MountMount DiabloDiablo AstronomicalAstronomical SocietySociety DiabloDiablo MoonWatchMoonWatch August 2011 ENERAL EETING G M Tuesday August 23, 2011 “Hearts of Darkness -- Black Holes in Space” By Dr. Alex Filippenko Professor of Astronomy, University of California, Berkeley Doors open at 6:45 p.m. Concord Police Association Facility supermassive black holes are 5060 Avila Road, Concord found at the centers of galaxies. Come learn about the remarkable Universe, voted the “Top Science properties of these bizarre Breakthrough of 1998” by Science objects. magazine.Voted the “best profes- sor” on the UC Berkeley campus a Please join us Tuesday, August record eight times, and winner of 23rd to listen to Dr. Filipenko for the ASP's 2010 Richard H. Emmons an entire evening lecture followed Award for undergraduate teaching, he was also named the by a question and answer period. Carnegie/CASE National Professor Alex Filippenko received his of the Year in 2006 among doctor- Ph.D. in Astronomy from Caltech al institutions. He has appeared in in 1984 and joined the UC numerous television documen- Berkeley faculty in 1986, where he taries, coauthored an award-win- is currently ning textbook, and produced five l the Richard l e n n and Rhoda o C c M Goldman e v e t Distinguished S : t i d Professor in e r c o the Physical t o h P Sciences. Black holes are regions of space Elected to the National where gravity is so strong that Academy of nothing, not even light, can Sciences and escape! one of the No longer confined to the fer- world's most astronomy DVD courses with The tile imaginations of science-fiction highly cited astronomers, he has Teaching Company (including a writers and theoretical physicists, coauthored more than 670 scien- 12-lecture course on black holes, numerous black holes have recent- tific publications and is the recipi- chock full of information). ly been discovered by observation- ent of numerous prizes for his al astronomers. Stellar-mass black research. He was a member of holes can form during the deaths both teams that discovered the of some types of massive stars, and accelerating expansion of the 1 MountMount DiabloDiablo AstronomicalAstronomical SocietySociety DiabloDiablo MoonWatchMoonWatch August 2011 TAM Nine (The Amazing Meeting) From Outer Space! CORNER by Chris Ford This month, I less demystifier of scams, super- Neil De Grasse Tyson, Pamela Gay S ’ would like to give you natural and pseudo-scientifc of “Astronomy Cast”, and “The T a flavor of a highly claims, and the relent- Physics of Star Trek” entertaining event less scourge of Uri Laurence Krauss, who N called “The Amazing Geller. It is an annual also all participated in Meeting” that I attend- forum that over 4-days a panel entitled “Our E ed with my son at the promotes science, Future in Space” with D South Point Hotel in skepticism, and criti- a unsurprisingly wide I Las Vegas last month. cal thinking, and to range of opinions. You may wonder what this author it is hard Other high profile sci- S the connection is to to think of a public entific media personal- astronomy, yet under event that attracts all ities at TAM 9 included E the radar this meeting in one place such a Professor Richard R has become one of diverse range of high Dawkins, Michael the most interesting profile media science Shermer, biologist P Z P public forums in the personalities, all of Myers, Richard Bill Nye signing an autograph for my USA devoted to sci- whom are accessible, Wiseman, as well as Son Alex. available, magicians Banachek, and willing to chat Penn and Teller, and of course one on one.This James Randi himself. years ninth TAM was Unfortunately absent at the last the third I have minute was usual regular,Adam attended with my 19 “Mythbusters” Savage. year old son Alex who was part of a There is always a strong astro- strong student repre- nomical and space component to sentation amongst TAM the 1,650 attendees. To give a sense of its content The promotion of the famous evolutionary biologist the values of science Richard Dawkins delivered an A stellar Astronomy speakers panel. (Left to right: Phil Plait, The Bad Astronomer, Bill and critical thinking excellent talk on alien contact, Nye The Science Guy, Neil De Grasse Tyson, Pamela Gay of Astronomy Cast, and “The for future generations while P Z Myers of the Physics of Star Trek” Laurence Krauss) are essential to the Pharyngula blog presented a future of our nation “Skeptical Look at Aliens”, and ence and critical thinking, with a and a key sub-theme of TAM. regular emphasis on astronomical subjects whether it is the possibil- This year ity of alien life, the future of space The Amazing Meeting was science, the