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GRAND RAPIDS AMATEUR ASTRONOMICAL ASSOCIATION
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"Michigan Dark Skies, A Resource Essential to Life as We Know It" May 16, 2024 |  GRAAA Members, Family, & Friends"Reports from Under the Shadow" April 25, 2024 |  Mark McIntosh"Women's Voices in Early Astronomical Discovery" March 21, 2024 |
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 Greg Comegys & Friends"These are My Favorite Things" February 15, 2024 |  Chaffee Planetarium staff"The Sky Overhead in 2024" January 18, 2024 |  George Lessens"Last Chance to Plan Now to see the Great 2024 Total Solar Eclipse" November 16, 2023 |
 Dave DeBruyn"Last Chance to Plan Now to see the Great 2024 Total Solar Eclipse" November 16, 2023 |  Dr. Edwin Bergin"Making a Habitable World" October 19, 2023 |  Glen E. Swanson"When We Return" September 21, 2023 |
 Various GRAAA members"You and Your Backyard Telescope: Exploring the Summer Sky" May 18, 2023 |  Dr. Brent Bos"A Quarter Century of Solar System Exploration, a Personal View" April 26, 2023 | George Lessens"Plan Now to See the Great 2024 Total Solar Eclipse" March 16, 2023 |
Dave DeBruyn"Plan Now to See the Great 2024 Total Solar Eclipse" March 16, 2023 |  Jack McCarthy"Highlights of British Astronomy" February 16, 2023 |  José HernandezRoger That! presentation "Reaching for Your Own Stars: A Recipe to Succeed in Life" February 11, 2023 |
Chaffee Planetarium staff"Big Astronomy" January 19, 2023 | Dave DeBruyn"The Webb Space Telescope: A Challenging Road to Amazing Discoveries" November 17, 2022 |  Dr. Lauren Woolsey"There is No Plan(et) B: Comparing Planets Near and Far" October 20, 2022 |
 Eric Van Zant"Astro-imaging Possibilities" September 15, 2022 | Greg Comegys"Amateur Astronomy - What to Do and What Not to Do" May 19, 2022 |  Julie Brightwell"Building Our Legacy, Learning from the Past, and Inspiring the Future" May 4, 2022 |
 Dr. Larry Molnar"Pioneering Women of the 20th Century" March 17, 2022 |  Colonel Eileen CollinsRoger That! presentation "Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars" February 19, 2022 |  Dr. Shannon Schmoll"Astronomy and Beyond" February 17, 2022 |
Chaffee Planetarium staff"Observing Tips, JWST Progress Report, and Incoming! Show" January 20, 2022 |  Dr. Elias Aydi"Where is Everybody? The Fermi Paradox" November 18, 2021 |  Sam Smartt and Dr. Larry Molnar"Luminous film screening" October 21, 2021 |
 Dr. Lauren Woolsey"The Distance Ladder: Climbing to the Heavens" September 16, 2021 |  GRAAA Panel Discussion"Veen Observatory at 50 Years" May 20, 2021 |  Dr. James Ashley"InSight Into Mars" April 15, 2021 |
 Jim Foerch"Astronomy Slam!" March 18, 2021 |  Dr. Leroy ChiaoRoger That! presentation "Succeed Like an Astronaut: An Astronaut's Path to the Stars" February 19, 2021 |  Mike Sinclair"The Great Debate: Harlow Shapley, Heber Curtis, and the Size of the Universe" February 18, 2021 |
 Dr. Brent Bos"Bombshells at Bennu - Revelations from NASA's First Asteroid Return" January 21, 2021 |  Dr. Jacob Bourjaily"Adventures in Theoretical Physics" November 19, 2020 | Chaffee Planetarium Staff"OSIRIS-REx, Mars, and the Greatest Conjunction Since 1623" October 15, 2020 |
Dr. Lauren Woolsey"Unlocking the Sun, Spectroscopy in the 1880s" September 17, 2020 |  Dr. Megan Donahue"How to Buy Sky and Telescope - and Other Things I Learned Being President of the AAS" February 20, 2020 |  Dr. Story MusgraveRoger That! Presentation "Farm Kid, to Trauma Surgeon, to Rocket Man - and Way Beyond" February 15, 2020 |
