The meeting will take place on June 19, 2025  at 7 PM on Zoom and at the Robinson Nature Center .

Prof. Mabson earned his B.S in Astronautical Engineering from Capitol Technology University in 2010 and has supported over 20 NASA and commercial space missions, including Landsat, GOES, LRO and Cygnus. Since joining Capitol in 2015, Prof. Mabson has supported the Space Flight Operations Training Center, ALPHA Observatory, and various projects to support the next generation of engineers and provide mentorships to prospective and enrolled students. Prof. Mabson has earned various awards, including Faculty of the year, Landsat and GOES-R Group achievement.

In the Solar System, humanity has cataloged over 1.4 million asteroids since the discovery of asteroid Ceres in 1801 and each year, scientists catalog an additional 10,000. Each year, many of these objects known as Near Earth Objects (NEO) come close to Earth’s orbit and most are never detected until after a close approach. With many large astronomical observatories committed to other stellar research the task of performing follow-up studies after initial discovery falls on universities and advanced amateur astronomers. The ALPHA Observatory, located on Capitol Technology campus, is a remote automated observatory that monitors between 20 and 40 asteroids and NEO objects per night and submits tracking and rotation data to the Mirror Planet Center (MPC), ALPHA also performs orbit determination post-detection and follow-up to ensure targets remain a safe distance from Earth. In addition to asteroid detection ALPHA performs variable star studies such as Cepheids and eclipsing star systems. The observatory also performs follow-up detection of newly discovered hot Jupiter exoplanets and hosts a monthly Night with ALPHA program to engage prospective students and the university community.