Photo credit: Harvard College Observatory
I’ll be delighted to speak on the 40th anniversary of
Astronomy magazine at Harvard College Observatory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Thursday, September 19, 2013. The talk will be part of the institution’s Observatory Nights put on by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA), in which public talks precede telescopic observing from the observatory’s roof.
The Harvard-Smithsonian CfA sponsors free programs for the public on the third Thursday of every month, excluding June, July, and August. Observatory Nights feature a nontechnical lecture and telescopic observing from the observatory roof if weather permits. The lectures are intended for high-school age and older audiences, but children are also welcome. Seating is limited and available on a first-come basis. Doors open at 7 p.m.; programs begin at 7:30 p.m. Parking is free; parking lots marked for Observatory Staff are open to the public on event nights. Admission is free.
Observatory Nights are held in the Phillips Auditorium at the CfA, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, about 1 mile west of Harvard Square. Entrance is at the west of the CfA complex, near Madison Street and large parking lot. The CfA is easily reached by public transportation. From the Harvard MBTA Station (Red Line), take any bus or trackless trolley going west on Concord Avenue (Arlmont Village and Belmont Center buses, Huron Avenue trolleys) and get off at “Observatory Hill.”
Phillips Auditorium is the site for many of the scientific talks and conferences held at the observatory as well as for the nontechnical astronomy lectures for the public. Formerly home of the Phillips Library, both the library and Phillips Professorship were made possible by an 1848 bequest to the Harvard College Observatory from Edward Bromfield Phillips.
For more information, including accessibility, or to sign up for the events mailing list, call the Public Affairs Office, (617) 495-7461, or email pubaffairs@cfa. Please request sign-language interpretation at least two weeks before the event.
Many thanks to David Aguilar and Christine Pulliam for the invitation, and I look forward to seeing some of you there in September.