Speaker/Topic History – University Lowbrow Astronomers

Abbreviations

UM – University of Michigan
EMU – Eastern Michigan University
MSU – Michigan State University
WSU – Wayne State University
Lowbrows – University Lowbrow Astronomers

2020 to present

2019

For a summary of all meetings in 2019, see Charlie Nielsen. (March 2020). “2019 Year in Review.” Reflections of the University Lowbrow Astronomers, pp. 5-8. Here

December 20: Monica Valluri (UM Astronomy). Fast moving stars in the Milky Way: what makes them go and what they tell us about the Galaxy.
November 15: Xianzhe Jia (UM Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering). New Evidence of a Plume on Europa – Galileo Magnetic Field and Plasma Wave Measurements.
October 18: Dan Durda (Southwest Research Institute). Composition and interactions of asteroids.
September 20: Matt Linke (Planetarium Manager, UM Museum of Natural History). “The New U of M Museum of Natural History Planetarium.” More
August 16: Jeff Kopmanis (Lowbrows). “Diving into Astrophotography (without needing to sell a kidney).”
July 19: (1) James Slavin (UM Climate and Space Science & Engineering). “The Exploration of Mercury 1970-2030.” (2) Norb Vance (Director, EMU Sherzer Observatory). Tour of EMU’s Strong Hall.
June 21: Zachary Constan (Outreach Coordinator, National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory at MSU). “Fantastic Nuclei and Where to Find Them.” More
May 17: (Remote) Brother Guy Consolmagno (Director of the Vatican Observatory). “The Art of Story Telling in Science, Religion, and Science Fiction.”
April 19: (1) Elections. (2) Claude Pruneau (WSU Physics). “Physics for Future Presidents, Transportation and Energy Production.”
March 15: Tom Drummond (Retired Public School Teacher). “Orion’s Quest Program: Authentic Research for Today’s Youth.” More
February 15: (Remote) David Austerberry (Lowbrows). “The Adventure Continues: An update on my job with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.” Video
January 18: Fred Adams (UM Physics & UM Astronomy). “Planet Nine From Outer Space.” More

2018

For a summary of all meetings in 2018, see Charlie Nielsen. (March 2019). “2018 Year in Review.” Reflections of the University Lowbrow Astronomers, pp. 3-6. Here

December 21: Fred Schebor (Lowbrows). “The Artsy-Meaningless Slide Show.” More
November 16: (Remote) David Levy (Science Writer & Discoverer of over 20 comets). “A Nightwatchman’s Journey.”
October 19: Jim Shedlowsky (Warren Astronomical Society). “The McMath/Hulbert Observatory-Then and Now.”
September 21: Nicolle Zellner (Albion College). “Space Rocks! Impacts in the Earth-Moon System: What, When and Why?”
August 17: Ed Cackett (Wayne State University). “Hearing the Universe: The Detection of Gravitational Waves.”
July 20: (Remote) Dan Davis (Co-author of Turn Left at Orion). “Turn Left to Tectonics: a star-gazing geologist’s view of tectonics around the Solar System.”
June 15: (Remote) Ethan Siegel (Lewis & Clark College). “The James Webb Space Telescope.”
May 18: Sally Oey (UM Astronomy). Light pollution. More
April 20: 1) Father Richard D’Souza (Vatican Observatory). “Galactic Archaeology: Or What did your galaxy eat for dinner?” 2) Elections.
March 16: 1) Dave Jorgensen (Lowbrows). “Micro LIGO.” 2) Charlie Nielsen (Lowbrows). “Glass and Mirror Kit.” More
February 16: (Remote) David Austerberry (Lowbrows). “41,000 Feet Over Earth: My First Eight Months at JPL.”
January 19: Jamie Cutler (UM Aerospace Engineering). “Small Space Explorers.” More

2017

For a summary of all meetings in 2017, see Charlie Nielsen. (March 2018). “2017 Year in Review.” Reflections of the University Lowbrow Astronomers, pp. 3-6. Here

