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GTCC
(336) 334-4822
P.O. Box 309
Jamestown, NC 27282
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Cline Observatory - NCA Meeting Past Editions
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| 2007 NCA Meeting |
Friday/Saturday, 28-29 September
Presented by Guilford Technical Community College
Held at Koury Hospitality Careers Center, GTCC, Jamestown, NC
Full meeting program (pdf)
Featured Speaker, Saturday Morning: Michael Turner, University of Chicago
Cosmic Acceleration: New Gravitational Physics or Mysterious Dark Energy?
In 1998 astronomers discovered that the expansion of the Universe is speeding up and not slowing down as was expected. Today the evidence that the expansion is accelerating is overwhelming, and the riddle of “cosmic acceleration” is one of the most profound puzzles in all of science. It touches upon a number of deep questions in both cosmology and elementary particle physics: What is our cosmic destiny? How much does the quantum vacuum weigh? How are Einstein's theory and quantum mechanics to be reconciled? Are their weird forms of energy with repulsive gravity? Is string theory the theory of everything or nothing?
Featured Panel Discussion, Saturday Afternoon
The Past 10 Years in Astronomy - and a Look Ahead to the Coming Decade
Featuring Jay Bergstralh (NASA Langley), Bruce Carney (University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill), Prasun Desai (NASA Langley), Virginia Trimble (University of California-Irvine), Michael Turner (University of Chicago), and John Wood (NASA Goddard), and moderated by Robert Naeye (NASA Goddard). |
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| 2006 NCA Meeting |
Saturday, 30 September
Presented by Elon University and Guilford Technical Community College,
Held at Koury Business Center and Moseley Student Center, Elon University, Elon, NC
Full meeting program (pdf)
Featured Speaker: Scott Ransom, National Radio Astronomy Observatory
A Millisecond Pulsar (and Basic Physics) Bonanza with the GBT
In the past 5 years, the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) has discovered at least 60 new radio pulsars in globular clusters, effectively doubling the number known. The vast majority of these new systems are millisecond pulsars and about half of them are members of binaries. The rich cluster Terzan 5 alone now contains 33 known millisecond pulsars -- by far the most of any globular cluster. Many of the pulsars are truly unique and/or exotic objects that could only have been produced in dense cluster cores after stellar interactions. Some of the stranger systems include the fastest known spinning neutron star (PSR J1748-2446ad at 716 Hz), 9 highly eccentric binary systems, at least 5 eclipsing systems, and 2 millisecond pulsars which seemingly have main-sequence-like stellar companions. Several of these pulsars constrain the equation of state of matter at supra-nuclear densities, while others will eventually provide masses of spun-up neutron stars and interesting tests of gravitational theories. In addition, the pulsars will allow us to probe a wide variety of other astrophysics such as eclipse mechanisms, cluster dynamics, and the structure of the interstellar medium. |
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| 2005 NCA Meeting |
Saturday, 1 October
Presented by Guilford Technical Community College
Held at Sears Applied Technologies Center, GTCC, Jamestown, NC
Full meeting program (pdf)
Featured Speaker: Jeff Hester, Arizona State University
Understanding Our Origins: Formation of Sun-like Stars in Massive Star Environments
When most astronomers think of the formation of low-mass stars like the Sun, the environment that immediately jumps to mind is the Taurus-Auriga molecular cloud. Located at a distance of only 140 pc, Taurus-Auriga is the closest star forming region to the Sun and so provides the best opportunity for resolving the small-scale structures surrounding young low-mass stars. In this region star formation is a relatively quiescent affair in which stars form largely in isolation from the effects of other nearby stars. Convenience alone does not, however, necessarily mean that Taurus-Auriga is characteristic of the way that most low-mass stars form. Various lines of evidence indicate that the majority of low-mass stars form instead in much richer clusters and in the much more disturbed environments around massive stars. In particular, it is now clear that our own Sun and Solar System must have formed very near one or more massive stars. This conclusion comes from recent studies of meteorites that show there were significant amounts of iron-60 were present in the early Solar System. Iron-60 has a short half-life, and must have been produced locally near the time that the Solar System was born. The only astrophysically plausible source for that iron-60 is a nearby supernova. In this talk I will discuss the implications of this finding, following the stages in the early life of a low-mass star in a massive star forming environment, and considering the implications of this environment for the evolution of our Solar System. |
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| 2004 NCA Meeting |
Saturday, 18 September
Presented by Guilford Technical Community College
Held at Sears Applied Technologies Center, GTCC, Jamestown, NC
Full meeting program (pdf)
Featured Speaker: Paul Butler, Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington
Extrasolar Planets
None of the roughly one hundred extrasolar planets found to date closely resembles the Solar System. Unlike the Solar System, most extrasolar planets are in eccentric orbits. The giant planets in the Solar System all orbit beyond 5 AU, while the known extrasolar planets (with one exception) all orbit within 4 AU, with several in extraordinarily small orbits with periods of days to weeks.
