APRIL PROGRAM SCHEDULE 2025
All ASLI Meetings Begin at 8:00 PM
IN PERSON AND ON ZOOM
March 5: Night Sky Review for April – by Ken Spencer
This will be a presentation aimed at visual observers and will be helpful to people just starting out. I will begin by discussing my favorite observing book for beginners (and for me, still) and then I will talk about some of my favorite deep sky objects to look for in the night skies of April.
IN PERSON AND ON ZOOM
April 9: The Universe in Ultraviolet by Jessica Li..
Ultraviolet (UV) light reveals a hidden universe, exposing energetic processes that aren’t as easily detected at other wavelengths. It helps us understand how large-scale structures like galaxies form and evolve, as well as the smaller-scale dynamics of gaseous stellar nurseries, stars, and protoplanetary systems. Since Earth’s atmosphere blocks most UV light, we rely on balloon telescopes, sounding rockets, and space-based observatories to study it. Current and upcoming advances in technology continue to help overcome the challenges of UV observation. Additionally, the development of UV polarimetry would open new ways to study magnetic fields and scattered light in protoplanetary disks and stars—key environments for potentially habitable worlds.
ON ZOOM ONLY – BUT WE WILL BE MEETING IN PERSON AS WELL
April 16: Perseverance Rover on Mars – by Dr. Kirsten Siebach
In a stunning engineering feat, Perseverance, the largest and most complex Mars rover yet, landed successfully on Mars on the floor of Jezero crater on February 18, 2021. Its mission is ambitious: seek signs of ancient life and collect samples for future return to Earth. Four Earth years into the mission, we have characterized rocks inside and outside the crater, collected 25 rock and sediment samples, and created the first extraterrestrial sample depot. Dr. Siebach will share the motivation and context for Mars Sample Return, the science and technology that we use to select the samples, our new and evolving understanding of our neighboring planet, and how it teaches us about our own world.
Kirsten Siebach is an Assistant Professor in the Rice University Department of Earth, Environmental, and Planetary Sciences and calls herself a Martian Geologist. She is currently a member of the Science and Operations Teams for the Mars 2020 rover Perseverance and the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity, and previously worked on the science and engineering teams for the Phoenix Lander and the two Mars Exploration Rovers.
IN PERSON ONLY
April 23: ASLI Club Observing. THESE OBSERVING SESSIONS ARE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, PLEASE JOIN US.
As Spring arrives and weather improves we have hopes of finally having a club observing session in the parking lot of the Vanderbilt Museum. Bring your own telescopes or binoculars or look through all of our telescopes. The skies must be perfectly clear in order to observe so PLEASE CHECK BACK HERE TO MAKE SURE THE OBSERVING SESSION HAS NOT BEEN CANCELLED BECAUSE OF WEATHER.
IN PERSON AND ON ZOOM
April 30: The Pratsky Orloj, Prague’s Astronomical Clock by Maddalena Romano
Maddalena will talk about The Pratsky Orloj, Prague’s Astronomical Clock. She will cover the history, construction, and myths surrounding this 600+ year old landmark on the Old Town Hall in the capital of the Czech Republic, as well as discussing how its mechanisms work
EXTENDED ASLI CLUB CALENDAR