December 15: Sandra Macika (Warren Astronomical Society). “Meteorites and Tektites: Types and Composition – Part 2: Chondrites.” More
November 17: Ken Bertin (Warren Astronomical Society). “Eclipses: How and Why They Happen.” More
October 20: Jason Gilbert (UM Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering). Observing charged particles in the solar system.
September 15: Stacy McGaugh (Case Western Reserve University). “Cracking the Cosmic Code?”
July 21: (1) Sandra Macika (Warren Astronomical Society). “Meteorites and Tektites: Types and Composition – Part 1: Differentiated.” More (2) Norb Vance (Director, EMU Sherzer Observatory). EMU’s plans to renovate Strong Hall.
June 16: (1) Brian Ottum (Lowbrows). “Owning a Remote-Control Observatory: Highs & Lows, Lessons Learned.” (2) Kurt Hillig (Lowbrows). “Stitching an All-Sky Panorama with Hugin.”
May 19: Michael Combi (UM Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering). “Tales of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko: The Rosetta Mission.”
April 21: Claude Pruneau (Wayne State University). “Probing the Perfect Liquid.”
March 17: Megan Reiter (Postdoctoral Fellow, UM). “How did we get here? Why messy environments may be the best way to clear up how we get from the Big Bang to today.”
February 17: Keith Riles. (UM Physics). “Gravitational Wave Astronomy-The Break of Dawn.”
January 20: Paul Walkowski (Lowbrows). “Building a Ten Inch Edscope.” More

2016

For a summary of all meetings in 2016, see Charlie Nielsen. (April 2017). “The Year in Review: 2016.” Reflections of the University Lowbrow Astronomers, pp. 1, 3-4. Here

December 16, 2016: Fred Schebor (Lowbrows). “The Artsy-Meaningless Slide Show.” More
November 18: (Remote) Steve Germann (Designer and builder of tracking platforms). The “ScopeStopper” Dobsonian telescope tracking platform.
October 21: (Remote) Ethan Siegel (Lewis & Clark College). “The Solar System beyond Neptune.”
September 16: Fred Adams (UM Physics). “Fine Tuning the Universe.” More
August 19: Rudi Lindner (UM History). “The Long Night of Cosmology.”
July 15: (1) Nebil Y Misconi (University of Central Florida Engineering). “An Immigrant’s Journey Into the Cosmos.” Book (2) Norb Vance (Director, EMU Sherzer Observatory). Moving and setting up the new 29” telescope, previews of planetarium movies including “Waiting Far Away.”
June 17: Jodi and Roy McCullough (Lowbrows). “Solar Eclipse Chasing and Getting ready for 2017.” More
May 20: Chris Kelly (WSU Physics). “The optics of imaging and applications from microscopy through astronomy.”
April 15: (1) Elections. (2) Eric Bell (UM Astronomy). “Lighting up Dark Matter.”
March 18: Vivienne Baldassar (PhD student, UM Astronomy). “Teeny super massive black holes.” More
February 19: (Remote) Ethan Siegel (Lewis & Clark College). “The first detection of gravitational waves.” Video
January 15: (1) Pat Seitzer (UM Astronomy) and Mel Drumm (Director of the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum). “The Fate of the Old Angell Hall Telescopes (a 10-inch refractor and a 15-inch reflector).” (2) Ken Bertin (Warren Astronomical Society). “Galileo Galilei, the giant whose shoulders both Newton and Einstein mentioned they stood upon.” More

2015

For a summary of all meetings in 2015, see Charlie Nielsen. (March 2016). “2015 in Review.” Reflections of the University Lowbrow Astronomers, pp. 1-3. Here

December 18: (Remote) Thierry Legault (French astronomer). “Examples of Astrophotography and Techniques.” More
November 20: Brother Guy J. Consolmagno, SJ (Director of the Vatican Observatory). Vesta and the Chaotic Formation of Planets. More
October 16: Edward Cackett (WSU Physics). “How do things fall into black holes?”
September 18: Doug Scobel (Lowbrows) and Don Fohey (Lowbrows). Black Forest Star Party Report.
August 21: Chris Sarnecki (Lowbrows). “Astronomical Devices Gleaned from the Olde World in parts 1 and 2.”
July 17: (1) Rudi Lindner (UM History). “What if? A review of missed opportunities and productive mistakes in modern astronomy and cosmology.” (2) Norb Vance (Director, EMU Sherzer Observatory). EMU planetarium updates.
June 19: Kurt Hillig (Lowbrows). “A trip to Astrozona.”
May 15: (1) Emily Rauscher (UM Astronomy). “Peering into the atmospheres of exoplanets.” More (2) Matt Linke, (UM Planetarium Director). Status of the new University of Michigan Museum of Natural History Planetarium.
April 17: (1) Elections. (2) Michael Meade (Lowbrows). “Northern Exposure: A Total Solar Eclipse Over the Faroe Islands.” More
March 20: Don Fohey (Lowbrows). “Build you own shaft encoder to Sky Safari device using Arduino Uno and a Bluetooth Modem.” More
February 20: Carl Akerlof (UM Physics). “Radio Astronomy on the Roof – Two Undergrad Experiments in Astrophysics & Cosmology.” More
January 16: Claude Pruneau (WSU Physics). “How studies at the CERN Large Hadron Collider inform us about the Big Bang!” More

