Friday, September 23, 2022, at 7:30 pm CDT
TAS General Meeting in Person at UTD
UTD room number SCI 1.210
(Zoom Available only to members of Texas Astronomical Society of Dallas)

Dr. Bharat Ratra
Distinguished Professor of Physics
Kansas State University

THE ACCELERATING EXPANDING UNIVERSE: DARK MATTER, DARK ENERGY, AND EINSTEIN'S COSMOLOGICAL CONSTANT

Our September 23, 2022, TAS General Meeting guest speaker will be Dr. Bharat Ratra, in person at UTD. His presentation includes an in-room demonstration.

Bio Bharat Ratra earned a doctorate in physics from Stanford University and a master's degree from the Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi. He has done post-doctoral work at Princeton, Cal Tech and MIT. He has an extensive bio on his Kansas State University Department of Physics Faculty web site where he is currently a Distinguished Professor of Physics and from which this excerpt and picture are used with his permission.

Dr. Ratra works in the areas of cosmology and astroparticle physics. He researches the structure and evolution of the universe. Two of his current principal interests are developing models for the large-scale matter and radiation distributions in the universe and testing these models by comparing predictions to observational data.

In 1988, Ratra and Jim Peebles proposed the first dynamical dark energy model. Dark energy is the leading candidate for the mechanism that is responsible for causing cosmological expansion to accelerate. The discovery that cosmological expansion is accelerating is one of the most significant scientific discoveries of the last quarter of a century.

Dr. Ratra's research has appeared in 140 scholarly publications, which have been cited more than 18,000 times in scientific literature. In the last five years he has given more than 100 invited presentations at conferences, workshops, national laboratories, academic institutions and public settings around the world. He was a National Science Foundation CAREER award winner in 1999. He was named a fellow of the American Physical Society in 2002 and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2005. He is a founding member of the North Central Kansas Astronomical Society.

Abstract: Dark energy is the leading candidate for the mechanism that is responsible for causing the cosmological expansion to accelerate. Dr. Ratra will describe the astronomical data which persuade cosmologists that (as yet undetected) dark energy and dark matter are by far the main components of the energy budget of the universe at the present time. He will review how these observations have led to the development of a quantitative "standard" model of cosmology that describes the evolution of the universe from an early epoch of inflation to the complex hierarchy of structure seen today. In this non-technical talk, he will also discuss the basic physics, and the history of ideas, on which this model is based.

You may want to attend in person this month, as Dr. Ratra plans to do a demonstration involving a small weather balloon.

Meeting details will be sent via TAS Constant Contact email and will be posted to the member portal the week of the meeting.

Location: The hybrid meeting will be in the same room as last time at UTD and on Zoom, UTD room SCI 1.210, which is in the NE corner of the ground floor of the large new Sciences Building.

UTD Campus Map

Lint LaCour
Vice President
Texas Astronomical Society of Dallas

Meeting details will be sent via TAS Constant Contact email and will be posted to the member portal the week of the meeting.

How to Attend the TAS Virtual General Meeting on Zoom
Friday, September 23, 2022 @ 7:30 pm CDT

The General Meeting of the Texas Astronomical Society is held on the fourth Friday of each month, except November.

No general meeting is held in December.

In lieu of the general meeting in December, an Awards Banquet will be held on a designated date.

Members in good standing of the Texas Astronomical Society of Dallas will receive an email notification containing information about how to join the virtual meeting.

General Meeting Agenda

7:00pm	Zoom open for Q&A
7:30pm	Meeting called to order Opening remarks from the President Speaker Introduction by Vice President Speaker Presentation
8:45pm	Break
9:00pm	TAS Business Meeting
9:30pm	Constellation of the Month
10:00pm	Adjourn to BAMSIG

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UTD Campus Map

Three column web layout courtesy of Matthew James Taylor

Sun, Moon, and Tonight's Sky

Richardson, TX (times in CDT): Sunrise today: 7:17am Sunset today: 7:22pm Moonrise today: 6:56am Moonset today: 7:32pm 0% of moon illuminated
Current Phase	Phase Calendar
Courtesy USNO
	September		October
		3rd		3rd
		10th		9th
		17th		17th
		25th		25th

Tonight's Sky:

Click the above image for a chart. Popup blockers must be disabled. Chart courtesy of Fourmilab Switzerland.

