Notice: Object of class stdClass could not be converted to int in /local/vweb/awisdc.org/htdocs/components/com_events/events.html.php on line 72
Other Event: Awards Dinner for the National Capital Section of the Optical Society of America
Tuesday, May 15 2007, 5:30pm - 9:00pm
ANNUAL SCIENCE FAIR AWARDS DINNER of the National Capital Section of the Optical Society of America
Tuesday, 15 May 2007
This meeting will be held at the NASA Goddard Recreation Center on Tuesday, May 15, 2007. The winning optics related science fair exhibits will be displayed before the meeting and we will all have a chance to talk with the students--always an interesting event.
RESERVATIONS WILL BE REQUIRED FOR ALL! by Friday 11 May Please see the end of this message for contact information on making reservations.
****************************************
After Dinner Talk -
"THE PROMISE OF ULTRA-HIGH RESOLUTION SPACE IMAGING AND PLANET DETECTION" Richard G. Lyon, NASA/GSFC
ABSTRACT:
Space telescopes, such as Hubble, have made truly startling discoveries about the universe in which we live. Operating above the atmosphere, Hubble resolves detail to the level of ~40 milli-arseconds with its 2.4 meter aperture - equivalent to the size of a quarter at 100 miles. While unprecedented it does not have enough resolving power to see the disk of nearby stars nor any terrestrial or jovian planets around them which require ~20 micro-arcsecond resolution (a quarter at 20,000 miles) or a telescope with a 500 meter aperture. Telescopes of this size would be tremendously difficult to build and launch and the cost would be astronomical.
An exciting alternative would be to use synthetic aperture imaging - effectively building up the resolving power by synthesizing an aperture by using an array of small telescopes flying in formation. This configuration of telescopes doesn*t generate a direct image but a set of interferograms which are subsequently processed to build up the ultra-high resolution image. This would allow us to resolve nearby stars and potentially detect and image planets. In effect we are trading the size and mass of a large telescope for complexity in the sensing and control of formation flying and optics and post-processing of the data. Such complexity is non-trivial and some difficult problems arise - however it is likely the only feasible approach.
At NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center we are exploring the feasibility of space-based synthetic aperture imaging through the use of computer simulations and a sequence of ground laboratory testbeds. This work is still in its infancy and will take quite a bit of time to bring this technology to fruition but it is an active research area due to the promise it holds. This talk will explain the principle behind synthetic aperture imaging by graphically showing how an interferometer builds up an image from an array of telescopes, and how planets could be detected and characterized. Related ongoing work in supercomputing modeling, optical sensing, control and sequence of laboratory testbeds will also be presented.
ABOUT OUR SPEAKER: Richard Lyon R. Lyon joined NASA/GSFC in 1994 as a Research Scientist for NASA*s Center of Excellence in Space Data and Information Systems and led supercomputing modeling, via the use of a Cray/YMP and MasPar MP2, of phase retrieval and maximum entropy deconvolution efforts for Hubble Space Telescope and wavefront sensing and optical control for the James Webb Space Telescope. In 2000 R. Lyon joined the NASA/GSFC Applied Information Sciences and Technology Branch which became the Computational and Information Sciences Technology Office and founded the Optical Systems Characterization and Analysis Research (OSCAR) Project. He has led efforts in supercomputing modeling and algorithm development of coronagraphy for Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF), Extra-Solar Planetary Imaging Coronagraph (EPIC) where he is the Project Scientist, Stellar Imager (SI), Submillimeter Probe of the Evolutionary Cosmic Structure (SPECS) and the Earth Atmospheric Solar-Occultation Imager (EASI) and has developed an incremental suite of laboratory testbeds. Previously at the Air Force Research Labs, R. Lyon was involved in the Mid-Course Space Experiment (MSX), a mission for missile tracking via plume analysis. While at Perkin-Elmer Corporation he was involved in the Hubble Space Telescope project and was principal investigator for the post-launch phase retrieval efforts to quantify the errors in the telescope due to mis-figuring the primary mirror.
He has received numerous NASA awards for his work and received the distinguished NASA Medal for Exceptional Service. He has authored or co-authored ~135 publications in Astronomy, Optics and Applied Mathematics and contributed to 2 books in optics and telescope design.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Lecture and Dinner at Goddard Recreation Area Good Luck Road Road, Greenbelt, MD
>>>>MEETING SCHEDULE <<<<<
5:30 PM: Recreation Center Open for students to set up their Science Fair Projects
6:00 PM: Social Hour and viewing of this years winning Optics Projects from the Washington Region Science Fairs
6:45 PM: DINNER Dinner will include appetizers and open bar with beer, wine and soft drinks during the social hour; buffet salad bar, grilled NY strip steak, grilled marinated chicken breast , or Vegetarian Lasanga, baked potato, roasted vegetables, desert and coffee
The dinner cost will be - $20.00 for NCS/OSA members, $22.00 for non-members, and $15 for students
7:30 PM Scince Fair Awards to Students
8:00 PM: LECTURE "THE PROMISE OF ULTRA-HIGH RESOLUTION SPACE IMAGING AND PLANET DETECTION" Richard G. Lyon, NASA/GSFC
Directions:: From the Capital Beltway (I-95/I-495) exit onto the Baltimore-Washington Parkway , North, towards Baltimore. Almost immediately, exit onto Greenbelt Road (Rt. 193) East, following signs towards NASA Goddard Space Flight Center [you will turn left from the exit ramp onto Greenbelt Road]. If you are approaching from the Outer Loop of the Beltway, on the exit road to the Baltimore-Washington Parkway there is a slip road that leads directly on to Greenbelt Road eastbound, so, in this case, you would not turn "left" on to Greenbelt Road
Travel East on Greenbelt Rd, to the NASA Goddard main entrance about 1.5 miles after the Beltway. The main gate is on the left at the first traffic light after Cipriano Road, across from a small shopping center (with a K-Mart). Proceed directly to the guard who will issue all vehicle occupants a Special Event entry badge, if they have made reservations. The guard will give you directions to the Recreation Center. After entering Goddard turn right at the first stop sign. onto Center Road. Continue on Center Rd until you enter the Parking lot by the Recreation Center.
________________________________
>>>>>>> SPECIAL NOTICE <<<<<<<<
Reservations are required with your dinner choice. Goddard security requires advance notice of the names of those who will be admitted!
Also the caterer needs to know how much food to order. Please make your reservation by Friday May 11. If you do not, you may not get in (due to NASA security requirements)!
For reservations with your dinner selection [Steak, Chicken or Vegetarian Lasagna] please contact:
