July 20, 2007 For the July 20 club meeting, John Kirchhoff, of Rider’s Hobby Shops in Livonia, gave his annual “Goodies Show.” This is the time that John shows us telescopes, eyepieces and other astronomical products. This year the meeting was held at Sherzer Observatory (on the campus of Eastern Michigan University). Among the items…
DVD Presentation “The View From the Center of the Universe.” This is a recording of a talk given by Joel R. Primack (University of California, Santa Cruz) and Nancy Ellen Abrams (also from the University of California, Santa Cruz). Primack and Abrams have written a book (also entitled “The View From the Center of the…
Mark Deprest and Charlie Nielsen (both Lowbrows). “An Introduction to the Night Sky Network.” Mark and Charlie gave an introduction to the Night Sky Network. The Night Sky Network is a nationwide coalition of amateur astronomy clubs bringing the science, technology, and inspiration of NASA’s missions to the general public. Clubs in the network share…
Minutes of the University Lowbrow Astronomers for the Year 2006
Three presentations as follows: (1) Don Fohey (Lowbrows). Digital Setting Circle Project. Don Fohey (University Lowbrow Astronomers) discussed how he built a digital setting circle. For the encoder interface electronics, he used the Interface for Digital Setting Circles by David Ek. For the positioning controller he used A Digital Setting Circle Program for Palm OS…
Three topics as follows: (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).” The Sega Toys Homestar is described in: Yasuharu Inugi. (August 2006). “‘Homestar,’ A Compact Home Planetarium.” Reflections of the University Lowbrow Astronomers,…
Two topics as follows: (1) Nathan Murphy (Lowbrows). “A Survey of Telescope Designs, Part 2: Refractors or How to Tell Nagler-Petzval from a Frauhofer.” (2) Yasuharu Inugi (Lowbrows). “A demonstration of the Sega Toys Homestar (21st Century Home Planetarium).” The Sega Toys Homestar is described in: Yasuharu Inugi. (August 2006). “‘Homestar,’ A Compact Home Planetarium.”…
Mark Deprest (Lowbrows). “Black Forest Star Party or What you SHOULD save your vacation time for!!!!” Before the meeting, Mark told us “I will have a PowerPoint slide show and a Video that are absolutely fabulous!!! Come prepared to be entertained!! To quote ‘Flounder’ from the movie ‘Animal House,’ ‘THIS IS GOING TO BE GRREAT!!’…
Minutes of the University Lowbrow Astronomers for May 20, 2005
Three items as follows: (1) Elections The first order of business: running the annual election. Due to a mixup, at first Percival Lowell was not listed as Observatory Directory Emeritus (as traditionally happens at each election). This oversight was corrected at the last minute. The only contested position was Observatory Directory. So each club member…
Minutes of the University Lowbrow Astronomers for the Year 2004
(1) Elections. (2) D. C. Moons (Lowbrows). A short talk about the Moon. D. C. Moons During the meeting there were two short talks, one by D. C. Moons and one by Mark Deprest. In addition the annual elections where held at this time. Here D. C. Moons talks about the moon. Club members listening…
Fred Adams (UM Physics & UM Astronomy). “Into the Dark, The Long Term Fate of the Universe.” Lorna Simmons, Lifetime Member of the IDA Enlargement of previous photograph. Lorna Simmons shows that she is a Lifetime Member of the International Dark-Sky Association (the IDA is an organization devoted to reducing light pollution). For more information…