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HISTORY OF SPEAKERS

Since the inception of the East Valley Astronomy Club, many distinguished speakers have made presentations at our monthly meetings. View a list of past speakers and topics at monthly meetings.

2024
2023
2022

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2021

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2020

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2019

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  • January 18th - Tom Mozdzen talked on recent efforts at ASU to find evidence of when the first stars formed.

  • February 15th - Sam Gordon (ASU) - A New Way to Space: Launching Telescopes by Balloon from Antarctica.

  • March 15th - Scott Dickenshied (ASU) - Techniques for Capturing Images During High Speed Flybys.

  • April 19th - Gordon Rosner - Rocketing into Space.

  • May 17th - Dr. Chad Trujillo (NAU) - Discovery of minor planet Erin, the "Goblin", and the search for Planet X. 

  • June 21st - Dr Larry Wasserman (Lowell Observatory) - Characterizing Ultima Thule during NASA's New Horizon Mission.

  • July 19th - Dr. Paul Scowen (ASU) - Habitable Exoplanet Observatory (HabEx) Program.

  • August 16th - Mike Alegria Manager of the Multiple Mirror Telescope talked about the 40 year history of the MMT and where the science is headed now and  in the future.

  • September 20th - Tom Polakis - "Galaxy Taxonomy" and "A Century in The Blink of an Eye".

  • October 18th - Dr. Dennis Zaritsky spoke about the design, current status, and planned science of the Giant Magellan Telescope.

  • November 15th - Dr. Jessica Noviello, a postdoctoral scholar at Arizona State University, talked about her work mapping the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa. 

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  • January 19th - Dr. “Lindy” Elkins-Tanton, Director ASU School of Earth and Space Exploration (SESE).  Topic: Astronomy and Space Projects being run from ASU.

  • February 16th - Melodie Kao - Brown Dwarfs.

  • March 16th - Tom Polakis. Topic: CCD Photometry from Inside The Light Dome.

  • April 20th - Dennis Zaritsky - Halo of Hydrogen gas surrounding all galaxies.

  • May 18th - Jim Bell - Voyager Mission

  • June 15th - Dr. Michael West - The Large Scale Structure of the Universe.

  • July 20th - Ted Blank - New Horizons Mission to Pluto and Beyond.

  • August 17th - Bob Buchheim, Wayne Thomas and Bernard Miller will present their experiences building and operating their observatories..

  • September 21th - Dr. Steven Levine - Challenges of Commissioning the New Discovery Telescope.

  • October 19th - Dr. Rick Sarmento - The First Stars Following the Pristine Gas in the Early Universe.

  • November 16th - Dr. Danny Jacobs - The Hydrogen Epoch Reionization Array (HERA). HERA is a radio telescope dedicated to observing the large scale structure during and priior to the epoch of reionization.

2018

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  • January 20th - Dr. Steven Desch, ASU - "Physics of the Space Race."

  • February 17th - Craig Hardgrove from ASU who is the Manager of a cube sat launch for a lunar satellite will talk about looking for water at the Moon's poles.

  • March 17th - Jim Shedlowsky.  Enjoy the perspective of a winter visitor on the rich astronomical traditions and opportunities in Arizona.

  • April 21st - Kevin Schindler.  Lowell Observatory laid the seeds for tremendous growth in astronomy and space science in Arizona.  Celebrate the history of the venerable Clarke telescope, and hear about the restoration of the Pluto astrograph.

  • May 19th - Rogier Windhorst. This ASU professor has been involved with the evolution of the Hubble Space Telescope imaging, and the development of the James Webb Telescope. Hear the latest on telescopic imaging.

  • June 16th - Summer Solstice Starbaque

  • July 21st - Michael Sori - Minor planet Ceres has provided major surprises. Our guest from the University of Arizona will discuss the latest finding on cryo-volcanism with research from the Dawn mission.

  • August 18th - Meeting has been cancelled due to its proximity to the August 21 solar eclipse.

  • September 15th - Solar Eclipse Forum.

  • October 27th - Dean Ketelsen U of A Mirror Lab. Meeting date moved to avoid conflict with the All Arizona Star Party on October 20 and 21.

  • November 17th - Robert Hobbins - ASU School of Sustainability talked on Dark Sky Research.

2017
2016

  • January 15th - Chris Corbally, Vatican Observatory - "Stellar Spectral Classification."

  • February 19th - Bernard Miller - Photoshop Image Processing Techniques.

  • March 18th - Paul Knauth - Personal Observations on Observing.

  • April 15th - Adam Block - The Beauty of the Night Sky.

  • May 20th - Brooks Scofield - 2016 Eclipse Trip

  • June 17th - Summer Solstice Starbaque

  • July 15th - Members Night - Presentations by Wayne Thomas on Asteroid Occultation and also Lynn Young and Claude Haynes on Astonomy Applications for Laptops and Phones.

  • August 19th - Special Meeting at Mesa Community College Planetarium - Dr. Kieth Healy will give a tour of the planetarium at 1833 W Southern in Mesa. NO MEETING IN THE LIBRARY - MEET IN THE PLANETARIUM.

  • September 16th - Roger Windhorst - Update on Space Telescopes.

  • October 21st - Tom Polakis - Time Lapse Photography.

  • November 18th - Paul Knauth.

2015

  • January 16th - Richard Harshaw will talk about the research he did at Kitt Peak as an amateur.

  • February 20th - Michael Smith will give a presentation titled "How distant can we see? Our optical horizon".