2014

For a summary of all meetings in 2014, see Charlie Nielsen. (March 2015). “The Year In Review: 2014.” Reflections of the University Lowbrow Astronomers, pp. 1-3. Here

December 19: (1) John Monnier (UM Astronomy). The IAU Exoplanet Naming Process. (2) Tom Ryan (Lowbrows). “A Light Projector that Compensates for Atmospheric Turbulence.”
November 21: Brian Ottum (Lowbrows) and Stan Watson (Lowbrows). “Live Observing Using a Remote-Control Telescope — A Demonstration.” More
October 17: Lowbrow ATM Group. “The Club’s 17.5” ATM Project.” More
September 19: Fred Adams (UM Physics). “Relativistic Planets and other curiosities.”
August 14: Kevin Iott (Design engineer for Planewave Instruments). Planewave’s new 1 meter telescope. More
July 18: Norb Vance (Director, EMU Sherzer Observatory). “Planetarium Potpourri at EMU.”
June 20: Dave Shindell (Data Optics, Inc). “Refining Telescope Design for Astroimaging.”
May 16: Claude Pruneau (WSU Physics). “The Perils of Asteroids.” More
April 18: Election of Officers and Swap Meet.
March 21: Adam Sypniewski (UM Physics). “In Pursuit of Dark Energy.”
February 21: Dave Pawlowsky (EMU Physics and Astronomy). “It May Be Cold Outside, But its 1000 Degrees in Space today. Modeling Ionospheric Space Weather.”
January 17: Laura Chomiuk (MSU Astronomy). “Stellar Life After Death: Violent Explosions on White Dwarf Stars.”

2013

December 20: Fred Schebor (Lowbrows). “The Artsy-Meaningless Slide Show.” More
November 15: Edward Cackett (WSU Physics). Neutron Stars.
October 18: Jay Strader (MSU Physics and Astronomy). “Black Holes and Globular Clusters; Sparkling Hosts of Frozen Stars”
September 20: Jeff Heinline (Great Red Spot Astronomy). Equipment Show and Tell.
August 16: David Cinabro (WSU Physics). “Doomed, Insignificant and Ignorant: The State of Modern Cosmology.” Slides
July 19: (1) Matt Linke (Planetarium Manager, UM Museum of Natural History). (2) Norb Vance (Director, EMU Sherzer Observatory).
June 21: Mark Deprest (Lowbrows). “The Most Fun You Will Ever Have NOT Looking Through An Eyepiece.”
May 17: (Remote) Kevin Poe (Park Ranger, Bryce Canyon National Park). “Dark Wars: the battle against light pollution.”
April 19: Elections and Swap Meet.
March 15: Mark Voit (MSU Physics and Astronomy). “The Universe’s Largest Galaxies.”
February 15: Brian Ottum (Lowbrows). “Adventures of a National Park ‘Dark Ranger’.”
January 18: Megan Donahue (MSU Physics and Astronomy). “The Youngest Galaxies.”

2012

For a summary of all meetings in 2012, see Charlie Nielsen. (March 2013). “The Year in Review–2012.” Reflections of the University Lowbrow Astronomers, pp. 1-3. Here

