WVAC Holiday Party

Where: Beardsley Recreation Center
               12755 W Beardsley Rd

                Sun City West, AZ 85375
               #1 Chicory Room

                Click Here for Directions

When: December 5^th 2023

Time:  6:00pm – 8:00pm

Members only plus guests (Not open to the public)

Food and Refreshments:

This year we’re asking members to bring an Appetizer and/or Desserts.

Club will provide Coffee, Tea, Water, plates and plasticware.    

Activities:

Membership RENEWAL

Election

Website Presentation

Solar Telescope Proposal  <<- Approved for purchase by the membership at large

Swap Meet/Yard Sale

                (Only Astronomy related items, No Weed-eaters)

                 Sellers please donate $5.00 to the club to sell their wares

Sept 5th

Speaker: Tom Polakis

Topic: Astroimages: More Than Just Pretty Pictures

Description: Astronomical imaging has made great strides in the past decade alone. Often, the emphasis is placed on the sharpness of stars and the trueness of colors. But is that all there is to see? In his presentation, Tom dug deeper into his images and videos to show such features as the influence of the earth’s atmosphere, effects of geometry and perspective, and distances and velocities, typically using no more than high school-level math. Pictures really are worth a thousand words.

Bio: Tom Polakis has been an active amateur astronomer for 45 years, during which has seen Saturn circle the sun 1 1/2 times. His main interests involve visual observing of all astronomical phenomena, and imaging of the same with equipment ranging from a phone to a backyard observatory. He has a particular interest in describing the universe as an ever-changing entity. His writing and photography have regularly appeared in magazines such as “Astronomy” and “Sky & Telescope,” and more recently has been an author or co-author in refereed astronomical publications.

Click Here for a recording of the same presentation at the East Valley Astronomy Club.

The links below are refereed to by Tom in his presentation:

• Atmospheric Optics site
• SkySafari
• NSO/GONG Solar Images
• Heavens Above
• Orbitrack 
• JPL Small Body Database
• JPL Horizons   
• Comet Observation Page    
• Extragalactic Database
• SIMBAD Database       
• Current Supernovae Page