A young observer peers through the CAA's vintage Celestron 16 telescope.
PUBLIC EVENTS
The CAA hosts at least 12 Saturday Public Observing events featuring a guest speaker that is followed—weather permitting—by celestial viewings through telescopes at the facility. During viewing hours, society members will be available to answer questions and provide everyone with an opportunity to look through the Society's telescopes and those of our members.
This site will be updated through out the year as we assemble our speakers and events.
2017 Presentations
October 14, 7:30 p.m.
Mr. Brent Studer
CAA member
Stars Behaving Badly
A talk about various extreme stars from Eta Carinae, Type Ia supernovae, and a few others that dont behave "normally" as they go through their evolutionary cycles.October 28, 7:30 p.m. -- Lunar Night
Mr. Doug Slauson
CAA Member
Earth's Moon
International Observe the Moon Night, InOMN
November 11, 7:30 p.m.
Prof. Hai Fu
University of Iowa, Department of Physics and Astronomy
TBA
2017 Past Presentations
March 18, 7:30 p.m.
Prof. Steve Spangler
University of Iowa, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Planets around Other Stars
April 29, 8:00 p.m.
Prof. Robert Mutel
University of Iowa, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Stellar rainbows: Spectroscopic observations using small telescopes
How to build and use spectrographs for small telescopes, how they work, and recent results from the Iowa Robotic telescope (Gemini).
May 13, 8:30 p.m.
Dr. Scott Bounds
University of Iowa, Department of Physics and Astronomy, and CAA Member
Hawkeyes In Space
May 20, 8:30 p.m.
Mr. Vince Vella
CAA Member and current President
What makes the stars shine? - The stories of six scientists who contributed to our current understanding of the Laws of Nature.
June 17, 9:00 p.m.
Mr. Carl Braken
CAA Treasurer
Astronomical Observing & Imaging Equipment: A presentation to showcase a range of typical astronomical observing and imaging equipment from the simple planisphere and star map, through binoculars, and different telescopes and mounts, eyepieces, and imaging options.
July 15, 8:30 p.m.
Mr. Vince Vella and Dr. Scott Bounds
CAA Members
The Solar Eclipse; why, what, where and when.
August 12, 8:00 p.m.
Prof. Scott Baalrud
University of Iowa, Department of Physics and Astronomy
Hawkeyes in Space: The Planeterrela
August 19, 3:00 p.m. -- Solar Day
Mr. Carl Bracken
CAA Member
The Sun and Solar Eclipses
September 16, 7:30 p.m.
Mr. Zachary Luppen
University of Iowa
Meteorites
Public observing events are held in the Eastern Iowa Observatory and Learning Center at the Palisades-Dows Observatory and Preserve through a generous agreement with the Linn County Conservation Department. For directions, please visit our Map to Pal-Dows page or download a pdf version (276 kB.)
The Cedar Amateur Astronomers, Inc. is a participating member of Night Sky Network.
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