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PAST SPEAKERS

GRAAA program meetings and special events provide opportunities to hear presentations and share informative time with fellow amateur astronomers. Each year from January-May and September-November, the GRAAA hosts a variety of speakers, including astronomy specialists, GRAAA members, and community organizers. All meetings are free and open to the public.

Dr. Sally Oey

Dr. Sally Oey

"Michigan Dark Skies, A Resource Essential to Life as We Know It" May 16, 2024

GRAAA Members, Family, & Friends

GRAAA Members, Family, & Friends

"Reports from Under the Shadow" April 25, 2024

Mark McIntosh

Mark McIntosh

"Women's Voices in Early Astronomical Discovery" March 21, 2024

Greg Comegys & Friends

Greg Comegys & Friends

"These are My Favorite Things" February 15, 2024

Chaffee Planetarium staff

Chaffee Planetarium staff

"The Sky Overhead in 2024" January 18, 2024

George Lessens

George Lessens

"Last Chance to Plan Now to see the Great 2024 Total Solar Eclipse" November 16, 2023

Dave DeBruyn

Dave DeBruyn

"Last Chance to Plan Now to see the Great 2024 Total Solar Eclipse" November 16, 2023

Dr. Edwin Bergin

Dr. Edwin Bergin

"Making a Habitable World" October 19, 2023

Glen E. Swanson

Glen E. Swanson

"When We Return" September 21, 2023

Various GRAAA members

Various GRAAA members

"You and Your Backyard Telescope: Exploring the Summer Sky" May 18, 2023

Dr. Brent Bos

Dr. Brent Bos

"A Quarter Century of Solar System Exploration, a Personal View" April 26, 2023

George Lessens

George Lessens

"Plan Now to See the Great 2024 Total Solar Eclipse" March 16, 2023

Dave DeBruyn

Dave DeBruyn

"Plan Now to See the Great 2024 Total Solar Eclipse" March 16, 2023

Jack McCarthy

Jack McCarthy

"Highlights of British Astronomy" February 16, 2023

José Hernandez

José Hernandez

Roger That! presentation "Reaching for Your Own Stars: A Recipe to Succeed in Life" February 11, 2023

Chaffee Planetarium staff

Chaffee Planetarium staff

"Big Astronomy" January 19, 2023

Dave DeBruyn

Dave DeBruyn

"The Webb Space Telescope: A Challenging Road to Amazing Discoveries" November 17, 2022

Dr. Lauren Woolsey

Dr. Lauren Woolsey

"There is No Plan(et) B: Comparing Planets Near and Far" October 20, 2022

Eric Van Zant

Eric Van Zant

"Astro-imaging Possibilities" September 15, 2022

Greg Comegys

Greg Comegys

"Amateur Astronomy - What to Do and What Not to Do" May 19, 2022

Julie Brightwell

Julie Brightwell

"Building Our Legacy, Learning from the Past, and Inspiring the Future" May 4, 2022

Dr. Larry Molnar

Dr. Larry Molnar

"Pioneering Women of the 20th Century" March 17, 2022

Colonel Eileen Collins

Colonel Eileen Collins

Roger That! presentation "Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars" February 19, 2022

Dr. Shannon Schmoll

Dr. Shannon Schmoll

"Astronomy and Beyond" February 17, 2022

Chaffee Planetarium staff

Chaffee Planetarium staff

"Observing Tips, JWST Progress Report, and Incoming! Show" January 20, 2022

Dr. Elias Aydi

Dr. Elias Aydi

"Where is Everybody? The Fermi Paradox" November 18, 2021

Sam Smartt and Dr. Larry Molnar

Sam Smartt and Dr. Larry Molnar

"Luminous film screening" October 21, 2021

Dr. Lauren Woolsey

Dr. Lauren Woolsey

"The Distance Ladder: Climbing to the Heavens" September 16, 2021

GRAAA Panel Discussion

GRAAA Panel Discussion

"Veen Observatory at 50 Years" May 20, 2021

Dr. James Ashley

Dr. James Ashley

"InSight Into Mars" April 15, 2021

Jim Foerch

Jim Foerch

"Astronomy Slam!" March 18, 2021

Dr. Leroy Chiao

Dr. Leroy Chiao

Roger That! presentation "Succeed Like an Astronaut: An Astronaut's Path to the Stars" February 19, 2021

