AstroCon 2004: A Superior Conjunction

At the ASP Awards Banquet portion of AstroCon 2004, Geoff Marcy gave a talk on his extrasolar planet hunting experiences. Seated at this table from left to right are: John Diebel, Marcy, Noelle Edwards and Alex Filippenko. Photo courtesy of Carter Roberts.

Apollo 12 Astronaut Alan Bean is shown here looking at one of his paintings that were auctioned off on August 24, 2004. The event was a gala dinner on board the USS Hornet (see article on page 1). This was the 35th anniversary of the recovery of Apollo 11, the first lunar landing. On board the Hornet you can still see the isolation lab where the astronauts were quarantined after returning from the moon. The dinner was the final event of AstroCon 2004. Photo courtesy of Hsin I Huang.

Joycelin Craig and Kristin Nelson of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific are shown here at the ASP booth at AstroCon 2004. The ASP was one of the participating organizations at AstroCon 2004 held in Berkeley on July 20-24, 2004. Other participating organizations were American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO), the Astronomical League (AL) and Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers (ALPO). This was the first time all four organizations met together. Sponsoring organizations were Astronomical Association of Northern California (AANC), the Eastbay Astronomical Society and us (SJAA). AstroCon 2004 was dedicated to the memory of Janet Akyüz Mattei, former director of the AAVSO. Highlights of AstroCon 2004 included a talk by David Levy about Janet Mattei, three other talks by Levy, lunch talks by Don Machholz and Tony Hallas, Dr. Louis Friedman's (The Planetary Society) talk on Solar Sails, an ASP Outreach Workshop and many door prizes and exhibitors. Photo courtesy Carter Roberts.