MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Allen Robnett
Allen is a dedicated astronomy and aerospace teacher at Gallatin High School, and the recipient of the 2010
AFA Aerospace Teacher of the Year.
Allen has recently published three very interesting articles concerning the speed of gravitational influence and the cause of Dark Energy, Dark Matter, and Dark Flow.
Papers - Hit link to read:
Additional experimental evidence for the transfer of information at a speed greater than the speed of light.
Experimental evidence for the transfer of information at a speed greater than the speed of light.
Link between current astronomical anomalies
Ben Mclerran
Ben lives in Castalian Springs, Tennessee and is a Computer Technician who graduated from Nashville State Technical Institute. After messing around with a dime-store telescope (Vivitar), his interest in Amateur Astronomy was rekindled. When tax day came around this year, he purchased a Celestron Nexstar 8se. He found C.A.S. on the internet, and attended a few of our parties. Now, he and several of his family members are active members. Ben says, "I have several favorite things to observe. During spring and summer I preferred the Trifid, Swan Nebula, Mars and Saturn. Now that we've made it almost all the way through Fall I have to say that Jupiter, Pleiades, and the Great Nebula in Orion are my favorites. Then there's the galaxies of which I don't have one favorite... yet. I really enjoy hearing people get excited to see something through a telescope for the first time. Which is one of the things that really drew me into CAS. Now I like the challenge and the color that Video astronomy provides and I bring that out to the Public Star Parties. However even with the color there is something to be said about look through an eyepiece."
He also has an Ioptron Smartstar-a R80 which he uses for wide field images, as well as a Zhumell Z10.
Secretary of C.A.S.
Dr. Farris is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of Mississippi with a B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering. He received his PhD in Physics from Vanderbilt University, and he has been Professor of Physics at Volunteer State Community College since 2001. Tim has been associated with the Cumberland Astronomical Society for many years, serving as Educational Outreach director, Vice-President, and he currently serves as club secretary. He is a member of many professional organizations including The Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Most recently, he has published an article entitled "New Double Stars from Asteroidal Occultations." You can read this article here.
LLOYD WATKINS
Lloyd has recently written an article for his AL outreach club. You can read this article here.
Jim Tomkins, Lloyd and Kathy Watkins at Tennessee Spring Star Party, April 2011.
We have just been informed that Astro-guru Lloyd has purchased yet another telescope, which he will use during the many astronomical events he attends:
"My most recent scope purchase is a Meade 8" SCT LS. I bought it to use for outreach programs. This scope does it all. First of all It's light and easy on the back. Captured click-in tripod bolts make this SCT easy to set up. It performs a complete alignment, tells me when it's ready to use, has a dead on go-to, describes and shows an image on the monitor of the object in the eyepiece. It also has the coma free optics with special coatings. I almost forgot, it has a minimum CCD camera."
The Meade 8" SCT LS
Lloyd has been a very active member or our Society, and has educated countless folks on the wonders of astronomy for many years. Thanks, Lloyd, for all your hard work.
