A young observer peers through the CAA's vintage Celestron 16 telescope.
PUBLIC EVENTS
The CAA hosts at least 12 Saturday Public Observing events featuring a guest speaker that is followed—weather permitting—by celestial viewings through telescopes at the facility. During viewing hours, society members will be available to answer questions and provide everyone with an opportunity to look through the Society's telescopes and those of our members.
This site will be updated through out the year as we assemble our speakers and events.
Future Presentations
2025 Presentations
January 18th - 7:30 - Virtual only
Title: "Science from Across the Solar System and Beyond."
Presenter: Dr. T. Joseph Lazio, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Almost all of the images of planets, and many of the images from the Universe beyond, obtained by NASA’s spacecraft are able to be seen only because of NASA’s Deep Space Network. Much more than just a critical part of NASA’s missions, the Deep Space Network is a science instrument in its own right. In this presentation, I will provide a brief introduction both to the Deep Space Network and some of the science results obtained from it.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87253439092?pwd=6X1R4b8YqcwNI677bBbIGF3s5RbR5y.1
Meeting ID: 872 5343 9092
Passcode: 029599
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Meeting ID: 872 5343 9092
Passcode: 029599
Find your local number: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kecoOLgPwY
February 15th - 7:30 - Virtual only
Title: The Cosmic Distance Ladder
Presenter: Dave Falkner – MAS Member and NASA Solar System Ambassador
This presentation will discuss measuring the vast distances in the universe. Dave will start with the early attempts to measure distances to celestial bodies. Moving forward through history, Dave will introduce the improvements in instrumentation and discoveries made, and the use of “standard candles” which not only expanded our view of the universe but enabled us to quantify distances. Dave will wrap up by talking about some of the challenges that remain in determining distances in space.
Dave has been a life-long amateur astronomer. He first became interested in astronomy as a pre-teen when his father took him to a show at the Holcolm Planetarium in Indianapolis. He became hooked and has had an interest in astronomy ever since.
After retiring from the US Navy, Dave settled in Minnesota and became an active member of the Minnesota Astronomical Society (MAS). He has served as its President from 2011 – 2014, and 2019 – 2020, and as Secretary from 2023-2024. As a member of the MAS, Dave enjoyed performing astronomical outreach often speaking to groups at libraries, nature centers and schools.
In 2011 Dave traveled to Tucson, AZ to view the Transit of Venus at the Mount Lemmon Observatory in Tucson and visited Kitt Peak National Observatory while he was there. In 2017 he traveled to Casper, WY in 2017 and Indianapolis in 2024 to view the total eclipse of the Sun. In December 2022 Dave traveled to Chile to visit the US Research telescopes located there and became part of the Astronomy in Chile Educators Ambassador Program (ACEAP) educating the public about the telescopes and research astronomy being conducted there.
Dave is a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador where he educates the public about space, space exploration and NASA missions in particular. Along with his outreach activities Dave has taught beginning Astronomy classes at a local community college and has published three books; two editions of “Mythology of the Night Sky” and the book “The Stories of Astronomers and Their Stars.”
Join Zoom Meeting
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Meeting ID: 856 7675 8646
Passcode: 990773
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• +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
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• +1 507 473 4847 US
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• +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
• +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
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Meeting ID: 856 7675 8646
Passcode: 990773
Find your local number: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kn8SqBn2g
March 22nd - 7:30 -This event will be held in person as well as on Zoom
Title: A Close Look at the Planet Mars
Presenter: Professor Steven Spangler - Professor Emeritus - University of Iowa
Mars is one of the four "terrestrial planets" in the solar system that approximately resemble the Earth. Every two years, it comes especially close to the Earth in a configuration called "opposition". Opposition this year was on January 16, so we are about two months past that date. Nonetheless, Mars is closer than it usually is, and it is perfectly located for observing in the evening sky. In this talk I will describe where Mars is in space, and how that location affects its properties. I will also describe the ongoing spacecraft exploration of Mars, and all the amazing things we have learned about the "Red Planet" in the last fifty to sixty years.
