the Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston and the Society of Amateur Radio Astronomy, and educator at the Hayden Planetarium in Boston, Mass.

SOLAR VIEWING

Experienced solar observer Gerry Atkinson set up his refractor on Saturday for a close-up look at our nearest star using his "Solar Theater" that was featured in the first edition of the book Star Ware.

SATURDAY EVENING KEYNOTE SPEAKER

THIS SUMMER'S TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE AND OTHERS

Dr. Jay M. Pasachoff
Director of Hopkins Observatory, Chair of the Department of
Astronomy, and Field Memorial Professor of Astronomy at Williams College, Williamstown, Massachusetts
 
A renowned expert on solar eclipses, Dr. Pasachoff has stood within the Moon’s shadow 25 times since 1959.  He is the author or co-author of numerous technical and popular books and articles on astronomy, including The Cambridge Eclipse Photography Guide (with Michael Covington, 1993) and Astronomy: From the Earth to the Universe (1998). Dr. Pasachoff’s research interests include coronal beating, primordial deuterium abundance in the Universe, and images of comets in art.

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