Howard Astronomical League - Meetings

January 18

HAL Annual Election, Annual Treasurer's Report & astrophotos.

Guest Speaker:
Dr. Avi M. Mandell, NASA GSFC – Goddard Center for Astrobiology

Hot Jupiters and Lava Planets: Exploring the Diversity of Exoplanets Environments

Abstract:
After 20 years of discovery, we know of thousands of planetary systems, many with multiple planets and some that strongly resemble our own Solar System.  But we are only now beginning to achieve the detailed observations necessary to consider the physical properties of exoplanets beyond the basics of mass and radius.  In this talk I will provide a status update on the population of known exoplanets, and describe the methods we are using to begin to probe the atmospheres and surfaces of planets around nearby stars.  These observations are only able to provide a first look at planetary properties, but we can begin to examine how models based on our knowledge of Solar System bodies map on to these observations. Just as important, we can look at predictions for what future observations and telescope capabilities will be most helpful in constraining the formation and evolution of planetary systems, searching for habitable worlds and eventually life among the stars.

Bio:
Dr. Mandell is a scientist in the Planetary Systems Laboratory (693); his research focuses on the characterization of extrasolar planets and the formation and evolution of planetary systems, with the specific goal of understanding factors that determine whether a planetary system can form habitable planets and what the characteristics of these planets will be.  He works on analyzing observations of transiting and directly imaged exoplanets and circumstellar disks, as well as modeling spectra of planetary atmospheres and the dynamical evolution of planetesimals during the formation of terrestrial planets.  He is the Director of the GSFC Sellers Exoplanet Environments Collaboration, and is the Project Scientist for the Coronagraph Integral Field Spectrograph for the WFIRST space telescope. 

February 15

Guest Host: Joel Goodman

Guest Speaker: Dennis Conti, TESS Impromptu Talk

March 15

Guest Speaker:
Dr. Andry Timokhin- Theoretical Astrophysicist, NASA/Goddard and UMD

Bio:
Raised and initially educated in Russia, Dr. Timokhin has been at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center since December 2011 as a Senior Fellow in the NASA Postdoctoral Program and since December 2013 as a research scientist.

Topic: Radio pulsars: electric stars

Abstract:
All but one radio pulsar is out of reach for observations by amateur astronomers, but they are some of the most spectacular astronomical objects. Pulsar's engine is 100% electric: a highly magnetized rapidly rotating neutron star generates huge voltage and produces powerful electric discharges. It is a sort of permanent thunderstorm of enormous proportions at neutron star poles which makes pulsars visible to us.  Neutron stars are probably the most extreme objects in the universe we can observe directly; they are easiest to spot when they are pulsars. This makes study of pulsars important for understanding of the most fundamentals laws of nature.  In this talk I will explain in lay terms what pulsars are, why they exist, how we observe them, what we know about their inner working, and what we can learn by studying them.

Speaker: Surprise Guest

Title: A Lifelong Journey in Astronomy.

Abstract: This talk will feature a widely known Maryland astronomer speaking about an avocation in which he has been active his entire life. He is not only an accomplished visual observer, but was also a film-based astrophotographer. Most importantly, he has more experience in public outreach and in popularizing astronomy almost anyone around.

Speaker: Dr. Albert Holm, Retired. Formerly a staff member for OAO-A2, the International Ultraviolet Explorer, and the Hubble Space Telescope.

Title: Out of this World Astronomy: The Orbiting Astronomical Observatory-A2 

Abstract: What could be better than a telescope on a high mountain? In 1946, Lyman Spitzer published a paper arguing for the development of a large telescope in space. The technology to do that did not exist then nor in the decades after Sputnik. The Orbiting Astronomical Observatory series provided stepping stones for developing and testing the technologies that eventually would be used for the Hubble Space Telescope, the implementation of Spitzer's dream. 2018 is the 50th anniversary of the December 7, 1968, launch of Orbiting Astronomical Observatory-A2, the first satellite to deliver astronomical data about stars, planets, and galaxies to Earth. This is the story of that mission, its operations, its discoveries, and its legacy.