June Meeting Recap: Pancakes, Projector Fails, and a Physics Freefall

This month’s meeting snuck up on me—our May meeting was pushed to the third Sunday for Mother’s Day, June started on a Sunday, and suddenly there we were—before I’d even had a chance to mentally prepare for another recap!

We were back at our usual spot at the Village Inn, after last month’s venue change. And this time I was excited to show up for the 4 pm pre-meeting dinner, knowing I had friends waiting—Lisa, Brian and Skip (tonight’s presenter!). And also to FINALLY check out those loaded hash brown pancakes!

It was touch-and-go at first. The signs were down, and they weren’t on the menu. The waitress (Amy—the rest of the group knew her by name) was unsure if they had them. My heart dropped. But Amy was kind enough to check—and came back with good news. Phew!

Verdict: not as life-changing as I’d imagined, but definitely tasty and worth the effort. Also, even better warmed up later and drowned in real maple syrup (not that corn syrup junk they usually serve in diners).

The night got off to an interesting start when Paul, our always-busy president, realized he forgot the projector. That meant Skip’s planned presentation was bumped to July. But in true Skip fashion, he winged it—and still blew our minds.

Familiar Faces and New Finds

We had some new attendees from last weekend’s outreach event at the Equestrian Center (which I missed due to travel). It sounds like it went great. Paul was really excited about the turnout.

Courtney returned after some international travel. She’s one of the younger members I hadn’t met yet, and she’s been working on a new club logo design. Evidently, it hasn’t changed in our 51-year history. So, everyone agreed an update was overdue.

Paul let us know to keep our eyes peeled in July for more meteor showers. May’s Eta Aquarids were a dud, at least here. A few club members went to our Dark Sky site in the wee hours of the morning but only saw a few. I stayed up in anticipation but elected not to go. A wise choice, it turns out.

Here’s hoping for better luck in July—Paul even said it might be a good month for fireballs. (Check out this handy table from his previous meteor shower presentation for dates.)

We also covered a bunch of upcoming sky events:

• June 26–27: Mercury, the Moon, and Castor & Pollux will appear in alignment.
• June 29–30: A cool trio—the Moon, Mars, and Regulus (the brightest star in Leo)—will be lined up.

That led to a fascinating side discussion about the “age of the Moon.” Not its billion-year age—but how old it is in hours after a new moon when you can first spot it as a visible sliver with the naked eye. The club record? 16 hours old. I had no idea this was even a thing—but I am thoroughly fascinated. Just one more reason to keep looking up.

Meanwhile, illustrious member Mike mentioned he’s planning a trip to Green Bay? I thought, “Ok, Packers fan. Who knew?” But then he said it was in Virginia, which didn’t track, so I did a little sleuthing.

Turns out he must’ve said Green Bank—as in the Green Bank Observatory in West Virginia. It’s home to the world’s largest fully steerable radio telescope and is located in a federally protected Radio Quiet Zone. You actually have to put your name on a list and wait to be selected for a visit—which is exactly what Mike described. Pretty awesome. Fingers crossed he gets picked!

We also swapped tips about other clubs worth checking out:

• The Alachua Astronomy Club near UF gets great guest speakers.
• The Edinburgh Astronomy Club (that’s Scotland, lassie!) uploads their events to YouTube, and apparently they’re well worth a watch.

Trying to Keep Up

Skip’s off-the-cuff “presentation” may not have had slides, but it had plenty of brain-benders:

• The universe was once the size of a microbe (whaaat).
• There’s no real “edge” of the universe—straight lines are curved, so everywhere is the center??
• Some theories suggest the universe isn’t expanding, but everything inside it is shrinking instead.
• He explained the four fundamental forces (gravity, electromagnetism, weak nuclear, strong nuclear) and how gravity is still the oddball—we have quantum theories for the other three, but are still stuck on a classical theory of gravity.
• Apparently we can’t peek at anything earlier than five trillionths of a second after the Big Bang because our math for gravity isn’t advanced enough.

Lisa brought up the book Flatland by Edwin Abbott to help explain some of the spatial concepts Skip was talking about. Might need to check that out. If you’re curious too, I found a free copy on Internet Archive, as well as several versions on Amazon (affiliate link). Or you might find it at your local library.

We also touched briefly on “Hubble tension”—the disagreement between data from the Hubble and James Webb telescopes. Didn’t know those two kids were having problems. Hope they work it out. Communication is key, lol.

Social Time & Side Quests

The vibe was great all around. We had some laughs, dinner camaraderie, and plenty of fascinating side conversations.

Before I left, I remembered that I needed to ask Paul if he swears by that brand of green laser pointer I mentioned in the last post. Turns out, no. They all crap out sooner or later. He doesn’t have a favorite brand but recommended having more than one on hand.

If you’d rather spend more (but a lot more!) for something that will probably last longer, Mike mentioned Z-Bolt as a high-quality brand. They’re known for making rugged, astronomy-grade gear, though it might be more than most beginners need.

For more casual or budget-friendly options, browse this selection of green laser pointers on Amazon (affiliate link). I also learned some pretty serious stuff I didn’t know about the use of these seemingly harmless little pointers.

Key takeaways:

• Never point one at an airplane—it’s a felony and a serious danger.
• Don’t give them to kids (seriously!).
• 5 milliwatts is the legal power limit—anything stronger is sketchy (often imported).

What I’m Learning (Besides Science)

Though the meeting didn’t go as expected, I still learned a lot. I ended up with a crash course in both cosmology and laser pointer laws.

Even with no slideshow, Skip managed to break our brains in the best way. I’m learning that even when things go “wrong” at these meetings, something fascinating always seems to happen anyway.

Next month: Skip gets his projector, and we get a second chance to try and keep up.