Monthly Meetings

To start off our Astronomy Experts Speaker Series for 2025, the Astronomical League of the Philippines would like to invite you to two online talks this Sunday, January 19, 2025 at 9:30 am Philippine standard Time (1:30 UTC, or January 18 Saturday, at 8:30 p.m. Eastern standard Time)

The first talk will be by Mr. Tariq Malik, the Editor in Chief of Space.com, on “The Rise of the Giant Rockets — Starship, New Glenn, Vulcan and SLS”.

Abstract: The year 2025 will mark a giant leap forward in the realm of giant rockets, with SpaceX’s massive Starship poised for a dozen flights while Blue Origin’s own New Glenn and United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan are also set to soar. We’ll learn all about these new powerful rockets, what they could mean for spaceflight and why NASA’s own giant rocket, the Space Launch System, is skipping 2025 in order to launch in 2026.

The second talk will be by the co-discoverer of Comet Hale-Bopp, a.k.a. The Great Comet of 1997, none other than Mr. Alan Hale, who will speak on “On Comets . . . and Other Things”.

Abstract: Alan Hale’s presentation will describe his personal journey as an astronomer, from his earliest beginnings through his years working with NASA’s Deep Space Network and his research in graduate school, the discovery and appearance of Comet Hale-Bopp, and the various astronomical, educational, and other activities he has engaged in since Hale-Bopp’s departure. His current efforts focus heavily on his collaboration with the Las Cumbres Observatory’s Global Sky Partners educational forum in New Mexico. Alan will also “share some speculation on what [he] might do in the future.”

Register now for these free Zoom online talks using this link –

https://bit.ly/3Px9Poh

or by scanning the QR code below

After registration, check your registered e-mail for the Zoom meeting link. See you!

The Astronomical league of the Philippines would like to invite you to a free online talk on “The Importance of Preserving Astronomical History” by John W. Briggs, Astronomy historian and past president, Antique Telescope Society

This will be held on December 15, 2024, Sunday at 9:30 am Philippine Standard Time/1:30 UT, December 14, 2024, Saturday at 8:30 pm EST

Abstract: Everyone interested in astronomy faces a unique challenge on how to connect with it. For some enthusiasts, the subject becomes a life-long interest with never-ending opportunities for learning, engagement, and fulfilling observation. Our fundamental understanding of the Universe remains in an exciting flux, sometimes progressing in unexpected leaps! The progress of science and technology is thus a fascinating human process with an associated sociology that ranges back through centuries.

This presentation will dramatize how the history of astronomy is a specialty that can, and should be, embraced by enthusiasts. Perhaps surprisingly, there are many grassroots opportunities for active engagement in the history of astronomy, given ongoing challenges in historical preservation. Artifacts from this history range from individual instruments to whole observatories, from publications to whole libraries, and from recollections to recorded “oral history.” Artifacts like these — some of quite grand scale — are unfortunately being shut down, discarded, lost, or so awkwardly modified in their modernization, that intangible, but often very precious, aspects are being lost. This is especially unfortunate given the potential of historical artifacts to be inspirational educational tools, at least in the hands of people who understand how to use them. With this lavishly illustrated presentation, John Briggs hopes to engage more astronomers in the fascinating history of the field.

John W. Briggs serves as Secretary of the new Alliance of Historical Observatories that has met at Mount Wilson, Palomar, Lowell and Yerkes observatories, and most recently, at the Vatican Observatory near Rome.

John served three terms as President of the Antique Telescope Society, and in 2018 he received the Society’s Newton Medal for his contributions to the organization. In 2005-2006 he served as a visiting scientist at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. His principal activity now involves the Astronomical Lyceum, a facility devoted to historical astronomy and its preservation, and a related project to create the Mountain View Observatory Association in New Mexico. 

