Whew! I am glad this one is over. Everything seemed to be going well when, you know, Murphy’s Law struck…big time.
The kind people at La Sierra University let us use the facilities at Cossentine Hall to hold our meeting (Thank you very much). They also let us use their AV equipment so we don’t have to bring our own. We even rent one of their buildings for our holiday party.
But this weekend, nothing worked. It was a AV geeks worst nightmare. We had the poor security guard open almost every room in the place to find a working projector. It seems that the IT staff have been doing last minute upgrades before the semester started. Unfortunately, we did have all the right cables to make anything work.
While I was delaying the inevitable, and our guest speaker started looking very apprehensive, a miracle occurred! We pushed the right button and everything was fine.
Then it was time for the main events.
Diane Childs gave a great “What’s Up,” presentation on the Hercules Cluster.
Our guest speaker, Anahita Alavi, Department of Physics and Astronomy, U. C. Riverside, then gave her presentation on “Using the Hubble Space Telescope and Mother Nature’s Telescope (Gravitational Lenses) to Find the Faintest Galaxies in the Universe.”
It seems that there are a lot of dwarf galaxies roaming about the Universe. The Milky Way as about 20 (that we can see) orbiting the galaxy. There may be more, but these objects are soooooo faint that scientists are using gravitational lensing to look even deeper into space than the Hubble can.
Although the data is not refined as they would like it to be, it does set up the James Webb telescope on where to look when it is fully operational (hopefully in 2018).
In the end it was another great meeting. Please remember that if you are in the area, or just passing through, and need your monthly astronomy fix, everyone is welcome to come and enjoy free of charge. Heck we even provide snacks!
You can find out about the next general meeting, star parties, and outreach locations on our website.
– Ex astris, scientia –
I am and avid amateur astronomer and intellectual property attorney in Pasadena, California and I am a Rising Star as rated by Super Lawyers Magazine. As a former Chief Petty Officer in the U.S. Navy, I am a proud member of the Armed Service Committee of the Los Angeles County Bar Association working to aid all active duty and veterans in our communities. Connect with me on Google +
Norman
Astronomy and Law 