Free and Open to the Public

2 Presentations

Project Gemini
By Steve Quigley

The December presentation will cover Project Gemini. Gemini, in its own historical context, was perhaps as important as Apollo because without Gemini there could have been no Apollo. Gemini was the teacher, and thanks to its lessons we were able to reach the Moon in 1969. During the Gemini program we learned to rendezvous, dock, perform "space walks", practice long duration flights, and built a cohesive and technically competent management and contractor team. This presentation will follow Project Gemini from its beginnings to its successful conclusion in 1966, and set the stage for a presentation on Project Apollo in July, 2019.


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Using a Planisphere
By Paul Walker

Planispheres are practically indispensable. They are used by beginner and advanced amateurs alike. They are computers but . Planispheres are analog computers that require no power cords or batteries.
They can answers the questions: “What is in the sky tonight?” and “When is the best time to observe a particular object?”. And so much more.

You input a date and time and they output the location of the stars. Or input the part of the sky that holds a particular object you want to observe and the planisphere will output a list of suitable dates and times.