Amateur Astronomy on KALW Radio / SFAA Star Parties

I like blogging about astronomy because I want to get the public motivated to spend a few minutes out under the stars instead of staying inside at night. To that end, I've been able to extend my reach by being a guest on KFOG radio from time to time. This week KALW, public radio at 91.7FM in San Francisco, broadcast a feature story on the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers at one of their Star Parties on Mt Tam. It's great radio and it gives you a good perspective on what you do at at Star Party. KALW also recorded a brief interview with yours truly talking about the night sky. I used to be a radio DJ years ago and it's a real pleasure to have the opportunity to get in front of a microphone and reach out to the public over that medium, be it on KFOG or KALW.

The next chance to meet the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers at a star party on Mt Tam is this Saturday night, July 25th. The evening opens at 8:30 pm with a lecture by Dr. Natalie Batalha of San Jose State, talking about a NASA mission called Kepler. The Kepler Mission is looking for habitable planets that are orbiting other stars in the Milky Way. After the lecture, the SFAA will have telescopes for public viewing of the heavens. Unfortunately I will miss the lecture and star party on Mt Tam this month, but fortunately I'll be near Lake Tahoe enjoying dark skies and hosting some star parties there. More on that in a future post.