2014 Event Overview Archive

Bob Naeye, Editor in Chief, Sky and Telescope Magazine

Friday, August 22, 2014, 6:30 pm in the Yurt

The Origin of Everything: How Things Got to Be the Way They Are Right Now

Keynote Friday night Part 1 and Part 2 to follow Saturday afternoon at 1:30

Biography
Bob Naeye, owns five telescopes and more eyepieces than he can count. His favorite deep-sky activity is perusing the ghostly tendrils of the Veil Nebula using an OIII filter. Bob is editor in chief of Sky & Telescope magazine and SkyandTelescope.com, and a proud member of the American Astronomical Society, the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, the Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston, and the Astronomical Society of Harrisburg, which is based near his hometown of Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Besides his S&T experience, Bob worked as a researcher/reporter at Discover magazine, senior editor at Astronomy magazine, editor in chief of Mercury magazine (the membership magazine of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific), and as senior science writer in the Astrophysics Science Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

He has been honored by the Astronomical Association of Northern California with its Professional Astronomer of the Year Award, and also by the American Astronomical Society’s High Energy Astrophysics Division with its David N. Schramm Award for Science Journalism. Bob has also authored two books and contributed to two others.

Greg Redfern, NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador

Saturday, August 23, 2014, 10:00 am in the Yurt

The future of U.S. manned space flight

Biography
Greg Redfern, Twitter “@SkyGuyinVA”, has been an adjunct professor/instructor of astronomy for five different colleges since 1984. As a NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador since 2003, he has shared NASA’s missions to the solar system with many audiences in person as well as on Fox 5 WTTG TV, WTOP Radio and WBAL Radio in the Washington D.C. media market. Greg’s daily astronomy blog, “What’s Up?: The Space Place” has had over a million page views from around the world, averaging over 10,000 page views daily and is carried on the websites of WTTG Fox 5 and WDCA 20.

Bob Naeye, Editor in Chief, Sky and Telescope Magazine

Saturday, August 23, 2014, 1:30 pm in the Yurt

The Origin of Everything: How Things Got to Be the Way They Are Right Now

Keynote Friday night Part 1 and Part 2 to follow Saturday afternoon at 1:30

Biography
Bob Naeye, owns five telescopes and more eyepieces than he can count. His favorite deep-sky activity is perusing the ghostly tendrils of the Veil Nebula using an OIII filter. Bob is editor in chief of Sky & Telescope magazine and SkyandTelescope.com, and a proud member of the American Astronomical Society, the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, the Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston, and the Astronomical Society of Harrisburg, which is based near his hometown of Hershey, Pennsylvania.

Besides his S&T experience, Bob worked as a researcher/reporter at Discover magazine, senior editor at Astronomy magazine, editor in chief of Mercury magazine (the membership magazine of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific), and as senior science writer in the Astrophysics Science Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

He has been honored by the Astronomical Association of Northern California with its Professional Astronomer of the Year Award, and also by the American Astronomical Society’s High Energy Astrophysics Division with its David N. Schramm Award for Science Journalism. Bob has also authored two books and contributed to two others.

Rod Mollise, Contributing Editor, Sky and Telescope Magazine

Saturday, August 23, 2014, 6:30 pm in the Yurt

What Goes There?

Biography
“Uncle” Rod Mollise, a Contributing Editor at Sky and Telescope magazine, is familiar to amateur astronomers as the author numerous books and magazine articles on every aspect of our hobby. He also writes a long-running weekly blog that has become a familiar feature of the amateur astronomy landscape. He is most well known, however, for his books and articles on Schmidt Cassegrain telescopes, SCTs, including Choosing and Using a New CAT (Springer), which has become the standard reference work for these popular instruments.

When he’s not on the road speaking at star parties and astronomy club meetings across the country, Rod shares a rambling old Victorian home in Mobile’s Garden District, “Chaos Manor South,” with his wonderful wife, Dorothy, two cats and, at last count, twelve telescopes.

