(cba:news) Fwd: centennial of the expanding universe

[Joe Patterson]

Dear CBAers,

I apologize for being neglectful of CBA biz over the summer. 
Fortunately, Enrique has taken up much of the slack... and as usual, you 
guys do a good job mentoring each other.  Among other things, I've been 
busy organizing a 100th birthday party for the expanding Universe.  This 
is WAY far from our mission as guardians of variable stars... but as the 
registration list gets more varied and interesting with each passing 
week, I think the subject might well interest some of you too.  About 
half the people won't be presenting, and about 1/3 are some variant on 
"amateur astronomer" (artist, writer, politician, observer, AZ resident, 
etc.).  Here's what I just sent my colleagues at Columbia, along with 
the conference flyer and the present list of abstracts for talks.

If you're interested, you can register (details at the Lowell 
Observatory website).  You don't need permission; if you read these 
messages, then you traffic heavily in the arcana of stars... and that 
puts you way over the threshold for seriousness!  (A few conferees might 
not be, but they couldn't possibly be CBAers.)  It costs $190, but 
includes breakfast and lunch on both conference days (Fri and Sat), plus 
the Thursday night reception at Lowell.  Hotel's decently cheap too 
($109/night).

I see from Donn Starkey's data that V380 Oph has jumped up to ~15.6. 
That's the last straw - it's off the list!  But two months have elapsed 
since we quit on V1974 Cyg -  let's vault that one back into coverage, 
so we can test for the signal's stability over the full summer observing 
season.

joe




Some of you know about the 100th birthday celebration for the expanding
Universe that will happen at Lowell Observatory next month.  But most of 
you probably don't... so here's your notice.  I attach the conference 
poster and a list of abstracts to date.  It's a conference of 
astronomers, historians, writers, artists, Slipher's family... and even 
a politician (just in case you thought you could briefly escape that 
blight).

A small (50-60) and eclectic conference in an observatory/museum/park
setting.  What exactly happened 100 years ago, and in the 20 years
following ("The Day The Universe Changed")?  Where have we come since
Lemaitre's expanding balloon?

Still some more writers/historians (Marcia Bartusiak, Dava Sobel) are
likely.  Astronomers too, for that matter.  Three Columbians so far (me, 
Helena, Emir - an undergraduate).  You'll find more information on the 
Lowell Observatory website.  Registration open till August 30 - lemme 
know if you have further questions.


joe



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