2021-2022 Meeting Schedule and Speakers

Astronomical presentations are held at each of ASGH’s business meetings. Speakers have included current or former members, astronomy faculty and graduate students from area universities, or invited guests. Topics for these presentations, shown below, are wide-ranging and are chosen to be of interest to amateur astronomers of all levels.

Unless otherwise indicated, our meetings begin at 7:30 pm in Copernicus Planetarium at Central Connecticut State University.  Directions can be found on our CCSU Directions page.

COVID-19 Pandemic Update: Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, all ASGH meetings with be held online using video conferencing software. A meeting link will be sent to all active members prior to the meeting.

September 15, 2021
Speaker: Maureen Salmi and Christopher Erickson – The Lucy Mission

Lucy will launch in October ‘21, and will be the first-ever mission to explore Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids. During its 12-year journey, the spacecraft will go to Jupiter’s L4 and L5 Trojan asteroid groups and will visit seven asteroids. Lucy will gather invaluable data about the early formation of the solar system.

October 20, 2021
Speaker: Gregory T. Shanos – A New Dawn – Asteroids Vest & Ceres Revealed

Dawn launched in 2007 and used its ion-propulsion engine to travel over 4.3 billion miles to asteroids Vesta and Ceres. This presentation will reveal the many ‘firsts’ uncovered by Dawn during its 11-year mission (including mission extensions).

November 17, 2021
Speaker: Chris Markiewicz, ASGH President – Beyond Hubble – Launching the Next Generation of Space Telescopes

The James Webb Space Telescope will be launched on December 18, and will let us see deeper into space and further back in time than ever before.  See why the James Webb Space Telescope and the proposed High-Definition Space Telescope really are a step Beyond Hubble

December 15, 2021
Speaker: Dave Allen, ASGH – The Mechanics of Setting Up a Small ZWO ASI224mc One Shot Color Camera (OSC) To a Nexstar 6se SCT

January 19, 2022
Speaker: Josh Walender, Ph.D, Staff Astronomer, W.M. Keck Observatory – Science Highlights from Keck Observatory

February 16, 2022
Speaker: Jason Archer, Planetarium Coordinator, Glastonbury-East Hartford Elementary Magnet School – Planetarium Show

March 16, 2022
Speaker: Kevin Schindler, lead historian, Lowell Observatory – Discovery at Lowell: The Past, Present, and Future of Lowell Observatory

April 20, 2022
Speaker: Roy Kilgard, Ph.D, Wesleyan University – History of the Van Vleck Observatory

May 18, 2022
Speaker: CT Science Fair Award Winnerss