Mike Sinclair

Mike Sinclair

"The Great Debate: Harlow Shapley, Heber Curtis, and the Size of the Universe" February 18, 2021

Dr. Brent Bos

Dr. Brent Bos

"Bombshells at Bennu - Revelations from NASA's First Asteroid Return" January 21, 2021

Dr. Jacob Bourjaily

Dr. Jacob Bourjaily

"Adventures in Theoretical Physics" November 19, 2020

Chaffee Planetarium Staff

Chaffee Planetarium Staff

"OSIRIS-REx, Mars, and the Greatest Conjunction Since 1623" October 15, 2020

Dr. Lauren Woolsey

Dr. Lauren Woolsey

"Unlocking the Sun, Spectroscopy in the 1880s" September 17, 2020

Dr. Megan Donahue

Dr. Megan Donahue

"How to Buy Sky and Telescope - and Other Things I Learned Being President of the AAS" February 20, 2020

Dr. Story Musgrave

Dr. Story Musgrave

Roger That! Presentation "Farm Kid, to Trauma Surgeon, to Rocket Man - and Way Beyond" February 15, 2020

Jim Foerch

Jim Foerch

"Astronomy Slam!" January 23, 2020

Dr. Kirk Korista

Dr. Kirk Korista

"Quasars - From Mystery to Illumination" November 21, 2019

Craig Whitford

Craig Whitford

"Michigan's Extraterrestrial Visitors: Meteorites" October 17, 2019

Dr. Shane Larson

Dr. Shane Larson

"Songs from the Stellar Graveyard: Probing the Cosmos in Gravitational Waves" September 19, 2019

Dr. Luke Leisman

Dr. Luke Leisman

"The Search for (Almost) Starless Galaxies" May 16, 2019

Dave DeBruyn

Dave DeBruyn

"The Skies Down Under" April 17, 2019

Greg Comegys

Greg Comegys

"What to Do, What Not to Do, and When to (not) Do It" March 21, 2019

Bob Moler

Bob Moler

"Adventures of a Wayward Astronomer" February 21, 2019

Jim Foerch

Jim Foerch

"Pickering and the Glass Universe" January 17, 2019

Ken Bertin

Ken Bertin

"Syzygy" November 15, 2018

Dr. Ed Brown

Dr. Ed Brown

"The Densest Matter in the Universe" October 18, 2018

Dr. Axel Mellinger

Dr. Axel Mellinger

"From My Backyard to the Milky Way - 30 Years of Astrophotography" September 20, 2018

David DeBruyn

David DeBruyn

"Mars in 2018 and Beyond - We Are On Our Way" May 17, 2018

Nicole Aunapu Mann

Nicole Aunapu Mann

"The Sky is Not the Limit" May 9, 2018

Mary Stewart Adams

Mary Stewart Adams

"Star Stories From Michigan" April 19, 2018

Dr. David Gerdes

Dr. David Gerdes

"The Coolest Place in the Solar System: New Worlds Beyond Neptune" March 15, 2018

Buddy Stark

Buddy Stark

"What is Science?" February 15, 2018

Gary Ross and Clayton Carey

Gary Ross and Clayton Carey

"Life on Other Worlds, 1947 to the Seventeenth Century, with Excursions Into Antiquity" January 18, 2018

David DeBruyn

David DeBruyn

"The Star of Bethlehem: New Light on an Old Mystery" November 16, 2017

Dr. Richard Bellon

Dr. Richard Bellon

"John Herschel, Charles Darwin, and the Mystery of Mysteries" October 19, 2017

Diane Hall

Diane Hall

"In Search of Planet Vulcan" May 18, 2017

Jack Lousma

Jack Lousma

"Flying in Space, a Ride on the Good Ship Columbia" May 3, 2017

Patrick Seitzer

Patrick Seitzer

"Space Debris: When Good Satellites Go Bad" March 16, 2017

Garry Beckstrom

Garry Beckstrom

"A Really Strange and Mysterious Star!" February 16, 2017

Brother Guy Consolmagno

Brother Guy Consolmagno

"Discarded Worlds: Astronomical Ideas That Were Almost Correct" February 11, 2017

