Calendar

Upcoming PAS Events

Past PAS Events

July 2026	The Martians: The Story of a Craze that Captured Turn-of-the-Century America A mere century ago, Martians were thought to be real—not fictional—creatures. “Mars is inhabited by a highly civilized and intelligent race of beings,” proclaimed Alexander Graham Bell after astronomers discovered what looked like irrigation canals on the red planet. When Nikola Tesla, in 1899, detected radio signals that he believed came from Mars, an all-out craze swept society. You could read about the Martians in The New York Times, hear of them in Sunday sermons, and see them depicted on the Broadway stage. Biologists debated whether the aliens were winged or gilled. Inventors devised schemes for communicating with Mars. Philosophers and theologians proposed questions Earth might ask its older, wiser neighbor. Best-selling author David Baron spent seven years investigating this strange case of mass delusion. In his fast-paced, highly illustrated talk—filled with period photographs and depictions of the putative Martians themselves—he reveals what the episode says about the human mind: the fallibility of our senses, the power of belief, and the lure of sensationalism. Although the Martians never were real, the excitement about them was genuine and world-changing, for it sparked a new genre called science fiction and helped launch us into space—toward Mars. Our Speaker David Baron is author of The Martians: The True Story of an Alien Craze that Captured Turn-of-the-Century America, chosen as one of 2025’s best books by The New Yorker, TIME, Boston Globe, Science News, and the Chicago Public Library. A former science correspondent for NPR and Chair in Astrobiology at the Library of Congress, David has written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and other outlets. His popular TED Talk, about his passion for chasing solar eclipses, has been viewed more than two million times.
May 2026	Teaching Machines to Learn the Universe: Galaxy Science in the Rubin Era Only a decade ago, projects like Galaxy Zoo relied on global human effort to classify millions of galaxies by eye. With the Vera C. Rubin Observatory’s first light now underway, these approaches no longer scale. Its Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) will image tens of billions of galaxies, repeatedly mapping the sky over the next decade. Astrophysics has entered the big-data regime: deep learning algorithms are now required to not just process data but also identify the most scientifically meaningful signals. In this talk, we’ll explore how deep learning is reshaping galaxy science in the Rubin era. We’ll see how our models can help find unexpected objects, extract distances and physical properties from images alone, and uncover subtle structural patterns across cosmic time through accurate galaxy classification. Finally, we’ll look ahead to astronomy’s multi-modal future, where AI algorithms can integrate Rubin data with diverse surveys and data types to build a unified, data-driven picture of galaxy evolution. Our Speaker Michelle Park is a master’s student at Stanford University in Computational and Mathematical Engineering, with a bachelor’s in Engineering Physics. Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, she developed a passion for astrophysics at age 11 after reading about Pluto’s reclassification as a dwarf planet. In her research, she studies simulated galaxies to understand the physics of their formation and evolution. She is interested in the intersection of physics, computation, and engineering by working toward building next-generation cosmological simulations.
March 2026	Starfront Observatories – All About Remote Observing This talk will covered everything you need to know to feel comfortable with remote imaging, whether it is from your bedroom to your back yard, or all the way at Starfront Observatories! Located in Rockwood, Texas, in a Class 1 Bortle-scale dark site, the Starfront facility offers 11 climate-controlled buildings with retractable roofs to house, manage, and optimize telescopes for remote users. Its mission is to make deep-sky astrophotography accessible by providing affordable, high-quality, remote, dark-sky access to users anywhere. Our Speaker Bray Falls is a prominent astrophotographer, aerospace engineering student, and co-founder of Starfront Observatories in rural Texas, which offers remote, high-quality, dark-sky access for imaging the cosmos. He transformed a passion for astronomy, which began with taking cell phone photos through a telescope, into a professional endeavor that has discovered nebulas and developed a massive, 550+ telescope remote hosting site. He specializes in surveying for new nebulae and making dark skies more accessible to amateur astronomers. Bray Falls grew up in Pheonix, Arizona, where he developed a passion for astronomy at age 14.
