Bays Mountain Astronomy Club

04/01/2018

I just wanted to remind everyone about our meeting this Friday. We will once again welcome Steve Conard as our guest speaker.

Date - April 6, 2018 at 7 p.m.

Location – Bays Mountain Park – Discovery Theater Classroom in the lower level of the Nature Center

Topic – The New Horizons spacecraft and the Kuiper Belt Object 2014MU69

Steve Conard from Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. Steve is an optical systems engineer and has had a 35-year career building spaceflight optical instruments for astrophysics and planetary science missions. As a hobby, he measures the size and shape of asteroids for the International Occultation Timing Association. His presentation will be on the New Horizons spacecraft and the Kuiper Belt Object 2014MU69. The New Horizons spacecraft will perform a flyby of a small Kuiper Belt Object, 2014MU69, on January 1, 2019. Until the summer of 2017, very little was known about this object—its size was estimated to be between 10 and 40 km in diameter. Knowing the size of the object would make the pre-planned observations during the New Horizons flyby much more effective and lower risk. In this talk we describe two expeditions to Argentina, where a diverse team used off-the-shelf amateur astronomy equipment to both measure the size and shape of this body. The results obtained reveal an unusually-shaped body that has further raised scientific expectations for next year’s encounter on January 1, 2019.

01/12/2018

I just wanted to remind everyone that our annual dinner will be tomorrow night, Saturday, January 13th at 6:30 PM. We will not be having a speaker. I hope everyone will come out and enjoy the conversation with fellow astro geeks.

Brandon

01/09/2018

Reminder - This month's meeting will be our club dinner and is scheduled for Saturday, January 13 at 6:30 p.m.. Check out this month's newsletter for all the details and hope to see you all there.

08/31/2017

StarFest Registration is Now Open!

Registration is open for our annual astronomical convention/star gathering called StarFest. This is the 34th anniversary and will be a fantastic 3-day event held on October 27-29, 2017.
Attendance does require pre-payment, but includes all activities, 4 keynote speakers, 5 wonderful meals, a unique T-shirt, and much more. All for one, low cost.

Please visit: http://www.baysmountain.com/astronomy/astronomy-club/?GTTabs=5
for all the details and to download a registration form.

Kingsport, TN

08/31/2017

Join us at our next meeting - September 1, 2017 at 7 p.m.
Meetings are held at Bays Mountain Park in the Discovery Theater Classroom in the lower level of the Nature Center.

Our meeting this month will feature “Tales of Totality.” We will open up the floor to anyone wishing to share their experience of the recent total solar eclipse. Please feel free to bring pictures or anything you would like to show from your experience.

Hope to see you there!

07/11/2017

I just wanted to remind everyone that our annual picnic is coming up this weekend. It will be on July 15th at 6:00 PM at Natural Tunnel State Park in Duffield, VA. The picnic will be at gazebo in the back of the park. Please bring a dish to share and a chair. I hope to see everyone there.

Also, if anyone has a portable grill and is willing to bring it. Please let me know. We will be needing one this year if we are going to have hamburgers or hotdogs.

Thanks,
Brandon

06/01/2017

I just wanted to remind everyone about our meeting this month...

June 2, 2017 at 7 p.m.

Location –
Bays Mountain Park – Discovery Theater Classroom in the lower level of the Nature Center

Topic –
BMACer William Troxel will present: “What Type of Scope is Best for You?”

We are also having our club election this month. If you are interest in running for club chair, please be there or contact BMAC on Facebook or BMAstro yahoo group. I hope everyone will be able to come.

Brandon

05/02/2017

Join us at our next meeting - May 5, 2017 at 7 p.m.
Meeting are held at Bays Mountain Park in the Discovery Theater Classroom in the lower level of the Nature Center.

We will have several speakers for the evening. Tom Rutherford, who teaches at Sullivan South High School, will be bringing some of his students who will speak about their continuing astronomy research. Topics include the rotational period of an asteroid, the effects of x-rays on seeds, a high-altitude balloon launch, and an exoplanet transit.

04/26/2017

Astronomy Day is Saturday, April 29th!

This is an international day celebrating the science and hobby of astronomy. Bays Mountain Astronomy Club members will be providing a number of fascinating displays and hands-on activities. Learn about astronomy, telescopes, careers and education in astronomy, the sun and more! The club will also be hosting daytime viewing of the sun and nighttime viewing of the Moon, Jupiter, and much more!

For more information and a schedule of events, please visit our website:
http://www.baysmountain.com/astronomy/observatory/

03/03/2017

I just wanted to remind everyone that our March meeting is tomorrow March 3rd at 7:00PM.

Location – Bays Mountain Park – Discovery Theater Classroom in the lower level of the Nature Center

Topic – Our meeting this month will feature our very own Robin Byrne. She will be giving a presentation entitled, “A Trip Through Poland’s Scientific History.” Robin is an Associate Professor of Astronomy in the Science Department at Northeast State Community College in Blountville, TN. She has been a member of the Bays Mountain Astronomy Club since 1992 and has been chairperson of the club as well. She also writes the ongoing science history column in this very newsletter every month. Robin always gives a very entertaining and knowledge-filled presentation so make sure you will be able to attend.

01/12/2017

Just wanted to remind everyone...

January 14, 2017 at 6:30 p.m.

Location – Pratt’s BBQ, 1225 E Stone Drive, Kingsport, TN

Topic – Annual club dinner and speaker.

Steve Conard, a member of the International Occultation Timing Association, will describe opportunities for amateur astronomers to contribute scientifically by timing occultations. Occultations of stars by the Moon are a very regular occurrence, and about 1 in 100 video-timed occultations result in a previously unknown double star’s discovery. Asteroid occultations, while somewhat rarer, can result in generating a silhouette of the asteroid–giving important size and shape information that is not otherwise easily obtained. These asteroid observations have also produced occasional discoveries of asteroid satellites and double stars.

Bio: Steve Conard is an optical systems engineer for the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. He has developed hardware for space missions for over 30 years. His enjoyment for telescope making as a teenager led him to a career in optics.

Hope to see everyone there.

Brandon

12/12/2016

Details for our annual dinner.

January 14, 2017 at 6:30 p.m. – if severe snow, then the dinner will be January 21, 2017

Location – Pratt’s BBQ, 1225 E Stone Drive, Kingsport, TN
Topic – Annual club dinner and speaker.

Steve Conard, a member of the International Occultation Timing Association, will describe opportunities for amateur astronomers to contribute scientifically by timing occultations. Occultations of stars by the Moon are a very regular occurrence, and about 1 in 100 video-timed occultations result in a previously unknown double star’s discovery. Asteroid occultations, while somewhat rarer, can result in generating a silhouette of the asteroid–giving important size and shape information that is not otherwise easily obtained. These asteroid observations have also produced occasional discoveries of asteroid satellites and double stars.

Bio: Steve Conard is an optical systems engineer for the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland. He has developed hardware for space missions for over 30 years. His enjoyment for telescope making as a teenager led him to a career in optics.