Astro 101: Sights of the Cosmos

This event is one of several different introductions to astronomy offered by SJAA. During this hour, you'll gain an appreciation for the size and scale of the cosmos and our place within it. You'll see many examples of the beautiful objects visible in the night sky, learn something about how we see them through our telescopes and what we can deduce about them through the light they send us. And then you can make your own prediction of whether we're alone in the universe.

We'll take the first 15 minutes to give a short tour of the night sky using the planetarium software Stellarium. The talk will start at 6:15pm.

This talk is free of charge. Just come and enjoy the show. After the talk, you can check out telescopes that will be set up as part of our In-Town Star Party. (See In Town Star Party event on Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/sj-astronomy/events/315836578/)

The talk will be presented by Wolf Witt. Wolf is not an actual astronomer, nor has he ever played one on TV. However, he's been interested in outer space since he was a kid and still thinks that the universe is an amazing place. He's been with SJAA since 2013, and now he'll share with you his enthusiasm and some of what he's learned about the cosmos. Maybe you'll think it's amazing, too.

Many of SJAA’s events, like this one, are public and free to attend, but if you’re enjoying what SJAA has to offer, consider becoming a paid member for only $20 per year: https://www.sjaa.net/membership/benefits-of-membership-2/

During this event, we will ask all visitors to sign in, so that we can report attendance numbers to the city of San Jose, as San Jose has made Houge Park facilities available to SJAA to serve the public. The sign-in process does not require any sensitive, personal information..

(Photo: M51, The Whirlpool Galaxy as imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope.)