Astronomy

If any of you are in the Bay Area and interested in astronomy, you might like to know that there are monthly lectures at Foothill College in Los Altos that are free and open to the public (and quite a few kids attend). The next lecture, on March 5, will feature Dr. Geoff Marcy, professor of astronomy at UC Berkeley. The lectures start at 7 p.m.

Dr. Marcy led the team that discovered many of the first planets outside our solar system. Many more have since been discovered, both by Dr. Marcy's team and by others around the world, but he has found the most. He'll be talking about the hunt for these planets at this lecture. He's an engaging speaker and a truly nice guy.

If you're interested in learning more about the lecture series, go to http://www.foothill.edu/ast/SVL.htm. There's a link on that page to be added to the email list to receive notices of lectures. The lectures are held roughly monthly in the Smithwick Auditorium on the Foothill campus, and are free of charge other than $2 for parking.

If you're interested in the search for planets, Marcy's team has a website at http://exoplanets.org/. There's also an extensive article talking about the new telescope being built up at Lick Observatory on Mt. Hamilton that will help speed the process by automating the hunt; you can read it at http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=23539.