February 2026	Solar Flares, Magnetic Explosions, and their Societal Impact While our nearest star, the Sun, provides the conditions necessary for life on Earth, it also produces the most energetic events in the solar system. Solar flares release enormous amounts of energy, including intense and harmful X-ray radiation, and some eruptions are powerful enough to spew vast quantities of solar material into interplanetary space, occasionally impacting Earth and other planets. In extreme cases, these events can be catastrophic: beyond producing spectacular auroral displays – such as those visible from the Bay Area in May 2024 – they can damage commercial and military satellites, disrupt power grids, and pose serious risks to astronauts engaged in space exploration. Our Speaker Georgios Chintzoglou received his PhD at George Mason University. He is a Principal Investigator of NASA-funded programs and Sr. Research Scientist at Lockheed Martin Solar & Astrophysics Lab. His research centers on the study of the Sun as an astrophysical object. In particular, he is interested in the physics of solar magnetism, solar active region evolution and activity, magnetic flux emergence and decay, and initiation of solar flares and Coronal Mass Ejections from both a theoretical and experimental perspective. He has published more than 30 papers on Solar astrophysics research and given more than 20 invited talks worldwide. He enjoys teaching Astronomy at Foothill College, doing public outreach and continues to mentor students at all levels, as well as public service in professional associations as board member (American Astronomical Society’s Solar Physics Division, and the International Astronomical Union’s Division E2 on Solar Activity).
January 2026	The Growth of Cosmic Behemoths Dr. Baxter is an observational and computational astrophysicist investigating the dependence of environment on galaxy formation and evolution. His work is primarily centered on understanding the astrophysical processes responsible for the divergent evolution of galaxies that reside in low- and high-density regions of the cosmos. In this lecture, he will share insights into our current theoretical and observational understanding of the densest environments in the early universe, and discuss the next-generation observatories poised to significantly advance research in this area. Our Speaker Devontae Baxter holds the dual positions of NSF Astronomy & Astrophysics and UC Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, San Diego, where he studies the impact of environment on galaxy formation and evolution. He did his undergraduate studies at Georgia Institute of Technology, majoring in Physics with a specialization in Astrophysics and minoring in Spanish. He did his graduate studies at UC Irvine under the supervision of Professor Michael Cooper, where his thesis work centered on merging machine learning, cosmological simulations, and observations from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, Keck, and Gemini North & South to identify the physical mechanisms driving the suppression of star formation in galaxy groups and clusters over the past 8 billion years of cosmic time. Dr. Baxter is the recipient of numerous honors and awards. Beyond doing research, Dr. Baxter is deeply invested in teaching, mentorship and outreach. He is the founder and program director of Computational Astrophysics Research Preparation (CARP) meant to equip aspiring community college transfer students with programming skills for a smooth transition to a four-year institution.
November 2025	Ten Years, Billions of Galaxies, One Sky: The Rubin Observatory Story When the Vera C. Rubin Observatory begins its Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), it will take the most detailed, dynamic map of the southern sky ever made — visiting the entire visible sky every few nights for ten years. This unprecedented dataset will let us track billions of galaxies, discover countless new asteroids, and watch the Universe change in real time. In this talk, I will explore how Rubin’s images will help us tackle some of the biggest questions in cosmology: What is dark matter made of? What is driving the accelerated expansion of the Universe? And how did cosmic structures evolve over billions of years? I will share how my work connects Rubin’s galaxy maps with other surveys, building a multi-wavelength, multi-experiment view of the cosmos. Our Speaker Bernardita Ried Guachalla is a PhD candidate in Physics at Stanford University, specializing in cosmology and large-scale structure. She works with data from major observatories — including the Vera C. Rubin Observatory — to study dark matter, dark energy, and the evolution of the Universe. Originally from Chile, she has received multiple fellowships and awards for her research and outreach, and is part of global collaborations such as DESI, ACT, and the Simons Observatory.
October 2025	International Observe the Moon Night We hosted another International Observe the Moon night at Foothill Observatory. We opened the observatory for viewing, many members brought out their own telescopes, and visitors were able to enjoy a range of views of the moon and a few other objects in the night sky. It was a fun and informative time!
