I wanted to let you know about an astronomy forum coming up this fall at Southern Connecticut State University that might be of interest to you.
The event is called, “Missions Possible: A Manned Flight to Mars, & Finding ‘New Earths’ in the Milky Way Galaxy.” It will be held on Monday, Nov. 16, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at SCSU’s Michael J. Adanti Student Center, Grand Ballroom.
The program will explore two hot topics in astronomy – the Kepler Mission (which seeks to identify potential Earth-like planets elsewhere in the Milky Way Galaxy); and plans for a manned mission to Mars. We have two excellent speakers lined up to talk about these subjects. Steve Howell is the project scientist for Kepler and will be the keynote speaker. And Jennifer Stern, space scientist and an expert on Mars, will talk about the potential for human exploration of Mars and the challenges associated with it. Both Steve and Jennifer are from NASA.
We’ll also have a panel discussion following the two speakers that will include three astronomers — Elliott Horch, professor of physics at Southern and an astrophysicist who developed a telescopic device that has been used during the Kepler Mission; Jim Fullmer, associate professor of earth science at Southern; and Tabetha Boyajian, post-doctoral fellow at Yale University. We’ll have Q & A after the panel discussion.
We anticipate having some light refreshments, but there is a food court on the first floor of the Student Center that is available.
If you or your colleagues/members are interested in attending, or if you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to contact me. The event is free and open the public, but I thought I would mention this to you and your organization because of the topic.
If you would be willing to pass the word along to your members, via emails/social media/Web or any other method you think would be appropriate, we would certainly appreciate it. I should have a flyer or poster within the next couple of weeks that I could send you, as well.
The website for the forum is: http://www.southernct.edu/special/astronomyforum.html
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