San Diego Astronomy Association (SDAA) sponsors speakers on a wide range of astronomy topics on the third Wednesday of every month at the Mission Trails Regional Park Visitors Center. The Program meeting begins at 7:00 PM. Each attendee receives one free door prize ticket. After announcements and a small amount of business, the audience is treated to the featured presentation. At the close of the meeting the door prizes are presented. The event is open to the public. The Mission Trails Regional Park Visitors Center is at One Fr. Junipero Serra Trail, San Diego CA 92119. Call the park at 619-668-3281 for more information or visit http://www.mtrp.org.
Program meetings may also be held via Zoom, or as hybrid in-person/Zoom meetings. You can register in advance for the next Zoom meeting at the following link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMude-sqz4sGN1qXv7qSlBwnYpgaQEZZ8LU
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
Please contact Dave Wood if you have an questions, comments, or ideas for the Program Meetings.
Meetings since July 2020 are being archived on the SDAA YouTube page.
November 16, 2022 Program Meeting
Topic: Astronomical Word Play Speaker: Dr. Richard Lederer Our speaker is the distinguished verbavore Dr. Richard Lederer, who is an American linguist, author, speaker, and teacher. He is best known for his books on the English language and on wordplay such as puns, oxymorons, and anagrams. He has been dubbed “the Wizard of Idiom,” “Attila the Pun,” and “Conan the Grammarian.” He will focus on astronomical terminology and…
October 24, 2022 Program Meeting
October topic: Amateur Spectroscopy and the AAVSO Speaker: Dr. Steven Shore Dr. Shore is the Chief of the Observational Spectroscopy Section of the AAVSO and a professor at the University of Pisa. Dr Shore will give an introduction to spectroscopy and discuss a science case where amateurs can make a contribute to the science. Professional astronomers using large telescopes have limited resources and are willing to partner with amateurs for…
September 21, 2022 Program Meeting
The September Topic is entitled “A Bird’s Eye View of the Universe” by Dr. Michael West. This is a fascinating talk about what the universe looks like on the largest scales. Dr. West is Deputy Director for Science at Lowell Observatory. He received a Ph.D. in astronomy from Yale University and held research, teaching, and leadership positions at universities and observatories on four continents before joining Lowell in…
August 17, 2022 Program Meeting
The August Topic is an update on the science and facilities at San Diego State University (SDSU) Mount Laguna Observatory (MLO). The speaker is Dr. Robert Quimby, the Director of MLO and professor of astronomy at SDSU. He earned his BS degree in astrophysics from UC Berkeley and his masters and PhD in astronomy from the University of Texas, Austin. For his research contributions, he has received the…
July 20, 2022 Program Meeting
Speaker: Kevin Schindler Topic: Discovery at Lowell: The Past, Present, and Future of Lowell Observatory Lowell Observatory has been called America’s observatory because of its heritage of both scientific research and public outreach. In this program, Kevin Schindler will look at some of the observatory’s highlights from the past, explore current research projects, and give an update on the expansion of its visitor experience. Kevin Schindler is the…
June 15, 2022 Program Meeting
The June 15 Program Meeting will be an exciting SDAA Trivia Contest. Members should be prepared for arcane questions about history, astronomy, observing and SDAA lore. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jBS2yMhvw4
May 18, 2022 Program Meeting
Speaker: Dave Decker Topic: Focus on SDAA Outreach Dave Decker and star party coordinators will discuss venues, plans, and techniques for our outreach program. You can register in advance for the meeting at the following link. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. You may be required to log in with a Zoom login and password in order to attend the…
April 20, 2022 Program Meeting
Speaker: Kalind Carpenter Topic: Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor (EELS) Kalind is a Robotics Engineer in the robotic Vehicles and Manipulators group (347B) at JPL. The lab he works in focuses on rapid technology development and end effectors specifically tailored to gripping and mobility. Current work includes Principal Investigator of the Exobiology Extant Life Surveyor (EELS), an adaptable mobility capability aimed to traverse through the plume vent crevasses on Enceladus…
Future Program Meeting
Speaker: Allan Rahill Topic: Weather Forecasts. Postponed from March 2022. Future date TBD. The program meeting speaker is Allan Rahill, a meteorologist who will discuss the weather forecasts behind many of the forecast tools we amateurs use. In 2000, Allan Rahill, a meteorologist at the Canadian Meteorological Centre (CMC) and amateur astronomer, created a forecast processing step that took data from CMC’s Global Element Multi-scale (GEM) forecast model…