August 2025	Dinner with a Star: Stellar Engulfment of Exoplanet Systems A talk by Ashlyn Leary of Lehigh University on how she utilizes Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA) to model the evolution of stars and compares her results to known exoplanet systems to predict if/when host stars will swallow their planets, assuming no further dynamical evolution of the systems. She will discuss her current findings, along with an analysis of arising patterns and their implications. Our Speaker Ashlyn Leary is pursuing a B.S. in Astrophysics, a B.A. in Sociology, and a minor in Data Science at Lehigh University. At Lehigh, she has the opportunity to design and execute her research project on planetary engulfment under the guidance of Prof. McSwain. Ms. Leary presented a poster of this research at the 245th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society, and has published a research note on it titled, “Dinner with a Star: Stellar Engulfment of Exoplanet Systems.” This summer, Ms. Leary began contributing to a physics education research project under the direction of Prof. Leblond, through the Sustainable Physics NSF REU at Penn State, and she plans to continue this research. In addition to pursuing astrophysics, she is a singer, songwriter and performer, trained in classical, acoustic and electrical guitar. She is enthusiastic about continually finding creative ways to combine and pursue passions in art, sociology and physics. Slides: Dinner With A Star (PDF Download) Article: Dinner with a Star: Stellar Engulfment of Exoplanet Systems
April 2025	All About the Rings of Saturn Dr. Cuzzi described highlights of the Cassini mission, emphasizing the rings of Saturn, which are increasingly believed to be much younger than the planet itself – maybe dating only to the age of fish on Earth (100-200Myr ago). He discussed what we know about the complex ring structure, their composition, age, and origin, and their associated small mini-ring moons. He also covered other Saturn system highlights such as its Mars-sized moon Titan, whose atmosphere is denser than ours, and its retinue of icy moons including at least one that harbors a subsurface ocean. Our Speaker Dr. Cuzzi is a leading expert on both theoretical and observational aspects of planetary rings, in particular the rings of Saturn. He led the Voyager Imaging Team from 1978-1989 in planning the ring image sequences for Voyager 1 and 2 Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune flybys. He was selected as Interdisciplinary Scientist for Rings and Dust for the NASA-ESA Cassini-Huygens mission in 1990, and led a team of ring experts from all the instrument teams in planning ring science through the mission, which included 294 orbits and ended in 2017. He has also studied the initial formation of the precursors of all our planets – the ‘planetesimals’ such as asteroids and comets. For his work on rings and planetesimal formation he has received several awards from NASA and different scientific societies.
February 2025	The Universe Through a Wine Glass Dr. Frank Qu of Stanford University introduced the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and explained how measurements of its tiny variations have enabled scientists to determine the age, geometry, and size of the universe. Dr. Qu also discussed how distortions in the CMB, caused by intervening large-scale structures, provide one of the most effective ways to map the distribution of dark matter in our universe. Our Speaker Dr. Qu grew up in Madrid, Spain. He received a bachelor’s degree in physics from Imperial College London, and a Master and PhD from the University of Cambridge. He is currently a KIPAC Fellow at Stanford University. Frank’s research focuses on analyzing Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) data collected by telescopes in Chile, with a particular emphasis on extracting lensing signals to better understand the large-scale structure of the universe. He is a member of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope and The Simons Observatory where he co-leads the CMB lensing working group.
December 2024	Neutrino Astronomy It is possible to get an early warning of a supernova by observing neutrinos. These incredibly light particles travel at nearly the speed of light and come out ahead of the massive explosion. But to catch them requires an incredibly sensitive detector. Fortunately, sensitive detectors were already on-line in 1987 to capture neutrinos from the supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Improvements in detection mean we can potentially detect and pinpoint the next supernovae. But neutrinos are everywhere, generated by stars and many other astronomical events. This talk will explain the various detectors and a brief history modern particle physics. Our Speaker Dr. Bruce Cortez was one of the originators of neutrino astronomy, having worked on two pioneering experiments in the 1980’s that saw neutrinos from Supernova SN1987a. He received his BS in physics from Caltech and PhD from Harvard. At Harvard, he was instrumental in the concept, design, and construction of the IMB detector in the US. As a post-doc, he worked on upgrading the Kamioka experiment in Japan. These detectors searched for proton decay, neutrino oscillations, neutrinos from the sun and other rare phenomena. After a long career at AT&T working on fiber optics networking, he is now back as a research associate at University California at Irvine, applying machine learning techniques to the analysis of data from the second generation Kamioka experiment (Super-Kamiokande), lowering the energy threshold for detecting neutrinos from the sun. Bruce is based in New Jersey.
