A Cosmic NightLife | California Academy of Sciences

Submitted by the Event Organizer

For the November 11th installment of NightLife, we celebrate all things outer space with our brand new planetarium show, Life: a Cosmic Story, the GORT Telescope, SETI, and more. Music by Pink Mammoth.

Life: A Cosmic Story

NightLife is very excited this week to feature our brand-new Planetarium show: Life: A Cosmic Story, at all three of our NightLife planetarium screenings. Narrated by two-time Academy Award winner Jodie Foster, it seeks to answer the question of how life began on Earth. The journey begins by “shrinking” down to enter a single redwood leaf, illustrating that all life on Earth shares a common ancestry. Then, the viewer travels through time and space to witness key events since the Big Bang that set the stage for life. Along the way, you will see two scenarios for the dawn of life on early Earth, and discover how our planet has changed since those microscopic beginnings.

Life: A Cosmic Story will be shown at 6:30, 7:30 pm and 8:30 pm. Passes to planetarium shows are distributed on a first-come, first-served basis. Pick up your pass at the Planetarium Kiosk.

SETI

SETI, or the Search for Extra Terrestrial Life, is a mission dedicated to searching our universe for evidence of life besides that which is here on Earth. NightLife is proud to have the institute here to discuss the latest and most exciting progress that astronomers have made toward answering the question of whether or not we are alone in the universe. Join us for talks, videos, and Q & A sessions on this subject.

We are pleased to announce that Frank Drake, who conducted the first modern SETI experiment in 1960 and created the Drake Equation, will be speaking. He continues to be on the forefront of SETI research, including such topics as searching for optical signals of intelligent origin, investigating radio telescope designs within SETI, and determining the possibility that planets orbiting red dwarf stars will be habitable.

Also speaking is Dr. Jill Tarter, Director of the Institute’s Center for SETI Research. She is one of the few researchers to have devoted her career to hunting for signs of sentient beings elsewhere, and there are few aspects of this field that have not been affected by her work. Also, she was the inspiration for Jodie Foster’s character in the movie, “Contact”.

GORT

GORT is a ground-based telescope located at the Hume Observatory just east of Windsor, California and is designed to support several NASA high-energy space observatories. It observes the sky in the gamma ray and X-ray region of the electromagnetic spectrum, and is used to view such exotic cosmic objects as blazars, GRBs, and polars. At NightLife this week, you’ll be able to take control of the telescope remotely and see gamma rays for yourself as you navigate GORT through the sky.

There will also be interactive fun from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.

Brad Barton, Reality Thief

In between our talks by SETI, we are pleased to present Brad Barton, Reality Thief, in an intimate performance of mystery and mischief that will challenge your perception of reality. Brad has been a fixture at NightLife for a while now, wandering around the museum performing for small groups. He’s been such a hit we’ve invited him to do one of his acclaimed stage performances. The show involves audience participation, humor, and mind blowing experiments that mix the ancient art of magic with some modern mental twists.

Disclaimer: Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be canceled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, and errors do occur.