Trimble Fest: A celebration of UCI Professor Virginia Trimble's 50th anniversity of PhD from Caltech and her approaching 75th birthday

Greetings from Palmia Observatory

Well this week I had hoped to do some astronomical observing of how the orbital plane of the moons of Jupiter appears to change as the planet moves across the sky, but this darn June gloom always puts an end to that around 8:30 in the evening.  So if the weather does not improve my next event will be at the AIAA mini-conference on Planetary Defense on June 30.  But, for now we can report on the fantastic Trimble Fest, where

The Society for Astronomical Science Annual Meeting in Ontario; Eta Carinae story; Accretion disks and light curves and solid models; TESS; Arecibo; Three blind mice?

Greetings from Palmia Observatory

Well, this week I'm at Society for Astronomical Sciences 37th annual symposium on Telescope Science in Ontario, CA.  This is a great event with presentations mostly by amateur astronomers, and professional with small telescopes, who are doing some really neat science type research projects.  This post focuses on just one broad topic, that of light curve analysis, and how astronomers are trying to determine and model the physical processes which generate these light curves.

Evans Visiting Scholar Lecture at UCI in Astrophysics by Alex Drlika-Wagner; Dark Matter and Tiny Faint Galaxies and how to find them; Do your own astrophysics calculations with this old book

Greetings from Palmia Observatory

Well we didn't get any observing done this week because we were over scheduled and didn't attend the OCA Star Party, but we did attend the inaugural Evans Visiting Scholar in Astrophysics lecture on Dark Matter and Tiny Galaxies at UCI.  More about that fantastic presentation shortly, but first

Get your Astrobites; Some final comments on the 232nd AAS meeting; Why does a solar telescope need 4 meter aperture?; How does Gaia actually work?

Greetings from Palmia Observatory


Well, the great time at the 232nd AAS meeting has come to an end and it is time to get back to reality.  In this post, I'll go over just a couple of key topics that really grabbed my attention and refer you to a great website that provides a lot of reviews and other astronomical comments.

Hey, that's the Big Dipper; Some summary comments about Gaia DR2 impact and other topics from Day 2 of the 232nd AAS Denver meeting

Greetings from Palmia Observatory

Well, day 2 at the 232nd AAS meeting in Denver is done and I can attempt a brief summary of some of the topics.  But first, since we all like astroimages, and I didn't bring a scope to Denver, but I did have my cell phone during my earlier dark sky visit with Searching for Gravity Waves, Dr. Gary.  So, I can offer this one image of the Big Dipper, which I was quite surprised to see because I hardly ever am able to see it in Los Angeles.

Planetary Radio; Visiting with Searching for Gravity Waves, Dr. Gary; Findings at 232nd AAS meeting in Denver

Greetings from Palmia Observatory,


Well I'm offsite this week in Colorado for the 232nd American Astronomical Society (AAS) summer meeting in Denver.  So I will make a few summary comments about what was going on at the AAS meeting, but first there is some old business from the ISDC meeting in Los Angeles and my chance to get together again with Searching for Gravity Waves, Dr. Gary, at his home about an hour outside Denver.