What we’re about
Welcome to SJ Astronomy Meetup. We are an active group with a lot of events organized by the San Jose Astronomical Association. All events posted to this Meetup are open to the public but please note that joining this meetup does not automatically make you a member of SJAA. Becoming a formal member of SJAA provides members-only benefits, so we do encourage you to join. Please check out the membership benefits at https://www.sjaa.net/membership/benefits-of-membership-2/ to learn more and to join the club.
Also, please note that we need a profile picture for security reasons to join this group. Please consider uploading one before you send a request to join the group. Looking forward to sharing this cool hobby with all of you!
Upcoming events
21
Free Public Talk on Saturn's Intriguing Moon Enceladus
Smithwick Theater Foothill College, 12345 EL Monte Road, Los Altos Hills, CA, USDr. Alfonso Davila (NASA Ames Research Center) will give a free, illustrated, non-technical lecture entitled:
"The Search for Life on Saturn’s Intriguing Moon Enceladus"
in the Smithwick Theater at Foothill College, in Los Altos (see directions below)
The talk is part of the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture Series, now in its 26th year.
In 2005, the Cassini spacecraft made a groundbreaking discovery—it found a massive plume of ice and gas erupting from the south pole of Enceladus, a small but geologically active moon of Saturn. The plume is now believed to originate from a subsurface ocean of liquid water beneath the moon’s icy crust, with conditions compatible with life, as we know it. This talk will focus on our current understanding of Enceladus' plume and subsurface ocean, and on strategies to search in them for possible evidence of life.
Alfonso Davila is a Research Scientist in the Exobiology branch at NASA Ames Research Center, where he helps develop strategies to search for evidence of life beyond Earth. He also conducts theoretical and experimental research on the nature and distribution of life in Earth environments that are considered analogous to extraterrestrial settings. His work investigates factors that affect biological potential and biosignature preservation in those environments. He has been a guest speaker at international conferences and a guest lecturer in universities and research institutes in the US, Canada, South America and Europe.
Foothill College is just off the El Monte Road exit from Freeway 280 in Los Altos.
For directions and parking information, see: https://foothill.edu/parking/
For a campus map, to find the Smithwick Theater (Bldg. 1000), see:
https://foothill.edu/map/
Note: Parking lot 1 is closest, with access to the theater by stairs. Parking lot 5 provides access from the same elevation as the theater.
The lecture is co-sponsored by:
* The Foothill College Science, Tech, Engineering & Math Division
* The SETI Institute and
* The Astronomical Society of the Pacific
Past lectures in the series can also be found on YouTube at: http://youtube.com/svastronomylectures
and as audio podcasts at: https://www.buzzsprout.com/180559520 attendees
Astro 101: Intro to Observing the Night Sky
Houge Park , 3972 Twilight Dr, San Jose, CA, USThis event provides an introduction to observing the night sky. During this event, you'll get an overview of the types of sky objects we observe (stars, planets, nebulae, galaxies and more), the tools we use to do so and how to evaluate locations for their observing conditions.
Using the planetarium software Stellarium, we'll take the first 15 minutes to show a preview of the night sky as you'll see it during the subsequent star party. The talk will start at 8:15.
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/310913054/)
The talk will be presented by Carl Svensson. Carl is not a professional astronomer, but an avid star-gazer and astrophotographer. He joined SJAA in 2017 after receiving his first telescope (a Celestron NexStar 8SE) as a birthday gift from his wife. Since, then he's been involved with various volunteer astronomy events with SJAA, including Starry Nights and solar observing. You can see some of his astrophotos here: https://www.astrobin.com/users/csvensson/
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 form will ask for first name, home location (city and ZIP code) and approximate age.
(Photo: The Pleiades by Carl Svensson, https://app.astrobin.com/u/csvensson?i=g97qv2.)
13 attendees
Past events
1068
Group links
Organizers
Members
8,084
