[Chaos-l] Fwd: Meeting on March 11th

[walter fowler]

Is that interesting forthcoming *CHAOS meeting really tonight at 7pm* at the
Assembly Hall at Carol Woods on Weaver Dairy Rd?  Has it really been true in
the past that members (and occasionally nonmembers) who don't show up for
the March CHAOS meeting frequently get nominated for club officer
positions which will be voted on in April?  *Hope to see everyone* *tonight!
*  Walter

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jayme Hanzak <jhanzak at unctv.org>
Date: Mon, Mar 3, 2008 at 1:42 PM
Subject: [Chaos-l] Meeting on March 11th
To: chaos-l <chaos-l at rtpnet.org>



Our Monthly Meeting is one week away and we have an excellent speaker lined
up. Dr Jerry Watson of the Raleigh Astronomy Club.

April is Elections month. Think about who may want to nominate for club
officers.

President
Vice President
Secretary
Treasurer

Here is Dr. Jerry Watson's bio;

Dr. Jerry Watson is a retired Associate Professor of Meteorology at North
Carolina State University.  He taught undergraduate and graduate Meteorology
courses for some 30 years in the Department of Marine, Earth, and
Atmospheric Sciences.  He has been an amateur astronomer for 55+ years
beginning around the age of 10 when he discovered a book in the school
library in his hometown of Erie, PA about getting out under the stars and
learning the constellations.  A few years later, his first telescope (a
3-1/2-inch SkyScope) catalyzed a life-long interest in amateur astronomy.
 Jerry has been an active observer of the planets, and all types of
astronomical objects, using his 8-inch Criterion and 12.5-inch Meade
Newtonian telescopes.  He is a member of the Raleigh Astronomy Club, in
which he has served as an officer on several occasions over the past 25
years.

"From Herschel to Hubble – Man Discovers the Galaxies"

The " construction of the heavens" (size and shape of the 'universe') had
been in the realm of philosophical speculation for millennia.  William
Herschel in the 1770's was the first to use telescopic observation to
determine the shape of, and estimate the size of, the observable stellar
system.  Numerous irresolvable nebulae strewn over the sky presented a
puzzle, however.  Were they nearby gaseous objects contained within our
galaxy, or were they very distant, independent "island universes" comparable
to ours?  The astronomical community was split almost evenly in opinion.
 The resolution of this intriguing problem was to occupy the hearts and
minds of some of astronomy's best observers and largest telescopes for the
next 150 years.

As part of this story we will describe the earliest observations that set
the stage for the dichotomy of views, and examine the crucial efforts to
determine distances to astronomical objects.  Along the way we shall meet
other important ingredients: the motion and spectra of stars, the
distribution of globular clusters, and the role of interstellar dust and
gas.  Confusion and controversy reigned until the 1920's when Edwin Hubble
established the true nature of galaxies and of the expansion of the
universe.  Though our story ends there, the consequences of this extensive
research dominate the science of cosmology even today.
----------------

I hope to see you there.

Jayme
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