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Please note that we
ALWAYS encourage the public to attend ANY of our events, including
meetings.
Come and enjoy the lecture and talk to us about astronomy!
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8:00 PM
- Call to order and introduction of tonight's program: |
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Speaker: |
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Ron Kalinoski, Observatory Director,
Astronomy Club of Akron |
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Presentation: |
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Anthropic Principle
 We
live in an amazing Universe. The constants of Nature in the fundamental
equations that de- scribe the Universe are finely tuned to give us the
Universe we see and know. These constants can not be predicted by
theory; they can only be found by experiment. Slight variation of these
constants dramatically change the Universe or eliminate its existence
all together. The Anthropic Principle which deals with this idea of fine
tuning was developed in the 60's and became very popular in the 80's.
While most physicists agree the constants of Nature are finely tuned,
there is little agreement on why. The discovery of Dark Energy in the
1990's and the reemergence of the cosmological constant has brought the
topic back into discussion today. Our talk will cover some examples of
fine tuning the constants of Nature. And during our discussion, we'll
explore spatial curvature, Dark Energy, and how astronomers discovered
that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating.
Photo
credit: NOVA "The Great Math Mystery" shown on PBS March 30, 2016 |
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About our speaker: |
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If you've ever
been to a public event at the ACA Observatory, you have most
definitely met Ron, pictured at the left, who has been our
Observatory Director for the past ten years. Ron's interest
in astronomy began at age 10 when his father bought him a
telescope and he has been observing the night sky ever since,
including countless nights at desert locations of south- western
United States. Ron works for Firestone Polymers as a chemical
engineer. Ron is passionate about the environment and leads the volunteer Wildlife Habitat Group at Firestone Polymers. The
group's goal is to increase awareness of the importance of
environmental stewardship. |
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9:00 PM - Brief coffee-break
/ discussion time |
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9:15 PM - Business meeting
to be called to order and will include the following: |
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● Treasurer's Report |
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● Observatory Director's Report |
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● Calls for observations |
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● New Business |
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