Next In Popular Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures: 'Finding the Asteroid Headed for Earth'

As part of the 15th annual Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture Series, former NASA Astronaut Edward Tsang “Ed” Lu, Ph.D., and CEO of the Sentinel Mission, will discuss The Sentinel Mission: Finding the Asteroid Headed for Earth, an illustrated, non-technical lecture Wednesday, March 4, at 7 p.m. in the Smithwick Theatre at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills.

Admission is free and the public is invited. Seating is first come, first served. Arrive early to locate parking.

Asteroids, which hit our planet at least twice each year, are the only natural disaster for which we have a technological solution. We are all living with the threat of a three-minute experience that could transform our lives and our planet forever.

On Feb. 15, 2013, for example, an asteroid impact on Chelyabinsk, Russia, sent more than 1,700 people to seek medical attention, damaged more than 7,200 buildings and cost the city more than $33 million dollars (1 billion rubles) in property damage.

Scientists have found 10,000 Near-Earth Objects, yet there are an estimated one million in our inner solar system, and the vast majority of the threatening ones are still undiscovered. In this non-technical talk, Dr. Lu will describe the threat, and discuss the Sentinel Mission, an orbiting telescope designed to detect and track asteroids that cross Earth’s orbit.

Dr. Lu is the CEO and co-founder of the Sentinel Mission and was co-founder of the non-profit B612 Foundation that is raising funds for it.

A physicist with a doctorate from Stanford, Lu was selected for the NASA astronaut corps in 1994. He flew two Space Shuttle missions, and spent 206 days in space aboard the International Space Station in 2003. He is the recipient of NASA’s highest honor, the Distinguished Service Medal, and worked for a time on Google’s Advanced Project Team.

The free lecture series is sponsored by the Foothill College Astronomy Program, NASA Ames Research Center, SETI Institute and Astronomical Society of the Pacific.

A number of past Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures are now available free on YouTube on the series’ own channel atwww.youtube.com/user/SVAstronomyLectures/.

The site gives instant access to more than 20 past lectures, including Steve Beckwith on the Hubble Telescope’s deepest views, Mike Brown on his discovery of worlds beyond Pluto, Natalie Batalha on the Kepler mission planet discoveries, Chris McKay on what it’s like on Saturn’s moon Titan, Sandra Faber on the origin of galaxies, Alex Filippenko and Roger Blandford on black holes, and Seth Shostak on new approaches t o finding extra-terrestrial civilizations.

Parking lots 1, 7 and 8 provide stair and no-stair access to the theatre. Visitors must purchase a parking permit for $3 from dispensers in student parking lots. Dispensers accept one-dollar bills and quarters; bring exact change. Foothill College is located off I-280 on El Monte Road in Los Altos Hills.

For more information, access www.foothill.edu or call (650) 949-7888.