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Finding Life on Other Worlds

When:
Thursday, September 10, 2020, 8:00 PM
Additional Info:
Category:
Monthly Meeting
Registration is not Required
Payment In Full In Advance Only
ATMoB Business Meeting Online. Check ATMoB Announce Forum for Zoom Link

This month’s speaker will be Robert Naeye, who will talk to us about life beyond Earth. With Earth currently approaching Mars
for its perihelic opposition in October, and with the discovery of over 4,000 exoplanets, one can easily imagine planets beyond
Earth harboring alien lifeforms, be they microbial or more complex creatures. Mr. Naeye writes:

“Are we alone or do we share our solar system and galaxy with other forms of life? And how widespread are advanced
civilizations with whom we could communicate?

Right now we don’t have answers to these profound questions. But scientists are in hot pursuit. The technology of searching for
life on other worlds has reached a level of maturity where the first definitive evidence of extraterrestrial life could come in the
very near future.

During a Zoom lecture on Thursday, September 10th, science journalist Robert Naeye will explore three different roads for detecting life beyond Earth:

1. Launching robotic spacecraft to discover life on Mars or other worlds in our solar system.

2. Deploying large telescopes to detect the chemical signatures of life in the atmospheres of planets orbiting other stars.

3. Using various techniques to pick up signals from advanced civilizations or to find evidence of their technological
activities”.

Robert Naeye is a longtime friend of the Amateur Telescope Makers of Boston and is currently a freelance science journalist
based in Hershey, Pennsylvania. He is a former editor in chief of Sky & Telescope, one of the world’s most respected popular
astronomy magazines. He also worked for Astronomy, Discover, and Mercury magazines. And he enjoyed a stint working
for NASA at its Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. During his 30-year career he has written hundreds of articles
about astronomy and space science. He has authored two books and contributed to three others. Please visit his website
at www.robertnaeye.com.