November 2024	A Tale of Two Bridges and Round Earth Can you measure the radius of the Earth from an office window? An unusual photograph through a telescope of two San Francisco bridges clearly shows the curvature of the Earth. Measurements from this photo, bridge dimensions, and a few calculations result in a calculated radius of the Earth surprisingly accurate! The presentation will review three models of the Earth and the line of sight to the bridges, each successively more complex, but with increased accuracy as the payoff. Compared to the approach employed by Eratosthenes in 200 BC, a more complex approach adjusts for the refraction of light and yields results closer to USGS estimates for the Earth’s radius. Our Speaker Clinton Lewis is a former Astronomy Teacher at West Valley College in Saratoga, an avid amateur astronomer and member of the Peninsula Astronomical Society. His other interests include modeling various forces on low Earth satellites. Clinton’s former day jobs included running a planetarium, determining space satellite orbits, and modeling DNA base detection in the 96 capillary sequencer used in the human genome project.
October 2024	Comet 2023 A3 Viewing PAS and Foothill College held a special public viewing event for Comet 2023 A3 on Saturday, October 19, 2024, at Foothill Observatory. We had a good half hour of comet viewing sandwiched between nautical twilight and moonrise.
September 2024	Do Galaxies Breathe Too? Galaxies are more than just hundreds of billions of stars; the gas that fills the space between the stars plays a crucial role in determining the fate of a galaxy. In this presentation, Dr. Du will discuss how we use spectra to study the physical properties of gas in distant galaxies, with a specific focus on how galactic-scale outflows and inflows impact the formation of stars. By studying how galaxies “breathe” (in a similar way to human respiration), we can put together a more comprehensive picture of galaxy evolution over cosmic time. Our Speaker Dr. Xinnan Du is the Outreach and Engagement Manager at the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC) at Stanford University. Xinnan got her PhD in astronomy in 2018 from UCLA, and her research is focused on the physical properties of the interstellar and circumgalactic gas in distant star-forming galaxies. Before moving to Northern California, Xinnan spent 3 years at UC Riverside as a postdoctoral scholar, outreach director, and program manager. She is very enthusiastic about public outreach. With a long-term career goal in informal science education, Xinnan hopes to inspire and engage everyone in learning astronomy through various outreach and training programs.
September 2024	International Observe the Moon Night We celebrated another International Observe the Moon night at Foothill Observatory. Besides opening up the observatory for viewing, many members brought out their own telescopes, and visitors were able to enjoy a range of views of the moon and a few other objects in the night sky. It was a fun and informative evening!
August 2024	Earth-Independent Operations for Human Missions to Mars Human space flight has depended on real-time control, guidance, decision-support, and problem solving from the ground for the past 60 years. Human exploration beyond cis-lunar space will require a greater level of autonomy than is currently possible. This talk will discuss the history of NASA’s human space flight missions in this context and the current approach to increasingly Earth-independent operations including advances in communication networks, advanced sensor networks, onboard intelligent systems, and crew preparation. Our Speaker Dr. Vera is the NASA Senior Scientist for Distributed Collaborative Systems and currently serves as the Technology Lead for the Earth Independent Operations Domain under the Mars Campaign Office in support of the Moon-to-Mars Program. He previously served as Chief of the Human Systems Integration Division at NASA Ames Research Center over a decade. Dr. Vera received his PhD from Cornell University for studies on information representation in humans and computer systems. Dr. Vera then conducted post-doctoral research at Carnegie Mellon University in Artificial Intelligence with a focus on Human-Computer Interaction.
April 2024	Edison and the Eclipse that Enlightened America Just a couple of weeks after the historic total solar eclipse of 2024, author David Baron will share a pertinent tale from the distant past. In the summer of 1878, a similar eclipse traversed America’s Wild West, darkening the frontier while rousing the ambitions of an entire nation. The event lured to the Rocky Mountains many of the era’s great minds—including Vassar College astronomer Maria Mitchell, who headed an all-female expedition to Denver, and a young Thomas Edison, who after observing the eclipse in Wyoming soon lit the world with his most famous invention. Our Speaker David Baron is an award-winning author, journalist, and broadcaster. A former science correspondent for NPR and recent Chair in Astrobiology at the Library of Congress, he has written for the New York Times, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, and other outlets. An avid eclipse chaser whose TED Talk has been viewed more than two million times, Baron has witnessed eight total solar eclipses across five continents. His 2017 book, American Eclipse, was reissued in 2024, and even made into a musical!
