"For years our program has aimed not only to present the progress of astronomy, but to give an opportunity to our members to hear, see, and visit with eminent scientists who actually are contributing to the ever-widening horizon of our knowledge of the universe. ”
1947 CAS brochure by Dr. Jason J. Nassau
The Cleveland Astronomical Society
LECTURE NEWS: MEETINGS:
2024 - 2025
The Cleveland Astronomical Society Lecture Series
has announced the lineup of speakers for the 103rd Season.
LECTURE: Shining a Light on Pulsating Aurora: the LAMP Rocket Mission.
DESCRIPTION: Pulsating aurora is a fascinating type of Northern Lights - it flashes on and off in large patches across the sky. Researchers have known for decades that it contains higher energies than the more well-known green arcs and curtains. Yet many questions about the driver and content of this aurora still remain. To investigate the aurora and Earth’s upper atmosphere more thoroughly, we launch sub-orbital sounding rockets up to 1000 km above Earth’s surface to take measurements from within the aurora itself. Sounding rockets (essentially ballistic missiles, minus the munitions) offer a direct trajectory through this region for a 15-minute parabolic flight, during which in situ measurements of particles and fields can be obtained at high resolution. I’ll discuss a recent rocket mission, LAMP, that aims to discover more about the dynamic pulsating aurora.
BIOGRAPHY: University of Iowa. Associate Professor Allison Jaynes’ research focuses on the aurora, the inner magnetosphere, and the radiation belts and how those regions of geospace connect to atmospheric physics. She joined the faculty at the University of Iowa in 2017 after receiving a PhD from the University of New Hampshire and working as a researcher at the University of Colorado Boulder. She has been a Co-Investigator on the Voyager and Van Allen Probes NASA satellite missions, as well as an Instrument Team Member on NASA’s MMS satellite mission. She is the recipient of the AGU James B. Macelwane Medal and the APS Katherine E. Weimer award. She is currently serving as a member of the National Academies Solar and Space Physics Decadal Survey Steering Committee tasked with drafting the priorities for the next decade of research in the field. She previously served as Co-Chair of the Geospace Dynamics Constellation (GDC) Science and Technology Definitions Team for NASA. She was awarded the prestigious NSF CAREER award in 2020. Prof. Jaynes is currently advising five PhD students, and a number of other researchers, and was a recipient of the University of Iowa Dean’s Scholar award in 2022 and the Mid-Career Faculty Scholar award in 2023. Prof. Jaynes received the named F. Wendell Miller professorship in 2023. She leads a summer school for undergraduates on spaceflight hardware to observe Earth and space (The Edge of Space Academy). She is deeply committed to equity and inclusion in STEM, and is passionate about promoting active learning and positive team dynamics.