evolution of the solar promoted as “TAM 9 from Outer system, or even the possibility of Space”, a pun on the famously UFO's. awful movie of that name. Some of the most prominent personali- The Amazing Meeting (TAM) was ties in the astronomical media and founded in 2003 by James Randi blogosphere were in attendance He is well known as a stage including “Bad Astronomer” Phil magician, escape artist, and tire- Plait, Bill Nye The Science Guy, Keynote speaker the irrepressible Neil De Grass Tyson in full flow... 2 MountMount DiabloDiablo AstronomicalAstronomical SocietySociety DiabloDiablo MoonWatchMoonWatch August 2011 TAM Nine From Outer Space! (Continued from previous page ) Pamela Gay gave an impassioned someone tweeted during the likely to encounter, and yet it is plea for the continued future of event that they should do a buddy not technical and always highly the James Webb Space Telescope cop routine! Needles to say, Neil accessible.There is definitely a dis- and what its loss will mean for caught the tweet live on stage and tinct flavor to TAM that is as much science educa- about being in the company of tion in the others who value the importance nation. Finally, of science, education, and logical Neil De Grasse reasoning. I cannot think of anoth- Tyson, who in er forum that includes so many my opinion is well known faces from such a the most enter- diverse range of disciplines, and taining advocate for around $375 per person for 4 for astronomy solid days, it is great value, and public outreach that includes breakfast and lunch was the keynote thrown in for the price also. speaker at TAM If you are interested in the sci- 9 and on fine entific method, critical thinking, form. His speech love astronomy and space, or are centered on the My son Alex and I with James Randi (aka “The Beard”) frustrated by the poor reporting consequences of living in a socie- duly showed it on screen during of science in the media,TAM may ty where science literacy is not his keynote. be just the tonic for you. given proper priority, giving many examples from his personal expe- As is evident from the above http://www.amazingmeeting.com/ riences. If anyone has seen Neil speakers, TAM is a highly eclec- Chris Ford live, you will know he is an tic mixture of personalities from incredibly knowledgeable, charis- matic, and funny speaker, and an the sciences, arts, and entertain- amazing advocate for astronomy. ment. In fact the back and forth dia- It is also one of the most logue between Neil and Bill Nye entertaining and yet mentally on one panel was so hilarious that challenging meetings that you are 3 MountMount DiabloDiablo AstronomicalAstronomical SocietySociety DiabloDiablo MoonWatchMoonWatch August 2011 An Honest Look at UFO’s by Nathaniel Bates UFO’s and amateur astronomy do manner.They turned to me and begin with a Null Hypothesis that not go together. asked me whether or not this was conforms to our own point of a UFO. I smiled and told them that view we have begun with a dis- Better put, UFO’s and amateur they were viewing Sirius, a very honest premise.A debunker astronomers often do not go near star about nine light-years should not begin with a Null together. Skeptical writers often away. Sirius could appear to be a Hypothesis that UFO’s are non- go to great lengths to discredit brilliant flickering object due to existent.The Null Hypothesis is the UFO narrative. In this essay, I the very moist Marin county win- most honest when we assume intend to try my best to take a ter sky, and the interesting seeing that it is the opposite of what we broad view of the UFO phenome- that the Pacific Ocean produced. I are trying to prove. If one is trying non, and to see to it that I do not suppose we can add Sirius to to debunk a position, often one take the dismissive approach that Venus or swamp gas and admit should begin by assuming it to be so many skeptics take. Indeed, that it is possible that people can potentially true and then showing nothing is more insulting than to mistake astronomical phenomena it to be false, especially in lieu of be told that one is incapable of for UFO’s. overwhelming evidence either distinguish- way. My point of ing Venus view runs con- from a mov- trary to the tradi- ing object, or tional skeptic swamp gas methodology from some- that merely thing truly showing that a unexplained. claim does not At the same meet the bar of time, one evidence is cannot aban- enough. I believe don proper scientific skepticism Add to the mix the International that the burden of proof is on any in order to embrace a True claim that is made about UFO’s, Believer mentality that accepts Space Station, satellites, and pro or con.