April 2024	Solar Eclipse Viewing While we didn’t get to see totality here in California, we did the best next thing and opened up the observatory to see the partial eclipse! We had about 200 visitors, and all got to see the eclipse with special glasses, through our specialized solar telescope and solar filter-equipped telescope in the dome, and projected onto a large card with a third telescope set up outside. Reporters and photographers from the Mercury News, KQED, and ABC 7 News were on hand, and interviewed PAS members Kevin Ma, Maria Cordell, and Chandu Gorla who were operating telescopes for the event. (Eclipse image by Maria Cordell) Some press coverage: https://www.kqed.org/science/1992267/perfect-day-for-a-partial-eclipse-heres-what-the-bay-area-saw https://abc7news.com/eclipse-2024-bay-area-watch-parties-gear-up-for-partial-viewing/14633922/ (with video!) https://www.mercurynews.com/2024/04/08/solar-eclipse-wows-bay-area/
March 2024	Oumuamua: Watching the scientific process unfold Humanity’s first discovered interstellar visitor, Oumuamua, was found in 2017 while it was already on its way out of our solar system. The sparse data astronomers could gather over the span of 2.5 months included a few surprises and mysteries. In this talk, Dr. Mathews will outline the observations, the potential explanations that have been raised, and, ultimately, what future observations will help us place this first known visitor in context. Our Speaker Dr. Mathews is Professor of Astronomy at Foothill College, where he teaches general education astronomy courses and develops browser-based Astro-education simulations. He received his PhD in Astronomy from the University of Hawaii at Manoa for studies of the gas and dust structure of protoplanetary disks. Dr. Mathews then carried out post-doctoral research at Leiden University before returning to UH Manoa to help implement new undergraduate majors in Astronomy and Astrophysics. He has been at Foothill College since 2017.
December 2023	Mobile Phone Astrophotography This talk demonstrated various methods and techniques for taking photos of celestial objects using a mobile phone, including simple approaches that compensate for the challenges of taking photos using a handheld phone. Such images can be enhanced or modified on the same phone using any of several options, to bring out details or suppress background noise. Using external and built-in programs, these images can be edited to highlight details. Our speaker showed a variety of images, including a Mars Moon occultation, and describe how the image was stitched together. Our Speaker Keda Campbell is a PAS member and multi-talented high school student pursuing additional courses at Foothill College. Keda is also a PAS volunteer telescope operator crew at Foothill Observatory, and shares her knowledge and passion with people visiting the observatory for regular and special events. She is interested in pursuing a career in physics, with a focus on cosmology!
November 2023	Stellar Paternity Tests The Milky Way’s hot stars generally form in open clusters within the thin disk. However, there are a small number of early-type stars that are observed at high altitudes above the disk and were likely ejected from their birth clusters within the past few million years. Professor McSwain and her student Brandon Schweers are working to identify from which open clusters these high-latitude B stars originated. They combine data from the European Space Agency’s Gaia Mission with a model of the Milky Way’s gravitational potential to trace the kinematic trajectories of about 100 high latitude B stars and more than 1000 known Galactic open clusters to identify past moments of intersection. Dr. McSwain shared results to date and discussed additional strategies to refine the cluster paternity memberships. Our Speaker Ginny McSwain received her Ph.D. in Astronomy in 2004 from Georgia State University, under the supervision of Doug Gies. Her dissertation was titled, “The Evolution of Massive Stars: The Be Star and Microquasar Phenomena”. She then held an NSF Astronomy & Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship at Yale University, continuing her studies of massive O- and B-type stars, classical Be stars, and runaway massive binaries. She joined the faculty at Lehigh University in 2007. Her research explores the fundamental properties and evolution of massive stars, including disk formation of Be stars, binary star interactions, and the open cluster environments of their origin. She also develops new educational tools and simulations to help make cutting-edge astrophysics data more accessible to all.
October 2023	International Observe the Moon Night The Foothill College Astronomy department and the Peninsula Astronomical Society hosted lunar viewing as part of NASA’s Observe the Moon Night on October 21, 2023. In spite of somewhat cloudy conditions, we had great views of the moon most of the evening, and also had a peek at Saturn and Jupiter by popular demand. We even had several visitors who mentioned they’d never before looked through a telescope! We had seven volunteer-operated telescopes set up outside, including two set up by Foothill’s own Professor Geoff Matthews, who kept visitors engaged throughout the evening.
