General Business Meeting
Guest Speaker and Topic: Ryan Muzzio presents “Young Stellar Objects: The Opening Chapter in the Life of a Star”
AAAP meetings are always free and open to the public. This meeting will take place at the Allegheny Observatory. Parking is also free.
Additional Information:
The AAAP starts the New Year with a sure-to-be fascinating lecture on the early life of stars. We tend to think of stars as very old, but all stars start out as infants and toddlers, so to speak. Our guest speaker for the club’s January 11, 2018 meeting is himself a young star in the field of astronomy: Ryan Muzzio, a first year graduate student in the Department of Physics at CMU. Unlike recent years, we hold our first meeting of the year at Allegheny Observatory rather than the Carnegie Science Center, but at the standard start time of 7:30 pm.
Here is the synopsis of Mr. Muzzio’s lecture: “Stars have many complex phases of life. They form in some of the coldest places in the universe, output immense amounts of energy for billions of years, and die in magnificent ways. Many of the mechanisms that drive their early development still puzzle astronomers, making it a hot area of study. Fortunately, 400 light years away exists the Taurus and Rho-Ophiuchus molecular clouds, active star forming regions that are home to countless young stellar objects. These stars host a wide range of properties. Some have what seem to be unpredictable variations in luminosity, some have discs that interact with each other, and some have jets of ionized gas. Astronomers, using near infrared detectors, peer into the lives of these active stars and hope to shed light on how stars develop.”
The Usual Meeting Reminders: Of course, January can be an unfriendly month to travelers. If a major snow or ice storm is in progress on the 11th, we must cancel the meeting and schedule Mr. Muzzio’s talk for another time. Members can also check the AAAP’s Facebook page and 3ap.org web site for meeting status info. Parking is tight at AO, even when there is no snow on the ground, so please consider car-pooling so that we can squeeze everyone in.