Glen Swanson

Glen Swanson

"Spaceport Michigan: When Rockets Flew from the Great Lakes State" January 19, 2017

George Lessens

George Lessens

"The Great Solar Eclipse of 2017 -- Where to Go and What to See" November 17, 2016

David DeBruyn

David DeBruyn

"The Great Solar Eclipse of 2017 -- Where to Go and What to See" November 17, 2016

Mark Jeffery

Mark Jeffery

"Couriers from Outer Space" October 20, 2016

Dr. Dragan Huterer

Dr. Dragan Huterer

"Dark Energy and the Accelerating Universe" September 15, 2016

Dr. Nebil Y. Misconi

Dr. Nebil Y. Misconi

"An Immigrant's Journey Into the Cosmos -- A Memoir" May 19, 2016

Mary Stewart Adams

Mary Stewart Adams

"Astronomy as Storytelling" April 21, 2016

Dr. Larry Molnar

Dr. Larry Molnar

"Prediction of a Luminous Red Nova" March 17, 2016

Gary Ross

Gary Ross

"When Otto Struve was Sky and Telescope's Brain Trust" February 17, 2016

David DeBruyn

David DeBruyn

"ET, Are You Out There?" November 19, 2015

Dr. Thomas Strikwerda

Dr. Thomas Strikwerda

"New Horizons, Direct from Pluto" October 15, 2015

James Van Prooyen

James Van Prooyen

"Galactic Plane Crossing in the Radio Spectrum" August 15, 2015

Nick Schuck

Nick Schuck

"Out West Astronomy Tour" July 18, 2015

Dr. Kirk Korista

Dr. Kirk Korista

"Why is the Night Sky Dark?" May 21, 2015

Dr. Jacob Bourjaily

Dr. Jacob Bourjaily

"Standing on the Shoulders of Giants" April 29, 2015

Dr. Doug Furton

Dr. Doug Furton

"Update on the Red Planet" March 19, 2015

Jim Foerch

Jim Foerch

"The Men Behind the H-R Diagram" February 19, 2015

Dr. Mark Christensen

Dr. Mark Christensen

"Astral Journeys" January 15, 2015

Dr. Kirk Korista

Dr. Kirk Korista

"Galaxies -- Islands of Stars??" November 20, 2014

David DeBruyn

David DeBruyn

"Ask the Astronomer" October 16, 2014

Dr. Doug Furton

Dr. Doug Furton

"Ask the Astronomer" October 16, 2014

Dr. William Millar

Dr. William Millar

"Ask the Astronomer" October 16, 2014

Jim Foerch

Jim Foerch

"Ask the Astronomer" October 16, 2014

Richard Bell

Richard Bell

"Star Hopping the Summer Milky Way" July 19, 2014

Dr. Kate Dellenbusch

Dr. Kate Dellenbusch

"These are the Voyages of the Starship VOYAGER" May 15, 2014

Mary Stewart Adams

Mary Stewart Adams

"The Headlands -- A Star in Michigan's History" March 20, 2014

Terry Hancock

Terry Hancock

"Deep Sky Astrophotography by Terry Hancock" February 24, 2014

Dr. William Millar

Dr. William Millar

"Supernova Remnants" November 21, 2013

David DeBruyn

David DeBruyn

"Phantoms from the Deep -- Great Comets Past and (Maybe) Present" October 17, 2013