October 2023	Solar Eclipse In spite of partially cloudy skies, we hosted a wonderful morning of eclipse watching! On October 14, over 100 people visited the observatory to see the eclipse through our dedicated Coronado H Alpha solar telescope — and a second telescope equipped with a solar filter. Besides the amazing eclipse, many were also able to witness multiple solar prominences and sun spots!
September 2023	Talk: Fear and Loathing in the Heavens: The 1910 Return of Halley’s Comet In 1705, Edmond Halley liberated humanity from the belief that comets were portents of doom. Yet, two centuries later, in 1910, as Halley’s Comet returned to perihelion, newspapers and magazines, religious leaders, misguided theorists, and shameless grifters managed to rekindle that fear. When astronomers announced that the earth would pass through the comet’s tail, opportunists exploited the natural human anxiety—often with fatal consequences. Our Speaker Richard J. Goodrich (Ph.D., University of St Andrews) is an author and historian. After twenty years teaching in British and US universities, Richard resigned his position to pursue a full-time writing career. His interests range from Ancient History (the Roman Empire and early Church history) to the modern age. Learn more about his work and this latest book at his website: https://RichardJGoodrich.com.
July 2023	Narrow Band Imaging Speaker Francesco Meschia described techniques for capturing amazing images even in areas with light pollution. He demonstrated how his use of specific light filters and processing of these images show and highlight beautiful astronomical features. His use of filters has allowed him to see details and structures that are practically impossible to see with conventional color imaging from light polluted skies. See samples of Francesco’s backyard images at https://www.astrobin.com/wkujwb/ https://www.astrobin.com/vlydzt/N/ Sample images taken at dark sites https://www.astrobin.com/users/frankz/ Our Speaker Francesco Meschia has been a highly accomplished and experienced amateur astronomer for many years. He has taken images of iconic astronomical features that rival those that, not too many years ago, could be taken only with professional, highly sophisticated equipment. He shares his passion and knowledge with many. In his spare time, he works as a software engineer.
May 2023	Dark Matter: Our Universe’s worst-kept secret (and why it still bewilders us) Dr. Jelle Aalbers took us on a journey into the captivating realm of dark matter — an enigmatic substance that continues to baffle modern physics. Did you know that for every pound of ordinary matter such as stars and planets, the cosmos is teeming with over 5 pounds of this elusive material? And good thing it does, too — without the gravitational pull of dark matter, galaxies would not exist, and our Universe would be cold and lifeless. We explored past, present, and future techniques for unraveling the mystery of dark matter, from the subterranean depths of liquid xenon-based observatories to Hubble space telescope images analyzed with artificial intelligence. Our Speaker Dr. Aalbers received his PhD Nikhef (Nationaal instituut voor subatomaire fysica) in Armsterdam, The Netherlands. He is currently a Kavli Fellow at Stanford University, at the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology. He works on fundamental research in the area of detecting dark matter. His key research covers three major areas: building deep learning systems to detect dark matter with Hubble Space Telescope images of strong gravitational lenses; searching for dark matter with LUX-ZEPLIN; developing statistical techniques for rare-event searches with unknown backgrounds. He previously worked on XENONnT, an experiment designed to look for elusive dark matter particles. May 2023 Talk on YouTube Dr. Aalbers gave another great Dark Matter talk at Stanford in June. Watch that here.
February 2023	Lunar Landing Sites Past and Future As we approach the 50th anniversary of the Apollo Moon landings, we looked back at the locations we visited with Apollo, review why those sites were selected, and reflected on what we learned there. We then looked ahead to new locations on the Moon for the Artemis program, and what makes them so compelling. Our Speaker Brian Day has worked many years at NASA on a number of Moon programs (LADEE, LCROSS). He is currently the Acting Staff Scientist and Lead for Planetary Mapping, Citizen Science and Outreach. Brian is a frequently-requested speaker at local schools and community organizations. As a member of NASA’s Speakers Bureau, he is sent by NASA to give talks on a wide range of NASA missions and research topics. More info: Brian Day bio at SSERVI and NASA SSERVI Home February 2023 Talk on YouTube
November 2022	Vera Rubin Observatory & LSST Camera Hannah Polleck, Staff Engineer at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, described her work with the largest camera ever constructed: the 3 Gigapixel CCD camera designed for the Vera Rubin Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). Pollek gave an overview of the Vera Rubin Observatory as a whole, with emphasis on the construction of the LSST Camera at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. She also spoke about the science goals of the project during its 10 year survey, the nationwide and international collaborations in building it, and the challenges of handling the immense amounts of data that will be taken each night. For information on the LSST Camera, visit: https://lsst.slac.stanford.edu For information about the Vera Rubin Observatory, visit: https://www.lsst.org/ November 2022 Talk on YouTube
October 2022	International Observe the Moon Night The Foothill College Astronomy department and the Peninsula Astronomical Society hosted lunar viewing as part of NASA’s Observe the Moon Night on October 1, 2022.
