3rd Season "Let's Talk About Space At Shenandoah National Park" & Pluto Insights

Hey Space Placers!

In the spirit of Global Astronomy Month GAM - see my previous blog - I will be starting my third season of “Let’s Talk About Space at Shenandoah National Park” tonight  http://www.goshenandoah.com/activities-events/astronomy  and hope to see you there during the season. 

This week the National Academies   http://www.nationalacademies.org   Science Division   held its annual Space Science Week   http://sites.nationalacademies.org/ssb/ssb_170495      at its D.C. headquarters. Luminaries from across the country in space science met in the following committees:

• Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics (CAA)

• Committee on Earth Science and Applications from Space (CESAS)

• Committee on Astrobiology and Planetary Science (CAPS)

• Committee on Solar and Space Physics (CSSP)

• Committee on Biological and Physical Sciences in Space (CBPSS)

Each year during Space Sciences Week a public lecture is held and this year it was given by Dr. Alan Stern https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Stern     the Principal Investigator for the New Horizons Mission to Pluto   http://pluto.jhuapl.edu  which is controlled by our very own Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory.

Dr. Stern’s lecture attracted quite a large crowd including young adults and children. The highlight for me, besides getting to meet Dr. Stern, was finding out that his favorite photograph of the Pluto flyby was the backlit portrait of Pluto showing its blue atmosphere. He said it was his favorite because “it proves that we were there”. 

Dr. Stern's Fave Pluto Photo
Greg Redfern

The other highlight was seeing the young attendees clamoring for autographs and pictures with Dr. Stern. To see such an accomplished scientist taking the time to sign autographs and pose with each and every single person - including me - well after his lecture had ended speaks volumes to his character. I’d like to think that Dr. Stern will be the catalyst that propels some of these admirers into science.

Dr. Stern & I give a  'High Nine" for Pluto

With the return of data from last year’s flyby at the halfway point Pluto will no doubt continue to amaze us. And if NASA approves the funding, the New Horizons spacecraft will conduct a flyby of Kuiper Belt Object 2014 MU 69 http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/News-Center/News-Article.php?page=20150828  in January 2019 - a billion miles beyond Pluto. 

You can see Dr. Stern’s lecture here  http://livestream.com/accounts/7036396/SSWLecture2016 

Sky Guy in VA