From: LARRY KLAES (ljk4_at_msn.com)
Date: Mon Jan 27 2003 - 18:57:09 PST
----- Original Message -----
From: NASANEWS@Ames
Sent: Monday, January 27, 2003 7:19 PM
To: ames-releases_at_lists.arc.nasa.gov
Subject: BERKELEY ASTRONOMER TO DISCUSS MYSTERIOUS BROWN DWARFS
Kathleen Burton Jan.27, 2003
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
Phone: 650/604-1731 or 650/604-9000
E-mail: kburton_at_mail.arc.nasa.gov
RELEASE: 03-08AR
NOTE TO EDITORS AND NEWS DIRECTORS: Members of the news media and
public are invited to attend the third talk in this year's 2002-2003
Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture Series, to be held on Wednesday,
Jan. 29, at 7 p.m. PST at Foothill College's Smithwick Theater, Los
Altos Hills, Calif. More information is available by calling the
series hotline at 650/949-7888.
BERKELEY ASTRONOMER TO DISCUSS MYSTERIOUS BROWN DWARFS
"Failed Stars or Supergiant Planets: A Cosmic Identity Crisis" will
be the topic of a free, non-technical talk at 7 p.m. PST on
Wednesday, Jan. 29, at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, Calif.
The public is invited.
Dr. Gibor Basri, an astronomer at the University of California,
Berkeley, will discuss the mysterious objects called 'brown dwarfs'
and the shadowy realms they inhabit, between being a planet and being
a star.
"The Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture Series is a fine example of a
robust collaboration resulting in excellence in outreach," said NASA
Ames Center Director G. Scott Hubbard. "NASA Ames is proud to
co-sponsor the series."
Basri, who has made pioneering observations of brown dwarfs, will
discuss how astronomers are learning to make more sophisticated
distinctions about exactly what it takes to be a star.
Brown dwarfs, which have been described as failed stars, are
celestial objects more massive than planets like Jupiter, but not
large enough to sustain the thermonuclear reactions that make stars
shine. Like planets and stars, they have gravitational fields and
atmospheres that get cooler the further one moves from their core.
This is the fourth year of the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture
Series, which is co-sponsored by NASA Ames, Foothill College's
Division of Physical Science, Mathematics and Engineering, the
Astronomical Society of the Pacific and the SETI Institute.
The lecture series is held at Foothill College's Smithwick Theater in
Los Altos Hills. From Interstate 280, exit at El Monte Road and
travel west to the campus. Visitors must purchase a one-day
campus-parking permit for $2. Seating is on a first-come,
first-served basis. Children over the age of 13 are welcome. More
information is available by calling the series hotline at
650/949-7888.
-end-
To receive Ames news releases, send an email with the word
"subscribe" in the subject line to:
ames-releases-request@lists.arc.nasa.gov. To unsubscribe, send an
email to the same address with "unsubscribe" in the subject line.
Also, the NASA Ames News homepage at URL,
http://amesnews.arc.nasa.gov includes news releases and JPEG images
in AP Leaf Desk format minus embedded captions.
-- Kathleen M. Burton Public Affairs Officer, Astrobiology & Space Science NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA 94035 phone 650 604-1731 fax 650 604-3990 email Kathleen.M.Burton_at_nasa.gov
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