“Bright Galaxies, Dark Skies”

By James D. Lowenthal Professor of Astronomy
Smith College Northampton, Massachusetts
November 24 (Sunday) at 9:30 am Philippine Standard Time/November (Saturday) at 8:30 pm EST

How did galaxies like our own Milky Way Galaxy — home to the Sun and over 100 billion other stars — form soon after the Big Bang? How did they evolve over billions of years into the galaxies we see near us today? One way to address those questions is to look far back in time to see galaxies forming directly. Some of the most spectacular and interesting such distant galaxies are dusty, star-forming galaxies, some of which are forming stars more than 1,000 times faster than the Milky Way currently does.How do they do it? Where does the gas come from? Are they actually two giant galaxies colliding? What can they tell us about the formation of galaxies in general?Using the Hubble Space Telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, the Large Millimeter Telescope, and other major telescopes on the ground and in space, an international team of researchers called PASSAGES is taking a deep dive into these early cauldrons of star formation.Dr. James Lowenthal is a Professor of Astronomy at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.His research interests include high-redshift galaxies, Lyman-break galaxies, starburst galaxies, millimeter- and submillimeter-wavelength galaxies, galaxy formation and evolution, QSO absorption line systems, QSO host galaxies and ultra-faint radio sources. He has used some of the largest telescopes in the world, such as Keck, Hubble, Spitzer and the Large Millimeter Telescope in Sierra Negra, Mexico.

“2024 RW1 and the Importance of Small Asteroid Impacts”
By Dr. Peter Jenniskens (meteor astronomer, SETI Institute and NASA Ames Research Center)
September 29 (Sunday) at 9:30 am Philippine Standard Time/September 28 (Saturday) at 9:30 pm EDT

Just after midnight on September 5, 2024, a small asteroid called 2024 RW1 impacted Earth’s atmosphere and created a very bright meteor (fireball) seen by many in Northeastern Luzon, Philippines. The green fireball created a veil of orange fragments, some of which may have survived and now rest on the bottom of the Pacific ocean as meteorites. This impact was special because it was announced by astronomers who had seen the asteroid approach Earth on a collision trajectory. Because the asteroid impact was announced, it was recorded in many spectacular videos. This was only the ninth time this had happened. In four of those cases, the impact was over land. In each case, astronomer Dr. Peter Jenniskens teamed up with local researchers and was able to guide the recovery of meteorites. This talk will narrate those adventures and what we have learned from studying the meteors and the surviving meteorites.
Dr. Peter Jenniskens is a meteor astronomer with the SETI Institute and NASA Ames Research Center in California. He is an expert on meteor showers and meteorite falls and is the author of the books “Meteor Showers and Their Parent Comets” (2006) and “Atlas of Earth’s Meteor Showers” (2023).

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“Chandra and the Invisible Universe”

18 February 2024 (Sunday) , 9:00 a.m. Philippine Standard Time (01:00 UTC), 17 February, 2024 8:00 pm EST

By Jonathan C. McDowell, PhD (Astrophysicist, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Chandra X-ray Observatory)

Abstract: The famous Hubble Space Telescope takes the sharpest visible-light images, but only its X-ray telescope cousins can see the invisible, high-energy light that helps complete the cosmic story. The sharpest X-ray pictures of the cosmos come from the Chandra X-ray Observatory, launched in 1999 but still making discoveries today. Chandra’s X-ray camera can see erupting black holes, exploding stars and colliding galaxies — some of the most energetic events in space.

Jonathan McDowell will highlight Chandra’s discoveries and explain how it and other X-ray telescopes probe cosmic dramas, while infrared images unveil the cool, gentle process of star birth, and pictures taken with ordinary visible light give an overview of the everyday life of the galaxies. Combining all three views has been crucial to the astonishing discoveries astronomers have made in recent decades.

Jonathan McDowell is an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and a member of the Chandra X-Ray Center, which operates the Chandra X-ray Observatory spacecraft.

McDowell obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, England, in 1987. After postdoctoral research at Jodrell Bank radio observatory in the U.K. and NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, he has been at CfA since 1992.

McDowell studies quasars, galaxies and black holes as well as the effects of satellite constellations on astronomy. He is also the author of the internet newsletter Jonathan’s Space Report, which has been reporting on satellite and rocket launches since 1989.

In 1993, the International Astronomical Union named asteroid 1933 OB as 4589 McDowell in his honor.

“The Search for Planet 9”
20 January 2024, 10:00 a.m. Philippine Standard Time (02:00 UTC)
By Dr. Michael E. Brown (Professor of  Planetary Astronomy, Caltech)

In 2006, Pluto was demoted to a “dwarf planet”. Since then, a team of planetary scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has been searching for a hypothesized planet on the edge of the solar system. This is Planet Nine, and its search will be discussed by no other than Dr. Mike Brown, a professor of planetary astronomy at Caltech.

