Astronomical Society of the Pacific

288 registrants. 140 presenters. 35 concurrent sessions. 6 engaging plenary panels. 2 very special evening events. All squeezed into 3 days at the #ASP2024 Virtual Conference connecting colleagues around the world to learn about all the incredible progress in astronomy education, outreach, and engagement! While the conference may be over, you can still support our mission of promoting public science interest, engagement, and literacy through the awe and wonder of astronomy and related fields. Have you joined the Astronomical Society of the Pacific?! Please consider doing so today! https://lnkd.in/gRKSme9x

Today would have been Gene Roddenberry's 103rd birthday. Of all the visionaries who have imagined a positive future for our species, Gene doesn't often get the recognition he deserves. His view of our future -- as embodied in his groundbreaking TV show #StarTrek -- exemplified what our future could be if we work together instead of against one another. Created and aired in the mid 1960s, Star Trek imagines a future Earth free from poverty, inequity, bigotry, inequality, and the other social issues that serve to divide us rather than unite us. This basic point was always reinforced at the beginning of every show: Space: The Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before. He had the audacity to cast minorities in significant roles, not the least of which was putting a black woman in a senior leadership role at a time when seeing women in prominent roles — let alone someone of color — was unheard of. In fact, when Nichelle Nichols (Lt. Uhura) considered leaving Star Trek after the first year, it was none other than Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who implored her to re-consider her decision given the importance of the role she portrayed and the vision they created for tomorrow. He told her: "Don’t you understand? For the first time we are seen as we should be seen. You'd don’t have a black role; you have an equal role.” Its just one of many stereotypes and caricatures eliminated from Gene Roddenberry's future of what our species can accomplish. Listen to my short #OurIslandUniverse segment on Nichelle Nichols to learn more (linked below)! Gene Roddenberry was a true visionary who clearly understood what we as a species are capable of if we could only work together to solve the petty problems that divide us. We are far more alike then we are different. He boldly went where no other has gone before and allowed us to dream of a world free of prejudice, bigotry, racism, & poverty. A goal we’re still yearning to realize. Happy birthday Gene! LISTEN: https://bit.ly/3msR0pd

As our calendar flips to August, here in the northern hemisphere, these tend to be the long, lazy and HOT days of summer! Colloquially we refer to these sultry days as the “Dog Days of Summer”. Where does this saying come from?! What is its connection to the stars?! Learn more in this short audio segment from #OurIslandUniverse! https://lnkd.in/eipqVCJY ?? credit: Shanil Virani

Fifty-five years ago, on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong descended from the Eagle, set foot on the Moon, and with his statement — “Its one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind” — added a monumental milestone to our species history. With those words, for the first time in the history of our planet, a species from Earth conquered the force of gravity. We left our “pale, blue dot” and put a footprint on another world. The Moon Landing represents an enormous scientific and engineering accomplishment. It is the work of literally thousands of people working together as one that made it happen. The computers used by NASA back then were no more powerful than a pocket calculator and occupied many rooms, but it did the job. We won. The United States had beat the Soviet Union to the Moon. The story of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin navigating the lunar module on descent is truly heroic. On the final descent, Armstrong noticed their intended landing place was littered with boulders. Flying on fumes and with only seconds to spare, Armstrong calmly took control and guided the lunar module to a soft landing in the Sea of Tranquility. “Houston, Tranquility base here, the Eagle has landed.” With that sentence, millions of Earthlings could once again breathe. We now lived in a world where humans have walked on the Moon. ~200,000 years ago we left the Serengeti and settled new land in the “Old World”. ~1,000 years ago, we sailed across the ocean and “discovered” the New World. Now, as we approach the quarter mark of the 21st century, plans are well underway to send humans back to the Moon and then to Mars in the 2030s. By the end of the century, it’s likely we will have permanent human colonies on both the Moon and Mars. Carl Sagan said it best: “We embarked on our journey to the stars with a question first framed in the childhood of our species and in each generation asked anew with undiminished wonder: What are the stars? Exploration is in our nature. We began as wanderers, and we are wanderers still. We have lingered long enough on the shores of the cosmic ocean. We are ready at last to set sail for the stars.” Happy #MoonDay.