Major Planets and Moon Charts

Bright Minor Planet Charts

Observable Comet Charts
Magnitudes observed within the last 5 days:

***** :	brighter than 5.0
**** :	5.0 to 8.9
*** :	9.0 to 13.9
** :	14.0 to 17.9
* :	18.0+
(no stars) :	no recent observations

Minor planet and comet lists, and corresponding orbital elements, are courtesy of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Charts courtesy of Fourmilab Switzerland

Special Interest Groups

APSIG (Astrophotography Special Interest Group) is sponsored by the Texas Astronomical Society of Dallas, Texas.

APSIG meets once a month to share information and learn more about the art and science of Astrophotography -- taking photographs of objects in the night sky such as planets, galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters. Imaging these celestial objects requires special techniques and equipment, but are attainable by anyone willing to point their camera skyward. Come learn how! For more information on APSIG just follow this link...

JTAS (Junior Texas Astronomical Society) is sponsored by the Texas Astronomical Society of Dallas, Texas (TAS) to meet the needs of students interested in learning about astronomy and space.

Each section has two meetings a month. The first meeting of the month is a joint meeting for both groups, where we have an invited speaker to give presentations on astronomy and space science. The second meeting of the month is separate for each group and a presentation is given by a student.

For more information on JTAS, follow this link.

If you would like to learn more about JTAS, send an e-Mail to:

Kevin Cobble
Junior Texas Astronomical Society of Dallas
JTAS@texasastro.com

ObSIG (Observing Special Interest Group) is sponsored by the Texas Astronomical Society of Dallas, Texas. ObSIG meets once a month to promote astronomical observing with telescopes, binoculars, and naked eye. We are also here to help new comers to the hobby of amateur astronomy to get started, learn the sky, and get help picking out the right equipment.

For more information on ObSIG, follow this link.

If you would like to learn more about ObSIG, send an e-Mail to:

Lloyd Lashbrook
Texas Astronomical Society of Dallas
lblashbrook@gmail.com

ATMSIG (Amateur Telescope Makers Special Interest Group) is sponsored by the Texas Astronomical Society of Dallas, Texas.

The ATMSIG meets every other month to explore the design, construction and adjustment of both do it yourself and professionally built telescopes. Anyone interested in building their first scope will find this group a big help in finding the best place to start. You don’t need to have a well equipped workshop, just a few simple tools and an interest in building or modifying it yourself. The ATMSIG is a wonderful place to see projects built locally by TAS members and to share new ideas for the future! For more information, just follow this link...

Please Note: ATMSIG is currently inactive.

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Constellation of the Month: September: Pegasus and Andromeda

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Thank you for your gracious support of the Texas Astronomical Society of Dallas.

Friday, September 23, 2022, at 7:30 pm CDT
TAS General Meeting in Person at UTD
UTD room number SCI 1.210
(Zoom Available only to members of Texas Astronomical Society of Dallas)

Dr. Bharat Ratra
Distinguished Professor of Physics
Kansas State University

THE ACCELERATING EXPANDING UNIVERSE: DARK MATTER, DARK ENERGY, AND EINSTEIN'S COSMOLOGICAL CONSTANT

General Meeting Agenda

214-800-6000

Contact Us

TAS is a member of
The Astronomical League,
The World's Largest Federation of Amateur Astronomers

TAS is a member of
The International Dark Sky Association

Friday, September 23, 2022, at 7:30 pm CDT TAS General Meeting in Person at UTDUTD room number SCI 1.210(Zoom Available only to members of Texas Astronomical Society of Dallas)

Dr. Bharat Ratra Distinguished Professor of Physics Kansas State University

THE ACCELERATING EXPANDING UNIVERSE: DARK MATTER, DARK ENERGY, AND EINSTEIN'S COSMOLOGICAL CONSTANT

General Meeting Agenda

214-800-6000

Contact Us

TAS is a member of The Astronomical League,The World's Largest Federation of Amateur Astronomers

TAS is a member of The International Dark Sky Association

Friday, September 23, 2022, at 7:30 pm CDT
TAS General Meeting in Person at UTD
UTD room number SCI 1.210
(Zoom Available only to members of Texas Astronomical Society of Dallas)

Dr. Bharat Ratra
Distinguished Professor of Physics
Kansas State University

TAS is a member of
The Astronomical League,
The World's Largest Federation of Amateur Astronomers

TAS is a member of
The International Dark Sky Association