Feb 21, 2025
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
scheduled
In this talk Dr. Gaston Gutierrez will describe the upgrade to the 4-meter Blanco telescope for the Dark Energy Survey experiment (DES), and the upgrade to the 4-meter Mayall telescope for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument collaboration (DESI). These telescopes are respectively located in La Serena, Chile, and in Kitt Peak, Arizona. He will also describe the scientific goals of both the DES and the DESI collaborations."
Dr. Gutierrez has been a Researcher at Fermilab since 1983. He worked as a High Energy physicist for half of his career, doing things like building the D0 fiber tracker and making precise measurements of the mass of the top quark. About fifteen years ago he became very interested in the mysterious “Dark Energy” and switch fields to Cosmology. Since then he has participated in the upgrades to the Blanco and the Mayall 4-meter telescopes. His main interest in Cosmology is in the evolution of the Large Scale Structure in the Universe in general, and Weak Gravitational Lensing in particular.”
Mar 21, 2025
7:00 pm - 9:30 pm
scheduled
The March 21st meeting of the Lake County Astronomical Society will feature a presentation by Jim Plaxco titled, Solar Power from Space for Earth. Mr. Plaxcois a digital artist and computing professional who has been a space activist since the mid-80’s when he became a member of the National Space Institute. He most recently served as both the Director of Information Systems and Data Protection Officer for the National Space Society. He is also the Webmaster, a Director, and President of the Chicago Society for Space Studies. Mr. Plaxco also created the CSSS Speakers Bureau. He additionally serves as a NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador, a National Space Society Space Ambassador, the National Space Society Space Ambassador’s Economics Subject Matter Expert. This presentation will be a very educational and informative event that you will not want to miss.
The presentation will be followed by an LCAS business meeting starting about 8:30PM. Weather permitting, LCAS Members will show Attendees the Night Sky through powerful telescopes.
Apr 18, 2025
7:00 pm - 9:30 pm
scheduled
The Europa Clipper is NASA's largest-ever planetary spacecraft & it is on its way to the Jupiter system. Arriving in April 2030, the goal of this mission is to study Europa, one of the Galilean moons & one of our solar system's most interesting ocean worlds. The main goal will be to characterize whether this moon might host conditions that are suitable for life. Michelle Nichols from the Adler Planetarium will give an overview of this exciting mission and what scientists are hoping to learn from it.
The presentation will be followed by an LCAS business meeting starting about 8:30PM. Weather permitting, LCAS Members will show Attendees the Night Sky through powerful telescopes.
May 16, 2025
7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
scheduled
The May meeting of the Lake County Astronomical Society will be Friday, May 16th at the Volo Bog Visitor's Center. Our guest speaker will be Larry Bartoszek who was a researcher at FermiLab, designer of the Space Elevator and now president of Bartoszek Engineering. His talk will cover the basic concepts of how to provide power to the Climbers on the Space Elevator as conceived by Bradley Edwards and Eric Westling in their book “The Space Elevator—a revolutionary Earth-to-Space Transportation System.” Once we have a space elevator, the cost to get to orbit should plummet and the colonization of space can begin. Larry Bartoszek has done original design work on the first 900 kg construction climber for the space elevator, the 20 tonne first commercial climber, and a possible 200 tonne climber based on the 20 tonne climber technology. Climbers are electric vehicles that roll straight up the elevator ribbon and out of Earth’s atmosphere. Larry will show how the space elevator can outperform rockets in boosting payloads up to geostationary orbit and beyond. Please note the start time will be 7 PM. Public invited. Please join us.
Jun 20, 2025
7:00 pm - 9:30 pm
scheduled
The Speaker for this months meeting of the Lake County Astronomical Society is Jim Hopkins, retired Professor of Astronomy at Joliet Junior College with a Masters Degree from Eastern Illinois University. Jim was also a teacher at Naperville High School and at the College of DuPage. He has given over 100 presentations on Astronomy over the years in the Chicagoland area. In a world where you can be anything. be kind...The talk will cover the nature of impactors, the creation of craters, the nature of the evidence that supports the impact theory, and mass extinctions related to cratering.
Afterwards, weather permitting, Members of LCAS will show the night sky to guests through their powerful telescopes.
Jul 18, 2025
7:00 pm - 9:30 pm
scheduled
The July 18th meeting of the Lake County Astronomical Society will feature a presentation by Jennifer Sieben who earned a PHD from Indiana University in Astronomy and is an Associate Editor for Physics Today. Jennifer has presented to LCAS before and this is sure to be an interesting, informative and educational event. The meeting will be streamed and shown at the Volo Bog.
The presentation will be followed by an LCAS business meeting starting about 8:30PM. Weather permitting, LCAS Members will show Attendees the Night Sky through powerful telescopes.
Sep 19, 2025
7:00 pm - 9:30 pm
scheduled
Our Speaker for the September 19th of the Lake County Astronomical Society is Dale Dellutri who has had a life-long fascination with science and technology. He will share his experience in attending the latest convention of the American Astronomy Society. He has worked with computer hardware and software since the late 1960’s, and has managed technical employees and projects in various fields including programming, data center construction, legal, tax, and futures and equity trading. He has written programs in many computer languages. He is now retired. Mr. Dellutri has an MBA and a MS in Information Science from the University of Chicago, and a BS in Engineering Science from the Illinois Institute of Technology. He is an amateur astronomer, specializing in computational astronomy, and manages the Skokie Valley Astronomers website. As an amateur astronomer, he has given a number of astronomy-themed presentations over the years to local astronomy clubs.
The presentation will be followed by an LCAS business meeting starting about 8:30PM. Weather permitting, LCAS Members will show Attendees the Night Sky through powerful telescopes.
Nov 21, 2025
7:00 pm - 9:30 pm
scheduled
Larry Boyle, with the Chicago Society for Space Studies Speakers Bureau will give a presentation titled, 'Space: The Year in Review'. Mr Boyle who has presented to LCAS many times in the past has made this talk pretty much a yearly event. This is sure to be a very educational and informative talk.
The presentation will start at 7:00 PM (open to the Public Business meeting starts about 8:30 PM.). Afterwards LCAS members will show guests the night sky through powerful telescopes (weather permitting). Please join us.
