Andrew Fraknoi (The AstroProf)

Giving a Free Talk at SF State June 8

(Please reply with a quick "I got it" if you see this post, so others will be sent it too.) If you are RETIRED and live in or near San Francisco (or if you know someone like that), this may be of interest.

The OSHER Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at SF State is a great nonprofit organization that welcomes retired people for courses, programs, and community. They are moving to expanded headquarters in the Humanities building and having an open house June 8, from 12 to 3. As part of the festivities, I am giving an illustrated talk from 1 to 2 in Humanities 133 on "What Were the Atoms in Your Body Doing 8 Billion Years Ago and Why Should You Care?" (It's the story of cosmic evolution that made creatures as interesting as you possible.)

Pre-registration is required at: https://www.campusce.net/sfsu/course/course.aspx?C=1351&pc=132&mc=0&sc=0

Transportation instruction:https://olli.sfsu.edu/sites/default/files/documents/wayfinding_OLLI-SFSU.pdf

The talk is only in person, not Zoom. If you are not retired, perhaps pass this on to an older person you know. Thanks.

I Turned a UFO Interview Into a SETI Discussion

(Please reply with a quick "I got it" if you see this post, so others will be sent it too. Thanks.) I was asked by an earnest young podcast host to appear on a program that usually dwells on somewhat gullible views of UFO reports. After some negotiation, I managed to convince him to focus mainly on scientific efforts to identify the signatures of technology out there, and we had a nice hour-long chat. There's good information about the work of the nonprofit SETI Institute -- where I have been privileged to serve on the Board of Directors for more than 40 years.

You can judge for yourself how well we did keeping the discussion to science, now that it's posted on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11oSTgmqG0k

Let me know what you think.

WTUFO 7 likes. "Andrew Fraknoi ~ SETI Board Member, Astronomy Professor"

A Free Zoom Lecture On "Where Are All the Aliens?"

(Please respond with a quick "I got it" if you receive this post, so others can be sent it as well.) You are invited to a virtual event:

The Fermi Paradox: If the Universe is Teeming with Planets and Life, Where are All the Aliens?

An Illustrated, Nontechnical Talk by Astronomer Andrew Fraknoi

Tuesday, April 14 @ 7:00 - 8:30 PM EDT (4 – 5:30 PM Pacific time)
The John Marshall Memorial Lecture of the Amateur Astronomers Association of NYC [On Zoom]

Participation is limited. Please pre-register at:
https://aaa.org/event/aaa-april-lecture-the-fermi-paradox-where-are-all-the-aliens-2/

Astronomers have now discovered thousands of planets orbiting other stars, some of them located in zones where life might comfortably exist. If, as scientists now conclude, there may be billions of Earth-like planets out there, why have we not been visited by alien tourists? This is what the great physicist Enrico Fermi asked in the 1950s. Knowing more about the vast scales of space and time, we can now answer Fermi in a variety of imaginative ways and explain why evidence of intelligent life out there may be harder to find that we thought. (For more on the speaker, see: https://fraknoi.com )

My New Science Fiction Story Just Published

(Please respond with a quick "I got it" if you receive this post, so others will see it too. Thanks.) I am tickled to report that The Worlds Within magazine has just published my science-fiction story “Who Speaks for Earth.” It concerns a Congressional hearing about a future President, who had to bomb a radio telescope owned by a religious group that insisted (without consulting anyone else) on answering a SETI message Earth received.

You can see the story at: https://theworldswithin.net/who-speaks-for-earth/
You need to scroll downward from the pictorial title page.

The idea came to me during a discussion we had at the SETI Institute, where I am honored to be on the Board of Directors.

Hope you enjoy it,

P.S. By the way, this is my 12th published story. You can see links to all of them (many with themes drawn from astrobiology and searches for alien technology) at: http://bit.ly/sfbyfraknoi

Exposed Cranium Nebula Photo

(Please respond with a quick "I got it" if you receive this post, so others on this list can be sent it too.) NASA's James Webb Space Telescope people released a wonderfully intriguing image today. We are seeing the last gasps of a dying star, whose outer layers have been shed by the star as it nears the end of its life.

The star is roughly 5000 lightyears away, in the constellation of Vela (the sails) in the southern part of Earth's sky. Webb images are not taken in visible light, but in infra-red (heat rays) which allow us to see the cooler gas and dust coming off the star in far more detail. The field of view is about 3.5 lightyears across.

Astronomers were immediately struck by the resemblance to a look inside someone's head, hence the name of the nebula. The left image is taken in the near infrared (nearer to visible light) and the right one in the mid-infrared region of waves.

We don't yet know the mass of the star that is dying, and without that we don't know what the star's ultimate fate will be. (Massive stars will die by exploding, while less massive ones, like our own Sun, eventually just collapse under their own weight.) But both kinds of stars undergo a period of letting go their outer layers, the process we see in action here.

