[evac-announce] East Valley Astronomy Club - July Meeting & Program
- From: rbaldwin2903@xxxxxxxxx
- To: <evac-announce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 11 Aug 2019 13:13:20 -0700
11 August 2019
To: Members & Friends of the East Valley Astronomy Club
The East Valley Astronomy Club will conduct our August meeting next Friday
evening - August 16th. The meeting will take place in the usual location -
the Shakespeare room at the Southeast Regional Library in Gilbert, beginning
at 7:30 pm. Our meetings are always a terrific opportunity to discuss the
latest in astronomy with like-minded friends. Our membership continues to
grow with new members attending our meetings. Please again take the
opportunity to introduce yourself to someone you don't know, say hello, and
share your expertise.
This month's featured speaker is Mike Alegria from the Multiple Mirror
Telescope located south of Tucson. The Multiple Mirror Telescope - now
officially called the MMT - is part of the Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory
Complex on Mount Hopkins in the Santa Rita Mountains. The complex is run by
the University of Arizona and the Smithsonian Institute. The MMT has been
operating for an incredible 40 years! Mike will speak about the science
programs over that time, upgrades that have kept the MMT up to date with
technological advances, as well as the current and future direction of its
science efforts. Mike has spent many years of his career at the MMT and
done it all - from operating the equipment to senior management and science
roles.
With the notable exception of William Herschel's great 40 foot long
telescope in the 1780s, all major optical telescopes prior to the MMT used
equatorial mounts. The MMT pioneered an innovative design using an
altitude-azimuth mount which has been used by every major optical telescope
since. The MMT also lead the way for many of the technologies that have
contributed to the success of the following generations of large telescopes
all over the world. MMT innovations included high dynamic range servos,
highly accurate pointing that eliminated the need for sky charts,
co-alignment/co-phasing of multiple telescopes, and more that Mike will tell
us about.
This will be a terrific presentation on a high risk gamble and how this very
innovative telescope paved the way for many of today's understandings. As
always, this will be a great opportunity to ask questions. See you at the
meeting this coming Friday!
Rob Baldwin
Vice President, East Valley Astronomy Club
vp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:vp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Not a member of the East Valley Astronomy Club, but want to be? Check out
our website http://www.evaconline.org/default.asp to review our new members
guide, and find an application.
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