Date:
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"
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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
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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
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Glenn Arisumi, 6" f/9.45 Newtonian on alt-azimuth mount |
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Ken Graun, 6" f/6.2 Newtonian on "Sam Brown" alt-azimuth mount |
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Dan Gray, 28" f/4.5 folded Newtonian "string scope" on alt-azimuth mount |
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Gerry Logan, 10.5" f/20 Trischiefspiegler tube assembly |
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William Reed, 90mm Maskutov on alt-azimuth mount |
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Bruce Sayre, 22" f/5 Newtonian binocular telescope |
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Timothy Sober, 5.25" f/5.5 lightweight backpack telescope |
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Walter Thomas, 4.5" teaching telescopes |
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Gil McFarlane, "Soap Scope" mount |
| See Gil's detailed description at: http://storm.prohosting.com/~lisaphot/gil/flex/Telescopes/Soap_scope.htm |
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Astronomer's Choice Award
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