Sunset Science: Mysteries of Deep Space

Enjoy an autumn night with a festive gathering for the whole family that will explore the deepest regions of our universe in our family-friendly program followed by telescope viewing on our observation deck.  Engage in hands-on activities that explore nebulas, galaxies, and star formations and learn how scientists peer into deep space and make meaning of what they find. Beer, wine and food will be available.                                                                           

7pm, Dr. Sofia Z. Sheikh, The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI): Looking for technological life in the universe 

Astrobiology is the science of looking for life in space. The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) is the part of astrobiology dedicated to searching for “technosignatures”: technology built by life in space that we might be able to discover using telescopes or radio dishes. But detecting technology at a distance isn’t an easy task! In this talk, you will hear about the history of SETI, the modern techniques that scientists are using to continue the search, and the cutting-edge instruments and technologies that are being developed by researchers today. After the party stop by the observation deck for telescope viewing with our astronomers.  

Dr. Sofia Z. Sheikh is primarily a techno signature researcher, although she works on pulsars and radio frequency interference. She grew up in South Carolina, did her undergraduate work in physics and astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, and got her PhD at Penn State. She hopes, through her work, to help us learn more about the distribution of technological life in the galaxy. 

8pm, Dr. Thomas Greene, NASA Ames Research Center, JWST: NASA’s Greatest Observatory and its Great Science!  

In this talk Dr. Greene will illustrate the mission’s science goals and highlight some aspects of its design, technologies, and initial science results. 

Thomas Greene is an astrophysicist in the Space Science and Astrobiology Division at NASA’s Ames Research Center. He conducts observational studies of exoplanets and young stars and develops astronomical technologies and instrumentation. Dr. Greene is a co-investigator on the NIRCam and MIRI science instruments of the James Webb Space Telescope and serves on the JWST Users Committee.  

Evening Planetarium Shows: 

• Home Galaxy (35 min)

It’s been called a river in the sky, a Tree of Life, a celestial spine, and even a spray of mother’s milk, but since Galileo made the telescopic discovery that it is made of countless hosts of stars and mysterious, dark, brooding clouds, we have come to know the Milky Way as our galactic home among the cosmos.  Come and explore Via Lactea, the Milky Way, from its sprawling spiral arms to the ultimate heart of darkness, the supermassive black hole that resides at its center.   

• Universal(10 min)

Fly through the heart of a cluster of ancient stars, and take a swing around the luminous remains of an exploded  star. Cruise by alien planets that orbit a star not very far away, and surf past the brilliant rings of Saturn—and more. “Universal” is a ten-minute, un-narrated musical voyage through the Universe that carries the viewer from the vast realm of intergalactic space, to several stellar wonders of the Milky Way Galaxy, though an intriguing and nearby extraterrestrial planetary system, and onward home, to Earth.  

• ZODIAC TOURS (35 min) 

Come on a tour of the Zodiac, the group of ancient constellations visited by the Sun and planets as they wander along their roadway in the sky. Be dazzled by fabulous facts and fantastic fables of these notable star patterns, and discover what hidden celestial treasures they hold.