Astronomy Associates of Lawrence Activities

AAL Activities Index
[September 27, 2009 Public Observing Session] [September 25, 2009 Planetary Imaging Presentation] [August 30, 2009 Public Observing Session] [August 21, 2009 Hutchinson Star, Party] [March 29, 2009 Public Observing Session] [February 5, 2009 Science Fair Exhibit] [February 1, 2009 Public Observing Session] [November 21, 2008 Cub Scout Event] [August 31, 2008 Public Observing Session] [June 20, 2007 Public Observing Session] [May 2007 Planetary Imaging Presentation] [March 2007 Girl Scout Workshop] [May 2006 Farpoint Trip]

PowerPoint Presentation - 8 Mb

Jupiter 06192005 Animation - 201 Kb

Jupiter 08022009 Animation - 1.2 Mb

Saturn Animation - 72 Kb

Registax Animation - 11 Mb

Total file sizes ~20.6 Mb. Download all of the files into the same folder.
PowerPoint presentation on webcam imaging of planets given to the Astronomical Society of Kansas City on Nov. 28, 2009.
Windows Media Player version 9 is embedded within the presentation for playing animations so you need to have Media Player version 9 or higher to play the animations.

On Sunday evening of September 27, 2009 the Astronomy Associates of Lawrence held a public observing session at Prairie Park Nature Center. Rick and Michael Heschmeyer, David Kolb, Rex Powell, George Brenner, William Winkler, and Barbara Anthony-Twarog attended and brought 5, 8, 12 and 13 inch telescopes. A number of the local high school students attended the session. The lights in the parking lot did not get turned off as expected so we had to deal with a lot of bright lights. A couple of the scopes were dragged over to where the lights were not as bad and we managed to show a few faint fuzzies. The Moon and Jupiter were easy targets for the scopes set up under the parking lot lights.
Rick Heschmeyer's 12 inch scope set up in the shadows. Larger Image	Guests viewing through Rex Powell's 13 inch scope. Larger Image	Some guests viewing through Rick Heschmeyer's 5 and 8 inch scopes. Larger Image

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PowerPoint Presentation

File size 35 Mb. Unpack all of the enclosed files into the same folder.
PowerPoint presentation on webcam imaging of planets given Sept. 25, 2009. Topics include capture, stacking, noise removal, deconvolution, 3D images, and animations.
Windows Media Player version 9 is embedded within the presentation for playing animations so you need to have Media Player version 9 to play the animations.

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On Sunday evening of August 30, 2009 the Astronomy Associates of Lawrence held a public observing session at Prairie Park Nature Center. Rick and Michael Heschmeyer, David Kolb, and Barbara Anthony-Twarog brought 5, 8 and 12 inch telescopes. A number of the local high school students attended the session.

A number a local students viewing through the scopes.
Public Viewing August 30, 2009

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Several of us from Lawrence (Rick Heschmeyer, Michael Heschmeyer, Bruce Twarog, and Barbara Anthony-Twarog and myself) attended the first annual Cosmosphere Starry Night Star Party in Hutchinson, KS on Friday August 2009.
Rick Heschmeyer and his son Michael setting up their scopes. Larger Image	On the far left is David Kolb's 8 inch Criterion Dynamax with an integrating video camera and small TV screen. Larger Image	Another volunter setting up his large Dobsonian. Larger Image
One of the Cosmoshere employees explains how telescopes work. Larger Image	Another Cosmoshere employee explains how a planisphere works. Larger Image	Kids enjoying the moon walk. Larger Image
Kansas Public Radio tent. Larger Image	Cosmoshere gift booth. Larger Image	As it got later in the afternoon more folks started to show up with their scopes. Larger Image
The largest scope at the party was this 20 inch Dobsonian. Larger Image	More scopes. Larger Image	And more scopes. Larger Image
Liquid oxygen ice cream. Larger Image	Liquid oxygen ice cream. Larger Image	Bruce Twarog and Barbara Anthony-Twarog. Larger Image
Another large Dobsonian. Larger Image	Michael giving the thumbs-up. Larger Image	Bruce Twarog giving a presentation to the crowd. Larger Image

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On Sunday evening of March 29, 2009 the Astronomy Associates of Lawrence held a public observing session at Prairie Park Nature Center. Rick Heschmeyer and David Kolb brought their 8 inch telescopes. The weather did not look very good but it cleared enough for almost an hour to observe the crescent Moon, Saturn, and the Orion Nebula. One other club member, George Brenner, stopped by shortly after 9 PM, but no one from the public showed up while the telescopes were set up. A local high school student showed up at 9:40 PM after the clouds had obscured everything and the scopes were put away.
Rick Heschmeyer's 8 inch Celestron. Rick's son Michael viewing Saturn. Larger Image	David Kolb's 8 inch Criterion Dynamax. Rick's son Michael viewing Saturn again. Larger Image	George Brenner looking through Rick's Celestron at Saturn. Larger Image

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On Thursday February 5, 2009 the Astronomy Associates of Lawrence had a table at the Douglas County Science Fair to promote the activities of our group. We had a couple of tables of handouts and astronomy books and charts. Bill Winkler brought one his telescopes and had it set up.
Rick Heschmeyer, Bill Winkler, Bruce Twarog, and Barbara Anthony-Twarog. Larger Image	A couple of visitors asking questions Larger Image

