9/18/2022 – NOTE: This is preliminary schedule, and planning is still underway . Scheduled Activities may change without notice. As soon as changes are made, every effort will be made to update this listing. Please check back often for your planning purposes
Friday Schedule:
Time
|
Activity
|
| 2:00 PM |
Facility open to campers for setup, bathrooms open
Viewing in yard, both solar and astronomical |
| 6:00 PM |
Doors open to public, facility tours, and observing
Coffee, tea, hot chocolate, juice, snacks available in lobby |
| 6:30 – 6:55 PM |
Welcome to AstroFest 2022– Drew Deskur, Executive Director Kopernik Observatory & Science Center
George’s Best Images, a Video Slide Show – most captured right here at Kopernik Observatory! – George Normandin, KAS President |
| 7:00 – 7:55 PM |
eVscope – learn about this fascinating new type of telescope from Unistellar. It combines a 4.5” Newtonian with a digital chip, all while portable and working almost automatically. Presented by Laurie Ansorge, Night Sky Network Astronomy Outreach and Girl Scout Educator. |
| 8:00 PM |
Dr. Kelly Lepo – Webb’s First Look at the Universe – The James Webb Space Telescope, NASA’s latest flagship space observatory, released its first spectacular color images in July 2022. In this presentation, Dr. Kelly Lepo will give an update on Webb’s latest discoveries. She will also discuss infrared astronomy, the big questions that Webb is helping to answer, and what to expect in the rest of Webb’s first year of science. |
| After The Program |
Night Sky Viewing – in the Domes and in the Yard, Night Sky Laser Tours, “Learner’s Land” – come out to the yard and learn how to operate a telescope. The KAS will provide hands-on lessons or bring your own scope and get help setting it up and operating it with help from the KAS and Kopernik staff, hot beverages and snacks available, bathrooms and domes open all night, Lobby closes at Midnight. |
| Midnight |
Lobby Closes (Restrooms remain open all night) |
Saturday Schedule:
Time
|
Activity
|
| 7:30 to 10 AM |
Coffee, tea, hot Chocolate, juice, donuts available in Lobby |
| 9 AM- all day |
Vendors in Physics Lab, Dark Sky Exhibit and Facility Tours |
| 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM |
Solar Viewing hosted by Ana Castillio, in the Yard (Spectroscope, H-Alpha and white light), in the Domes (Herschel Wedge on 6” Astro Physics Refractor) and with the Heliostat Refractor, dedicated to the memory of the “Legendary Barlow Bob” Godfrey in 2014, in the Physics Lab. |
| 10:00 AM – 10:55 AM |
Show and Tell Meteorites – Patrick Manley |
| 11:00 – 11:55 AM |
SOFIA Mission – Learn about NASA’s “Flying Observatory”. Presented by Luke Keller, Ithaca College |
| 12:00 – 12:55 PM |
Where are the aliens? – While it seems a safe assumption that Earth is not the only place in the whole cosmos with life, the question of how common or rare it is, and how often it evolves into beings such as ourselves, are impossible to answer . . . for now. We’ll play with some exercises in philosophy and basic math to explore how we would even answer such questions, exploring the Fermi Paradox and using Fermi Problems to understand the Drake Equation. Presented by Zoe Learner Ponterio, Manager, SPIF (Spacecraft Planetary Image Facility), Cornell University. Magic Planet? |
| 1:00 – 2:00 PM |
Lunch and Musical Entertainment by Robert Siegers.
Astronomy Clubs Roundtable Discussions
(to include the NYPENN Girl Scouts) Laurie will also talk about the new Space Science Badges. |
| 2:00 – 5:00 PM |
Swap Meet – buy and sell your treasurers , used equipment for sale to raise funds for new scope |
| 2:00 – 2:55 PM |
Celestron Edge HD Scopes – A detailed look at the history and development of Celestron’s Edge HD telescopes. Presented by Robert Piekiel, followed by Q & A and book signing in the vendor’s area. |
| 3:00– 3:55 PM |
Comparing the JWST, Hubble and Amateur Astrophotos – Patrick Manley, Kopernik Astronomical Society and DeeTop Observatory |
| 4:00 – 4:55 PM |
Black Holes and the Recent Image of Sagittarius A – Learn about the image of this massive Black Hole, taken by the Event Horizon Telescope. Presented by Luke Keller, Ithaca College |
| 4:00 –4:55 PM |
InOMN – view the Moon and learn interesting facts about it. Tish Bresee, NASA Solar System Ambassador, meet in ES Lab (see 7 pm) |
| 5:00 – 6:30 PM |
Dinner Break and Musical Entertainment by Robert Siegers |
| 6:30 |
Raffle Prizes |
| 7:00 – 7:55 PM |
International Observe the Moon Night – Learn about this great event from Kopernik’s NASA Solar System Ambassador, Tish Bresee |
| 8:00 – 8:10 PM |
Welcome to AstroFest 2022 – George Normandin, KAS President |
| 8:15 PM |
Dr. Kelly Lepo – FAQs about JWST –
How do we really know if Webb has observed some of the first galaxies? How can we detect water in the atmosphere of a planet a thousand light years away? Why do Webb images have 8-pointed stars? How do we choose colors for Webb images when the telescope observes infrared light?
In this presentation, Dr. Kelly Lepo will take a deep dive into the latest science to come out of the James Webb Space Telescope’s observations, and answer frequently asked questions about some technical aspects of how Webb images are made, how the telescope works, and how we know what we know about objects in space.
|
| After the Program |
Night Sky Viewing – in the Domes and in the Yard, Imaging Demo of FLI Camera on 20” OGS RC, Night Sky Laser Tours, hot beverages and snacks available, bathrooms and domes open all night.
Sci-Fi movie in Space Science, Lobby closes Midnight. |
| Midnight |
Lobby Closes (Restrooms remain open all night) |
|
20″ Optical Guidance Systems Ritchey-Chretien F/8
14″ Celestron C14 F/11 SCT Celestron CGE Mount