Coming soon to an auditorium or planetarium near you...

Lycoming College Fall 2003 Symposium "SPACE: a Revolution in Perspective"

 

Wednesday August 27th, in the night sky to the south... Closest Approach of Mars in 60,000 Years! Mars Viewing by telescope, Aug 27-28, Sept 1-4, Sept 8-11 at 9:30-10:00 pm on the south patio of Pennington Lounge (weather permitting).

 

Tuesday September 9th, 7:30 pm, in Heim G-11 "Breaking the Bonds of Gravity: 100 Years of Powered Flight" with special guest Scott Rhoades, Society of Space Nursing plus Lycoming Faculty  (Fisher, Knauth, Berthold, Williamson) and Society of Physics Students participants (Benoit, Gugliucci, Jervey, Mastrantonio, McGovern, Nestlerode, Stewart)

 

Tuesday September 16th, 7:30 pm, in Heim G-11 "Breaking the Sound Barrier: the Life and Times of Chuck Yeager" with the Makos Brothers of "Ghost Wings" Magazine

 

Thursday September 18th, 7:30 pm, in Heim G-11 "The Right Stuff"

 

Tuesday September 23, 7:30 pm, in Heim G-11 "Challenges and Opportunities in Making Things Work in Space" with NASA Astrophysicist Caroline Kilbourne Stahle (CV) Although one tends to think of astronauts first when one thinks of space exploration, most space investigation is done by machines that communicate with humans still standing on Earth. These machines extend our senses far beyond what humans can naturally observe. A perfect case study is the example of x-ray astronomy. X-rays are produced by hot (1 million to 100 million degree) gas in space, by strong magnetic fields, and by atomic transitions in partially ionized atoms. Thus x-rays trace the hot universe, tell us about energetic phenomena, and identify what makes up the cosmos. 93% of the ordinary matter in the universe radiates x-rays, but the first x-rays from space were detected only after we put x-ray detectors above the Earth's atmosphere. Thus, x-ray astronomy is an opportunity that is made possible only through putting instruments in space. The challenge to putting anything is space is the need to anticipate and mitigate by design all possible problems that could be encountered in orbit, since (Hubble aside) we do not have the opportunity to fix an instrument once it is in space. We need to make sure the equipment will survive launch, exposure to cosmic rays, and the vacuum environment. To do this, we subject such equipment to equivalent environments on the ground. If it doesn't break in the lab, we conclude it won't break in space. Even the most extensive qualification program can not provide absolute protection, however. If you lose one, you just have to learn from the experience and go on to do something better.

 

Tuesday September 30, 7:30 pm, in Heim G-11 "The Quest for Interplanetary Travel: Manned Space Exploration Since Apollo" with science writer and space historian Robert Zimmerman, author of Leaving Earth: Space Stations, Rival Superpowers, and the Quest for Interplanetary Travel.  Robert Zimmerman's talk will describe the history of manned space exploration since the Apollo moon landings, showing how the participants in the space race have slowly traded places over time.  He will also tell the story of the far-sighted dreamers in both the U.S. and Russia, who, while struggling to assemble the first interplanetary spaceships, pretended for political reasons that these creations were "space stations," whose make-believe function was to orbit the earth and perform scientific research in space.  Zimmerman, who has been published in numerous magazines, including Air & Space, Astronomy, and Invention & Technology, is also the author of three books, Genesis, the Story of Apollo 8, The Chronological Encyclopedia of Discoveries in Space, and Leaving Earth, which has just been published by Joseph Henry Press.

 

Tuesday October 14th, 8:00 pm, in Mary Welch Theater "The First Lady of Space:  Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova" with a dramatic reading panel starring Destiny Zeiders* *Destiny is a Lycoming class of 2003 graduate in Theater (acting and directing), now finishing up a second major in Communications (electronic media).

 

Thursday October 16th, 7:30 pm, in Heim G-11 "Once Around the Planet" NASA video of Earth from orbit, taken by shuttle astronauts - Watch the Earth go by from liftoff to landing!

 

Saturday October 25th, 8:00 pm in Detwiler Planetarium (Academic Center basement) Planetarium Show: "Mars & the Splendor of October Sky" (featuring Mars and whatever else is up) with senior Astronomy and Physics major Christina Nestlerode

 

Tuesday October 28th, 7:10 pm music*, 7:30 pm lecture, in Heim G-11 "Onward to the Red Planet" - A (Virtual) Trip to Mars with the late Dr. von Braun, Nicole Gugliucci & Dr. Erickson *With a musical introduction by the "Jeffries Tubes" with Tim Eaton & Matt Nye, and followed by Mars viewing outside by telescope if weather is suitable...

 

Tuesday November 11th, 7:30 pm, in Heim G-11 "Sing a Song of SETI" with Dr. H. Paul Shuch (aka "Dr. SETI") on the SETI Project (Radio Astronomy's electromagnetic Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence among the stars) *plus* a demonstration of our new Radio Telescope by Dr. David Wolfe "Sing a Song of SETI" is designed to educate and entertain non-technical audiences with a one-hour illustrated concert telling the history of radio astronomy and SETI in fifteen of Dr. SETI's most popular "filk" songs.  A hit on college campuses around the world. See http://www.setileague.org/drseti/abstract.htm

 

Wednesday November 12th, 4:35 pm, in Heim G-11: Robert Benoit, Professional Engineer, will discuss "Lessons Learned in Building Large Optics, and the Hubble Space Telescope" (see below under "Astronomy-Physics Colloquium").

 

December 17th, 10:35 am, in Kitty Hawk, NC: Reenactment of 1st powered flight.

 

January 3rd, 2004, on Mars: Successful landing of the first Mars Exploration Rover "Spirit."

 

*plus* Planetarium Shows and Star Gazing by telescope following some events, hosted by Lycoming College Society of Physics Students

	9/24-  John H. Glenn Jr.'s Story: "The Clock is Operating, We're Underway"
	10/1-  Sally's Story: "Ride, Sally Ride!"
	10/8-  The Story Musgrave Story: "Emergence into a Living Universe!"
	11/12- Robert Benoit (Structural Engineer) on the Hubble Space Telescope