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81404718701?pwd=oEp8Jnx5bIPKCT1MRqa1tYVJJvBmRg.1
Meeting ID: 814 0471 8701
Passcode: 201117
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• +1 646 931 3860 US
• +1 929 205 6099 US (New York)
• +1 301 715 8592 US (Washington DC)
• +1 346 248 7799 US (Houston)
• +1 360 209 5623 US
• +1 386 347 5053 US
• +1 507 473 4847 US
• +1 564 217 2000 US
• +1 669 444 9171 US
• +1 669 900 6833 US (San Jose)
• +1 689 278 1000 US
• +1 719 359 4580 US
• +1 253 205 0468 US
• +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)
Meeting ID: 814 0471 8701
Passcode: 201117
Find your local number: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kb8JGSLjyk
April 26th - 8:00 -This event will be held in person as well as on Zoom
Title
Presenter: Jodie McLennan
May 17th - 8:30 -This event will be held in person as well as on Zoom
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June 14th - 8:30 -This event will be held in person as well as on Zoom
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June 28th - 8:30 -This event will be held in person as well as on Zoom
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Presenter: Professor Brent Studer, Kirkwood Community College
July 12th - 3-6PM - Solar Saturday -This event will be held in person as well as on Zoom
Title
Presenter:Carl Bracken CAA volunteer and active member since 1995 and Basepoint Building Automations Security Systems Consultant
July 26th - 8:30 -This event will be held in person as well as on Zoom
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August 16th - 8:00 -This event will be held in person as well as on Zoom
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September 13th - 7:30 -This event will be held in person as well as on Zoom
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October 4th - 7:30 - InOMN -This event will be held in person as well as on Zoom
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October 25th - 7:30 -This event will be held in person as well as on Zoom
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November 15th - 7:30 -This event will be held in person as well as on Zoom
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December 13th - 7:30 - Virtual only
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* Note: Virtual only. Observatory closed due to winter driving conditions.
Past Presentations
Jan 13 2024 7:30 * Virtual Event Only
Title: Odd Radio Circles and Even Odder Radio Cubes
Presenter: Lawrence Rudnick - Professor Emeritus - University of Minnesota
We'll start 50 years ago when this budding astrophysicist lost his way in the sky, then jump to some present day glimpses from the Square Kilometer Array radio telescope precursors. MeerKAT in South Africa and ASKAP in Australia are testing out some of the new technologies and making some really fun discoveries. We'll look at two ongoing projects. First, the mysterious "Odd Radio Circles" that have been discovered in the last few years, and a new technique I'm developing to visualize radio structures in three dimensions.
Professor Rudnick taught at the University of Minnesota for 42 years, and conducted research using radio, X-ray, infrared and optical telescopes on the ground and in space. He worked in many venues promoting the public understanding of science, including training K-12 teachers, appearing on public television's Newton's Apple, and helping build the Bell Museum of Natural History and Planetarium in the Twin Cities. He is an Honorary Member of the Minnesota Astronomical Society.
Feb 10 7:30 * Virtual Event Only
Title: Smartphone Astrophotography and Citizen Science
Presenter: Mr. Mark Brown - NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador
Mar 30 7:30 This event will be held in person as well as on Zoom
Title: "Where Do Stars Come From"
Presenter: Professor Steven Spangler - Professor Emeritus - University of Iowa
The night sky is filled with stars, and as we learn astronomy, we find out what incredible objects they are. They dwarf planets like the Earth, and have power outputs that are hard to describe in normal terms. But, where do they come from? How do they form and where? I will discuss how astronomers have come to the current understanding of star formation, which was really incomplete until about 50 - 60 years ago. At the present time, there are aspects of star formation that we understand very well, and other aspects that are very far from being understood. After the talk, if it is clear, we will get to see the object that illustrates star formation in action, the Orion Nebula.
April 8th - Partial Solar Eclipse Celebration.
Free Solar Eclipse glasses! - This event will be in person only
Eclipse begins 12:46 pm
https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/
https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2024/live/
//www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/@41.889505,-91.500371?iso=20240408" data-mce-href="https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/@41.889505,-91.500371?iso=20240408">https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/in/@41.889505,-91.500371?iso=20240408
Apr 27 8:00 This event will be held in person as well as on Zoom
Title: PERSPECTIVES ON DISTANCE
Presenter: Charles E. Allen III - Vice-President, Astronomical League
“Perspectives” examines the relative and possible distances achievable by space flight and through amateur and professional telescopic observation. Examining scales from the human altitude record to the four cosmological horizons, the program is supported by multiple props and models and discusses astrophysicists’ answers to the biggest questions about the universe: How far can we see and how big might it be?
