Membership meeting at Butterworth Center, 7 p.m.

Membership meeting at Butterworth Center, 7 p.m.

The program will be “PERSPECTIVES ON DISTANCE” presented by Chuck Allen, president of the Astronomical League.  He will examine relative distances in the universe and the possible distances reachable by manned and unmanned space flight and through amateur and professional telescopic observation.

Membership meeting at Butterworth Center, 7 p.m. Presentation on occultation of Mars by the Moon; observing of occultation may follow. (Membership meetings held the second Monday of every month at 7 p.m. except for August (annual picnic) and October (annual banquet)).

Business meeting.

The meeting will also be available on Zoom. Seating is available and please contact the club if you wish to obtain a link to the Zoom meeting. Send an email to: popularastronomyclub@gmail.com.

Business meeting.

The meeting will also be available on Zoom. Seating is available and please contact the club if you wish to obtain a link to the Zoom meeting. Send an email to: popularastronomyclub@gmail.com.

Business meeting.

The meeting will also be available on Zoom. Seating is available and please contact the club if you wish to obtain a link to the Zoom meeting. Send an email to: popularastronomyclub@gmail.com.

Tonight’s presentation is “Perseverance: Three Years on Mars” by NASA Solar System Ambassador Joyce Jentges.

Business meeting.

The meeting will also be available on Zoom. Seating is available and please contact the club if you wish to obtain a link to the Zoom meeting. Send an email to: popularastronomyclub@gmail.com.

Business meeting and Smorgasbord of member presentations.

The meeting will also be available on Zoom. Seating is available and please contact the club if you wish to obtain a link to the Zoom meeting. Send an email to: popularastronomyclub@gmail.com.

Dave Weinrich; “Keep Looking Up--- One Sky, One World.”

The meeting will also be available on Zoom. Seating is available and please contact the club if you wish to obtain a link to the Zoom meeting. Send an email to: popularastronomyclub@gmail.com.

Meet at the American Doll and Toy Museum in Rock Island to get a telescope!

The club has a number of telescopes for it’s members and today PAC members may borrow a telescope for their own use. Sign up sheets will be available for each telescope.

Robert Gregory; “Solar Flares and Neptune’s Chemistry”.

The meeting will also be available on Zoom. Seating is available and please contact the club if you wish to obtain a link to the Zoom meeting. Send an email to: popularastronomyclub@gmail.com.

Business meeting and Smorgasbord of member presentations.

The meeting will also be available on Zoom. Seating is available and please contact the club if you wish to obtain a link to the Zoom meeting. Send an email to: popularastronomyclub@gmail.com.

“Discarded Worlds: Astronomical ideas that were almost correct…” by Brother Guy Consolmagno, S.J., President Vatican Observatory Foundation.

Astronomy is more than just observing; it's making sense of those observations. A good theorist needs to blend a knowledge of what’s been observed, with a good imagination... and no fear of being wrong. Aristotle, the medieval bishops Oresme and Cusa, the 19th century astronomers Schiaparelli and Pickering, all rose to the challenge; and they were all almost correct. Which is to say, they were wrong... sometimes hilariously, sometimes heartbreakingly so. What lessons can 21st century astronomers take from these discarded images of the universe?

Brother Guy Consolmagno SJ, is the Director of the Vatican Observatory. A native of Detroit, Michigan, he studied planetary sciences at MIT and the University of Arizona, studying meteorites and asteroids. Along with more than 250 scientific publications, he is the author of several popular astronomy books, notably Turn Left at Orion (with Dan Davis), and most recently When Science Goes Wrong (with Chris Graney).

The meeting will also be available on Zoom. Seating is available and please contact the club if you wish to obtain a link to the Zoom meeting. Send an email to: popularastronomyclub@gmail.com.