December 21: Clayton Kessler (Lowbrows). “Hobby to Business—Can it still be fun?”
November 16: Edwin Loh (MSU Physics & Astronomy). “A Night on the SOAR Telescope.”
October 19: Viewing of DVD: “The City Dark: A Search for Night on a Planet That Never Sleeps.”
September 28: Nilton Renno (UM Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences). “Mars Science Lab Curiosity.”
August 17: Jim Raines (UM Solar and Heliosperic Research Group). “MESSENGER observations of the space environment at Mercury.”
July 20: Patrick Koehn (EMU Physics and Astronomy). “SETI: A Smaller Haystack.”
June 15: (Remote) Ed Ting (Scope Reviews Dot Com). “Introduction to Webcam Astrophotography.” Slides
May 18: Ed Halash (Ford Amateur Astronomy Club). “Venus Transit Study.”
April 20: (1) Mike Radwick and John Causland (Lowbrows). “Sky Safari.” (2) Elections. (3) Jack Brisbin (Lowbrows). “The Young Astronomers Web Site.” (4) Swap Meet
March 16: Nilton Renno (UM Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences). “Deliquescence and Liquid Water on Mars.”
February 17: Hugh Aller (UM Astronomy). “Radio Astronomy at Peach Mountain; What we do and why.”
January 20: (1) Mark Deprest (Lowbrows). “Full Cost Astronomy.” (2) Jim Forrester (Lowbrows). “The Astrophotography of E. E. Barnard.” (3) Amy Cantu (Lowbrows & Ann Arbor District Library). “The Ann Arbor District Library Telescope Loan Program.”

2011

December 16: Xianzhe Jia (UM Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences). “The Mysterious Rotating Signal from Saturn.”
November 18: (Remote) Pamela Gay (Astronomy Cast, StarStryder.com, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and Astrosphere New Media Association). “New Media: Its Impact on Science & Technology.”
October 21: (Remote) Jack Newton (Supernovae Hunter/Discoverer and Astrophotographer). “Supernovae Hunting” and “Astrophotography using DSLR cameras.”
September 16: (Remote) Bob Berman (Astronomy Magazine’s “Strange Universe” Columnist, Adjunct Professor of Astronomy at Marymount Manhattan College). “Light and Color in the Universe.”
August 19: Tom Trusock (Cloudy Nights Telescope Reviews). “Observing the Hubble Sequences in the Fall Northern Sky.”
July 15, 2011: Norbert Vance (Director, Sherzer Observatory, Eastern Michigan University). Tour of the new EMU Planetarium. More
June 17: (Remote) Ed Ting (Scope Reviews Dot Com). “The Best and the Worst.”
May 20: Rudi Lindner (UM History). “Keep Watching the Skies! The Rise, Flight, and Fancy of Flying Saucers.”
April 15: Elections and Swap Meet.
March 18: (Remote) David Levy (Jarnac Observatory). “My History of Comet Hunting.”
February 18: Mark Deprest (Lowbrows). “No Charge Astronomy, Part 2.”
January 21: Jeff Masters (Director of Meteorology, Weather Underground). “The Future of Extreme Weather.” Slides

2010

December 17: Fred Schebor (Lowbrows). “The Artsy-Meaningless Slide Show.” More
November 19: Jeff Hineline (Great Red Spot Astronomy). “The Great Red Spot Telescope.”
October 15: Katherine Freese (UM Physics). “The Dark Side of the Universe.” Slides
September 24: Fred Adams (UM Physics & UM Astronomy). “Back to the Future: An update on the end of the universe.” Slides
August 20: Jack Brisbin (Lowbrows). “2010 Observatory Tour London Centre, RASC.”
July 16: (1) Charlie Nielsen (Lowbrows). “The Trials and Tribulations of a New GoTo Mount.” (2) Norb Vance (Director, Sherzer Observatory, Eastern Michigan University). “The New EMU Planetarium.” More
June 18: Jack Lousma (Former NASA Astronaut). “Apollo 13.”
May 21: Myron Campbell (UM Associate Dean for Natural Sciences and Professor of Physics). “Galileo—Studies of Natural Science.”
April 16: Elections and Swap Meet.
March 19: Ken Bertin (Warren Astronomical Society). “George Ellery Hale, The master builder of Big Eyes on the Universe and many other endeavors.”
February 19: Mark Deprest (Lowbrows). “No Charge Astronomy.”
January 15: John Kirchhoff (Rider’s Hobby Shops). “High Resolution Lunar and Planetary Imaging… Recording more than the eye can see.” Slides

