KELSEYVILLE >> Lake County’s Window to the Universe presents “Exo-Planets: Possible Locations of Alien Life in the Universe” tonight. The speaker is Stephen Kane, amateur astronomer and frequent Taylor summer lecturer.
Admission to the talk, a planetarium show and night sky viewing through the Taylor’s telescopes is $5 for adults, $3 12 and under.
In recent years astronomers have made new discoveries to distant worlds that may be capable of supporting life. Data from the Kepler space craft, along with novel detection methods recently developed by astronomers have made these discoveries possible, resulting in an increase in the number of exo-planets thought to exist. The methods behind these discoveries and both the practical and philosophical implications for discovery of alien life will be discussed. But keep in mind the admonition from Stephen Hawking to be careful what we wish for regarding actual contact with aliens. Kane is a Taylor lecturer noted for his ability to communicate complex astronomical and environmental topics to the public.
The Window to the Universe series is sponsored by Friends of the Taylor Observatory-Norton Planetarium and includes the lecture, a show in the Norton Planetarium and viewing through the observatory’s several telescopes. The first planetarium show is at 7:15 p.m., followed by the lecture at 8 p.m. and a second planetarium show at 9 p.m. for an admission price of $5, $3 for children younger than 12 years.
This week in the night sky an unusually close conjunction of Venus and Jupiter is about to occur. Under clear skies, stargazers may observe these planets in the Western sky along with striking Messier objects in the constellations Sagittarius and Scorpio. In his Norton Planetarium presentation Eduardo Alatorre will discuss the Jupiter-Venus conjunction in relation to the classic mystery of the Christmas Star, which may have been a similar, but more rare, conjunction of planets. Visitors will then be well prepared to observe the Venus-Jupiter conjunction tonight and again at its closest configuration on Wednesday. Amateur astronomers Tom Schleif, Alatorre and Bill Haddon will be on hand to answer questions as will the Taylor’s new summer intern, Taryn Barker.
The Observatory is located at 5725 Oak Hills Lane in Kelseyville. For further information see www.taylorobservatory.org or call or call 262-4121 or (415) 209-3084.