Terry Hancock

Terry Hancock

"1st Annual Thomas L. Haynes Memorial Imaging Seminar" October 5, 2013

Tom Good

Tom Good

"Starry, Starry Night!" August 17, 2013

Jack McCarthy

Jack McCarthy

"South Pacific Eclipse Watch and This Date in Space History" July 20, 2013

Tom Polakis

Tom Polakis

"Atacama Astronomy" July 2013

Dr. Fred Adams

Dr. Fred Adams

"Into the Dark -- The Future of the Universe" May 16, 2013

Dr. Jacob Bourjaily

Dr. Jacob Bourjaily

"A Pedestrian's Guide to Understanding the Laws of Nature" April 17, 2013

Dr. Jerry Dobek

Dr. Jerry Dobek

"Edward Emerson Barnard -- A Lifetime of Astrophotography" March 21, 2013

Randy Mergener

Randy Mergener

"Visiting America's Portals to Space" February 21, 2013

Jim Foerch

Jim Foerch

"The Colorful Stars" January 17, 2013

David DeBruyn

David DeBruyn

"Astronomy's Second Golden Age of Discovery -- 1955-Today" November 17, 2012

Dr. Horace Smith

Dr. Horace Smith

"Waiting for the Big One: The Next Milky Way Supernova" October 20, 2012

James Van Prooyen

James Van Prooyen

"Low Frequency Radio Astronomy -- The New Frontier" August 18, 2012

Jose Borrero

Jose Borrero

"Imaging with the Borr Reflector" July 21, 2012

Zachory Kaczmarczyk Berta

Zachory Kaczmarczyk Berta

"Planets, Planets Everywhere" July 12, 2012

Dr. David Durkee

Dr. David Durkee

"The Eye as an Observing Instrument" May 19, 2012

James Ashley

James Ashley

"What Meteorites on Mars Tell Us About its Climate History" April 29, 2012

Ernie Ostuno

Ernie Ostuno

"Paths of Destruction" April 21, 2012

David DeBruyn

David DeBruyn

"The Face of Mars -- Our Changing Perspective Since 1871" April 12, 2012

Dale Partin

Dale Partin

"The Search for Gravitational Waves" March 17, 2012

Terry Hancock

Terry Hancock

"Canvass of the Sky" February 18, 2012

David DeBruyn

David DeBruyn

"The Golden Age of Discovery" November 19, 2011

Dr. Jacob Bourjaily

Dr. Jacob Bourjaily

"The Structure of Matter and Dark Matter - It Does Matter!" October 15, 2011

Dell Paielli

Dell Paielli

"Hands On with the Marron Telescope" August 20, 2011

Dr. Robert Vanderbei

Dr. Robert Vanderbei

"Sizing Up the Universe" July 6, 2011

Jose Borrero

Jose Borrero

"Basics of Digital Imaging" May 21, 2011

Greg Comegys

Greg Comegys

"Basics of Digital Imaging" May 21, 2011

Jerry Kuchtera

Jerry Kuchtera

"Messages from Mars" April 16, 2011

Jim Foerch

Jim Foerch

"Development of the Cosmological Distance Ladder" March 19, 2011

Gary Ross

Gary Ross

"The World of John Philiponus" February 19, 2011

David DeBruyn

David DeBruyn

"The Search for ET -- Is He Out There?" November 6, 2010

James Van Prooyen

James Van Prooyen

"Radio Astronomy: The Sound and Fury of Pulsars" October 2, 2010

Sandra Macika

Sandra Macika

"Lick Observatory: History and Volunteer Work" June 5, 2010

Diane Hall

Diane Hall

"Lost Constellations" May 1, 2010

David DeBruyn

David DeBruyn

"The Universe Revealed" April 24, 2010

Bryan Kwapil

Bryan Kwapil

"27 Seconds that Changed the American Space Program" April 21, 2010

Jim Marron

Jim Marron

"The Search for Intelligent Life Anywhere (Except Possibly Washington DC!)" April 3, 2010

Dell Paielli

Dell Paielli

"Getting the Spin -- Searching for Lost Asteroids" March 6, 2010

Eric Washington

Eric Washington

"Benjamin Banneker, 1st African-American Scientist" February 17, 2010.

Larry Molnar

Larry Molnar

"Benjamin Banneker, 1st African-American Scientist" February 17, 2010.

Dr. Kate Dellenbusch

Dr. Kate Dellenbusch

"Searching for a Missing Link in Dwarf Galaxy Evolution" February 6, 2010

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