2009

December 18: Tim McKay (UM Physics). “Universal access to the sky: amateurs, professionals, and the virtual observatory.” Slides
November 20: Michael Foerster (NASA JPL ambassador). “The Science of SETI.”
October 16: Mark Deprest & Friends (all Lowbrows). “Okie-Tex Star Party Report.”
October 11: Brother Guy Consolmagno (Vatican Astronomer). “Are Asteroids Fluffy?”
September 18: Jack Lousma (Former NASA Astronaut). “Perspectives from Space.”
August 21: Sandra Macika (Ford Amateur Astronomy Club). “Science at the Lick Observatory.” More
July 17: John Kirchhoff (Rider’s Hobby Shops). “New Equipment Show and Demo.”
June 19: Arthur Suits (Professor, Department of Chemistry, Wayne State University). “Titan: A Strangely Familiar World.”
May 15: Belinda Lee & Mark Deprest (Lowbrows). “The Night Sky Network: How to Share the Joy of Astronomy.” More
April 17: Elections and Swap Meet.
March 20: Pat Seitzer UM Astronomy). “Applied Astronomy: An Optical Survey for Space Debris.”
February 20: Yasu Inugi, Charlie Nielsen, Dave Snyder, Jack Brisbin (all Lowbrows). “Amateur Astronomy: From Ann Arbor to the Universe.” More
January 16: Telescope Workshop.

2008

December 19: Rudi Lindner (UM History). “Imaging Astronomy: from Confusion to Celluloid.”
November 21: D.C. Moons (Lowbrows). “Welcome to the Moon, Part 2.”
October 17: DVD: “Voyage to the Planets and Beyond.”
September 19: (1) Mark Deprest (Lowbrows). “SLOOHing.” (2) Mark Deprest, Charlie Nielsen and Dave Snyder (all from the Lowbrows). “The Night Sky Network.” More
August 15: Tom Trusock (Cloudy Nights Telescope Reviews). Two talks: “Gadgets for Gearheads” and “Optical Aberrations: A Primer for Testing Your Telescope.”
July 18: (1) John Kirchhoff (Rider’s Hobby Shops). “New Equipment Show and Demo.” (2) Mark Deprest (Lowbrows). Photos taken at the Green Bank Star Quest Star Party 2008 (Green Bank, West Virginia). More
June 20: D.C. Moons (Lowbrows). “Welcome to the Moon, Part 1.”
May 16: Matthew Linke (UM Exhibit Museum of Natural History). Visit to the Planetarium at the University of Michigan Exhibit Museum of Natural History (Repeat of March).
April 18: Elections and Swap Meet.
March 21: Matthew Linke (UM Exhibit Museum of Natural History). Visit to the Planetarium at the University of Michigan Exhibit Museum of Natural History.
February 15: Ken Bertin (Warren Astronomical Society). “The Herschel Family.” More
January 18: Fred Schebor (Lowbrows). “The Artsy-Meaningless Slide Show.” More

2007

December 14: Fred Adams (UM Physics). “Planets and Planet Formation.”
November 16: Mark Deprest and Doug Scobel (both Lowbrows). Okie-Tex Star Party Report.
October 19: Michael Foerster (NASA Ambassador, JPL). “To Infinity, and BEYOND! The Future of Exploring Space 50 Years after Sputnik.”
September 28: John Spencer (Southwest Research Institute). “Taking the Measure of our Solar System.”
August 17: Mike Simonsen (American Association of Variable Star Observers). “Variable Stars and The Stories They Tell.”
July 20: John Kirchhoff (Rider’s Hobby Shops). “New Equipment Show and Demo.” More
June 15: Brian Ottum (Lowbrows). “An Introduction to Astrophotography.”
May 18: Presentation from DVD “The View From the Center of the Universe.” More
April 20: Elections and Swap Meet.
March 16: Mark Deprest and Charlie Nielsen (both Lowbrows). “An Introduction to the Night Sky Network.” More
February 16: Paul Walkowski (Lowbrows). “How to Build a Newtonian Telescope.”
January 19: Norb Vance (Director of Sherzer Observatory and member of the University Lowbrow Astronomers). “California Dreamin’.”

