Several Physics Club members along with Prof. Hinnefeld hosted a fun MTS event on Wednesday, April 12th. Club member/ finance major / photography buff Nick Muraya used a 1980s-era Polaroid Sun 600 LMS to get a great group photo.
![](https://blogs.iu.edu/iusbphys/files/2023/04/Folder001_00001A-2.jpg)
Posted on by hpscott
Several Physics Club members along with Prof. Hinnefeld hosted a fun MTS event on Wednesday, April 12th. Club member/ finance major / photography buff Nick Muraya used a 1980s-era Polaroid Sun 600 LMS to get a great group photo.
Posted on by jhinnefe
CURRENT STATUS: Conditions for the 12th are looking good!
Details: The IUSB Observatory will be open, weather permitting, from 8:30-10:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 12th. Venus will still be high enough to view with the telescope at 8:30. Then we’ll have a look at Mars, and then a variety of star clusters and maybe a nebula or two.
Come to the elevators on the 1st floor of Northside Hall and wait to be escorted to the rooftop observatory. If the building is locked come to the northwest entrance.
Please be sure to check back here before traveling to campus in case we need to cancel due to inclement weather.
This event is being organized by the IUSB Physics Club and the Dept. of Physics and Astronomy.
Posted on by hpscott
The IU South Bend Physics Club has released Volume 4 of their newsletter: This Month in Physics Club April.
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Faculty from the IUSB Dept. of Physics & Astronomy are partnering with MPI Engineered Technologies to study conditions that may cause seasonal corrosion issues with the steel “clutch-separation plates” fabricated at their Fineblanking plant in Knox, IN. The team will use Arduino-based data loggers, custom designed by Prof. Brian Davis, and fabricated by a growing team including students and local high school teachers, to collect high-frequency environmental measurements throughout the plant.
This collaboration was initiated when Spencer Wesler, a chemical engineer from MPI, accompanied his grandson for an observatory tour, led by Prof. Henry Scott, during an IUSB Admissions “open house” for prospective students. Scott described recent efforts with Profs. Ilan Levine and Davis to adapt their traditional research expertise to address novel problems with greater local relevance and community-outreach opportunity. Wesler took interest, described the problem he’s trying to solve, and a pilot study is underway less than a month later.
Posted on by hpscott
The IU South Bend Physics Club has released Volume 3 of their newsletter: This Month in Physics Club March.
Here’s the announcement text from the newsletter authors:
Hey All!
I hope this email finds you well and ready to learn more about the fascinating world of physics! I am thrilled to announce that the third edition of our Physics Club Newsletter has been released, and it’s filled with all sorts of exciting updates.
In this edition, you will find updates on the latest club activities, including our club’s attendance at the annual SPS Zone 8 Meeting and upcoming initiatives that you won’t want to miss.
We have put a lot of effort into making this edition even better than the previous ones, so we hope you enjoy it as much as we do. You can access the newsletter through the following link: This Month in Physics//March.
We would love to hear your feedback on the newsletter, so please do not hesitate to share your comments and suggestions with us. We are always looking for ways to improve the quality of our newsletter.
Thank you for your continued support, and we hope you enjoy the third edition of our Physics Club Newsletter!
Best regards,
Your Physics Club Family
Posted on by hpscott
The 2023 Zone 8 Meeting of the Society of Physics Students (SPS) was hosted by the IU Bloomington chapter this year, from February 24th to February 26th, and five members of the IU South Bend Physics Club made the trip: Phillip Derrickson (’24), Emilee Edmonds (’24), Ryleigh Jebson (’25) Preston Porter (’23), Joy Thompson (’24). I haven’t had yet had a full debriefing, but I’m sure it will be featured in the upcoming March issue of the Physics Club newsletter!
Posted on by hpscott
The 31st annual Science Alive was held at the St. Joseph County Public Library on Saturday, February 11, 2023. The Physics Club organized a table with the goal of exposing attendees to smart-phone based data collection using the freely available phyphox app. Co-presidents Emilee Edmonds (’24) and Preston Porter (’23) each took shifts, along with club members Joy Thompson (’24) and Olivia Bruner (’22 — B.S. in Health Sciences). Emilee Edmonds prepared an activity handout, along with a Spanish version as translated by Michael Morales (’23).
The event was a huge success, with constant traffic at the Physics Club table, and club members interacting with roughly 250 kids. (As a lower bound, ~240 yo-yos, with a spherical cow + telescope graphic, had been distributed by about 3:30, and the event went until 4:00 p.m.).
Anthropology, Biology and Chemistry had tables as well, so IUSB was well-represented. It was great to see the event return to full force (post pandemic), with an estimated total attendance exceeding 1,500 people!
Posted on by hpscott
The IU South Bend Physics Club has released Volume 2 of their newsletter.
Here’s a link to view the latest issue as a PDF: This Month in Physics Club February.
And, here’s the announcement text from the newsletter authors:
Hey All!
I hope this email finds you all in good spirits and ready to dive into some physics fun! I’m excited to announce that the second edition of our club newsletter is now available, and it’s jam-packed with all sorts of exciting club updates.
In this edition, you’ll find updates on what the club as a whole and individual members have been up to, upcoming events that you won’t want to miss, and a great conference experience that will blow your mind (in a good way, we hope). We’ve put in a lot of hard work to make this edition even better than the first, so we hope you love it just as much as we do.
We’d love to hear your thoughts on the newsletter, so feel free to reach out and share your comments and suggestions. We’re always looking for ways to make things better.
Thanks for your continued support and we hope you enjoy the 2nd edition of our Physics Club Newsletter!
-Your Physics Club Family
Posted on by jhinnefe
I braved the cold Tuesday night (11F when I finished at 10 pm) to get a few photos of comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) from the IUSB Observatory, using our color CCD camera and the 90 mm aperture refractor. The field of view is too small to see the tail — about a quarter of a degree compared to 2.5 degrees for the length of the tail. The interesting thing to me was how quickly the comet moved relative to the background stars. The two images below were taken less than ten minutes apart.
Below is an animation showing the progression from the left image to the right image with seven images in between, again spanning a total time of less than ten minutes.
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I had hoped to capture an image of comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF) during the brief break in the clouds on Jan. 23, but it was too low in the sky — barely 10 deg above the horizon. Instead, I took a few photos of the Orion Nebula. The photo below was taken with our Atik 314L+ color CCD camera mounted on the 90 mm aperture refractor that’s piggy-backed on our 16 in. Schmitt-Cassegrain. It’s a single 30-second exposure. The color is nice.