Print

[TomT]

Notes from audio file attached, but I suggest downloading and listening to the attached 52:30 minute audio file.   Enjoy...TomT

0:00 Baron starts day w/ Wizard of Oz music;833am, he used to go by Captain Boogy Boogy? Chuck/Tom due w/ LCOGT, forgets name of telescope in Saturday Discovery channel program (James Webb).  Says Chuck does not have a TV.  Ken Boxer interviewed Billy Mumy "danger will robinson". 2:10 LCOGT.net Lorna due, my old drinking buddy. 2:36 Earth/Sky infomercial on red giant stars.  4:00 Guests arrive, Andy Howell and Lorna Boyd, B-saw newspress article 3wks ago. Saw Telescope program on Discovery; talk today of Goleta based network of world telescopes. High Tech Monday. 5:40 this is AU Hour (featuring Richard Dupre)

6:05 Telstar (by the Tornados, 1962 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B7ypA1fSwU ) music: greetings.  Goleta based telescope society, LCOGT, Lorna Boyd & Dr. Andy Howell, doctor of philosophy.  Headquarters in Goleta and work at UCSB teaching.  Todd Boroson is director of LCOGT.  35 people.  Lorna, on board 5mos ago, sucked in like a neutrino.  Director of philanthropy. B-deep pockets in Montecito, telescope freaks.  AH-group with only time-variable astronomy and multiple telescopes, about 17 telescopes in field with more in future, Chile, Tibet, Israel, Texas, Australia, etc.  Wayne Rosing vision, while in silicon valley, to partner with astronomers, contracts with NASA, LB-we want to raise awareness in community of LCOGT, AH-2005 started in Goleta, everything put together and on officially in 2014.  B-TomT SBAU has had LCOGT folks to speak.  564-1290.  CM- in Berlin, use area code 866, Denise Fritz.

14:45 B-AU name owned? CM-maybe Museum. TT-March 11 meeting, James Hartle, Quantum Origins of the Universe.  B-missed ISS pass, CM-Fri pass was bright (Westmont). AH-Las Cumbres was Wayne neighborhood name.  LB-doing events, Astronomy on Tap, at Blind Tiger, March 2, 400 State, Andy will talk, funnier when audience has a couple of drinks in them. Free, just building awareness for LCOGT, then hoping for contributions later.  CM-free at first then charge to get out.  LCOGT Lectures, May 18, SETI, Seth Shostak (at Museum?), B-who contacted you from news-press? LB-LCOGT sent press release on scientist getting [National Academy of Sciences] Watson medal (Dr. Tim Brown http://lcogt.net/blog/dr-tim-brown-to-receive-distinguished-watson-medal/ James Craig Watson, rich astronomer, 1880d).  LCOGT 501(3)c lcogt.net .  UCSB has dozen faculty, plus post docs, say 35, more physics vs. same number with LCOGT; UCSB in top 5 schools in world for physics.  22:30.  AH-did bar talk in Austin Texas, people can come ask their Q's.  B-can't see Dark Energy... AH-but you can infer that it is there, the expansion of the universe, expanding faster, energy must be there.  B-Telescope program, James Webb, but Hubble 3 weeks of exposure found thousands of galaxies in "empty" patch.  How can we see back to the Big Bang?  AH-I teach this, the BB happened everywhere at once, explosion everywhere in space, all of space very close together.  Explosion everywhere on surface of balloon, photons take a long time to get across, CM-rapid inital inflation, faster than speed of light.  B-matter expand, space-time grid also.  Does that mean, somewhere out in space, we can not reach, where BB started?  AH-happened everywhere, only 13.7Billion years of past photons that we can see. B-amazed we can see anything.  CM-red shift.  B-photons stop on dime, AH-right in your eye.  B-any mass? AH-no B-how many in room? AH-we could calculate.  More energy in short waves x-rays. CM-they are on caffeine.

29:25 B-4 people, 3 headphones, Bruce Murdock on phone.  TT- dues $20, but free if doing 6 outreaches with club.  Lorna Boyd, used to drive up/down State St as SB Don high school days.  B-used to see cheerleaders in cars from Balboa building.  BruceM-listening with great enthusiasm, want to plug outreaches, 228/year, telescopes owned by members.  Young people in awe when looking thru telescope.  I visited Sedgwick LCOGT observatory. AH-we use that for testing. B-selling (12") telescope? BM-losing space at Museum. Webb telescope assembly to micron accuracy. 

36:50 TT-pls send donations to...LB-LCOGT forming group, Friends of LCOGT, $250/couple, etc.  another call: Denise Fritz, from Germany,  only telescope I know is Hubble, I am a teacher in Berlin.  CM-she will not retire.  D-Andy very convincing.  Germany was in a tizzy due to Einstein gravitational wave discovery.  David found explanation on internet that was good. Q-two black holes frolicking, what if one gets close to Earth?  Any chance and when?  AH-working on tv show for history channel on astronomical Armageddons.  Supernovas, from large stars, collapse to black holes, which merged together for this event when it happened Sept, 2015.  600 sq. degrees of sky.  Probably LCOGT cannot see black holes, but neutron stars might cause visible.  TT-how often does this happen? AH-more often than predicted as this was seen very quickly.  Two 30 solar mass black holes have made a bigger one for first time.  But if black hole is coming for us, we would see x-rays, and very unlikely.  D-when Venus aligns with Mars?  CM-billions of years.

45:25  B-how to tie 17 telescopes together?  AH-using internet, make request, scheduler fits your observation to a telescope; you do not have to wait, can be seen at one of the telescopes.  TT-what is more important for LCOGT? AH-supernovas most important to me, but yes we look for asteroids, black holes, and exoplanets and any other changing item.  B-only one telescope at a time?  AH-multiple B-same item? AH-can be done, but not usually, but maybe for exoplanets.  B-water?  AH-can be done with other telescopes.  B-can not see? AH-images can be seen.  B-very large array, parallax done with LCOGT? CM-LCOGT not networked into a interferometer.  AH-cost efficient to have more small telescopes.  These robotic telescopes can be used without the need to be directly at a remote observatory.  B-Prof. Andy you look like a student  52:35

Andy Howell upcoming Griffith Observatory program:  "Dark Energy, Zombie Stars and the Robotic Future of Astronomy" Monday March 7, 2016 http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Dark-Energy--Zombie-Stars--and-the-Robotic-Future-of-Astronomy---Lecture-at-Griffith-Observatory.html?soid=1101711440680&aid=sGC58O5JdFE