2006

December 15: Tom Ryan (Lowbrows). “Earth Orbiting Telescope.”
November 17: Eric Webster (Webster Telescopes). New telescope designs (Webster Telescopes specialize in large aperture telescopes).
October 20: Dave Snyder and Mark Deprest (both Lowbrows). Slide Show: 2006 Black Forest Star Party.
September 15: (1) Don Fohey (Lowbrows). Digital Setting Circle Project. (2) Mark Deprest (Lowbrows). Show and Tell, My Coronado PST. (3) Nathan Murphy (Lowbrows). Viewing of a DVD entitled “A Sidewalk Astronomer.” More
August 18: Mark Deprest (Lowbrows). Constellation tour talk.
July 21: (1) Joe Bernstein (Graduate Student, UM Astronomy). “Neutron Star Debris Disks.” (2) Norb Vance (Director of Sherzer Observatory). A demonstration of the Sega Toys Homestar (21st Century Home Planetarium). More (3) Mark Deprest (Lowbrows). What Black Forest attendees should know about.
June 16: (1) John Kirchhoff (Rider’s Hobby Shops). “High Resolution Web Cam Imaging.” (2) David P Tucker (Lowbrows). “An Intro to Digital Deep Sky Astrophotography.”
May 19: Clayton Kessler (Lowbrows). “To Film or Not to Film… That is the question. Getting started with astrophotography.”
April 21: Elections and Swap Meet.
March 17: (1) Nathan Murphy (Lowbrows). “A Survey of Telescope Designs, Part 3: How to Tell a Dall-Kirkham from a Ritchey-Chretien.” (2) Doug Scobel (Lowbrows). “A Demo of the Ugliest, Most Useful Computer Program a Deep Sky Observer Could Ask For.”
February 17: Mark Deprest (Lowbrows). A brief discussion of two naked eye comets: C/2006 A1 (Pojmanski ) & 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3.
January 20: (1) Nathan Murphy (Lowbrows). “A Survey of Telescope Designs, Part 2: Refractors or How to Tell Nagler-Petzval from a Frauhofer.” (2) Yasuharu Inugi “Demonstration of the Sega Toys Homestar (21st Century Home Planetarium).” More

2005

December 16: Nathan Murphy (Lowbrows). “A Survey of Telescope Designs, Part 1: Optical Jargon or How to Tell Petzval Curvature from Astigmatism.” Handout
November 18: Mark Deprest (Lowbrows). “Black Forest Star Party or What you SHOULD save your vacation time for!!!!” More
October 21: David Spergel from Princeton University entitled “The Size, Shape and Fate of the Universe.”
September 16: Ken Bertin (Warren Astronomical Society). “A Venus Transit from Greece.”
August 19: (1) Norbert Vance (Director, Sherzer Observatory, Eastern Michigan University). Slide Show: Slides of Sherzer Observatory and Fish Lake (Fish Lake is an astronomical observing site); Slides from Norb’s Light Pollution Talk. (2) John Causland (Lowbrows). Slide Show: Trip to China, Pictures from Beijing, Shanghai and Xian.
July 15: John Kirchhoff (Rider’s Hobby Shops). “Goodies Show.” More
June 17: Bob Gruszczynski (Lowbrows). “A New Star Party with a New Scope.”
May 20: Mark Deprest (Lowbrows). A presentation on comets that included a video.
April 15: (1) Election, (2) Mike Meade (Lowbrows). “Northern Exposure: A Total Solar Eclipse Over the Faroe Islands,” (3) Swap Meet. More
March 18: Fred Schebor (Lowbrows). “The Artsy-Meaningless Slide Show.” More
February 18: Elena Adams (PhD Student, UM Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences). “Titan, as seen through the eyes of Cassini-Huygens.”
January 21: (1) Charlie Nielsen (Lowbrows). A demonstration of astronomy software, Celestia. (2) Mark Deprest (Lowbrows). A discussion of currently visible comets.