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On Sunday evening of February 1, 2009 the Astronomy Associates of Lawrence held a public observing session at Prairie Park Nature Center. Rick Heschmeyer and David Kolb brought telescopes ranging in aperture from 5 inches to 8 inches. I had my vintage 8 inch Criterion Dynamax with a Watec 120N integrating video camera pointed at M42. The image of M42 on the TV screen was bright and showed a lot of faint detail, just like a picture out of a book . Rick had his 5 inch Celestron pointed at Venus and his 8 inch Celestron was pointed at the Moon. A couple of families and several Lawrence High students showed up despite the Super Bowl game that was playing that evening.
Rick Heschmeyer's 5 and 8 inch Celestrons. Larger Image	David Kolb's 8 inch Criterion Dynamax with M42 displayed on a TV screen. Larger Image	Visitors viewing M42. Larger Image
Picture of M42 taken with a digital camera held in front of the TV screen. Larger Image	Picture of the Moon taken through Rick's 8 inch Celestron by holding a digital camera up to the eyepiece. Larger Image

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On Friday evening of November 21, 2008 the Astronomy Associates of Lawrence held its annual Cub Scout Astronomy event at Wescoe Hall on the KU campus. About 281 scouts along with their parents attended the event. From 7 to 8 PM Rick Heschmeyer gave a presentation to the scouts in 3139 Wescoe. From 8 to 9 PM the scouts observed through a number of telescopes. Several members of the club brought telescopes ranging in aperture from 5 inches to 13 inches. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate. It was cloudy at first and then it cleared off for a little while. Half way through the observing the clouds came back. I had my 8 inch Criterion set up, with my Watec 120N integrating CCD camera, trained on M31. Large numbers of scouts were able to see M31 at the same time. Bill Winkler showed a few scouts how to locate Polaris and Rex Powell showed a number of scouts close up views of windows in the library.
Scouts observing M31 on a TV screen. Larger Image	Scouts observing M31 on a TV screen. Larger Image

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On Sunday evening of August 31, 2008 the Astronomy Associates of Lawrence held a public observing session at Prairie Park Nature Center. Several members of the club brought telescopes ranging in aperture from 5 inches to 13 inches. Jupiter, and a number of Messier objects (M32, M13, M57, ...) were observed. The parking lot lights were supposed to have been turned of by 8:30 but they stayed on until about 9:30. When the lights went off we pointed the telescopes to the deep sky objects and we were actually able to see the Milky Way. I had my vintage 8 inch Criterion Dynamax set up as well (not pictured). When it seemed like the parking lot lights were not going to be turned off we moved my Dynamax out of the parking lot and into a darker area in the weeds behind some trees in order to provide some views of M13 and M57.
Rick Heschmeyer's 5 and 8 inch Celestrons. Larger Image	William Winkler's 6 inch dobsonian. Larger Image	Rex Powell with his 13 inch dobsonian. Larger Image
Karen Camarda's 8 inch dobsonian. Larger Image	Karen Camarda's 8 inch dobsonian. Larger Image	Rex Powell with his 13 inch dobsonian. Larger Image

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On Wendsday evening of June 20, 2007 the Astronomy Associates of Lawrence held a public observing session after the Lawrence Band concert. Several members of the club brought telescopes ranging in aperture from 5 inches to 13 inches. Bruce Twarog helped members set up their telescopes. Jupiter, Saturn, Venus, and a waxing crescent Moon were visible. During the middle of the observing session Rick Heschmeyer pointed out the International Space Station and the space suttle Atlantis as they made their way across the sky.
Rick Heschmeyer's 5 and 8 inch Celestrons. Larger Image	William Winkler's 6 inch dobsonian. Larger Image	Rex Powell explaining the fine points of observing with his 13 inch dobsonian. Larger Image
George Brenner's 11 inch Celestron. Larger Image	David Kolb's vintage 8 inch Criterian. Larger Image

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PowerPoint Presentation

File size 8.5 Mb.
PowerPoint presentation on webcam imaging of planets given May 11, 2007.
Windows Media Player version 9 is embedded within the presentation for playing animations so you need to have Media Player version 9 to play the animations.

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On Friday evening of March 02, 2007 the Astronomy Associates of Lawrence held a workshop for the Lawrence Girl Scouts, which allowed the participants to earn their sky search badges. Several indoor activities were held, and included building star wheels, lunar phases demonstrations, and telescopes. After the indoor activities were completed a couple of telescopes were set up outside and the girls were allowed to view the Moon, Saturn and the Orion Nebula. They also learned to identify some of the brighter Winter constellations and learned to use the star wheels that they had made.

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On May 12, 2006 members of Astronomy Associates of Lawrence traveled to Auburn, Kansas to see the 27 inch telescope that once was part of the University of Kansas Observatory in its new role as an asteroid patrol telescope. The only remaining part of the original telescope are the optics. The telescope optics were donated to the Northeast Kansas Amateur Astronomers´ League (NEKAAL ) for use in their NASA funded asteroid search program. About six members of AAL made the trip out to the Farpoint Observatory and watched the NEKAAL members as they observed several near earth asteroids in order to obtain better positional data. Here are some pictures of the 27 inch telescope.
Larger Image	Farpoint Observatory 27 inch telescope. Auburn, KS
Larger Image	Farpoint Observatory and 27 inch telescope.
Larger Image	Farpoint Observatory and 27 inch telescope. Wider angle view.
Larger Image	AAL members Bill Winkler (on ladder) and Richard Kroes (with camera) inspecting the 27 inch telescope.
Larger Image	AAL member Bill Winkler and a member of NEKAAL inspecting the 27 inch telescope.
Larger Image	Moonrise behind the 27 inch telescope.
Larger Image	Another moonrise picture.
Larger Image	The Moon and Jupiter rising.