2012 Events Schedule

New Jersey Astronomiocal Association adress

New Jersey Astronomiocal Association menu

All General Meetings occur on the fourth Saturday of the month, are open to the public and begin at 8:30PM. Our Young Astronomer's programs will be held the second Saturday of the month from May through October and will feature hands-on activities. Many additional activities will be offered throughout the year, we have something to offer every Saturday of the summer. Following meetings, lectures and other programs the 26" telescope will be open for public viewing until 10:30 PM, weather conditions permitting. Note that the programs will be held rain or shine.

All NJAA events are open to the public unless otherwise stated. Schedule subject to change.

WINTER HOURS UPDATE

NJAA is closed to the public for most of December and January.

= New Moon

f e b r u a r y
s	m	t	w	t	friday	saturday
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10 8:00pm Research Meeting Members Only	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25 8:30pm SPEAKER: John Andrews - NJAA member *Man's Fascination with the Planet Mars*
26	27	28	29

m a r c h
sunday	m	t	w	t	friday	saturday
				1	2	3 8:30pm SPECIAL EVENT: Mars at Opposition Video presentations, speakers and observing of the planet Mars. Opposition is when Earth is exactly between an outer planet and the Sun, placing that planet at its closest point to the Earth and best time of the year for observation. with Mars this happens every 25 months. rain date: 3/10
4	5	6	7	8	9 8:00pm Research Meeting Members Only	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17 8:00pm Member Appreciation Night Much like a public night, members are invited to come by, be wowed by telescopes and socialize with other members old and new. Refreshments. Members and spouses Only
18	19	20	21	22	23	24 8:30pm SPEAKER: Ken Kremer Research Scientist and Science Journalist *Atlantis, the End of America's Shuttle Program and What's Beyond for NASA*
25	26	27	28	29	30	31 7:00pm Youth Family Star Party A brief, kid-friendly presentation on the Moon and planets followed up outside with telescopes. Parents must accompany kids, no drop-offs. Members Only rain date: 4/27

a p r i l
s	m	t	w	thursday	friday	saturday
1	2	3	4	5 8:00pm Astronomy for Everyone Class I Members Only	6	7
8	9	10	11	12 8:00pm Astronomy for Everyone Class II Members Only	13 8:00pm Research Meeting Members Only	14 8:30pm SPECIAL EVENT: Saturn at Opposition Video presentations, speakers and observing of the planet Saturn. Opposition is when Earth is exactly between an outer planet and the Sun, placing that planet at its closest point to the Earth and best time of the year for observation. rain date: 4/21
15	16	17	18	19 8:00pm Astronomy for Everyone Class III Members Only	20 8:00pm Member Appreciation Night Much like a public night, members are invited to come by, be wowed by telescopes and socialize with other members old and new. Refreshments. Members and spouses Only	21
22	23	24	25	26 8:00pm Astronomy for Everyone Class IV Members Only	27 7:00pm Youth Family Star Party Rain date for March event, unless March goes really well and we want to do another one! Members Only	28 8:30pm MUSIC BY: Chris Wylde Musician *The Planet Saturn and Music under the Dome* Wylde has worked with greats Like Steve Howe (Yes, Asia) and Vangelis (Chariots of Fire) to produce music that perfectly captures the mindset of space. He will play our auditorium, his surreal sounds will also be heard under our dome accompanied by exceptional views of Saturn. Come for a great night of music and imagination.
29	30

m a y
s	m	t	w	t	friday	saturday
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11 8:00pm Research Meeting Members Only	12 6:30pm Young Astronomers Night Event Topic: TBA SIGN UP REQUIRED, OPENS 4/28
13	14	15	16	17	18 8:00pm Member Appreciation Night Much like a public night, members are invited to come by, be wowed by telescopes and socialize with other members old and new. Refreshments, attendees get to view real Moon rocks! Members and spouses Only	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26 8:30pm SPEAKER: Dr. Jack Hughes - Rutgers University, Dept of Physics and Astronomy *El Gordo- the most massive, hottest and distant galaxy cluster recently discovered using the Chilean Atacama Cosmology Telescope*
27	28	29	30	31

