General Meeting Times and Program Schedule

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General meetings of the Astronomical Society of Kansas City, are free and open to the public. We meet the fourth Saturday of each month (except December and for the annual picnic), in Room 111 of Royall Hall, on the campus of the University of Missouri at Kansas City, located one block west of 52nd and Rockhill Road. Meeting time starts at 7:00pm and usually ends around 9:00 PM

Meetings consist of some short business notes, our featured speaker and social hour. Plan on arriving early and take advantage of meeting our members, asking questions, and finding out what we are all about!

The Board of Directors meet the 2nd Thursday of each month, at 7:00pm at the Rockhurst College Community Center. The meeting is open to all ASKC members. For more information, contact the President, Joe Wright
Our program speakers come from a variety of backgrounds. Program topics include night-sky observing, space exploration, stars, planets and other astronomy-related topics by qualified speakers including ASKC members. Some of our more notable speakers have been John Dobson of the San Francisco Sidewalk Astronomers; Ken Croswell, noted cosmologist and author; Nagin Cox, flight system engineer on the JPL Mars 2003 Exploration Rover Mission; and Keith Ashman, professor at Baker University and author of book on globular clusters.


23 January, 2010

Fredrick M. Collison
Five Weeks In a Canyon Alight with Stars

Our speaker will talk on Five Weeks In a Canyon Alight with Stars. Fredrick will talk about the Astronomy and Dark Sky Program offered by Bryce Canyon National Park, including the components to this program, and a brief historical perspective on both the program and the park itself. He will also provide insights on Astronomy and Dark Sky Program volunteer duties, interaction with the visiting public by volunteers and park rangers, and the benefits to this program for volunteers, rangers, and park visitors.

Dr. Fredrick M. Collison is Professor Emeritus of Transportation and Marketing at the School of Travel Industry Management of the University of Hawaii at Mnoa, where he was on the faculty from 1983 through 2006. Fred has graduate degrees from Michigan State University and the University of Delaware along with an undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan. He taught courses and conducted research in the areas of transportation, the travel industry, and marketing before his retirement in 2006.

Most recently, Fred and Jeanne served as volunteers at Bryce Canyon National Park. Fred served in the Astronomy and Dark Sky Program. Fred's basic roles were to operate a solarscope during the middle of the day and a telescope in the evening to allow visitors to see some of the wonders of the solar system, Milky Way galaxy, and the universe. Fred also conducted laser tours of the visible constellations on occasion, often while operating a telescope. In addition, on the weekend closest to full moon, Fred operated a telescope to show visitors the beauty of the full moon.

Fred is a member of the Astronomical Society of Kansas City and the International Dark Sky Association. He was previously a member of Hui Kilolani (the Hawaiian Astronomical Society). He is currently conducting research on connections between astronomy and tourism, Native American astronomy, and traditional wayfinding, as well as on Marshall Islands tourism and trans-Pacific aviation.


Future Program Schedule


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