Events Calendar

The monthly installment of VAS What's Up in the Night Sky
 
Presented by Scott Turnbull, VAS Member and NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador

Free and Open to the Public

In-person and via Zoom
Ask for the Zoom link from paulwaav@together.net or theresamarie11@GMAIL.COM
VAS Members will be emailed the Zoom link

The in-person will be at the Brownell Library on 2A near 5-Corners in Essex Junction.

If you attend via Zoom please get on-line before 7:30.  If you don't have Zoom installed, the application will automatically download and install when you click the meeting link.  This may take a couple minutes.

PRESENTATION:

Asteroids and Meteors
By Steve Grimsley

Asteroids and meteors are the leftovers of non gaseous material from the formation of the solar system.  They are found throughout the solar system but are concentrated in the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.  Much of what we know about the early history of the solar system comes from the study of these rocky remnants that made their way to Earth.

There are three main categories of meteors, stony, stony iron, and iron.  These types mostly are based on where, in an internally melted and gravity segregated asteroid, they were formed.

Stony meteors that contain chondrules are known as chondrites.  Chondrules are spherical grains of silicate minerals 1 – 3 mm in size from rapidly cooled molten droplets in the primordial solar nebula.  They are composed of pyroxene, olivine, plagioclase, glass, iron nickel, and sulfate minerals that have not undergone a full melt since their formation.  Their bulk composition is nearly identical to the Sun without hydrogen and helium and other light volatile elements and compounds.  A special class of stony meteors are the lighter carbonaceous chondrites.  These make up a higher proportion of asteroid bodies further away from the Sun.  The carbonaceous meteorites represent the most unaltered non-gaseous material in the original cloud from which our solar system formed.  They date to 4.55 billion years, back to the earliest formation of the solar system.  Ordinary stony chondrite meteors are by far the most common type.

Achondrites are stony material that has undergone a full melt, cooling in a differentiated asteroid.  These meteors are much like igneous rocks that form on earth.  Fragments from the moon and Mars that have fallen on Earth are achondrites.
Stony irons and irons are from the interiors of large asteroids whose interiors melted and gravity segregated.  Meteors of this type have been some of the largest that have finds.  Polished surfaces of these have much visual appeal.

Following the main presentation, our recurring monthly presentations will include Constellation of the Month  by Terri Zittritsch.

Not open to the general public, 
however, members can invite guests and if you are not a member and would like to be an invited, please contact us at info@vtastro.org or Paul Walker at paulwaav@together.net

This will be in person and via Zoom.
Zoom link will be sent to members via email.

No Presentation

Meal:
Price will be $25 per person at the door (this info is based last year and may be subject to change).

Please RSVP your meal choice to info@vtastro.org  by Sunday, April 26

Chicken- Roast Chicken breast, Garden Salad (don't know what dressings will be provided but feel free to bring your own favorite), Rolls and butter, Rice Pilaf
               or
Vegetarian Lasagna


Cookies for dessert for everyone.  We also welcome any desserts people wish to bring to supplement the cookies : )

Location:
St. John’s Club, 9 Central Ave. Burlington (take Lakeside Ave from Pine St.).
Time: Social Hour 6-7. Dinner 7-8. Dinner will be catered this year. Awards and Annual Business Meeting 8-9.

Election of Officers will be via email and in-person:
Board Positions up for election/re-election this year- President, Vice President, 4 Board Members at large.  Let Terri or Paul know if you are interested in any of these positions by emailing info@vtastro.org.
Assuming the changes to the by-laws are approved before the meeting any member in good standing (paid up) and meet the 1 year criteria for Board Member at large or 2 year criteria for an officer can put their name in.

Free and Open to the Public

In-person and via Zoom
Ask for the Zoom link from paulwaav@together.net or theresamarie11@GMAIL.COM
VAS Members will be emailed the Zoom link

The in-person will be at the Brownell Library on 2A near 5-Corners in Essex Junction.

If you attend via Zoom please get on-line before 7:30.  If you don't have Zoom installed, the application will automatically download and install when you click the meeting link.  This may take a couple minutes.

PRESENTATION:

Fossils in the sky: chasing our origins through NASA's Lucy Mission to the Trojan Asteroids

By Amrutaa Vibho
Cadet First Lieutenant
Executive Officer, Hotel Company
Norwich University Corps of Cadets
'26 Math-Physics
NASA Lucy Mission Ambassador

What can "fossils" in deep space tell us about our own beginnings? Join NASA Lucy Mission Ambassador and aspiring astronaut Amrutaa Vibho for a journey into the heart of our solar system's history. Just as the Lucy fossil revolutionized our understanding of human evolution, NASA's Lucy Mission is on a 12-year odyssey to the Trojan asteroids—time capsules that have remained virtually unchanged since the birth of the planets.

In this talk, Amrutaa weaves her personal narrative of persistence—from her roots in New Delhi as a drummer to her training in the Corps of Cadets at the birthplace of ROTC while chasing the cutting-edge of science and planetary origins. Discover how the "rhythm" of the cosmos and the mission's quest for these celestial fossils are shaping the next generation of space exploration.

Following the main presentation, our recurring monthly presentations will include Constellation of the Month  by Terri Zittritsch.