Blog: [Blog Home] [Archives] [Search] [Contact]

Posts Tagged ‘astronomers’

Space Globalization for Astronomy Day 2016

Friday, May 13th, 2016

The Globalization of the Solar System Presentation
The Globalization of the Solar System Presentation

Saturday May 14 I will be speaking at an Astronomy Day event being held at Harper College in Palatine IL. The event is sponsored by Northwest Suburban Astronomers and the Harper College Department of Physical Sciences. This astronomy day event will consist of displays, presentations, hands-on activities for kids, and, weather permitting, telescopic observations of the night sky.

My part in the evening’s activities will be to give my presentation The Globalization of the Solar System which addresses the question of whether or not the economics of globalization can take place with human settlements spread across the solar system. I am speaking at Astronomy Day in my role as President of the Chicago Society for Space Studies, a non-profit promoting space exploration and space development via educational outreach. For more about my space exploration presentations, see Chicago Society for Space Studies Speakers Bureau – Jim Plaxco.

And yes, I have given art related presentations at past astronomy day events, at both this venue and others. My most popular such art talk is The Art of Astronomy which is a historical overview of the development of astronomical art. The take-away from this presentation is that astronomical art has relied more on technological advancement than any other traditional art form (clearly new media art, aka digital art, aka computer art, have all been entirely dependent on technological innovation).

In addition to my own presentation, the Harper College – Northwest Suburban Astronomers Astronomy Day event has the following program items:

  • Things that Go Boom in the Night
  • Craft Projects for Children
  • Einstein Destroys Vulcan!
  • Discovering Our Solar System
  • Pluto Revealed
  • Black Holes
  • T Coronae Borealis: A Recurring Nova
  • The Possibility of Life on Mars and Venus
  • Astro Trivia
  • Eclipse Mania: Observing the 2017 Total Solar
  • Cosmic Time

Astronomy Day activities begin at 5:30pm and are held in Building Z on the Harper College college. For complete details, see the Northwest Suburban Astronomers Astronomy Day page.

Astronomy Day 2016, Harper College, Palatine IL
Astronomy Day 2016, Harper College, Palatine IL

Bookmark it:  Stumble It  Bookmark this on Delicious  Digg This  Technorati  Reddit Tweet It


Art And The Exploration of Space Lecture

Thursday, October 8th, 2009

Apollo LEM from Astronaut Glory digital painting
Apollo Lunar Module from Astronaut Glory digital painting

Tomorrow night, Friday October 9, I’ll be giving my presentation Art And The Exploration of Space at a meeting of the Skokie Valley Astronomers. Space art is definitely a subject I enjoy talking about as it was space art that got me interested in art and in part space exploration. With respect to space exploration, it was the combination of space art, science fiction, and space exploration itself that got me interested in space exploration to the extent that I became actively involved in promoting both robotic and human space exploration.

For details about the Art And The Exploration of Space program, see the news release Space Art at the Ryerson Conservation Area

The Illustration

To illustrate this post I used a section of one of my digital painting tributes to the Apollo missions. The section shows the Apollo Lunar Module. For details about this digital painting see
Astronaut Glory I Space Art Print

Ad Astra, Jim

Bookmark it:  Stumble It  Bookmark this on Delicious  Digg This  Technorati  Reddit Tweet It