Past Meetings & Events
July 5, 2006
“ And as darkness descended upon the land ! ”
November 10 , 2006
REMOTE ROBOTIC OBSERVING
RESEARCH WORK SESSION
February 9th, 2007
VENUS everything you always wanted
to know but were afraid to …
March 9, 2007
How to think about
the structure and dynamics
of the brain using mathematics
Jack Cowan
April 13, 2007
… and now - MARS:
everything you always wanted to know
but were afraid to …
June 8th, 2007
The Drake Equation in Reverse –
a New Way to Assess the Proximity of ET
by Dan Joyce
December 14th, 2007
Touching Mars: How Close?
Kent Nebergall
March 14th, 2008
Geology Of Our Moon
Recent Developments and Findings
Dr. Paul Stoddard
April 11th, 2008
You Built an Observatory WHERE???
John Spack
May 9, 2008
Why Now Is the Most Interesting
Time in the Universe
John J. Dykla
September 12th, 2008
Pluto & Dwarf Planets
Joe DalSanto
October 10th, 2008
The end of dark ages and other stories
Dr. Nick Gnedin
February 13th, 2009
Supernova Remnants and Superbubbles
Dr. Brian Humensky
March 13th, 2009
Carbon, Meteorites, and Extinctions
Wendy S. Wolbach
August 14th, 2009
"The Continuing Quest for Dark Matter
September 11th, 2008
"Antimatter, Matter,
and How We Came To Be"
Dr. Boris Kayser
October 9th, 2008
Little Known Facts about the Development
of New Ideas in Astronomy and Physics
Dr. Thomas W. Sills
December 11, 2009
Shedding Infrared Light on the Mysteries of Star Birth
Dr. Grace Wolf-Chase
January 8, 2010
"The quest to understand mass:
Searching for the Higgs boson in particle collisions"
Dr. Ben Kilminster
February 12, 2010
Can Quantum Gravity Make
“Warp Drive” Possible?
John J. Dykla
March 12, 2010
"The Large Hadron Collider
meets Dark Matter”
Dr. Don Lincoln
April 9, 2010
A Big Surprise Coming?
Dr. Donald York
May 14, 2010
Astronomy at its Most Extreme:
A Tour of Cosmic Ray
and Gamma-ray Astronomy
Dr. Andrew Smith
June 11, 2010
"Evolution of the Galactic Globular
clusters and Numerical Modeling”
Sourav Chatterjee
August 13, 2010
"A Trip to the Southern Skies
Star Party in Bolivia”
Chris Brownewell
October 8, 2010
Cosmic Magnetic Fields
and their Role in Stellar Birth
Giles Novak, PhD, Northwestern University
November 12, 2010
Astro-Imaging via the Internet
Jim Cuca
December 10, 2010
How Antimatter Became
a Plaything of Science Fiction
William S. Higgins
January 14th, 2011
"What's Up Tonight?"
Jeff Benuzzi
February 11, 2011
Experiments on the Properties of the Universe
from the Antarctic Continent
Stephan Meyer, University of Chicago
March 11, 2011
What we know and what we don't know
... Perspectives of a Physicist
Michael Albrow, Fermilab
April 8th, 2011
"Objects in the Heavens"
Peter Birren
May 13, 2011
Insights into planetary systems
from the Kepler mission
Jason Steffen, Fermilab
July 8, 2011
The Spitzer Space Telescope
Joe DalSanto
September 9, 2011
Measuring the Expansion of the Universe
with Type Ia Supernovae
John Marriner
October 14, 2011
Classic Refracting Telescopes
Mark Kuba
November 11, 2011
Connections between Inner and Outer Space
Dr. William Wester, Fermilab
December 9, 2011
Blue Stragglers
Dr. Aaron M. Geller
January 13th, 2012
A Photo Journey through the Local Universe
Dan Joyce, Cernan Earth & Space Center
February 10, 2012
Where Earth got its water
Dr. Fred Ciesla
March 9, 2012
Galaxy Clusters
Christopher Greer
April 13th, 2012
Extrasolar Planets
Joe DalSanto
May 11, 2012
Venus on the Sun's Face
Dr. Eli Maor
June 8, 2012
The Search for the Higgs Boson
Dr. Patrick Fox, Fermilab
JULY 13, 2012
The Origin of the Elements and
The Evolution of the Composition of the Cosmos
Dr. James Truran,
August 10, 2012
The Neutrino Sky
Albert Stebbins
September 14, 2012
The Ends of the Earth
& the Beginning of the Universe:
The Big Bang, Dark Energy & the South Pole
Bradford Benson
November 9, 2012
"Using motions of star streams to weigh
the Milky Way's dark matter halo"
Brian Yanny
January 11, 2013
“The Evolution Of Space and Time”
by Craig Hogan
February 8, 2013
The Massive Black hole
in the Milky Way Galaxy
Farhad Zadeh
March 8, 2013
Human and Robotic Astrobiological Research
in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica
Peter Doran
April 12, 2013
From the Heights to the Depths
A Solar Eclipse Expedition
Bob & Claire Gadbois
June 14, 2013
Very Wide Binary Stars:
Distant Disrupters of Planetary Systems
Nathan Kaib,
July 12th, 2013
"The Muon g-2 Project"
Chris C. Polly
August 9, 2013
Mid-winters on Mars –
Life at Mars Desert Research Station
Kent Nebergall
September 13, 2013
Progress Towards Identifying Another Earth
Professor Jacob Bean, University of Chicago
October 11, 2013
UFOs and Government: A Historical Inquiry
Richard Thieme
November 8, 2013
COMETS, ASTEROIDS AND METEORS
Dr. Joseph Mayer
December 13th, 2013
The Drake Equation in Reverse - Revisited
By Dan Joyce
January 10th, 2014
"An update on the Muon g-2 Project"
Chris C. Polly, Project Manager, Fermilab
February 14, 2014
Balloon Astronomy from Antarctica:
Studying the Birth of Stars from the Stratosphere
Dr. Laura Fissel
March 14, 2014
Efforts to Understand Dark Matter
Dr. Dan Hooper
May 9, 2014
Exploring the Cosmic Frontier
with The Dark Energy Survey
Dr. Marcelle Soares-Santos
June 13, 2014
Journey of the Sun
Dr. Priscilla Frisch
July 11, 2014
Albert Stebbins, Head of Fermilab's Theoretical Astrophysics Group
September 12, 2014
Measuring the Fundamental Nature of Space
Christopher Stoughton, Fermilab Experimental Astrophysics Group
CLICK HERE to see images from the meeting.
October 10, 2014
Clouds and Exoplanet Habitability
Dorian Abbott, University of Chicago
CLICK HERE to see images from the meeting.
November 14, 2014
The Architecture of the Cosmos: building galaxies on an invisible foundation
Dr. Elise Jennings, University of Chicago
December 12, 2014
The Nights of Future Past: a journey through the comic structure, large and small
Dr. Brian Nord, Fermilab scientist
CLICK HERE to see images from the meeting.
January 9, 2015
Comets: Our Solar System's Icy Messengers
Michelle Nichols, Master Educator at the Adler Planetarium
CLICK HERE to see images from the meeting.
February 2015
Satellites: Their History and the Role They Play On Our Lives
Darryl Hedges, Lake County Astronomical Society
CLICK HERE to see images from the meeting.
March 2015
The Story of Edwin Hubble and Albert Einstein
And the Realization of the Expansion of the Universe
Professor Hasan Padamsee, Cornell Professor, Fermi Physicist & Playright
CLICK HERE to see an image from the meeting.
April 2015
The CAS went to the Atheneum Theatre to attend
a presentation of the completely revised
and improved version of "Creation's Birthday" by Hasan Padamsee
featuring an excellent cast.
The play details the discovery by
Edwin Hubble of an expanding universe and
Albert Einstein's
"greatest blunder."
May 2015
In Adler's Johnson Family Star Theater
Dr. Jose Francisco Salgado presented "Borealis."
Yining Zhou presented "Bring Back the Stars," Click Here.
Dave Fuller (Eyes on the Sky) showed upcoming
celestial events and demonstrated "Stellarium."
CLICK HERE to see images from the meeting.
June 2015
Meeting moved to the Collins Center of Triton College.
Astronomy presentations by Peter Birren, Mark Kuba,
Dan Joyce, Jim Cuca and Jim Shwatal.
CLICK HERE to see images from the meeting.
July 2015
At the Adler Planetarium:
"Exploring Near-Earth Objects for Fun and Profit"
by Dr. Mark Hammergren, Astronomer & Director,
Astro-Science Workshop, Adler Planetarium.
CLICK HERE to see images from the meeting.
August 2015
At the Adler Planetarium:
Night Sky Preview by Peter Birren.
"Getting Started In Astrophotography"
by Jim Shwatal & Jim Cuca
September 2015
Meeting was held at Northwestern University's
Dearborn Observatory in Evanston.
Prof. David Meyer lectured on the Hubble Space Telescope.
Pizza and cake was served by
CAS President Audrey Fischer, and the
45 attendees had a viewing through
the telescope.
Click Here to see images from the meeting.
October 2015
The meeting was held at the Adler Planetarium.
Following a short review of this month's upcoming sky events
by Dave Fuller of "Eyes on the Sky,"
our featured presenter, Dr. Peter Vandervoort, talked about
"Chicago's Forgotten Observatories," which included the CAS
Dearborn Telescope and the Kenwood Physical Observatory
of George Ellery Hale.
Click Here to see images from the meeting.
November 2015
The meeting was held at the Adler Planetarium.
Following a short review of this month's upcoming sky events
by Peter Birren, a panel of experts held a forum titled
"Unintended Consequences of Artificial Light at Night and Solutions"
Click Here to see images from the meeting.
December 11, 2015
The meeting was held at the Adler Planetarium.
Following a short review of this month's upcoming
sky events by Dave Fuller, Dr. Lucianne Walkowicz, an astronomer
at the Adler Planetarium, gave a talk titled "The Search for Life in the Universe,"
about the discoveries of the Kepler Mission.
Click Here to see images from the meeting.
December 13, 2015
The Chicago Astronomical Society held its annual Holiday Party
at the Hilton Oakbrook Hills Resort and Conference Center.
A gourmet buffet was served along with music and images.
An enthralling presentation was given by Jose Francisco Salgado.
"Shining Star" awards were presented to outstanding volunteers.
Click Here to see images from the party.
January 8, 2016
The meeting was held at the Adler Planetarium.
Following a short review of this month's upcoming
sky events by Peter Birren, author of "Objects in the Sky"
(http://birrendesign.com/astro.html),
Joe DalSanto of the College of DuPage
(http://www.zoominfo.com/p/Joe-DalSanto/2004212045)
gave a talk titled "Exploring Mars," giving a new overview of Mars
with a brief summary of recent robotic spacecraft that
have studied or are studying Mars today, then
looking briefly at the recent movie “The Martian” as an
introduction into human exploration of Mars, and concluding with a
review of the current state of NASA’s “Journey to Mars” program.
Click Here to see images from the meeting.
February 12, 2016
The meeting was held at the Adler Planetarium.
Followinfg a short review of this month's upcoming sky events
by Dave Fuller of "Eyes on the Sky,"
Dr. Alan Robinson of Fermilab gave a talk entitled
'Ionizing Radiations as Cosmic Probes’ followed by an
explanation of the latest LIGO discovery.
Click Here to see images of the meeting
March 11, 2016
The meeting was held at the Adler Planetarium.
Educator Chap Percival gave a lecture about the upcoming
total solar eclipse in the U.S. in 2017 titled
"Go see the Eclipse, and take a kid with you."
Click Here to see images of the meeting
April 8, 2016
The meeting was held at the Adler Planetarium.
Shane L. Larson, CIERA, Northwestern University
and the Adler Planetarium, gave an excellent lecture
about the groundbreaking LIGO, which first detected
grsvitational waves and opening up a new way of
observing the universe.
Click Here to see images of the meeting.
May 13, 2016
The meeting was held at the Adler Planetarium
Fermi's Gopolang Mohlabeng gave a talk titled
"Dark Matter: Journey to the Dark Side."
Click Here to see images of the meeting.
June 10, 2016
The meeting was held at the Adler Planetarium.
Dr. Melissa Bruckner of Adler gave a presentation,
"Pluto at the Kuiper Belt."
July 8, 2016
The meeting was held at the Cernan Space Center.
Following a short review of this month's upcoming
night sky events by Peter Birren, two presentations
were givenby CAS members Jim Cuca and Dan Joyce,
astrophotography and the legacy of Don Parker.
Click Here to see images of the meeting.
September 9, 2016
The Meeting was held at the Cernan Space Center.
Following a sky show, Dr. Andrew Johnston of the
Adler Planetarium and Dave Fuller both gave presentations.
Click Here to see images of the meeting.
October 14, 2016
The meeting was held at the Adler Planetarium.
Professor Dan Fabrycky lectured about "Kepler's Other Planetary Systems."
Dan Joyce also gave a night sky preview.
Afterwards, pizza at Connie's.
Click Here to see images of the meeting.
November 11, 2016
The meeting was held at the Adler Planetarium.
Following an update by Audrey Fischer about Chicago's Smart Lighting Plan,
Jose Francisco Salgado, PhD, Astronomer and Visual Artist,
gave a presentation "In Awe of the Northern Lights."
Afterwards, pizza at Connie's.
Click Here to see images of the meeting.
December 9, 2016
The meeting was held at the Adler Planetarium.
Following an update by Audrey Fischer about Chicago's lighting plan,
Dr. Shane Larson gave a presentation entitled "Solitude in the Cosmos."
Afterwards, pizza at Connie's.
Click Here to see images of the meeting.
