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Orange County Astronomers Monthly General Meetings

For thousands of years, we’ve wondered if the Earth is unique, or if there are other Earths out there to find. In just the last 30 years, we’ve progressed from merely wondering if planets exist around other stars to knowing that almost every star we see has planets. Ambitious planet searches have been probing further and further, finding planetary systems of an incredible – and incredibly surprising! – variety. However, we have yet to discover another planet that might be like Earth – a rocky planet orbiting just the right distance from a Sun-like star to have liquid water on its surface. NASA has a audacious new plan for a next-generation flagship telescope that will directly image Earth-like planets around nearby stars, but it will take all of our ingenuity and technical prowess to achieve this incredible feat. Dr Christiansen will walk you through the past, present, and future of our hunt for Earth 2.0.

Dr. Jessie Christiansen is the Chief Scientist of the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute and a TED fellow. She has worked on NASA’s Kepler, K2, and TESS missions, searching the sky for exoplanets, and is helping plan for NASA’s next big flagship missions – the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, and the Habitable Worlds Observatory. Dr. Christiansen’s research is in the detection and characterization of exoplanets – planets around other stars – and studies of exoplanet populations, and she is currently the most successful woman planet hunter in the world.

The OCA has a general meeting held on the second Friday of every month* at Chapman University.

These meetings are free and open to the general public.

The meetings take place in The Irvine Lecture Hall with seating for approximately 250 people.

The Irvine Lecture Hall (located adjacent to the Hashinger Science Center) is near the south east corner of the campus
and the nearest cross street is East Palm Ave and North Center Street.

The meetings start promptly at 7:30 PM.

The basic agenda, with approximate times, is as shown below.

7:00 PM - 7:30 PM Pre-meeting Slide Show
During the arrival of audience. This presentation includes recent astronomical photographs taken by OCA members.

7:30 PM - 7:45 PM Club Announcements
Usually presented by the OCA Secretary, Bob Buchheim.

7:45 PM - 8:15 PM "What's Up?"
Usually presented by OCA Member and Space Artist, Chris Butler.

8:15 PM - 9:15 PM Main Talk
Speakers are often from JPL/Caltech and other major educational and astronomical institutions.
The level of the talks are usually appropriate for anyone who has an interest in this hobby.

[NOT FOR ONLINE TALKS]
[9:15 PM - 9:30 PM Refreshments]
[Break Donuts, coffee, soda are available for a small donation.]

9:30 PM - 10:00 PM "Ask an Astronomer"
Anyone can stay behind and ask a panel of experts any burning question related to this hobby.

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