Unrelated to the program will be the safe display of an extraordinary 9-case collection verifiably containing 100 chemical elements.
Bio: Chuck is current vice-president and past-president of the 23,000-member Astronomical League and is a prolific speaker with over 600 public presentations to universities, secondary schools, scientific societies, corporations, museums, and other public audiences. He is a League gold-level master observer and is a G. R. Wright and Master Outreach award recipient. He coordinates three League observing programs and co-chaired ALCon ‘21 Virtual. He is also current program chair for the Evansville Astronomical Society, past president of the Louisville Astronomical Society, and a past lead judge for the Intel (now Regeneron) International Science and Engineering Fair.
May 25 8:30 This event will be held in person as well as on Zoom
Title: "Spectroscopy: the Colorful Way to View the Cosmos
Presenter: Cole Armstrong, Graduate Research Assistant, University of Iowa
Spectroscopy unveils the secrets of the cosmos through the analysis of light and its complex composition of colors. By dissecting this light, we gain insights into the fundamental properties of celestial objects and the phenomena shaping our universe. Join us for a discussion on the roots of spectroscopy to its cutting-edge applications in modern astronomy that reveal some important characteristics of celestial objects beyond what telescopes alone can resolve.
June 8 8:30
Title: How the Elements are Made
Presenter: Brent Studer, Kirkwood Community College
In his groundbreaking series “Cosmos,” astronomer Carl Sagan stated, “If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.” What, exactly, did he mean by that? What does it have to do with the elements on the periodic table and astronomy? Tonight, we’ll learn how the ingredients needed to make a pie, planets, and even people came into existence. We’ll explore how some elements were forged in the earliest moments of the universe’s existence and how stars like the Sun are responsible for creating some of the most abundant elements on Earth and in living organisms. We’ll also learn how other elements are created as massive stars age and even during the cataclysmic deaths of these stars and other stellar remnants.
June 29 8:30 This event will be held in person as well as on Zoom
Title: Galaxy Supermassive Black Hole Masses from Reverberation Mapping
Presenter: Dr. Caroline Roberts, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa
Reverberation mapping is an observational measurement technique used to obtain the masses of the central supermassive black holes of active galaxies. Supermassive black hole mass scales with other galactic properties, including kinematics of stars in the host galaxy and mass of stars in the bulge, and so accurately determining supermassive black hole masses plays a large role in understanding galactic evolution. In this talk, we’ll discuss the procedure of reverberation mapping and take a look at some results from this method.
Jul 13 3:00 – Solar Saturday This event will be held in person as well as on Zoom
Title: Stormy Weather Ahead - Solar Cycle 25 outpacing the forecast
Presenter: Carl Bracken CAA volunteer and active member since 1995 and Basepoint Building Automations Security Systems Consultant
Current solar cycle 25 is running well ahead of forecast by almost a year, and already surpassing forecasted strength as measured by monthly sunspot totals. Join us on Saturday 13 July 2024 at the Eastern Iowa Observatory and Learning Center from 3-6pm to explore our star together and learn about some of the ways our star impacts the 'Global Electric Circuit' and drives a wide range of effects on the world we live in. Weather permitting, live safe and direct viewing of our star will be available hosted by members of the Cedar Amateur Astronomers. Inside we will have our full range of exhibits open for further exploration and learning.
Jul 27 8:30 This event will be held in person as well as on Zoom
Title: Beyond the Telescope: Exploring Digital Resources for Modern Astronomers
Aug 31 8:00 This event will be held in person as well as on Zoom
Title: How shall we travel in space? By ship? By train? Or, by radio?
