Date: May 28-30, 2004
Attendance: 1,610
In 2004, with a waxing gibbous
Moon, an increase in fees, and the approaching transit of Venus, attendance was the lowest
since 1993. The eight-year cycle of snowstorms (1980, 1988, 1996) was broken, as the
weather was warm and clear for most of the weekend.
The theme for this year was
"Transits and Occultations." The workshop sessions were moved into the annex,
with the Beginners Corner at the Bose Conference Center. The Big Bang Band Traveling Star
Show also performed on Friday evening and Sunday afternoon. The Merit Awards were
announced on Saturday evening, and for the first time attendees voted for the Astronomer's
Choice Award from among the Merit Award winners.
Speakers
Keynote
Speaker: Phil Plait, "Planet (Hoa)X"
Robert
Fulton Goff Invitational Lecture on Optics and Optical Design: Dick Buchroeder,
"All About Color in Refractors"
 |
Dave Rowe, "Interferometry and
Fringe Analysis" |
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Sandy Bumgarner, "Real Time Video
for Occultations" |
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Tim Thompson, "Detecting the
Atmospheres of Transiting Planets" |
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Debra Tigner, "Supernova
Hunting" |
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Peter Ceravolo, "Field Correctors
for Monster CCDs" |
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Gary Seronik, "Winning the War
Against Newtonian Thermals" |
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Aaron Price, "Blurring the Line:
Amateurs as Observers and Data Analysers" |
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Tim Robertson, "ALPO Training
Program" |
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Jay Norman, "Green Flash Observing
and Imaging" |
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Dan Duriscoe, "Dark Skies in Our
National Parks" |
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Roger Ceragioli, "Wolfgang Busch and
the Origin of Oil Spaced Achromats" |
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Wally Pacholka, "How to Take
Astrophotos That Get Published" |
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Chris Schur, "A Robotic Film Camera
for Aurora Photography" |
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Larry McDavid, "Sundials: Prehistory
Through the Digital Age" |
Workshops
|
Deep-Sky Imaging With Digital Cameras,
Stephen Pitt |
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Planetary
Imaging With Webcams, Ralph Megna and Walt Lickteig |
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Occultations,
David Dunham |
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Transits
of Extrasolar Planets, Tim Castellano |
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Fringe
Analysis of Interferograms, Dave Rowe and Peter Ceravolo |
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Going
Faint: Detection Techniques for Follow-Up of Faint NEO's, James McGaha |
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Introduction
to CCD Imaging, Ron Wodaski |
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Astronomical
Image Processing, Ron Wodaski |
Merit Awards
Clifford W. Holmes Award
Warren Estes Award
Clyde Tombaugh Award
|
Rick
McWilliams |
Astronomer's Choice Award
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