2004

December 17: Pat Seitzer (UM Astronomy). “The New Angell Hall Planetarium.”
November 19: Perry Samson (UM Atmospheric, Oceanic & Space Sciences). “Oh Say Can You… Observe.”
October 15: (1) Bob Gruszczynski (Lowbrows). “PortaBall Show & Tell.” (2) Mark Deprest (Lowbrows). “Incoming.”
September 17: Mark Deprest, Doug Scobel, Doug Nelle, Chris Sarnecki, Jim Wadsworth (all Lowbrows). Report from the Black Forest Star Party.
August 20: Rudi Lindner (UM History). “Hammers and Chisels against Einstein: Relativity at Michigan.”
July 16: John Kirchhoff (Rider’s Hobby Shops). “Goodies Show.” John will bring a variety of telescopes and other astronomy equipment for people to look at.
June 18: Mike Combi (UM Atmospheric, Oceanic & Space Sciences). “Fragmenting Comets.”
May 14: Chris Sarnecki (Lowbrows). “Travels of a Wayward Lowbrow, From Smithonian’s New Astronomy Exhibit to Palomar.”
April 16: (1) Elections. (2) D. C. Moons (Lowbrows). A short talk about the Moon. (3) Mark Deprest (Lowbrows). A short talk about comets. (4) Swap Meet. More
March 19: (1) Joe Bernstein (Graduate Student, UM Astronomy). “Superconductivity in Neutron Stars.” (2) Mark Deprest (Lowbrows). A short presentation on two upcoming comets, C/2001 Q4 Neat and C/2002 T7 (LINEAR).
February 20: Mike Garrahan and Steve Moore (both Lowbrows). Demonstration of Astronomy Software. Mike demonstrated “KStars” (a program that runs on Linux) and Steve demonstrated “Starry Night” (a program that runs on Windows and on Macintoshes).
January 16: Fred Adams (UM Physics & UM Astronomy). “Into the Dark, The Long Term Fate of the Universe.” More

2003

December 19: (1) John Causland (Lowbrows). My new binocular telescope attachment. (2) Mike Radwick (Lowbrows). Demo of the Astroplanner program.
November 21: A presentation by several club members about this year’s Black Forest Star Party.
October 17: Alyssa Goodman (Harvard). “A Recipe for Making Stars and Planets.”
September 19: Rocky Kolb (The University of Chicago). “The Quantum and the Cosmos.”
July 18: John Kirchhoff (Rider’s Hobby Shop). A “goodies” demo. More
June 20: Patrick Koehn (UM Solar and Heliospheric Research Group). “MESSENGER-FIPS and Controversies at the Planet Mercury.”
May 16: Mark Deprest (Lowbrows). “Catching Comets.”
April 18: Election & Ratification of By-laws & Swap Meet. More
March 21: Joe Bernstein (Graduate Student, UM Astronomy). “Dark Energy: What Can It Do For You (and Do You Want It To?)”
February 21: Eric Miller (Graduate Student, UM Astronomy). “Gas in Galaxies and Beyond: Cold Clouds, Hot Haloes, and the Missing Baryons.”
January 17: Jim Wadsworth (Lowbrows). “The Nebraska Star Party, A Personal Perspective.”

2002

December 20: Update from the By-Law Committee.
November 15: Mark Deprest (Lowbrows). “Autumn’s Astronomical Color Tour.”
October 18: Video: “Mysteries of Deep Space.”
September 20: (1) Black Forest Star Party Report. (2) Discussion of the Lowbrow Constitution.
August 16: D. C. Moons (Lowbrows). Removal of the 24” mirror from the McMath telescope. More
July 26: Roger Tanner (Lowbrows). Prototype of a new Mars Camera. More
July 19: Meeting at Hudson-Mills Metropark, astronomy observing.
June 21: Mike Garrahan (Lowbrows). Demonstration of the Johnsonian Equatorial Telescope Tracking Platform.
May 24: Matthew Walker (PhD Student, UM Astronomy). “Shedding Some Light on Dark Matter.”
April 19: (1) John Causland (Lowbrows). Demonstration of Astronomy Software, “Deep Space Explorer.” (2) Elections. (3) Astronomy Swap Meet. More
March 15: Joe Bernstein (PhD Student, UM Astronomy). “Windblown Bubbles: The Hydrodynamic Dance of Pulsar Wind Nebulae and Supernova Remnants.”
February 15: An ad-hoc discussion on various topics.
January 18: (1) Bob Gruszczynski (Lowbrows). “Tales of the Black Forest Star Party.” (2) Clayton Kessler (Lowbrows). “83 mm Refractor Group Project.”

