Getting out Where There is NO Virus: A Tourist's Tour of the Solar System and Galaxy
Thursdays from 1:00pm to 2:40pm – June 4, 11, 18, and 25
What are the not to be missed "tourist sights" on the planets and moons with which we share the Sun? What are some of the most exciting places we could (someday) visit among the stars, glowing clouds, black holes, and star clusters and in our Milky Way Galaxy. Join us on an illustrated tour of the cosmos as astronomers understand it today. The discussion will be accompanied with really great color images from the latest space probes and the world's largest telescopes. We'll learn about some of the most interesting vistas in deep space (including the steam geysers on one of Saturn's moons, and the debris from an exploding star that hides a natural beacon) and we'll discover how we humans fit into the bigger picture. Designed like the Rick Steves travel shows on public TV, these tours are for the beginner and will assume no background in science.
Fraknoi, Andrew
Andrew Fraknoi, who regularly teaches astronomy courses at Fromm, retired as the Chair of the Astronomy Department at Foothill College in 2017. He has won several national prizes for his teaching and appears regularly on local and national radio explaining science in everyday language. He is the lead author of a free, electronic textbook introducing astronomy, which is now the most-frequently-used astronomy textbook in the country, and has written books for teachers, children, and science fiction fans. The International Astronomical Union has named Asteroid 4859 Asteroid Fraknoi in recognition of his contributions to the public understanding of science.