Happy Pluto Discovery Day; Eclipse March 3

(Please reply with a quick "I got it" if you get this post, so others will be sent it too.) Today, Feb. 18th, is the 96th anniversary of the discovery of Pluto by a 24-year old novice astronomer, Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory. Some years ago, we asked Tombaugh to write up his personal recollection for the Astronomical Society of the Pacific; you can read it at http://bit.ly/tombaugh

And a quick Heads Up (pun intended)! In the early morning of March 3, there will be a total eclipse of the Moon visible from all of North America. It will be very democratic -- easy for everyone to see. The problem is that it comes in the middle of the night on a weekday, so that anyone who gets up to watch it will be very tired the next day. Full story, with timings for each time zone, is in an information sheet I put together at http://bit.ly/2026eclipse

Winter Solstice Is Sunday Dec. 21

(Please reply with a quick "I got it" if you receive this post, so others can see it too.) The 2025 Winter Solstice is Sunday, December 21, at 7:03 am PST. This is when we experience the shortest day, and longest night, of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. And it’s the time when the winter season officially starts. Many cultures have had, and still have, celebrations around this time: people feel depressed by the darkness and need a holiday to cheer them up.

You might ask why our planet has such dramatic changes in the length of the day and night? If you’ll permit me to put it in informal language, it’s because the Earth is not orbiting the Sun with its head held high – it is leaning over as it goes around by about 23 degrees. So on one side of our orbit, we lean into the Sun – that’s the summer solstice. On the other side of the Sun, we lean away from the Sun – that’s Sunday’s winter solstice.

So why is the Earth leaning? Venus and Jupiter are not; they do perfectly well going around the Sun with their rotation axis pointing straight up. The answer lies in the ancient past. Planet Earth got hit by a stray planet, very early in the violent history of the solar system, and like, many accident victims, couldn’t ever straighten out again.

Back then, probably around 4 billion years ago, there were many more planets and mini-planets, formed from the great cloud of material around the Sun that gave rise to all the worlds of the solar system. These “extra” planets had irregular orbits, and some fell into the Sun, while others collided or exchanged energy with more regular planets, changing their own orbits and the worlds they collided with.

With more on the Solstice and seasons, see my blog: https://www.fraknoi.com/astronomy/winter-solstice-arrives-on-sunday-dec-21/

A Photo and Two Things to Read

(Please reply with a quick "I Got It" if you receive this post, so others can be sent it as well.)

The recent image from the James Webb Space Telescope that accompanies this post has been nicknamed the Red Spider Nebula. It is a "death shroud" of gas and dust around a slowly dying star. Stars like our own Sun, as they get near the last stage of their lives, let go of a large layer of outer material -- which expands away from the dying star and is illuminated by its light.

But often, it doesn't move evenly on all sides. You can see a tight disk (or donut) of gas and dust in the center, and then two large wings of expelled material, that kind of make an hourglass shape centered on the disk.

These beautiful nebulas around dying stars are short-lived, lasting only a few tens of thousands of years before they dispel and fade away.

Now two other things which could be of interest for winter reading:

You might enjoy this article by the science reporter for San Francisco's public TV station. It's about what's coming in the sky and quotes me for color commentary. https://www.kqed.org/science/1999411/meteor-showers-massive-moons-and-more-winter-astronomy-events-to-look-up-for

And, to my surprise, the editor of "The Worlds Within" magazine wrote to me to say that she has nominated my story "The Lurker" for the Pushcart Literary Prize. This is a short story about a probe from an advanced extra-terrestrial civilization that two hapless explorers disturb on an asteroid. You can read it at: https://theworldswithin.net/the-lurker/

My Talk Up on You Tube; Preview Talk Nov. 19 at Foothill College

(Please reply with a quick "I got it" if you are seeing this post; that way, it will be sent on to more people. Thanks.) The popular-level talk I gave on Black Holes to the Stockton Astronomical Society is now up for free viewing on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRxp9aM_MSA

On Nov. 19th NASA's Alfonso Avila will give a free, illustrated, nontechnical talk on Saturn's intriguing moon Enceladus, from which we see steam geysers emerging -- implying it has an underground ocean. The talk will be at 7 pm in the Foothill College Smithwick Theater and is open to the public. See: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/free-public-talk-about-saturns-mysterious-moon-enceladus-tickets-1957133632379

25-10-09 Stockton Astronomical Society "Black Holes: Space Warps, Time Machines, & Deaths of Stars" Andrew Fraknoi

I'm Giving A Free Zoom Talk all About Black Holes

(Please reply with a quick "I got it" if you see this post, so others can be shown it too.) The Stockton Astronomical Society has asked me to give my talk "Black Holes: Space Warps, Time Machines, and the Gruesome Deaths of Stars" on Thu, Oct. 9, starting at 6:30 pm Pacific time. It's free, and everyone is invited.

It will be on line, and the Zoom meeting link that night is: http://tiny.cc/stocktonastro

For more info, see: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xrXSZRBnAHlEbUKBt0a-H5dMrywNv22D/view