j u n e
s	m	t	w	t	friday	saturday
					1	2
3	4	5 6:00PM Venus Transit Roadtrip The last Venus transit of the 21st century. Location of event TBD, on site at the Obs is not ruled out. The transit begins at 6:29PM.	6	7	8 8:00pm Research Meeting Members Only	9 6:30pm Young Astronomers Night Event Topic: TBA SIGN UP REQUIRED, OPENS 5/26
10	11	12	13	14	15 6:30pm Annual BBQ Members Only	16 8:30pm Video Night Topic TBA: Video presentations, a hand out on some esoteric aspect of astronomy.
17	18	19	20	21	22	23 8:30pm SPEAKER: Laura Venner - Buehler Challenger and Science Center *The Science of the Simple Truth: Doomsday 2012*
24	25	26	27	28	29	30

j u l y
s	m	t	w	t	friday	saturday
1	2	3	4	5	6	7
8	9	10	11	12	13 8:00pm Research Meeting Members Only	14 6:30pm Young Astronomers Night Event Topic: TBA SIGN UP REQUIRED, OPENS 6/28
15	16	17	18	19	20	21 8:30pm Video Night Topic TBA: Video presentations, a hand out on some esoteric aspect of astronomy.
22	23	24	25	26	27	28 8:30pm SPEAKER: TBA *Topic TBA* Description TBA
29	30	31

a u g u s t
s	m	t	w	t	friday	saturday
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10 8:00pm Research Meeting Members Only	11 6:30pm Young Astronomers Night Event Topic: TBA SIGN UP REQUIRED, OPENS 7/28
12	13	14	15	16	17	18 8:30pm Video Night Topic TBA: Video presentations, a hand out on some esoteric aspect of astronomy.
19	20	21	22	23	24	25 8:30pm SPEAKER: Al Witzgall - NJAA member *Meteorites and You - A Guide to Stones from Space*
26	27	28	29	30	31

s e p t e m b e r
s	m	t	w	t	friday	saturday
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8 6:30pm Young Astronomers Night Event Topic: TBA SIGN UP REQUIRED, OPENS 8/25
9	10	11	12	13	14 8:00pm Research Meeting Members Only	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22 8:30pm SPEAKER: Scott Tremaine - Princeton University *An Overview of the Discovery of Exoplanets*
23	24	25	26	27	28 7:00pm New Member Reception Open to all members who have joined since September 2010. Orientation to familiarize new members with the club, presentations, opening the big scope weather permitting. Strictly Members Only (no guests)	29
30

o c t o b e r
s	m	t	w	t	friday	saturday
	1	2	3	4	5	6
7	8	9	10	11	12 8:00pm Research Meeting Members Only	13 2:00-6:00pm Young Astronomers open house Talks, planetarium stories, games, solar viewing (weather permitting), free BBQ, etc. NO SIGN UP REQUIRED
14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27 8:30pm SPEAKER: Kevin Kilkenny NJAA member, JPL Ambassadore *Space in Miniature - Space Modeling*
28	29	20	31

n o v e m b e r
s	m	t	w	t	friday	saturday
				1	2	3
4	5	6	7	8	9 8:00pm Research Meeting Members Only	10 8:00pm Member Appreciation Night Much like a public night, members are invited to come by, be wowed by telescopes and socialize with other members old and new. Refreshments. Members and spouses Only
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24 8:30pm PUBLIC EVENT: Jupiter at Opposition Video presentations, speakers and observing of the planet Jupiter. Opposition is when Earth is exactly between an outer planet and the Sun, placing that planet at its closest point to the Earth and best time of the year for observation.
25	26	27	28	29	30

d e c e m b e r
s	m	t	w	t	friday	saturday
						1 8:30pm MEMBER EVENT: Jupiter at Opposition This date is just 2 days before actual opposition. A presentation will be available if there is interest, otherwise members are invited to view our biggest planet. weather dependant, no rain date Members Only

The NJAA operates on leased premises administered by The State of New Jersey, Department of Environmental Protection, Division of Parks and Forestry