Current state-of-the-art technology can only detect giant planets, with the most massive planets being the easiest to detect. Nonetheless the planet mass function rises toward lower masses down to the limit of detection incompleteness, below a jupiter-mass. There are almost no planets more massive than 5 jupiter-masses though these would be the easiest to detect. The planet bearing stars are significantly enriched in elements heavier than hydrogen and helium relative to both the Sun and nearby stars.
NASA, the European Space Agency, NSF, and the European Southern Observatory are all focused on "next generation" planet detection technologies including giant ground-based 30 and 100 meter telescopes capable of directly imaging giant planets, space-based interferometers capable of detecting terrestrial-size planets in earth-like orbits, and space-based telescopes capable of directly imaging earth-like planets and taking their spectra. The first of these next generation instruments should be operating by the end of the decade, with first results coming in around 2015.
The goal of our group is to survey all Sun-like stars out to 50 parsecs, a total of about 2,000 stars, using telescopes in California (Lick 3-m), Hawaii (Keck 10-m), Australian (3.9-m AAT), and Chile (6.5-m Magellan). Recent discoveries from our group include several systems of multiple planets, the first transit planet, the first sub-saturn mass companions, as well as two-thirds of all known extrasolar planets.
Solar System analogs, Jupiter and Saturn--like planets orbiting beyond 4 AU, have not yet been discovered. These elusive planets will begin emerging from our existing surveys before the end of this decade. By 2010 our surveys will provide a first planetary census of nearby stars, allowing us to estimate the ubiquity of planetary systems and of "Solar System" analogs, and thus put the Solar System in a Galactic perspective for the first time. |
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| 2003 NCA Meeting |
Saturday, 27 September
Presented by Guilford Technical Community College
Held at Sears Applied Technologies Center, GTCC, Jamestown, NC
Full meeting program (pdf)
Featured Speaker: Prasun Desai, Mars Exploration Rover Mission, NASA Langley Research Center
2003 Mars Exploration Rover Mission: Return to the Surface
On June 10th and July 7th of 2003, NASA launched two rovers named "Spirit" and Opportunity" to the surface of the Red planet. The Rovers are headed to the equatorial region of Mars with Spirit targeted to land in Gusev Crater on January 3rd 2004 and Opportunity to land in Meridiani Plains on July 24th 2004. The goal of this mission is to perform scientific investigations of Mars to help determine and understand the aqueous, climatic, and geologic history of two sites on Mars where evidence has been preserved for past and persistent water activity that may have supported life. Simply stated, the motto of this mission is to "follow the water." This presentation will give an overview of the Mars Exploration Rover Mission, specifically, highlighting the engineering challenges of the mission. |
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| 2002 NCA Meeting |
\Saturday, 26 October
Presented by Guilford Technical Community College
Held at Sears Applied Technologies Center, GTCC, Jamestown, NC
Full meeting program (pdf)
Featured Speaker: Dr. Steve Murray, Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Chandra 101 - X-ray Astronomy made Easy |
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