Our July meeting will be held 7-7 at 7pm. The speaker will be Dr. Ron Buta, a professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Alabama. He has been actively involved in collection and documentation of fossil trackways from the Steven Minkin Footprint Site for a number of years, and is also internationally known for his research on galaxies and astrophysics.

For his presentation, Dr. Buta will be discussing "Astronomy and the Coal Age of Alabama". The focus of the talk is around the concept of deep time and how things change over the long periods of time associated with astronomy, geology, and paleontology. As a reference marker, he has chosen a local Coal Age fossil site, the Steven C. Minkin Paleozoic Footprint Site near Jasper, whose age has been dated at 310 million years. The main emphasis in the talk is on astronomical concepts: Where was the Sun 310 Myr ago? How does the sky change over such a long period of time and how is this connected to the way our galaxy rotates and to the ages of stars? What might the "star-gazing tetrapods" of Alabama's Coal Age seen in their sky? What were other galaxies like, and how do they change over such a long period? Where is the light from Alabama's Coal Age now? What were the planets like 310 Myr ago?

BPS regular monthly meetings are held on the 1st Monday of each month at the McWane Science Center. Park in the deck on "Level C", go through doors marked Special Event Center, and follow signs to the meeting. The program begins at 7:00, immediately followed by the business meeting.