20140711

Summary:

Many of the Astronomical League observing awards require you to observe, quantify, and document the atmospheric conditions called “seeing” and “transparency” when you are documenting your observations of the various celestial objects. John will explain each term and provide examples on how to document them in your observing logs. Various “measurement scales” for annotating your observations will be introduced and discussed..

Speaker Bio:

John has been an active amateur astronomer for nearly 50 years. He was raised on a farm in south central Nebraska, where every clear night the stars shown without interference from modern day light pollution! His first telescope was a 3-inch Newtonian Reflector from Edmund Scientific Company that he received for his 13th birthday, but he soon found he needed a bigger telescope, a 6-inch reflector, which he designed and assembled himself.

John is currently the Astronomy Outreach Coordinator with the Omaha Astronomical Society. John enjoys many aspects of amateur astronomy including observing, astro-photography, and both public and educational astronomy outreach.