Skip Bird, Outreach Director/Night Sky Network Guru, Westminster Astronomical Society

Sunday, August 24, 2014, 10:00 am in the Yurt

Skynet Junior Scholars (SJS); Light: It’s all Astronomers Get

Biography
Wayne “Skip” Bird is presently the Outreach Director/Night Sky Network Guru for the Westminster Astronomical Society, and outreach fanatic (definition of fanatic: someone who will not change his mind AND will not change the subject). He is also a 5th grade “Mad” Science teacher, Physics and Astronomy teacher for a Homeschool association. He is the world renowned author of “Night Flying Astronomy Bird” articles (OK, maybe world renowned is being a little modest), and the “World’s Greatest Dad”. He has the button to prove it, but enough from his autobiography.

Bob Parks, VOLT

Sunday, August 24, 2014, 1:30 pm in the Yurt

The future of Dark Sky Protection

Biography

Harold Geller, Associate Chair of Physics and Astronomy, George Mason University

Sunday, August 24 , 2014, 6:30 pm in the Yurt

On the probability of the nature of extraterrestrial life forms in our galaxy

Biography
Dr. Geller has over thirty years of work experience in industry, government and academia. He first taught astronomy as an adjunct, currently in his ninth year as a full-time faculty in physics and astronomy at George Mason University. He is also now serving as the Associate Chair of the department. He was Principal Investigator on a research grant from the Office of Naval Research (ONR). Dr. Geller also developed multimedia CD-ROM education and public outreach products for ONR.

Guy Brandenburg, ATM Coordinator @ CCCC, NOVAC

Monday, August 25, 2014, 10:00 am in the Yurt

ATM Workshop

Biography
Guy is a retired math teacher from the DC Public Schools and an experienced ATM who loves to share his skill, experience, and enthusiasm with others. He is the coordinator of telescope-making and mirror-making classes at the Chevy Chase Community Center, at the intersection of McKinley Street and Connecticut Avenue, NW, a few blocks inside the in DC.

Alan Goldberg, Principle Scientist, Mitre

Monday, August 25, 2014, 1:30 pm in the Yurt

Understanding the “Magic” in a GoTo telescope

Biography
Alan is a member of NOVAC since 2001 and a principal scientist with The MITRE Corp. in McLean, VA. He’s been an amateur astronomer since elementary school, and observes with an 8” SCT. He is fascinated by manipulating and learning from light, from the cosmos to understanding. After graduate study at Univ. of Texas and MIT in astronomy and planetary science, he worked on the design and operation of the Hubble Space Telescope, principally the interferometer star tracker and Guide Star Selection System. He then worked on Landsat, NASA’s Terra-Aqua-Aura series, and NOAA’s NPOESS weather satellites. He currently assists the government in buying satellite remote sensing data and systems.

Skip Bird, Outreach Director/Night Sky Network Guru, Westminster Astronomical Society

Monday, August 25, 2014, 3:00 pm in the Yurt

What to do when it’s raining outside

Biography
Wayne “Skip” Bird is presently the Outreach Director/Night Sky Network Guru for the Westminster Astronomical Society, and outreach fanatic (definition of fanatic: someone who will not change his mind AND will not change the subject). He is also a 5th grade “Mad” Science teacher, Physics and Astronomy teacher for a Homeschool association. He is the world renowned author of “Night Flying Astronomy Bird” articles (OK, maybe world renowned is being a little modest), and the “World’s Greatest Dad”. He has the button to prove it, but enough from his autobiography.

Greg Redfern, NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador

Monday, August 25, 2014, 6:30 pm in the Yurt

James Webb space telescope

Biography
Greg Redfern, Twitter “@SkyGuyinVA”, has been an adjunct professor/instructor of astronomy for five different colleges since 1984. As a NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador since 2003, he has shared NASA’s missions to the solar system with many audiences in person as well as on Fox 5 WTTG TV, WTOP Radio and WBAL Radio in the Washington D.C. media market. Greg’s daily astronomy blog, “What’s Up?: The Space Place” has had over a million page views from around the world, averaging over 10,000 page views daily and is carried on the websites of WTTG Fox 5 and WDCA 20.