Topic, "Measuring Exoplanets from Space"

At 7PM on Wednesday 6 May, at Taste, in College Park, we'll have a fascinating discussion for you.

Prior to 1993, we knew it would be a long time before anyone detected a planet orbiting another star. Then suddenly it happened, and it was bizarre! Not one, but several worlds doing the impossible: Orbiting pulsars—strange piles of neutrons leftover from powerful supernova explosions that no planet was thought capable of surviving. Shortly thereafter, a normal planet was found to orbit a normal star, in an orbit of just 4 days! The surprises do not end there.

Dr. Joseph Harrington, Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy at UCF, one of the first to measure exoplanets by their own light, will present a number of news-making discoveries by his team and others that have set the theory community abuzz.

Directions

Taste
717 W. Smith Street
Orlando, United States
32804

Taste is near the corner of Princeton Street (really Smith Street after the fork) and Edgewater Drive, so about 2 minutes from I-4 to parking. One can park on the street or in the parking lot behind Taste.

From Downtown and south, drive north ("east") on I-4 through downtown. At the exit for Princeton Street, exit and turn left/west.
From Altamonte Springs and north, drive south ("west") on I-4 toward downtown Orlando. At the exit for Princeton Street, exit and turn right/west.

From I-4, drive a few blocks to Edgewater Drive. At the intersection, you should see a orange building ahead of you, labled "Taste". Park on the street or behind Taste.

Stick Science contest

Florida Citizens for Science is holding a contest to make a comic that will educate the reader about some misconception in sciences. They have a panel of celebrities to judge winners. The constraints include must using stick figures, and educating or humor but never ridicule. There are some pretty sweet prizes, too.