“The Mystery of the Siberian Explosion: An Environmental History of the Tunguska Event” by Andy Bruno, Professor of History and Environmental Studies, Director of Graduate Studies for History, Northern Illinois University

In 1908 the Tunguska explosion in Siberia knocked down an area of forest larger than London. Most scientists believe that a fragment of an asteroid or a comet caused the blast, but neither a crater nor unmistakable remnants of a meteorite have ever been found. Over the last century, the mysterious nature of the event has prompted a wide array of speculation and investigation, including from science fiction writers and voluntary researchers. Some have even explained Tunguska as a nuclear explosion triggered by aliens. This presentation will recount the intriguing history of the Tunguska event and the investigations into it. Foregrounding the significance of mystery in environmental history, it will show how efforts to understand the explosion have shaped the treatment of the landscape, how uncertainty allowed alternative forms of knowledge to enter scientific conversations, and how cosmic disasters have influenced the past and might affect the future.

The meeting will also be available on Zoom. Seating is available and please contact the club if you wish to obtain a link to the Zoom meeting. Send an email to: popularastronomyclub@gmail.com.

A brief business meeting. The meeting will also be available on Zoom.

Tonight’s presentation is “The Year in Review”.

Seating is available and please contact the club if you wish to obtain a link to the Zoom meeting. Send an email to: popularastronomyclub@gmail.com.

A brief business meeting. The meeting will also be available on Zoom.

With a presentation by Val Germann, “Astronomy on the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails”.

Seating is available and please contact the club if you wish to obtain a link to the Zoom meeting. Send an email to: popularastronomyclub@gmail.com.

Please make reservations for the Annual Banquet at River Front Grill.

This is a board business meeting followed by member’s Smorgasbord talks.

The meeting will also be available on Zoom.

Seating is available and please contact the club if you wish to obtain a link to the Zoom meeting. Send an email to: popularastronomyclub@gmail.com.

This is a special meeting with Carl Wenning on the image intensifier program and demonstration.

This will be held at the Windmill Restaurant and Paul Castle Observatory.

A brief business meeting. The meeting will also be available on Zoom.

Tonight’s presentation is “Extreme Astronomy” by Chuck Allen.

Seating is available and please contact the club if you wish to obtain a link to the Zoom meeting. Send an email to: popularastronomyclub@gmail.com.

A brief business meeting. The meeting will also be available on Zoom.

Seating is available and please contact the club if you wish to obtain a link to the Zoom meeting. Send an email to: popularastronomyclub@gmail.com.

A brief business meeting. The meeting will also be available on Zoom.

Seating is available and please contact the club if you wish to obtain a link to the Zoom meeting. Send an email to: popularastronomyclub@gmail.com.

Presentations are smorgasbord talks by club members.

A brief business meeting. The meeting will also be available on Zoom.

Seating is available and please contact the club if you wish to obtain a link to the Zoom meeting. Send an email to: popularastronomyclub@gmail.com.

Tonight’s presentation is by Jim Plaxco, “How to Design a Martian Civilization of One Million People”.

A brief business meeting. The meeting will also be available on Zoom.

Seating is available and please contact the club if you wish to obtain a link to the Zoom meeting. Send an email to: popularastronomyclub@gmail.com.

A brief business meeting will be followed by a review of the club’s 2022 activities. The meeting will also be available on Zoom.

Seating is available and please contact the club if you wish to obtain a link to the Zoom meeting. Send an email to: popularastronomyclub@gmail.com.

Jim Dole, from the Doug Firebaugh Observatory, will present an introduction to radio astronomy and talk about his experiences with radio astronomy education at the Green Bank Observatory.

PAC will host a Zoom meeting for this event and in-person seating at the presentation is limited.

Seating is available and please contact the club if you wish to obtain a link to the Zoom meeting. Send an email to: popularastronomyclub@gmail.com

October 22: Annual PAC Banquet (no regular meeting)

The speaker will be Dr. Dennis Roscoe presenting “Next Generation Telescopes.”

Paid Reservations Required.

Smorgasbord Presentations tonight.

Seating is available and please contact the club if you wish to obtain a link to the Zoom meeting. Send an email to: popularastronomyclub@gmail.com

September 23-24: Eastern Iowa Star Party

August 13: Annual PAC Picnic (no regular meeting)

Presentation: "OSIRIS-REx Mission Update” by Dolores Hill, Senior Research Specialist, Lunar & Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona

Seating is available and please contact the club if you wish to obtain a link to the Zoom meeting. Send an email to: popularastronomyclub@gmail.com