September 2022	Cosmic Alchemy In the Era of Gravitational Wave Astronomy The source of about half of the heaviest elements in the universe has been a mystery for a long time. Although the general picture of element formation is well understood, many questions about the astrophysical details remain to be answered. Here I focus on recent advances in our understanding of the origin of the heaviest and rarest elements in the Universe. Our Speaker Dr. Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz is a Professor and the Vera Rubin Presidential Chair at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC). He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Professor Ramirez-Ruiz is eager to understand our origins and disruptive events in the night sky. He works with computer models to understand the cataclysmic death of stars and recently led efforts to uncover the origin of the heaviest elements in the universe. Ramirez-Ruiz tests out his theories with complex computer simulations that defy the boundaries of human experience and the assumptions we make about the universe. He has authored or co-authored about two hundred and eighty research papers, two dozen in Science and Nature. He has lectured, broadcast and written widely on science and is a highly decorated teacher and research adviser. As the director of the Lamat Institute, he works vigorously to support the promotion and retention of women and historically marginalized students in STEM.
May 2022	Total Lunar Eclipse Party at Foothill Observatory The Peninsula Astronomical Society and the Foothill College Astronomy department held telescope observations of the total lunar eclipse on Sunday, May 15 from 8:30 to 10:30 p.m. We observed the eclipse using a range of portable telescopes, as well as the Foothill College Observatory.
January 2022	Lick Observatory: Behind the Scenes PAS Board Member, VP and Lick Observatory Telescope Operator Rick Baldridge has been a Lick Staff Member since 2015 and shared an insider’s view of the observatory, decommissioned telescopes, and other locations on the mountain that are rarely visited or seen by the public, along with local history and other tidbits of information. January 2022 Talk on YouTube
October 2021	International Observe the Moon Night Foothill College, PAS, and NASA’s Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute hosted a livestream telescopic view of the Moon from the Foothill College Observatory, using the club’s Meade LX200 16″ telescope. Brian Day of NASA live-streamed a thorough walkthrough of interesting lunar sites, while visitors could also see the walkthrough projected onto a screen outside the observatory. Several PAS members also set up camera-equipped telescopes and screens in the parking lot to give visitors additional views of the moon and its features. International Observe the Moon Night – With Brian Day at Foothill Observatory (YouTube) NASA IOTMN Site
September 2021	High Resolution Lunar and Planetary Astrophotography Renowned astrophotographer Gary Varney has been specializing in high-resolution planetary photography and gave us a rundown on the equipment, software and techniques he uses to produce images. Talk YouTube link \| Gary Varney on Flickr
April 2021	Mars on Earth Dr. Pascal Lee, planetary scientist with the Mars Institute, the SETI Institute, and NASA Ames Research Center, gave a fascinating talk on the NASA Haughton-Mars Project, or HMP, a leading Moon and Mars analog field research project on Devon Island in the High Arctic. Talk YouTube link NASA Haughton-Mars Project
January 2021	Memories of Arecibo Observatory PAS’s own William Phelps shared his experience of a memorable visit to Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. Talk YouTube link Arecibo Observatory Home
August 2020	Lick Observatory in Pandemic times – 1918 and 2020 A talk by Dr. Elinor Gates, staff astronomer at Lick Observatory. Talk YouTube link Lick Observatory Home
July 2020	Moon Landing Sites NASA’s Brian Day walks us through lunar landing sites for Apollo missions and how the locations were selected. Talk YouTube link \| NASA Solar System Treks \| NASA Moon Trek

Night Sky Network Events

See the NASA/JPL page for Night Sky Network Clubs & Events