Sci-FI and SKY NIGHT

Photo courtesy of NASA

SCI -FI AND SKY NIGHT
JANUARY 30, 2010

Doors open at 5:30pm

Planetarium show: Mars
Planetarium times: 5:30pm, 6:00pm, 6:30pm, 7:00pm, 7:30pm, 8:00pm, and 8:30pm
Mars Lecture by Professor Darryl Schrader: 7:15pm
Movie: Star Wars: The Clone Wars 8:00pm
Telescope viewing: 7:45pm - 11:30pm

Join The Science Center of Pinellas and the St. Petersburg Astronomy Club for a fun family evening to observe Mars, full moon, and other celestial bodies. Professor Darryl Schrader of St. Petersburg College will be lecturing on Mars at opposition.

Ask about our Astrophotography Program!

A continued feature of this event will be to collect students (and family) names to be included on a microchip that NASA will send to Mars as part of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, scheduled to launch in 2011. Participants will truly be part of Mars history!

Also sign up for the Glory Mission. "Send your name around the Earth" project Glory: "We got your back, Earth." Glory mission will measure solar energy entering the Earth's atmosphere.
A certificate will be provided to the registrants.

As part of our monthly Sci-Fi and Sky event, we will also be featuring the animated movie Star Wars: The Clone Wars, for all the family members viewing in our rear courtyard. Bring your lawn chairs and blankets! In addition the Astronomy Club will have telescopes set up for Mars and the Full Moon viewing.

$3.00 Per Person Donation

Adult Beverages will be available for an additional donation.
Pizza and soft drinks will be available for purchase between 5:30 pm - 9:00 pm.
Please R.S.V.P. for event and planetarium shows
(limited seating is available)
(727)384-0027 or
bruis@sciencecenterofpinellas.org
7701 22nd Avenue North
St. Petersburg, Fl 33710

Boldly Going Where No Man Has Gone Before...

Tonight we went to the Science center's Sci-Fi and Night sky evening. Saw new pictures of the center of our galaxy--I believe they call it the "Galactic Center." The pictures were generated by the Hubble, the Chandra and the Spitzer. Afterwords we had a discussion about black holes... Time does not exist in a black hole. Yeah, try to wrap your head around that concept... I love science geek nights... they make me think about words like... Paschen Alpha, "light echos from a super nova," "star forming regions," the comet Homes, the blue that is O2 and the red that is H, Star clusters and super novas... Ahh, to be a part of different world of thought for at least one night. Pretty neat to think of the awesomeness of God and the unlimited expanse of His creation. It is mind expanding. Then on the way home Art Bell was talking about the expanse of the human brain--more powerful and complicated than any computer... and that YOUR brain makes all the human technology seems like rocks... Yeah--that Iphone you have--it's just a pebble compared to what is between your ears. Combining these two ideas--the expanse of God's creation and the incredible human potential... a door that only God Himself can open. He will be the bridge that connects our world to the future. There is so much we don't understand. We also had a discussion about string theory... and now the new thing to be talking about is membrane theory... totally invisible but watch out if membranes collide!! "M theory." I won't pretend to understand any of that but it still peaks my interest.

January 2010-- 400th Anniversary of Galileo ...discovers Jupiter's moons,
July 2010-- 400th Anniversary of Galileo first observes Saturn's rings
December 2010-- 400th Anniversary of Galileo confirming Venus' phases.

Some dates to put on your calendar! Space... the final frontier...

I'll be making some groovy mail art out of the NASA photo/postcards I picked up tonight...
(I picked up a map at the GIS event and I told the guy I was going to make a piece of mail art out of it... he wasn't pleased.) Hopefully NASA will be better sports...I mean we are twitter pals and all...

After the power point we had the sci-fi portion of the evening... we saw the new Star Trek movie--projected on to the side of the building. We sat with all the kids and my mom and watched it. It was the first time for her... we saw it in the theater a while back. I love that young Spock and the young Captain Kirk... so reminiscent of my childhood... watching all the old episodes with my Dad. I think I've seen almost all of the old series. Never got into the next generation stuff or whatever that was... but liked the old school, "set your lasers to stun." Anyway it was a fun family evening... The only thing that could of better is if it would of been a clear night and we could of seen something through the telescope at the Planetarium on site!