Saturday, August 15, 2015

New Horizons Mission




I had an amazing day at the Stellafane Convention today, seeing all kinds of home made telescopes brought to the convention from all around the U.S.  But the frosting on the cake was the keynote address tonight by Dr. Alan Stern, the man who led the team of the New Horizons mission which just flew a spacecraft by Pluto, after a nine-year voyage.  It is an astounding story of an incredibly complex mission and Dr. Stern is a wonderful presenter.  The story was riveting.  He spoke for an hour, and then answered questions for another forty minutes.  The audience was transfixed, as you can see in the second photograph.  Oh, get this:  He is holding a bumper sticker that he had made, that says: "My other vehicle is on its way to Pluto!"  How cool, and funny, is that!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

How exciting to have a speaker talking about a current event that few would think possible! Glad you enjoyed your time at the Stellafane Convention. bsk

Ken Spencer said...

It was such a spectacular convention for so many reasons, not the least of which was Dr. Stern. Seeing old friends, and meeting new ones, and then there were all the telescopes!