November 2016

Ever since the days of H. G. Wells and Edgar Rice Burroughs' novels, "John Carter of Mars", we have been fascinated by the possibility of people (or smart aliens ) living on Mars. And ever since the days of Chesley Bonestell and Willy Lee, we have imagined human space travel to the moon and Mars. This month Skyscrapers members can participate in two events echoing these sentiments.

On Saturday, November 12, at our monthly meeting held at Seagrave Observatory, Dr. Tim Barker, will display and discuss moon rocks returned to earth by Apollo astronauts and on short term loan from NASA. You will have the opportunity to examine these samples, so don't miss this evening! Normal start time : 7:00PM

On Monday, November 14, the National Geographic channel on cable will begin a six part TV series called "The Race to the Red Planet". The show airs at 9:00PM. So stay home on Monday nights or "set your VCR'' so you do not miss any of the shows. In support of this effort, the November issue of National Geographic magazine has a feature article about attempts to get to Mars and has a nice poster showing the surface of the red planet, as well as a graphic of a human colony.

Thursday, November 17th is the monthly open night at the Harvard Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, MA. We will be streaming this event live at Seagrave. The topic is "The Care and Feeding of Monster Black Holes" by Paul Greene of CfA. So come to Seagrave and bring some peanuts and Cracker Jacks. Plan to arrive around 7, as the event starts at 7:30.
Keep Looking up! -Steve