Jim Foerch"Astronomy Slam!" January 23, 2020 |  Dr. Kirk Korista"Quasars - From Mystery to Illumination" November 21, 2019 |  Craig Whitford"Michigan's Extraterrestrial Visitors: Meteorites" October 17, 2019 |
 Dr. Shane Larson"Songs from the Stellar Graveyard: Probing the Cosmos in Gravitational Waves" September 19, 2019 |  Dr. Luke Leisman"The Search for (Almost) Starless Galaxies" May 16, 2019 |  Dave DeBruyn"The Skies Down Under" April 17, 2019 |
 Greg Comegys"What to Do, What Not to Do, and When to (not) Do It" March 21, 2019 |  Bob Moler"Adventures of a Wayward Astronomer" February 21, 2019 | Jim Foerch"Pickering and the Glass Universe" January 17, 2019 |
 Ken Bertin"Syzygy" November 15, 2018 |  Dr. Ed Brown"The Densest Matter in the Universe" October 18, 2018 |  Dr. Axel Mellinger"From My Backyard to the Milky Way - 30 Years of Astrophotography" September 20, 2018 |
 David DeBruyn"Mars in 2018 and Beyond - We Are On Our Way" May 17, 2018 |  Nicole Aunapu Mann"The Sky is Not the Limit" May 9, 2018 |  Mary Stewart Adams"Star Stories From Michigan" April 19, 2018 |
 Dr. David Gerdes"The Coolest Place in the Solar System: New Worlds Beyond Neptune" March 15, 2018 |  Buddy Stark"What is Science?" February 15, 2018 |  Gary Ross and Clayton Carey"Life on Other Worlds, 1947 to the Seventeenth Century, with Excursions Into Antiquity" January 18, 2018 |
David DeBruyn"The Star of Bethlehem: New Light on an Old Mystery" November 16, 2017 |  Dr. Richard Bellon"John Herschel, Charles Darwin, and the Mystery of Mysteries" October 19, 2017 |  Diane Hall"In Search of Planet Vulcan" May 18, 2017 |
 Jack Lousma"Flying in Space, a Ride on the Good Ship Columbia" May 3, 2017 |  Patrick Seitzer"Space Debris: When Good Satellites Go Bad" March 16, 2017 |  Garry Beckstrom"A Really Strange and Mysterious Star!" February 16, 2017 |
 Brother Guy Consolmagno"Discarded Worlds: Astronomical Ideas That Were Almost Correct" February 11, 2017 |  Glen Swanson"Spaceport Michigan: When Rockets Flew from the Great Lakes State" January 19, 2017 |  George Lessens"The Great Solar Eclipse of 2017 -- Where to Go and What to See" November 17, 2016 |
 David DeBruyn"The Great Solar Eclipse of 2017 -- Where to Go and What to See" November 17, 2016 |  Mark Jeffery"Couriers from Outer Space" October 20, 2016 |  Dr. Dragan Huterer"Dark Energy and the Accelerating Universe" September 15, 2016 |
 Dr. Nebil Y. Misconi"An Immigrant's Journey Into the Cosmos -- A Memoir" May 19, 2016 |  Mary Stewart Adams"Astronomy as Storytelling" April 21, 2016 |  Dr. Larry Molnar"Prediction of a Luminous Red Nova" March 17, 2016 |
 Gary Ross"When Otto Struve was Sky and Telescope's Brain Trust" February 17, 2016 |  David DeBruyn"ET, Are You Out There?" November 19, 2015 |  Dr. Thomas Strikwerda"New Horizons, Direct from Pluto" October 15, 2015 |
 James Van Prooyen"Galactic Plane Crossing in the Radio Spectrum" August 15, 2015 |  Nick Schuck"Out West Astronomy Tour" July 18, 2015 | Dr. Kirk Korista"Why is the Night Sky Dark?" May 21, 2015 |
 Dr. Jacob Bourjaily"Standing on the Shoulders of Giants" April 29, 2015 |  Dr. Doug Furton"Update on the Red Planet" March 19, 2015 |  Jim Foerch"The Men Behind the H-R Diagram" February 19, 2015 |
 Dr. Mark Christensen"Astral Journeys" January 15, 2015 |  Dr. Kirk Korista"Galaxies -- Islands of Stars??" November 20, 2014 |  David DeBruyn"Ask the Astronomer" October 16, 2014 |
 Dr. Doug Furton"Ask the Astronomer" October 16, 2014 |  Dr. William Millar"Ask the Astronomer" October 16, 2014 |  Jim Foerch"Ask the Astronomer" October 16, 2014 |
