[AANC Contacts] Hubble Director on First 2 Billion Years of Universe at Foothill College Wednesday

[Andrew Fraknoi]

REMINDER: Come Early: Big Crowds Expected

Public Lecture Open to Everyone
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On Wednesday, March 4, at 7 pm,
astronomer Steven Beckwith, the former
Director of the Space Telescope Science
Institute (which runs the Hubble), will give a
non-technical, illustrated talk on:
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The Dawn of Creation: The First Two Billion Years
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as part of the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures
in the Smithwick Theater, Foothill College,
El Monte Road and Freeway 280,
in Los Altos Hills, California.

Free and open to the public.
Parking on campus costs $2.

Call the series hot-line at 650-949-7888 for
more information and driving directions.

No background in science will be required for
this talk.  Seating is first come, first served.
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      All the great islands of stars got their start in
the first billion years after the beginning of time,
the Big Bang. Every deep picture of the sky
reveals thousands of these galaxies, each made
up of billions of stars like the Sun. The intricate
structures of the Milky Way and other galaxies
took shape slowly, building up from many pieces
in the debris of the initial explosion.  This process
was governed by the mysterious dark matter that
we can sense but still not see. Modern instruments
like the Hubble Space Telescope have made it
possible to look back to a time when the universe
looked very different that it does today.  Dr. Beckwith
will show some of the deepest images of the universe
ever taken and share recent discoveries about the
early days of the cosmos.

Steven Beckwith is currently the Vice President for Research
and Graduate Studies for the University of California's ten
campuses. His 30-year research career spans many areas
of astronomy, including the formation and early evolution of
planets around other stars and the birth of galaxies in the
early universe. In 2004, he led the team that created the
Hubble Ultra Deep Field image, resulting in the discovery of
the most distant galaxies ever seen.

The lecture is co-sponsored by:
* NASA Ames Research Center
* The Foothill College Astronomy Program
* The SETI Institute
* The Astronomical Society of the Pacific.

This talk is part of the local events celebrating the International
Year of Astronomy in 2009.

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Past Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures are now available
in MP3 format at:
http://www.astrosociety.org/education/podcast/index.html