First Tuesday: The Once and Future Moon w/ Shane Larson
When: Tuesday, August 4, at 7pm.
Where: Winthrop Barn (Get Directions)
Astronomer and astrophysicist Shane Larson is back in the Methow Valley this August to teach us about the Moon! This event is free and open to the public. Reach out to Bridger with any questions about the event.
We encourage attendees to carpool to our events if possible. Call your neighbors, fill your car, reduce your emissions, and enjoy the company!
Can't get enough of the night sky? Perhaps you'll want to check out the Conservancy's star party on August 7 in Twisp.
The Once and Future Moon
As our closest celestial neighbor, the Moon has always occupied a special place in the mind of humanity, playing special roles in our time-keeping, in our folklore, in our scientific understanding of the Cosmos, and in our quest to step beyond the shores of Earth. It is close enough to the Earth that we can easily see its influence on our planet every day through tides and the illumination of the night. It is close enough to the Earth that its study is not solely the domain of professional astronomers — ordinary citizens can and do moon-gaze from their own backyards every night using their eyes, binoculars, and small telescopes. Despite this close proximity, there are still many questions we have about the Moon, ranging from its origin, to its composition and makeup, to when will you and I be able to go there as easily as we can go to Iowa.
In this talk we discuss some of the observational history of the Moon, some of our current thinking about the Moon and its importance to Earth, the history of spacecraft and human exploration of the Moon, and what our aspirations for the future of lunar exploration are.
About Shane
Shane Larson is a professor of Physics at Clarkson University and the Director of Integrated Engineering and Applied Science Projects in the Coulter School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
He works in the field of gravitational wave astrophysics, specializing in studies of compact stars, binaries, and the galaxy with both the ground-based LIGO project, and the forthcoming space-based observatory LISA. He grew up in Eastern Oregon. He received his BS in physics from Oregon State, and his MS and PhD from Montana State. His postdoctoral work was at JPL, Caltech, and at the Physics Frontier Center at Penn State. He is an award winning teacher, and a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He contributes regularly to a public science blog at writescience.wordpress.com, and posts at Bluesky with the handle @sciencejedi.
