Re: Good topics for a 10-15 minute talk pre-star party?

From: Sam Wormley (swormley1_at_mchsi.com)
Date: 12/10/04 

Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2004 06:44:23 GMT

Uncle Bob wrote:
> Our club is soliciting members to speak (briefly) about some topic or
> other related to astronomical observation, study, etc. The talks would
> last 10-15 minutes and should be able to hold the interest of people at
> star parties/club meetings.
>
> Now, we all know where the greatest creative minds in amateur astronomy
> can be found, so I thought I'd ask them to bump start the process with
> some topics.
>
> I was thinking of speaking about internet resources available to the
> amateur astronomer (like usenet news groups, for instance--most folks
> don't even know they exist).
>
> Anybody out there heard a good talk or have a topic that can be
> introduced in a quarter hour?
>
> Thanks!
> Uncle Bob
>

   How about a talk about Andromeda and M31
     o the mythological story
     o the role the Andromeda galaxy played for Edwin Hubble
       discovering galaxies
     o the future interaction likely between Andromeda and the
       Milky Way
     o What amateurs can glean from Andromeda with our telescopes

   How about talk about Orion and M42
     o Stellar Nurseries in M42 and what we've discovered about
       solar system formation and disks
     o The stars of the trapezium and how finding the fainter stars
       in the region are excellent tests of amateur telescopes.
       Look what C. Rowland and others have achieved!
     o There's enough material to do many many 10-15 minute talks
       about things going on in Orion.

   Similar talks combining lore, science and observing with M45, M44,
   Capella and the Kids, open clusters, Comet C/2004 Q2 (Machholz), etc.

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