This is the regular monthly meeting of the Delaware Valley Amateur Astronomers, held in the Radnorshire Room at the Radnor Community Building. The meeting is open to DVAA members and the public. We start with a short business meeting focusing on announcements and upcoming events, followed by an Observing Report and a Featured Presentation. We gather beginning at 7pm; the program and the livestream begin at 7:30pm.
The meeting will be livestreamed on our YouTube channel beginning at 7:30pm.
Featured presentation: Ekta Patel, Assistant Professor | Villanova University
Department of Astrophysics and Planetary Science
Title: Rewinding the Orbits of Satellite Galaxies in the Local Group
Our cosmic neighborhood, called the Local Group, contains three main members: our home galaxy (the Milky Way), a similar-sized galaxy called Andromeda, and dozens of smaller "satellite" galaxies that orbit around these two larger ones —much like moons orbit a planet. These satellite galaxies are important for two main reasons. First, scientists believe that large galaxies like the Milky Way grew over time by absorbing many smaller galaxies. By studying how satellite galaxies move and orbit today, we can piece together the history of how our galaxy became what it is now. Second, all galaxies sit within enormous clouds of "dark matter," a mysterious invisible substance that makes up most of the matter in the universe. We can't see dark matter directly, but we can observe how it affects the movement of satellite galaxies, helping us understand this cosmic puzzle. In this talk, I will explain how tracking the paths these small galaxies have taken through space helps us understand both how they evolved and how the larger galaxies around them formed.
Observing Report: Gary Trapuzzano on Nova in M31