If you’re reading this blog, chances are that one (if not all) of these three things might be of interest —
1. First off, on Friday, October 9, the Discovery Museum in Bridgeport is the only place in Connecticut where you can watch NASA’s Lunar CRater Observing and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission live as it happens.
From the museum’s website:
The main LCROSS mission objective is to confirm the presence or absence of water ice in a permanently shadowed crater near a lunar polar region.
LCROSS launched with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) aboard an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on June 18, 2009 at 2:32 p.m. PDT. The LCROSS shepherding spacecraft and the Atlas V’s Centaur upper stage rocket executed a fly-by of the moon on June 23, 2009 and entered into an elongated Earth orbit to position LCROSS for impact on a lunar pole. On final approach, the shepherding spacecraft and Centaur will separate. The Centaur will act as a heavy impactor to create a debris plume that will rise above the lunar surface. Following four minutes behind, the shepherding spacecraft will fly through the debris plume, collecting and relaying data back to Earth before impacting the lunar surface and creating a second debris plume.
The debris plumes are expected to be visible from Earth- and space-based telescopes 10-to-12 inches and larger.
Cool — shooting a rocket into the ground to make a big impact and throw up huge clouds of dust sounds like something from an episode of “Mythbusters.” Should be quite the astronomical show.
The Discovery Museum will be open at 7 a.m. to view the impact event. There will be a light breakfast, with a planetarium show, lecture and discussion to follow.
2. For you folks who love scary movies, there’s a campaign happening to get the currently cult frightfest Paranormal Activity released nationwide. If 1,000,000 people vote that they want to see it, it will then be shown in theaters everywhere, including Connecticut.
If you’re unfamiliar with the movie — which has generated considerable buzz as being exceptionally scary, freaking out film festival crowds in limited screenings — it was made in a single week by first-time writer-director for a mere $11,000 (not a typo) back in 2007. The story is that a young couple thinks something weird is happening to them while they’re asleep, so they set up video cameras, which record terrifying results.
Here’s the trailer —
If you like what you see — and we do! — make your damned voice hear at eventful.com.
3. Finally, our buddy Margey and the Connecticut Chapter of Drinking Skeptically meets next Thursday night (Oct. 15) at The Field in Bridgeport and welcomes back our old friend, Dr. Kenny Feder, who will be presenting “Atlantis: Lost. One Continent. Reward.”
From their site:
Back by popular demand… Kenny Feder
Dr. Kenneth L. Feder is a professor of archaeology at Central Connecticut State University. He has authored several books on archaeology and criticism of pseudoarchaeology such as Frauds, Myths, and Mysteries: Science and Pseudoscience in Archaeology. He gained his Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology in 1973 from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, his Master of Arts in anthropology from the University of Connecticut in 1975 and his Ph.D. in anthropology in 1982. He is the founder and director of the Farmington River Archaeological Project which studies the prehistory of the region. He has also appeared on the ancient astronauts episode of the National Geographic Channel’s Is It Real? and several episodes of the BBC documentary series Horizon discussing Atlantis and Caral.
For more info about Dr. Kenny, check out the Damned Connecticut interview with him. He’s a great presenter, and this event is highly recommended!
If you’re interested in attending, you need to register with Drinking Skeptically.