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[Paulie pchris00]

I've been vaguely aware through Meet-Up of the Astronomy 101 forum being held Sunday, June 30, at the Multilingual Connections center for awhile now, but hadn't really thought about going. The time and location were only finalized a few days ago, and I received an email noting the update. Then this morning I received another email about the event that really got my attention.

www.meetup.com/Chicagoland-Astronomy-Club/events/95403062/

I haven't spoken with the lead contact for this event yet, but I have been unofficially invited to give a presentation about our Moon. It seems that I'll be free to talk about almost any aspect of the Moon in a 25 minute presentation. I've got an idea in my head, but I'd like input from Chicago Astronomers. What kind of talk about the Moon would you most like to hear? The Apollo missions? The findings of LRO or GRAIL? How to observe the Moon well, and understand what you're observing? (I'm leaning toward this at the moment). Something I haven't thought of yet? Let me know. Once I've talked to Joe Mayer, who is in charge of the forum, I may know what he would like me to focus on, but ntil then, I'd like to know what the readers here would find most interesting. I won't be able to start working on a presentation until Tuesday. Even if I'm constrained by what the organizers would like me to talk about, I can use ideas here for talks when a public observing night at Conway Observatory is clouded out, or we need a last minute presentation for a public meeting. I've been wanting to put together some presentations for those instances anyway, so I would appreciate any thoughts.


Astronomy 101 - A Crash Course About the Universe
Sunday, June 30, 2013
1:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Multilingual Connections
2518 West Armitage Avenue, Chicago, IL

This is a preliminary list of some of the speakers and volunteers in alphabetical order. On Monday I will announce the final list and what their talk(s) or participation will be:

Audrey Fisher

Gomer

Eduardo Sampedro

Ivan Phillips

James Reed

Jim Shwatal

Joe Mayer

Jose Alvarado

Mario Mouton

Mark Kuba

Matt Lowry

-----------------------------------------------------------





The following is an informal list of some of the topics that will be covered in alphabetical order. On Monday I will announce the final list:



Absolute Magnitude

A Universe from Nothing

Astrology Origins and Some Contributions

Astronomy 101 Basic Measurements

Bad Astronomy

Beyond the Parallax Method

Black Holes

Catalogues

Cepheid Variables

Chemistry of the Stars

Comets

Dark Matter and Dark Energy

Evolution of a Star: ProtoStar - New Star - Red Star

Exo-planets

Giants and Dwarfs

Guidance and the Polar Star

How to Use & Orient a Telescope + Maps + Apps

Kepler's Laws of Planetary motion

Light Pollution and Starlight Restoration

Lunar Observation

Magnitude Measurements

Mars: Planet of Mystery

Meteors and Meteorites

Newton's Laws of Motion and Gravitation

Parallax to Measure the Distance of a Star

Parallel Universes

Population I & II Stars

Proper Motion

Quantum Mechanics for Adults

Quantum Mechanics for Kids

Quasars, Neutron Stars & Pulsars

Scales, Metric System & Astronomical Measurements

Solar Observation (All Day Long)

Star Spectra - Line Spectra

Stars + Sun + Sizes

Telescope Design

The Origins of Constellations

The Origin of the Elements

The Origins of the Scientific Method

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

There have been several of us approached to give a presentation on the Moon.

But, shotgunning without a set plan of discussions, can cause redundancy - and without knowing what others are planning to talk about, (just mostly Astronomers or a large public attendance
?)

I don't know yet if I'm participating/going yet....a seven hour deal.

Could be an interesting gathering.

[Paulie pchris00]

Joe, you bring up good points. I've committed myself to speaking. Nothing against the organizers, but I feel they must have gone far down the list of people to invite as speakers for my name to come up. That my name came up at all says I must already have some good contacts, but I see this as a chance to develop even more contacts in both the amateur and professional astronomer communities.

From what I was told today, almost 150 people, largely unfamiliar with astronomy, have signed up to attend. I'm going to make the most of this opportunity, and hopefully come up with a good show.

[patrickm]

Sounds fun. Sad I will miss.

Paulie I like your last idea.

Suggest picking topics you want to talk about and then telling them yours so they can mark out territory.

Can't believe you would be expected to be there for 7 hours, but I sure would be if I could. Will me > 1/2 way to the Atlantic by then.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

From what I learned so far.....

Each talk will be 20 minutes in length - held in different classrooms and running concurrent. Could work, but it may mean that some presenters will get a full room, while others may get three.

No agenda, as of this posting. Where would Paulie fit in? At 1pm or 8:30 pm...

Parking looks iffy.

I like some of the topics listed and a lot to absorb and share....but with just six days left, it seems loose....crammed with too much, too long and hoping for the best. But...it's a great effort to bring urban astronomy/cosmology to the public in a classroom setting....and for free.

I may attend as an attendee, but most likely, not as a presenter.

[Paulie pchris00]

Did it go according to plan today?

Not at all.

BUT, it was a good experience, a learning experience for all involved. It's just about impossible to get set up, give a decent talk, and out of the way for the next talk 30 minutes later. I was on the schedule for 2:30, 4:30, and 5:30, and gave my only talk at from 4:00- 4:50. I had an audience of about ten people, which is fine with me. I think we had a total audience of about 50 people for the day, well below expectations, but still not a bad turnout.

