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HAS Meeting Main Speaker Presentation

Event Date

Stellar Evolution: The Life Cycle of Stars with Bill Pellerin

As we become more experienced Observers, it is easy to become jaded by the stars. We use them as signposts and pointers to the “interesting” objects we have on our observing lists, and can begin to take the stars themselves for granted.  It is only when we begin to understand stars and how important that they are, that we really begin to treat them as a significant part of our astronomy experience.

Bill Pellerin.jpg

Everything that you see in the night sky is visible to you because of light from a star. The stars themselves, nebulae, planets, moons, are visible because of starlight. Even dark nebulae are visible because they block the illumination of stars or other objects lit up by stars. Stars are born in clouds of cosmic gas and dust and provide light as a product of nuclear fusion. We exist because early generations of stars generated the elements that make up our planet and the chemical elements required for life. It is not an understatement to say that we exist because stars exist!

As the author and coordinator of the Astronomical League Stellar Evolution program, Bill will explain the evolutionary paths of low and high mass stars. The League program guide includes a 27-page guide to stellar evolution, and a list of 100 objects to observe, many of which will be discussed in this fascinating presentation.

Bio – Bill Pellerin was president of the Houston Astronomical Society in 2012-2013. As the author and  coordinator of the ‘Stellar Evolution’ observing program for the Astronomical League. He has awarded 80 observers with a pin and certificate for completing the program (since 2013). He is the east Texas manager for the International Dark Sky Association, a member of the McDonald Observatory Board of Visitors and the American Association of Variable Star observers. He is currently active in observing R Crb type variable stars and reporting those observations to the AAVSO.

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Since we're all practicing safe social distancing, we have decided to bring our speaker to you virtually through the Zoom online meeting platform! You must register for this presentation in order to attend. You may do so by using the link below:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYvcOCgrDsjGdwFNWt7opwgWTEtxxc7mV-I

Please watch your email, as you should also receive an email inviting you attend. The email will include any up to date changes (if any) on meeting times etc. You may also register using the link in the email, however it is only necessary to register once.  

We'll have the online chat feature available to us during the talk, and once the presentation is over, we can open up the audio lines for more questions.  I'm excited that this we're able to get together in this fashion, and I hope you can join us then.  We hope to see you online with us on Friday evening August 7th!

Joe Khalaf

President

Houston Astronomical Society