  • March 20th - Don Wrigley will give a talk on the Moon.

  • April 17th - Steven Aggas - "Beyond Telescope Making"

  • May 15th - Dr. Steven Desch, ASU - "Ceres and the Planet Pluto and Charon"

  • June 19th - Tom Field - RSpec (Amateur Spectroscopy)

  • July 17th - Paul Temple of AAVSO - Central Stars of Planetary Nebula.

  • August 21st - Michael Smith - The Physics and Astronomy of Supernove Explosions.

  • September 18th - Steve Coe - "My Favorite Comets"

  • October 16th - Bernard Miller - Calibration, Registration and Stacking Tutorial using CCDStack.

  • November 20th - Dr. Peter Milne, University of Arizona - "Accelerating Universe: Not So Fast.

2014

  • January 17th - David A. Williams, Ph.D. - Director, The Ronald Greeley Center for Planetary Studies; Director, NASA Planetary Aeolian Laboratory; School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University - Satellites of the Outer Planets 

  • February 21st - Dr. Melissa Bunte Ph.D - Automatic Detection of the Outer Solar Sytem and Vulcanization. 

  • March 21st - Don Wrigley will give a talk on the Moon. 

  • April 18th - Bill Dellinges - Tale of the Telescopes - How I ended up with 13. 

  • May 16th - Gordon Rosner will talk about Rocketry. 

  • June 20th - Solstice Star-B-Q and Swap Meet. EVAC will provide the burgers, hot dogs and drinks. Please share a salad or desert if you can, but do come and have some fun. 

  • July 18th - Howard Anderson will talk about his remote observatory and taking pictures. 

  • August 15th - Henry DeJonge - The Supermassive Black Hole at the Center of the Galaxy. 

  • September 19th - Dr. Paul Knauth (ASU). 

  • October 10th - Joint Meeting with SAC - Speaker will be Fred Espenak who does the NASA Eclipse website. 

  • November 21st - Dr Buell T. Jannuzzi of the University of Arizona. 

2013

  • January 18th - Dr. Michael Barrat of NASA 
    Dr. Barratt has been to the ISS twice. His first trip was in 2009, via a Russian Soyuz, and was for a 199 day stay. His second trip was about the last flight of the Shuttle Discovery in 2011. He has some remarkable stories to share with us, including many photos, and movie clips. 

  • February 15th - Sara Walker - The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence in the 21st Century: Moving Beyond Radio Astronomy?" 

  • March 15th - No meeting this month due to conflict with Messier Marathon" 

  • April 19th - Melissa A. Morris, Ph.D. - Meteorites 101

  • May 17th - Rogier Windhorst -  Update on James Webb Space Telescope and current research from the Hubble Space Telescope.

  • June 21st - Evac Star-B-Que 

  • July 19th - James W. Ashley  - Roving the Solar System. 

  • August 16th - David A. Williams, Ph.D. - Roving the Solar System.

  • September 20th - Steven Desch, Ph.D. - Short-lived radionuclides in meteorites, and what it means for where the Sun formed. 

  • October 18th - David Hatch - Talked about remote imaging with with telescopes at Tenrife and La Palma.

  • November 15th - Chris Cobally, Ph.D. - Vatican Observatory - "Astronomy in China

2012

  • January 20th - Tom Polakis of Evac and SAC on Atacama Astronomy

  • February 17th - Lynn Young of Evac on The Night Sky Network

  • March 16th - Doloris Hill on Meteorites

  • April 20th - Rik Hill on NEO's and the Catalina Sky Survey

  • May 18th - Rogier Windhorst from ASU - NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST): The new Frontier in the Cosmos after Hubble

  • June 15th - David A. Williams from ASU's School of Earth and Space Exploration - Asteroids, Ion Propulsion, and NASA's Dawn Mission to Vesta 

  • July 20th - Dr. Mellissa Morris Assistant Director for the ASU Center for Meteorite Studies - Which came first: the Chrondule or the Planet?

  • August 17th - Steven Desch from ASU - Predicting the Water Content of Earth, Gliese 581g and other Planets. 

  • September 21st - Brother Guy Consolmagno - Twenty Five Years of Turning Left: Are We There Yet? 

  • October 19th - Dr. Sara Walker from ASU - The Origin of Life: Some Facts, speculations, and Prospects for Finding Life Elsewhere.

  • November 16th - Dr. Gerard van Belle - Lowell Observatory

2011

  • January 21st - Steve Coe - Wide Field Astrophotography with a DSLR

  • February 18th - Don Wrigley - The Moon

  • March 18th - Bernard Miller - Setting Up a Remote Observatory

  • April 15th - Dr. Rolf A. Jansen - ASU Research Scientist will talk about MAG and his work in Extra-galactic Astronomy and Cosmology.

  • May 20st - Robert Picconi - Einstein for Everyone

  • June 17th - Claude Haynes - Claude's Excellent Adventure: Arecibo Observatory

  • July 15th - Jan Barstad - Archeo Astronomy

  • August 19th - Bill Peters of Evac - Meteors and Meteorites

  • September 16th - David Hatch of Evac - Using SLOOH remote telescopes, and professional telescopes of the Canary Islands 

  • October 21st - Steven Desch of ASU on Updates to the Pluto and Charon System 

  • November 18th - Buell Jannuzi of Kitt Peak on Galaxy Evolution and the Next Generation of Major Surveys 

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