Asteroids, Astronomers, and........Birthdays?

Yup! Those three things constituted my Thursday. 

The first part of my day was the birthdays. While at school I got to celebrate my friend Micaela’s birthday. (She has a really awesome blog which is definitely worth checking out!) I then went to the Clark Planetarium’s Tenth Anniversary Gala to celebrate their tenth birthday.

The Clark Planetarium is one of my favorite places to go. They have a really fun gift shop, cool movies, and amazing interactives. While there I had the privilege of eating really good food, although, I had to harken back to the days when I played princess in order to remember how to go about using ten different pieces of silverware correctly. 

I then got to do something SUPER-DUPER cool! That is where the astronomers come in. I had the amazing privilege of meeting Dr. Philip Plait! That name may not mean a lot to you but in the world of astronomy he is well-known. Dr. Plait used to work for the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center on the Hubble Telescope. He is most well-known for his blog titled Bad Astronomy. It is a highly entertaining blog that debunks bogus astronomy. 

After meeting Dr. Plait we then got to listen to a lecture by him. He discussed one of the topics that is mentioned in his book, Death From The Skies. That is when the asteroid part of my evening took place. Death From The Skies is all about the ways that the universe can kill us. The first chapter of his book details the possibility of Earth being hit by asteroids and comets. Dr. Plait talked about the recent meteor explosion that occurred over Russia in 2012 on the same day that asteroid DA-14 passed us. He also showed some movie clips of astronomical objects colliding with Earth that came from Hollywood. He then showed us just how wrong they were scientifically. It was quite entertaining. 

Phil Plait introducing his lecture

To wrap up the evening there was a book signing where I got my (brand spanking new) copy of Death From The Skies signed. (See below) 

How cool is that?!?!?!

Overall, it was one of the coolest evenings of my life! I love being around people who share the same passion that I do for space. It will be hard to top that experience but I have something coming up next week that might just do it. Keep checking back to find out more....Bye!