Schedule

Have A Look At The

Event Schedule

Schedule is subject to change.

Day 1

7 June 2024

4 – 6 PM

Registration and badge pickup

Registration Desk 2nd Floor

7:00 PM

Star-B-q

Join us at the Burr Oak Picnic Shelter for an out of this world feast. Enjoy our taco bar featuring grilled chicken, carnitas (pork), and barbacoa brisket tacos, plus beans, rice and southwest slaw.

8:30 – 11:30 PM

Star Party at Driving Range

Enjoy an evening under the stars (weather permitting). OAS will have several telescopes set up at the Lauritzen Driving Range at Mahoney State Park. BYOT – bring your own telescope, if your travel plans allow!

Day 2

8 June 2024
07:15 Am

Rolls and Coffee

08:00 – 9:30 AM

Registration and badge pickup

Front Desk

8:00 – 9:30 AM

MSRAL Business Meeting

Main Room

9:30 – 10:15 AM

Session #1

Val Germann – Central Missouri Amateur Astronomers

Astronomy on the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails

Main Room

10:30 – 11:15 AM

Session #2

Donna Syed – Astronomical Society of Kansas City

Cultivating Greatness: Inspiring the Next Generation in Astronomy and Leadership

Main Room

11:30 AM – 1:00 PM

Lunch Time

Sandwich Box Lunch in the Conference Rooms

[AOY Luncheon – AOY Recipients] 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM

1:00 – 1:45 PM

Session #3

Michael and Kendra Sibbernsen – Branched Oak Observatory | Prairie Astronomy Club

The National Eclipse Ballooning Project

Main Room

2:00 – 2:45 PM

Session #4

Allison Bair – Comet Researcher at Lowell Observatory | Omaha Astronomical Society

Comet Photometry at Lowell Observatory

Main Room

3:00 – 3:45 PM

Session #5

Dr. Diana Hannikainen – Observing Editor at Sky and Telescope Magazine
Radio Astronomy: From the 1930s to Today

Main Room

4:00 – 4:45 PM

Session #6

Dr. Bharat Vishnu Ratra

The Accelerating Expanding Universe: Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and Einstein’s Cosmological Constant

Main Room 

6:00 Pm

Social Hour

Main Room

6:50 Pm

GROUP PHOTO

Gather for a group photo

7:00 Pm

Dinner

BBQ Chicken and Smoked Pork Dinner provided by Parkers Smokehouse

Main Room

7:30 PM

AOY Presentation

7:45 PM

Keynote

Kevin Schindler – Historian at Lowell Observatory

Clyde Tombaugh, Lowell Observatory, and the Discovery of Pluto 

Day 3

9 June 2024
08:30 – 9:15 Am

Sesssion #8

Leonard Meredith – Omaha Astronomical Society
NASA Lucy Mission, Polymele Occultation Observation Mission
9:30 – 10:15 Am

session #9

Austin Kuecher – Omaha Astronomical Society

Dissecting Starlight: a Journey into Amateur Spectroscopy

10:30 – 11:15 AM

SESSION #10

Mike Modrcin – Omaha Astronomical Society

The Library Telescope Program

12:00 Noon Closing

Closing Moment