My little audience seemed to enjoy my talk about the lunar cycle, some facts about the Moon, some things of interest to observe on the Moon, and most importantly, what can be learned from observing the Moon.

What I found most amusing, and this was just pointed out to me, is that my name tag is spelled "Paul Cristman." I've been called much worse.

Attachments:

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

Details man!

Pics of the day?

[Paulie pchris00]

Jun 30, 2013 22:17:58 GMT -6 Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe said:

Details man!

Pics of the day?

Unfortunately, no pictures. I'm bad about documenting these things. I had my book bag with my computer in it and a tripod with me to keep track of, so I kept my camera and phone put away for the most part, and wanted to save the batteries of both as much as possible. Most of my PowerPoint presentation was created the night before, with a good deal of adding to it while waiting to speak. I did one rehearsal late Saturday night in the basement at Conway so I could see what the presentation looked like on a big screen, and the rehearsal was terrible. I was so nervous about trying to get familiar with my presentation at the last minute that getting pics was the last thing on my mind. I did, however, get video of the presentation because I promised my friend Nancy that I would, since she couldn't be there.

Audrey Fischer was there giving at least two talks on light pollution, and she might have done a different presentation for the children. I met Eduardo Sampedro, Joe Mayer, and quite a few more members from Chicago Astronomical Society.

Trying to tweak my presentation, I missed some talks that I might have found most interesting. The classrooms were rather small, so I was trying to stay in rooms with fewer people so I could work on my PowerPoint without being disruptive. I sat in on two of Audrey's L.P. talks, a presentation about how telescopes work, astrology (Joe Mayer talked about how astronomers like Copernicus and Kepler cast horoscopes, mostly because they were expected to, and that mindset of nobles employing astronomers as astrologers was common in most cultures). I caught the final talk of the day about how weird quantum physics is. That would have been a good one to really pay attention to, but it had been a long day, the audience had dwindled by that point, and I was distracted thinking about going home. My brain really wanted to shut off at that point, but I did have a few, "Wait, is he for real?" moments.

Many of the presentations were recorded, and will be posted to Youtube. As soon as I know the videos are up, I'll post a link(s) here.

It was a good thing I brought my own camera and tripod, because I gave my presentation in a room that didn't have a camera set up. My rechargeable batteries don't last all that long recording video, even when fully charged, so I was worried that I might not record the whole thing. They lasted long enough to capture all of the presentation, and most of the Q&A session afterward.

[Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe]

This is cool and although you were a bit nervous....it's a great experience.

Sometimes questions get asked, throwing one off track, challenging one to think quick.... but all was good.

I'll watch the entire vid tonight.

[Vinod Kumar]

Very informative post. thanks for sharing it.

[Renata]

Jul 1, 2013 1:49:13 GMT -6 Paulie pchris00 said:

Jun 30, 2013 22:17:58 GMT -6 Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe said:

Details man!

Pics of the day?

Unfortunately, no pictures. I'm bad about documenting these things. I had my book bag with my computer in it and a tripod with me to keep track of, so I kept my camera and phone put away for the most part, and wanted to save the batteries of both as much as possible. Most of my PowerPoint presentation was created the night before, with a good deal of adding to it while waiting to speak. I did one rehearsal late Saturday night in the basement at Conway so I could see what the presentation looked like on a big screen, and the rehearsal was terrible. I was so nervous about trying to get familiar with my presentation at the last minute that getting pics was the last thing on my mind. I did, however, get video of the presentation because I promised my friend Nancy that I would, since she couldn't be there.

Audrey Fischer was there giving at least two talks on light pollution, and she might have done a different presentation for the children. I met Eduardo Sampedro, Joe Mayer, and quite a few more members from Chicago Astronomical Society.

Trying to tweak my presentation, I missed some talks that I might have found most interesting. The classrooms were rather small, so I was trying to stay in rooms with fewer people so I could work on my PowerPoint without being disruptive. I sat in on two of Audrey's L.P. talks, a presentation about how telescopes work, astrosofa.com (Joe Mayer talked about how astronomers like Copernicus and Kepler cast horoscopes, mostly because they were expected to, and that mindset of nobles employing astronomers as astrologers was common in most cultures). I caught the final talk of the day about how weird quantum physics is. That would have been a good one to really pay attention to, but it had been a long day, the audience had dwindled by that point, and I was distracted thinking about going home. My brain really wanted to shut off at that point, but I did have a few, "Wait, is he for real?" moments.

Many of the presentations were recorded, and will be posted to Youtube. As soon as I know the videos are up, I'll post a link(s) here.

It was a good thing I brought my own camera and tripod, because I gave my presentation in a room that didn't have a camera set up. My rechargeable batteries don't last all that long recording video, even when fully charged, so I was worried that I might not record the whole thing. They lasted long enough to capture all of the presentation, and most of the Q&A session afterward.

Hello,

this sounds amazing! Also thank you a lot for sharing the video! I just watched several of your videos over the last hour! 
Chicago is a great place for people to have an exchange and explore!!
Love it so much!

Renata