Monthly Meeting | NoCoAstro

Our monthly meeting will be held on Thursday, May 7th at the Fort Collins Museum Of Discover in the Otterbox Dome Theater. The meeting officially starts at 6:15pm but feel free to show up early for social time. We will have refreshments and snacks available at 5:45pm. Afterwards at 8:00pm, members are invited to dinner at Penrose Taphouse & Eatery. Contact Greg Halac if you are interested. Reservations are limited.

The Cosmic Tango of Binary Stars

Bio: Max Moe grew up as an amateur astronomy in Fort Collins and was the NCAS vice president from 2002 - 2004. He completed his undergraduate studies in 2009 at CU Boulder and earned his Ph.D. in 2015 at Harvard University with a dissertation title "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Eclipsing Binaries". Max was an Einstein Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Arizona. He returned to the Rocky Mountains in 2022 and is currently an assistant professor at the University of Wyoming.

Synopsis: Most stars you see in the night sky are members of binary or multiple star systems. I will review how astronomers utilize a variety of tools to detect and study binary stars. I will share the various formation mechanisms and properties of binaries. I will highlight all the interesting ways binary stars can evolve and interact, producing a variety of astrophysical transients.

Monthly Meeting General Info

Regular club meetings are currently held at the Otterbox Digital Dome Theater in the Fort Collins Museum of Discovery, and are scheduled for the 1st Thursday of every month. Please verify the meeting date and location on the calendar and find out what we have planned. The business portion of the meeting is scheduled for 15 minutes starting at 6:15pm although members often show up early at 5:45pm for social time ... and snacks. :-) Regular topics include:

Announcements on upcoming NCAS events: speakers, stargazing, outreaching, etc.
Brief updates from the club president, treasurer and outreach coordinator.
Items of general interest as shared by members and visitors.

After the business meeting, speakers present an astronomy-related program beginning at 6:30pm. It is free of charge and the public is welcome. Talks are typically geared towards people with a high-school science background but the level does vary. Feel free to contact a club officer for guidance if the target level is not apparent from the talk description. Talks typically last for 45 minutes. Questions are usually welcome both during and after the talk.

NoCoAstro invites speakers to be our guest for dinner immediately after the club meeting. Dinner details are sent to the “club-news” email list shortly before the meeting. Dinner provides a great opportunity to welcome and get to know our speaker. Typically ~10 club members usually attend.

NoCoAstro greatly appreciates the members and experts in the Northern Colorado region who have taken the time to share their knowledge with the public and the club.