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5) VIRTUAL-REALITY PLANETS

We are thrilled to welcome a special guest, this afternoon, who will speak on applying virtual reality to the visualizing of planets like Mars and Jupiter!

Lonny Buinis saw the SF movie classic 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) during the film’s initial theatrical release, and wondered, “Do things in outer space really look like that?” He was set on a path which allowed him to combine his interest in both astronomy and art, and later, digital graphics, 3-D modelling and animation, and virtual reality.

Lonny earned degrees in physics and computer science from the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, and is one of the 200 space artists worldwide who hold membership in the International Association of Astronomical Artists. The United Astronomy Clubs of New Jersey has named one of its observatories after him in recognition of his decades of volunteer work there.

“Virtual-reality objects have been around on Web sites for a while,” says Lonny, “helping to market everything from jewelry to automobiles.” This afternoon, he will take us on a VR tour of our solar system, and beyond!

We’ll compare century-old and modern maps of Mercury, Mars, and Saturn by transforming them into 3-D globes, and we’ll superimpose modern space art onto a Hubble map of Jupiter, exoplanets, and more. Lonny will also demonstrate how you can use your fingers, or any pointing device, to hold a planet in your hands!

All of this will be taking place over the next 90 minutes as part of our ZOOM session. To join us on ZOOM, Click here: This Afternoon’s MonSFFA e-Meeting on ZOOM

To join by phone (voice only), in Montreal, call in toll-free: 1-438-809-7799. Find your out-of-town ZOOM call-in number here: Call-In Numbers

Have this information on hand; you may be asked to enter it:

Meeting ID: 881 5338 5883
Passcode: 486931

For those unable to participate on ZOOM, we invite you to surf over to Lonny’s Web site and have a look: Astronomy in Motion

Also, check out the International Association of Astronomical Artists here: IAAA

Lastly, you may want to visit online the United Astronomy Clubs of New Jersey, a networking group for the Garden State’s amateur astronomy clubs; Lonny was a co-founder of this group: UACNJ

Our MonSFFA e-meeting, meanwhile, will take a quick snack-break today at 3:00PM, and continue at 3:15PM with a look back at Expo 67, Montreal’s wonderful world’s fair, which opened in April, 55 years ago! Expo showcased the technological marvels of tomorrow, and some of that predicted future even came true! So be sure you get back here to enjoy that presentation!—Today’s MonSFFA e-Meeting