Exclusively for AAC members!
AAC has organized a dark sky star party at one of the darkest skies on the east coast!
Sunset is 8:29 pm.
Arrive at least one hour before sunset for setup and to get familiar with the observing field before dark.
Please review the Star Party etiquette for Chiefland. http://shorturl.at/cgkMO
You need to register to attend and receive directions to observing field.
Event Alerts - Members please register to attend. A "GO" or "NO GO" will be emailed to registrants by noon the day of the event. Your need to be registered for me to send you updates! Also, please double check weather conditions before heading out to Chiefland. Summertime weather in Florida changes fast!
Agenda:
7:00 - 7:15 General Meeting & Announcements 7:15 - 7:30 Members Corner:
7:30 - 7:45 Refreshment break
7:45 - Public Presentation
Speaker: Dr. Jessica Li
Topic: UV Emission Surrounding Galaxies
7:00 - 7:15 General Meeting & Announcements 7:15 - 7:30 Short topic presentation by a club member
Speaker: Dr. Jessica li
Title: UV Emissions Surrounding Galaxies
Abstract:
The circumgalactic medium (CGM) and intergalactic medium (IGM), the tenuous gas surrounding galaxies represent a significant portion of matter in the universe as indicated by both theoretical and observational studies. This faint and diffuse gas is not well studied since it is very challenging to observe. Studying the CGM is essential for understanding astrophysical principles that govern the formation and evolution of stars and galaxies throughout the universe. It is believed to be the reservoir of gas and material that is both the source and regulator of star-forming fuel, controlling the exchange between the intergalactic medium (IGM) between galaxies and interstellar medium (ISM) within galaxies. We advance our understanding of these processes through ultraviolet (UV) spectroscopic CGM emission line observations in high redshift galaxies in addition to instrumentation work for balloon-borne and space telescopes that target low redshift galaxies. I present four distinct but interrelated projects that combine observational astronomy, instrument building, and technology development. This includes quasar observations from the Palomar Cosmic Web Imager (PCWI), instrument work on FIREBall-2 (Faint Intergalactic-medium Redshifted Balloon) telescope and Aspera SmallSat mission, and technology development of UV reflective gratings.
About the Speaker:
Research Interests:
UV astrophysics and UV instrumentation.
Speaker: Dr. Zachary Slepian - UF
Title: Dark Energy
Originally from Fairfield, Connecticut, an early interest in philosophy led to his current interest in cosmology. He attended public high school, received a BA summa cum laude from Princeton (2011), working with J. Richard Gott, III on his senior thesis, an MSt in philosophy of physics at Oxford (2012), and a PhD in Astrophysics (2016) from Harvard, advised by Daniel J. Eisenstein. During his PhD, he focused on Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) in the 2-point and 3-point correlation function (3PCF) of galaxies, constraining a possible systematic sourced by high-redshift baryon-dark matter relative velocities using the 3PCF. This entailed developing a transformatively fast 3PCF algorithm, enabling the first high-significance detection of BAO in the 3PCF and a measurement of the cosmic distance scale six billion years ago to percent precision. Post-PhD, he spent one year as a Chamberlain Fellow and one year as an Einstein Fellow at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where highlights included an implementation of the 3PCF algorithm capable of computing the 3PCF for the entire observable Universe in 20-hours on NERSC’s Cori supercomputer, application of the 3PCF to MHD turbulence, and novel analytic solutions for the Friedmann equation in the presence of neutrinos or warm dark matter.
Dark energy, dark matter, structure formation, large surveys, analytic methods, star formation. His current research follows three broad paths: creating theoretical models for large-scale structure, designing fast algorithms to measure it, and applying them to datasets such as BOSS, eBOSS, and DESI. Cutting across these areas are a strong attraction to analytic methods and excitement about effective use of high-performance computing.
Speaker: Anna Metke - Space Resource Technologies
Title: Regolith Production
TBD
Speaker: James Albury, Planetarium Director and host of the YouTube Series "The Sky Above Us"
Topic: TBD
Join James Albury, host of the YouTube astronomy program "The Sky Above Us" (TheSkyAboveUs.org), and 2011-2019 co-host of the PBS TV Show "Star Gazers", as he takes you on a personally guided tour of our night sky, using our GOTO Chronos Space Simulator. Florida Skies is our weekly star show that familiarizes you with some of the popular constellations visible from sunset to sunrise, as well as the stories behind them. We'll also show you how and where in the sky you can find the brightest planets.