December 11, 2016
A holiday party was held at Sawa's Old Warsaw smorgasbord Restaurant
in Broadview. Despite snowy weather roughly 16 people attended.
Awards were given out, and everyone had a good time.
Click Here to see images of the party.
January 13, 2017
The meeting was held at the Adler Planetarium.
Following an update by Audrey Fischer about Chicago's lighting plan,
a short presentation about the Aug 21, 2017 by Bob & Claire Gadbois,
and our main speaker, Kevin Cole, gave a presentation about the Rosetta Mission.
Click here to see an image of the meeting.
February 10, 2017
The meeting was held at the Adler Planetarium.
Following and update by Larry Silvestri and President Anthony Harris about
Chicago's street lighting plan, we were treated to two presentations.
Mrs. Eman Sarhan, teacher of physics and astronomy at Amundsen H.S. in
Chicago, and assisted by her daughter Sarah, gave us the night sky as Arabic
countries have seen it for thousands of years.
Then Dr. Melissa Bruckner of the Adler Planetarium gave us an update on the
the new discoveries about the Kuiper Belt and Pluto.
Click Here to see images from the meeting.
March 10, 2017
Meeting at Adler.
Eric Coles spoke about his adventures as an astrophotographer.
Zachary Hafen lectured about virtual galaxies
Click Here to see images of the meeting.
April 14, 2017
The meeting was held at the Adler Planetarium.
Cloudy skies prevented pre-meeting observing.
Larry Silvestri & Drew Carhart discussed the Chicago Street Lighting Issue.
Dave Fuller gave a preview of this month's upcoming night sky.
Keynote speaker Katie Brievik gave a lecture "Simulating the compact binary populations of the Milky Way."
Click Here to see images of the meeting.
May 5, 2017
The meeting was held at the Adler Planetarium.
Claire & Bob Gadbois gave a brief review of this year's NCRAL convention.
Keynote speaker Michael Zevin updated the latest research about
gravitational waves and the LIGO missions.
Afterward there was telescope observing in front of the Adler,
and then a small group traveled to Connie's Pizza for discussion.
Click Here to see images of the meeting.
June 9, 2017
The meeting was held at the Cernan Earth and Space Center of Triton College in River Grove.
Keynote speaker was Planetarium Educator Johnathan Nelson. He took us on
"A Journey To The Edge Of The Universe."
He fascinated us using Cernan's new State of the Art digital equipment.
Click Here to see images of the meeting.
July 14, 2017
The meeting was held at the Cernan Earth and Space Center of Triton College in River Grove.
The keynote speaker was Dr. Mark Christensen who talked about the history of the NICER
(Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer) X-Ray Observatory and its scientific objectives.
Aug. 12, 2017
In place of a formal meeting members of the CAS joined with the NAA to do telescope outreach at
Cantigny Park for their "French Picnic Under the Stars" event and to view the Perseid meteor shower.
Sep. 8, 2017
The meeting was held at the Adler Planetarium.
Dean Ketelsen discussed the challenges arising in producing and testing the mirrors for the
Giant Magellan Telescope along with the techniques developed to meet those challenges.
The GMT will be located in Las Campanas Observatory in Chile.
Oct. 13, 2017
The meeting was held at the Adler Planetarium.
Dr. Andrew Johnston gave a talk about how spacecraft and astronauts
navigate across the solar system with precision.
Nov. 10, 2017
The meeting was held at the Adler Planetarium.
Dave Fuller gave an overview of this month's night sky.
Dr. Reed Essick of the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics at the University of Chicago
gave a fascinating talk about LIGO and the Kilonova.
Click here to see images of the meeting.
Dec. 8, 2017
The meeting was held at the Adler Planetarium.
In Adler's Star Theater Dr. Jose Francisco Salgado, PhD, gave a lavishly illustrated
lecture with music and visuals titled "In Awe of the Northern Lights."
Jan 1, 2018
The meeting was held at the Adler Panetarium.
Dave Fuller ("Eyes on the Sky"), CAS member, gave a brief talk about what will be
visible in the night sky this month.
Drew Carhart, our guest speaker, gave a brief update regarding light pollution
and an hour lecture and power point on meteorites.
"Meteorites: Astronomy in the Laboratory"
Feb 16, 2018
The meeting was held at the Adler Planetarium.
We had two great speakers.
Dean Ketelsen, "The Eclipse, Seven Russians, and the 4565 mile Road trip"
Alex Gurvich, "The developement of large scale structure from the cosmic web to galaxies"
Mar. 16, 2018
The meeting was held at the Adler Planetarium.
Alex Himmel, an experimental particle physicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory,
spoke about "Neutrinos: Messengers from a violent universe."