Author: Denis Williamson
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LHAAC resumes in-person events at White Memorial
The club held its first in-person public event in more than a year with a new talk called “Juno at Jupiter” on August 27. The last two public talks of 2021 are “Saturn – the real Lord of the rings”, in October and our popular annual astro-imaging roundup in November. See the calendar page for…
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May 26 talk on Roving Mars
This talk is sponsored by The Oliver Wolcott Library. To join the talk, go to the Library’s site: https://www.owlibrary.org/adult-events.aspxScroll down until you see “Roving Mars – The Red Planet with Pete Kandefer” and follow the link. (The notice in the Waterbury newspaper on 5/13 referred to this site instead of the library’s.)
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Work on the Observatory telescope nears completion
In April, 2016, members of the Mattatuck Astronomical Society and the Litchfield Hills club installed the motors and electronics needed for the telescope to move. Next step is star testing to make sure the optical components are aligned and working properly. When done, the telescope will be operated under computer control, making it possible to…
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Gravitational Waves Discovered
At a press conference on Feb. 11, 2016 we learned that researchers detected gravitational waves, predicted a century ago by Albert Einstein’s theory of General Relativity. In the early 1600’s Johannes Kepler worked out the mathematics of the motions of the planets, showing that they orbit the Sun in nearly circular ellipses. Though Kepler’s laws…
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News From New Horizons Spacecraft
The New Horizons mission to Pluto was a complete success. On July 14, 2015, the spacecraft flew past Pluto at 7 miles per second and took thousands of photos and measurements. Over the next month a few hundred low-resolution images were returned to Earth. (Images and lots more information about the mission here.) The first…
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New Horizons Spacecraft Approaches Pluto
The New Horizons spacecraft, launched in January 2006, is now in the Pluto system and returning photos. It will fly by Pluto and its 5 known moons on July 14. This region of the Solar System contains a number of Pluto-like objects; what makes Pluto particularly interesting is that it appears to have an atmosphere…