Dr. Michael E. Brown scans the skies searching for and intensely studying distant bodies in our solar system in the hope of gaining insight into how our planet and the planets around it came to be. In this quest, he has discovered dozens of dwarf planets (and demoted Pluto from planet to dwarf planet) and is currently hot on the trail of Planet Nine — a hypothesized body that is possibly the fifth largest planet of our solar system.
Dr. Brown has been on the faculty of the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) since 1996 and has authored more than 150 scientific papers. He has also won many awards and honors, including the Urey Prize from the American Astronomical Society’s Division of Planetary Sciences, a Presidential Early Career Award, a Sloan Fellowship, and the 2012 Kavli Prize in Astrophysics. He was inducted into the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in 2014.

Abstract: In the past 175 years, more than 30 separate astronomers have suggested the existence of a giant planet beyond Neptune. They have always been wrong. In 2016, Konstantin Batygin and I joined the list, suggesting that Planet Nine, at a distance perhaps 20 times greater than that of Neptune, is the only plausible explanation for a wide range of phenomena in the distant solar system. I’ll talk about why we think Planet Nine is real, how we are continuing to develop our hypothesis, and what we are doing to track down this elusive planet and when we might find it. Or why we, too, might be wrong.

“NASA’s Best Space Images for 2023 “
By Dr. Robert J. Nemiroff, APOD co-founder
17 December 2023 (Sunday), 10:00 am Philippine Standard Time
(16 December 2023, Saturday, 9:00 pm EST)

The year is about to end, and for all amateur astronomers and astrophotographers out there, we would like to invite you to an online talk on “NASA’s Best Space Images for 2023 ” by no other than the co-founder of APOD, Dr. Robert J. Nemiroff.

Dr. Robert J. Nemiroff will present some of the favorite images and videos from NASA’s highly popular science website, “Astronomy
Picture of the Day,” or APOD (https://apod.nasa.gov). He will discuss the science and the stories behind these images. The subjects include the distant universe, the Solar System, auroral displays from our increasingly active Sun, and much more.

Dr. Robert J. Nemiroff worked at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, before joining the Physics Department of Michigan Technological University. He received his Ph.D. in astronomy and astrophysics from the University of Pennsylvania, and his main research interests include gamma-ray bursts, gravitational lensing and cosmology. In 1995, he co-created the Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD), which he continues to co-write and co-edit to this day. In 2023, the International Astronomical Union named asteroid 2002 GB185 as 270558 Nemiroff in his honor.

The Night Sky Over America’s Beautiful National Parks

By Wally Pacholka (Landscape astrophotographer)

29 October 2023 (Sunday) at 10:00 am Philippine Standard Time

(28 October 2023, Saturday, 10:00 pm EDT)

This October 29, 2023 (Sunday), at 10:00 am, you are all invited to our 2023 ALP Astronomy Experts Speaker series online talk by the noted landscape astrophotographer, Mr. Wally Pacholka.

In this presentation, you will learn from an award-winning astrophotographer how to capture stunning landscape astrophotos that get published using simple equipment and technique.

Mr. Wally Pacholka is a  pioneer in the field of landscape astrophotography, and specializes in capturing National Park landscapes across the United States. His astrophotos have been published by NASA 47 times, National Geographic 29 times and TIME-LIFE 18 times, including four times as its Annual Picture of Year.

His work sells in more than 35 U.S. National Park gift shops and online at AstroPics.com. He currently has exhibits at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C., and the Natural History Museum in New York City.

“New Windows to the Sun”
Dr. Valentin Martinez Pillet
Solar Physicist and Director, U.S. National Solar Observatory Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A.
September 17, 2023, Sunday, 10:00 a.m. Philippine Standard Time (September 16, 2023 Saturday, 10:00 p.m. EDT)

We are currently at solar maximum (solar cycle 25), or at a period of heightened solar activity, wherein our Sun exhibits a lot of visible sunspots, solar flares, prominences and geomagnetic storms.The Astronomical League of the Philippines is very happy and honored to present an online lecture by Dr. Valentin Martinez Pillet . on the topic – “New Windows to the Sun: The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope and Its Companions” this coming September 17, 2023, Sunday, at 10:00 a.m. Philippine Standard Time.
Dr Valentin Martinez Pillet is a solar physicist and the current Director of the U.S. National Solar Observatory (NSO) in Boulder, Colorado.