The next meeting of the Chicago Astronomical Society will be on
Saturday, March 28, 2026
at the
Cernan Earth and Space Center.

Meeting Agenda:

• 5:00 PM -- Astro-talk over pizza and soft drinks. (Donations are welcome to offset the cost of food and beverage.)
• 6:00 PM -- The lecture will begin.
  
• 7:30 PM -- If the weather permits and it's clear and temperatures are above 20° F, there will be telescopic viewing of the Moon and Jupiter. If you have a telescope, please bring it along and you can share views of the moon and planets with attendees.

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Speaker: Professor Robin Metcalfe
Topic: Chasing Aurorae across Time


About the Presentation:

Historical records as old as the first millennium BCE contain reports of mysterious glowing lights in the night sky, some of which have been attributed to aurorae. But how do we know that celestial phenomena described vaguely as an unusual red glow, a pre-dawn rainbow or a five-coloured light can definitively be connected to auroral activity? In this talk, we will see that aurorae leave behind breadcrumbs in unusual places, enabling us to chase them across time, both deep into the past and far into the future. We will also discuss how our ability to predict their likelihood has enabled us to capture their ethereal beauty with nothing more than a mobile phone.

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About our Speaker:
Robin Metcalfe is a professor at York University, where she has been teaching astronomy for over 25 years. Robin's PhD research pertained to extragalactic astronomy but her current interests are in the search for life beyond Earth and the implications of such a discovery on humanity. Through her teaching, Robin shares her passion for the night sky and the outdoors. She teaches students to appreciate what the night sky has to teach us, to gain perspective from our place in the Universe, and to value our precious planet Earth.

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Also at the March meeting, we will have a large number of Scouts (fifth- through twelfth-graders) at the Cernan Center.
I know that they will be eager to see what they can see though our eye-pieces, so please bring your light-buckets to show off, weather permitting.
Also, if anyone has any astro photos they'd like to show off and talk about, I would expect an eager audience. Thank You in Advance!

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Looking Ahead: The April meeting of the Chicago Astronomical Society (CAS) will be on Saturday, April 25, 2026 at the Cernan Earth and Space Center at 5:00

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Membership:
If you enjoy the activities of the CAS, please become a member. Regular membership is only $30 for an individual and $50 for a family membership. We now accept payment via Zelle.

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We would like to thank the Cernan Center and its director Kris McCall for their support of the CAS and astronomy/science education. We encourage CAS members and all others who support science education to purchase memberships for the Cernan Center.
We would also like to thank our members for their past and continued support.
We hope that you can attend. Please feel free to forward and invite friends!

Clear Skies!
Tony Harris
V.P. and Program Manager,
Chicago Astronomical Society