 Richard Bell"Star Hopping the Summer Milky Way" July 19, 2014 |  Dr. Kate Dellenbusch"These are the Voyages of the Starship VOYAGER" May 15, 2014 |  Mary Stewart Adams"The Headlands -- A Star in Michigan's History" March 20, 2014 |
 Terry Hancock"Deep Sky Astrophotography by Terry Hancock" February 24, 2014 |  Dr. William Millar"Supernova Remnants" November 21, 2013 |  David DeBruyn"Phantoms from the Deep -- Great Comets Past and (Maybe) Present" October 17, 2013 |
 Terry Hancock"1st Annual Thomas L. Haynes Memorial Imaging Seminar" October 5, 2013 |  Tom Good"Starry, Starry Night!" August 17, 2013 |  Jack McCarthy"South Pacific Eclipse Watch and This Date in Space History" July 20, 2013 |
 Tom Polakis"Atacama Astronomy" July 2013 |  Dr. Fred Adams"Into the Dark -- The Future of the Universe" May 16, 2013 |  Dr. Jacob Bourjaily"A Pedestrian's Guide to Understanding the Laws of Nature" April 17, 2013 |
 Dr. Jerry Dobek"Edward Emerson Barnard -- A Lifetime of Astrophotography" March 21, 2013 |  Randy Mergener"Visiting America's Portals to Space" February 21, 2013 |  Jim Foerch"The Colorful Stars" January 17, 2013 |
 David DeBruyn"Astronomy's Second Golden Age of Discovery -- 1955-Today" November 17, 2012 |  Dr. Horace Smith"Waiting for the Big One: The Next Milky Way Supernova" October 20, 2012 |  James Van Prooyen"Low Frequency Radio Astronomy -- The New Frontier" August 18, 2012 |
 Jose Borrero"Imaging with the Borr Reflector" July 21, 2012 |  Zachory Kaczmarczyk Berta"Planets, Planets Everywhere" July 12, 2012 |  Dr. David Durkee"The Eye as an Observing Instrument" May 19, 2012 |
James Ashley"What Meteorites on Mars Tell Us About its Climate History" April 29, 2012 |  Ernie Ostuno"Paths of Destruction" April 21, 2012 |  David DeBruyn"The Face of Mars -- Our Changing Perspective Since 1871" April 12, 2012 |
 Dale Partin"The Search for Gravitational Waves" March 17, 2012 |  Terry Hancock"Canvass of the Sky" February 18, 2012 |  David DeBruyn"The Golden Age of Discovery" November 19, 2011 |
Dr. Jacob Bourjaily"The Structure of Matter and Dark Matter - It Does Matter!" October 15, 2011 |  Dell Paielli"Hands On with the Marron Telescope" August 20, 2011 |  Dr. Robert Vanderbei"Sizing Up the Universe" July 6, 2011 |
 Jose Borrero"Basics of Digital Imaging" May 21, 2011 | Greg Comegys"Basics of Digital Imaging" May 21, 2011 |  Jerry Kuchtera"Messages from Mars" April 16, 2011 |
Jim Foerch"Development of the Cosmological Distance Ladder" March 19, 2011 |  Gary Ross"The World of John Philiponus" February 19, 2011 |  David DeBruyn"The Search for ET -- Is He Out There?" November 6, 2010 |
 James Van Prooyen"Radio Astronomy: The Sound and Fury of Pulsars" October 2, 2010 |  Sandra Macika"Lick Observatory: History and Volunteer Work" June 5, 2010 |  Diane Hall"Lost Constellations" May 1, 2010 |
 David DeBruyn"The Universe Revealed" April 24, 2010 |  Bryan Kwapil"27 Seconds that Changed the American Space Program" April 21, 2010 |  Jim Marron"The Search for Intelligent Life Anywhere (Except Possibly Washington DC!)" April 3, 2010 |
 Dell Paielli"Getting the Spin -- Searching for Lost Asteroids" March 6, 2010 |  Eric Washington"Benjamin Banneker, 1st African-American Scientist" February 17, 2010. |  Larry Molnar"Benjamin Banneker, 1st African-American Scientist" February 17, 2010. |
 Dr. Kate Dellenbusch"Searching for a Missing Link in Dwarf Galaxy Evolution" February 6, 2010 |
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