Free Astronomy Talk: Are We Alone in the Dark?

Is Earth the only planet that supports life? Recent NASA missions and new observatory techniques have discovered exoplanets (planets outside our solar system) around nearly all stars. Our great observatories reveal a vast universe of billions of galaxies and an uncountable number of stars.

As dramatic and compelling as these stellar and planetary possibilities are, they represent only a tiny fraction of our universe. Over 95% of our universe is dark, composed of dark matter and dark energy, things our scientific theories can’t explain. Are these theories wrong, or just incomplete? NASA is engaged to explore all these questions with new great observatories, missions to the planets, and ultra-precise fundamental physics experiments in space. Join Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) physicist John Callas, Ph.D., for a free talk on these exciting topics at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, presented by the Santa Barbara Astronomical Unit.

Dr. Callas was project manager of NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Project, operating the rovers Spirit and Opportunity on the surface of Mars through more than a decade of extended mission operations. He then led the joint NASA-NSF Exoplanet Observational Research program to detect and characterize exoplanets around other stars. Currently, he is the manager of NASA’s Fundamental Physics Program, tasked to perform ultra-precision measurements of the basic laws of physics in space. In addition to his JPL work, Callas teaches mathematics at Pasadena City College as an adjunct assistant professor.

James Webb Space Telescope deep field image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI