Bill Weller, one of the founders of the Nanaimo Astronomy Society, will be the main presenter for the society’s June meeting.
Weller, an astronomer and retired professor with Vancouver Island University’s department of physics, engineering and astronomy, will speak on the scientific and historic usefulness of solar eclipses, during his presentation, Solar Eclipse Science: Things that Scientists do When the Lights Go Out.
Solar eclipses draw wide interest from amateur astronomers, photographers and the general public, but beyond being visually beautiful, they are also used by professional astronomers, atmospheric physicists and also historians who find records of eclipses useful for their research.
Weller will highlight some of the background science during eclipse events and he cautions in his synopsis for his talk that “some physics will be mentioned.”
Society president Chris Boar will also give his short presentation, New Horizons: A review of NASA’s epic mission to Pluto and what’s next and the society will also raffle off an autographed copy of the new book, Chasing New Horizons: Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto, autographed by author, Alan Stern, NASA principal investigator of the New Horizons mission.
The meeting happens Thursday, June 28, 7 p.m. at Beban Park social centre, Room 2.
To learn more, visit the Nanaimo Astronomy Society website at www.nanaimoastronomy.com/.