Presenter: Professor Paul Price - University of Iowa - School of Public Health
How do you imagine something you have never seen? This was the challenge science fiction authors and illustrators faced 100 years ago when stories about travel in outer space first became popular. Pictures and stories had to be exciting and different to catch that “sense of wonder” that made science fiction popular, but they also had to be understandable to the reader. Any type of story is hurt by too much exposition (it gets in the way of character development and plot) so a space story cannot afford to explain all of the technical details of space travel necessary to follow a plot. What science fiction stories needed was a set of links between the kinds of travel that readers did understand and travel in space. Once these were established, the authors could focus on the stories and know that the reader would fill in the details based on their experience with earthly transport. As a result, we now have a legacy of stories, terms, expectations about space travel that reflect these links. These links shape our views on science fiction but more importantly they also shape our views on what actual space travel should look like. This talk will go over the history of space travel in literature and unpack some the assumptions about space travel that the authors, readers, and we share.
Dr. Paul Price is retired from a career at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and is an adjunct professor at the University of Iowa School of Public Health. He is also a “fan scholar” of science fiction, anime, and manga.
Sep 14 7:30 - InOMN This event will be held in person as well as on Zoom
Title: The Path of the Moon in the Sky
Presenter: Professor Steven Spangler - Professor Emeritus - University of Iowa
Most people are aware that the Moon goes through its phases, and can appear in different parts of the sky at different times of day, but are probably unaware of patterns it follows. The situation was very different with people thousands of years ago, who paid close attention to the periodic changes in the Moon's position in the sky. Striking examples of knowledge of the Moon's motion in the sky are the Anasazi culture of the American southwest, and the Hopewell and Woodland cultures here in Iowa. In this talk, I will discuss the regularities associated with the Moon's motion in the sky, and make the connection with the motions of the Earth and Moon in space. This topic is particularly relevant this year, which features a "Major Lunar Standstill", in which the Moon rises the farthest north for the next 18 years.
Sep 28 7:30
Title: Monturaqui crater – the impact of an iron meteorite in the Atacama Desert, Chile.
Presenter: David W. Peate, Professor of Geochemistry & Department DEO (aka Chair)
Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, The University of Iowa
Synopsis: Solar system objects continually fall to Earth as meteorites, and the larger objects have enough energy to form craters at the Earth's surface. What happens to the solar system object in these large events? Is the material just vaporized and lost, or can we find traces in the rocks at the impact crater to allow us to determine the type of impactor? In this talk, I will focus on research done on the Monturaqui impact crater in Chile, to learn about the impact process and the object that formed it.
Bio: David W Peate is a Professor of Geochemistry at the University of Iowa, and currently Chair of the Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences. His research focus is understanding how the Earth's mantle melts and how magmas rise through the Earth's crust to form volcanoes, through detailed study of the chemical composition of volcanic rocks and minerals. He has had a life-long fascination with planetary geology inspired by watching the Apollo 11 moon landings as a small child in the UK, which has led to side projects looking at impact craters and meteorites.
Oct 26 7:30
Title: How to Build a Space Mission - The Story of TRACERS
Presenter: Jasper S. Halekas, Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Iowa
The upcoming Tandem Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS) mission, designed and led by the University of Iowa, is currently in the final stages of integration and test before its planned launch next spring. I will describe the genesis and development of the TRACERS mission from the proposal phase through design, assembly, test, and integration. I will also outline the scientific goals of the mission and describe what we hope to learn from TRACERS about our local space neighborhood and the impact of the Sun and the solar wind on our terrestrial environment.
Nov 23 7:30 This event will be held in person as well as on Zoom
Title: The Resurrection of Voyager 1
Presenter: Professor William (Bill) Kurth - University of Iowa
This talk will address humankind's most distant explorers and their epic journey of discovery, now concentrating on the exploration of the interstellar medium, the 'stuff between the stars'. But, to tell this story, it is important to discuss the saga of keeping the two Voyagers going on their now 47-year journey to distances measured in nearly a light-day.
Dec 7 7:30 * Virtual Event Only
Title: The University Of Minnesota Students’ Practice Observatory – The Discovery, History, and Preservation of Its Equipment
Presenter: Mr. Valts Treibergs - Minnesota Astronomical Society
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Public observing events are held in the Eastern Iowa Observatory and Learning Center at the Palisades-Dows Observatory and Preserve through a generous agreement with the Linn County Conservation Department. For directions, please visit our Map to Pal-Dows page or download a pdf version (276 kB.)
The Cedar Amateur Astronomers, Inc. is a participating member of Night Sky Network.
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