2001

December 21: Clayton Kessler (Lowbrows). “Shooting Stars.” More
November 16: Milton French (Lowbrows). Solar Eclipse Expedition (Part 2).
October 19: Tihamer Toth-Fejel (Ann Arbor Space Society). “Uses of Nanotechnology in Space Applications.”
September 21: (1) Milton French (Lowbrows). Solar Eclipse Expedition (Part 1). (2) Doug Nelle (Lowbrows). Astrofest Slide Show.
August 17: John Kirchhoff (Ryder’s Hobby Shop in Livonia). The latest astronomy hardware from Ryder’s Hobby Shop. Meeting held at Peach Mountain Observatory.
July 20: Meeting held at Peach Mountain Observatory.
June 15: Mark Deprest and John Causland (both Lowbrows). “The Texas Star Party (Report, Video and Slide Show).”
May 18: Mark Vincent (Lowbrows). “NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility” (IRTF).
April 20: (1) Elections. (2) Phil McCausland (Graduate Student, University of Western Ontario; Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, London Centre). “The Tagish Lake Meteorite.”
March 16: Jim Abshier (Lowbrows). “Amateur Radio Astronomy.”
February 16: Fred Schebor (Lowbrows). “The Artsy-Meaningless Slide Show.” More
January 19: Carl Akerlof (UM Physics). “Doing Forefront Astronomical Research with a 4” Refractor.”

2000

December 15: Mike Simonsen (The Warren Astronomical Society and The American Association of Variable Star Observers [AAVSO]). “Variable and Cataclysmic Stars.”
November 17: Mark Deprest (Lowbrows). “The Sky and Telescope Hour-Glass Chart.”
October 20: Joe Bernstein (Graduate Student, UM Astronomy). “Distribution in Magnitude of Brightest Cluster Galaxies.”
September 15: (1) Daniel Slosberg (UM Space Physics Research Laboratory). The Martian Farmer: Water Mining on Mars. (2) Jim Beyer (The Mars Society). The Michigan Mars Rover Project.
August 18: D. C. Moons (Lowbrows). Terraforming other planets.
July 14: (1) Clayton Kessler (Lowbrows). ATM show and tell. (2) Mark Deprest: Beginning astrophography. (3) Clayton Kessler: Intermediate astrophotography. More
June 16: (1) Bernard Friberg (Lowbrows). Star Charts of Comet S4 (Linear) and the asteroids Pallas and Ceres. (2) Video: “Mysteries of Mars, the Learning Channel.”
May 19: (1) Elections. (2) Swap Meet (exchange astronomy hardware, books, computer software, etc.).
April 21: John Kirchhoff (Ryders Hobby Shop in Livonia). “Recent Developments in Amateur Astronomy Hardware.” More
March 17: John Causland, Clayton Kessler, Lorna Simmons, Mark Deprest, Doug Scobel and Paul Walkowski (all Lowbrows). Presentation of various observing accessories. More
February 18: Mark Vincent (Lowbrows). “Ten days in an upside-down world, or whatsa Lowbrow doin’ at the South Pole.” More
January 21: A Video: “Shadows & Signs.” (From the Wonders of the Universe Series, the Learning Channel).

1999

December 17: Clayton Kessler (Lowbrows). A Video: “Spin Casting Giant Mirrors at the University of Arizona’s Mirror Lab.”
November 19: (1) Lorna Simmons (Lowbrows). “Dark Matter.” (2) Various Lowbrows. “Star Atlases.”
October 15: Mark Deprest (Lowbrows). “Deep-Sky Delights of the King of Constellations: A Star Hop thru Cepheus.”
September 17: (1) A Discussion of the NASA Budget. (2) A Discussion of Deep Sky Issues at Peach Mountain Observatory. (3) Mark Cray (Lowbrows). “A Design for a Folded Refractor Telescope.”
August 20: (1) Chris Sarnecki (Lowbrows). “My Recent Solar Eclipse Trip.” (2) Mark Vincent. “My Recent and Upcoming Astronomical Activities.”
July 16: (1) Lorna Simmons (Lowbrows). “Type 1A Supernovae.” (2) Mark Deprest (Lowbrows). “The New 10” Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope.”
June 18: Mark Cray and Tom Ryan (Both Lowbrows). “CCD Camera for the McMath.”
May 21: Mark Deprest (Lowbrows). “Yesterday’s Constellations.”
April 16: (1) Paul Walkowski (Lowbrows). “Globular Clusters.” More (2) Elections. (3) Tom Ryan (Lowbrows). “The Null Testing of Mirrors.”
March 19: Chad Ohlandt (The Mars Society). “Why Mars?”
February 19: Pat Seitzer (UM Astronomy). “Tales of the Lost Observatory: Heber Curtis and the Michigan Large Telescope Project.”
January 15: Fred Schebor (Lowbrows). “The Artsy-Meaningless Slide Show.” More

1998