Astronomy Associates of Lawrence Activities

AAL Talk 10/24/2021

PDF presentation summarizing my 20 years of solar, lunar and planetary imaging.

20 Years of Lucky Imaging Presentation - 3.9 Mb

AAL Talk 10/24/2021

PDF presentation about the Dark and Quiet Skies for Science and Society II conference that was held on October 3-7, 2021

Dark and Quiet Skies Presentation - 1.9 Mb

AAL Talk 9/27/2020

PDF presentation about satellite megaconstellations and their impact on astronomy.

Satellite Magaconstellation Presentation - 8.7 Mb

AAL Talk 8/30/2020

PDF presentation about Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin and her discovery of the composition of the stars.

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin Presentation - 1.5 Mb

AAL Talk 2/23/2020

PDF presentation on collecting astronomy related books, atlases, prints, and ephemera.

Collecting Astronomy Books Presentation - 9 Mb

KAO Talk 11/19/2010

PowerPoint presentation on webcam imaging of planets given to the Kansas Astronomical Observers of Wichita on Nov. 19, 2010. 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. Total file sizes ~23 Mb. Download all of the files into the same folder.

PowerPoint Presentation - 11 Mb

Jupiter 06192005 Animation - 201 Kb

Jupiter 08022009 Animation - 1.2 Mb

Saturn Animation - 72 Kb

Registax Animation - 11 Mb

ASKC Talk 11/28/2009

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.

PowerPoint Presentation - 8 Mb

Jupiter 06192005 Animation - 201 Kb

Jupiter 08022009 Animation - 1.2 Mb

Saturn Animation - 72 Kb

Registax Animation - 11 Mb

Public Observing 9/27/2009

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.

Guests viewing through Rex Powell's 13 inch scope.

Some guests viewing through Rick Heschmeyer's 5 and 8 inch scopes.

AAL Imaging Talk 9/25/2009

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.

PowerPoint Presentation

Public Observing 8/30/2009

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.

Hutchinson Star Party 8/21/2009

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.

On the far left is David Kolb's 8 inch Criterion Dynamax with an integrating video camera and small TV screen.

Another volunteer setting up his large Dobsonian.

One of the Cosmoshere employees explains how telescopes work.

Another Cosmoshere employee explains how a planisphere works.

Kids enjoying the moon walk.

Kansas Public Radio tent.

Cosmoshere gift booth.

As it got later in the afternoon more folks started to show up with their scopes.

The largest scope at the party was this 20 inch Dobsonian.

More scopes.

And more scopes.

Liquid oxygen ice cream.

Bruce Twarog and Barbara Anthony-Twarog.

Another large Dobsonian.

Michael giving the thumbs-up.

Bruce Twarog giving a presentation to the crowd.

Public Observing 3/29/2009

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.

David Kolb's 8 inch Criterion Dynamax. Rick's son Michael viewing Saturn again.

George Brenner looking through Rick's Celestron at Saturn.

Science Fair Outreach 2/5/2009

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.

A couple of visitors asking questions.

Public Observing 2/1/2009

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.

David Kolb's 8 inch Criterion Dynamax with M42 displayed on a TV screen.

Visitors viewing M42.

Picture of M42 taken with a digital camera held in front of the TV screen.

Picture of the Moon taken through Rick's 8 inch Celestron by holding a digital camera up to the eyepiece.

Cub Scout Event 11/21/2008

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.

Public Observing 8/31/2008

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.

William Winkler's 6 inch Dobsonian.

Rex Powell with his 13 inch Dobsonian.

Karen Camarda's 8 inch Dobsonian.

Rex Powell with his 13 inch Dobsonian.

Public Observing 6/20/2007

On Wednesday 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 shuttle Atlantis as they made their way across the sky.

Rick Heschmeyer's 5 and 8 inch Celestrons.

William Winkler's 6 inch Dobsonian.

Rex Powell explaining the fine points of observing with his 13 inch Dobsonian.

George Brenner's 11 inch Celestron.

David Kolb's vintage 8 inch Criterion.

AAL Imaging Talk 5/11/2007

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.

PowerPoint Presentation. File size 8.5 Mb.

Girl Scout Workshop 3/2/2007

On Friday evening of March 2, 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.

Farpoint Field Trip 5/12/2006

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.