Outstanding Space Presentations in Late October

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Dear Wonderfest friend,

Space cadets and Star Fleet admirals have reason to rejoice at the lineup of Wonderfest events in late October.
 
Oct. 17, Mt. Tam — The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) is getting a huge boost from the Breakthrough Foundation’s recent gift of 100 million(!) dollars. Chief Scientist for SETI Berkeley, Dan Werthimer, will describe the advances to come — inspired by this new funding AND by brilliant new technology — up on Mount Tamalpais this Saturday at 7:30 PM. Full information about this FREE event is available here: Breakthrough Listen: Grand New Search for ET.
 
Cosmic Nightlife
 
Oct. 22, G.G.Park — Three outstanding Wonderfest speakers will enlighten crowds at the California Academy of Sciences NightLife next Thursday. NASA’s Chris McKay will present the challenges and mysteries of solar system exploration; UC Berkeley’s Dan Werthimer will discuss why we haven’t heard from ET, yet; and Cal Astronomy Professor Alex Filippenko will explore how a multiverse — not just a universe — helps us understand the incredible complexity of the cosmos. Please consult Wonderfest’s Cosmic NightLife for information and tickets.
 
Revenge of the Dwarf Planet
 
Oct. 26, Palo Alto — Andrew Fraknoi, Bay Area newsmedia’s go-to astronomy expert, will stand up for Pluto with Wonderfest and the Commonwealth Club Silicon Valley. Remarkable new findings are still coming in from the New Horizon’s spacecraft, and the Pluto-Charon double world — at the outskirts of the Solar System — are revealing wonderful secrets. For full event information, please visit Revenge of the Dwarf Planet: What Really Happened to Pluto, and What We Are Now Learning about this Intriguing World.
 
Wondrous regards,
 
Tucker Hiatt, Founding Director
 
P.S. Discount tickets for Wonderfest’s Houdini Séance are available for only ~ 2 more days. At 11:59pm on Thursday, Oct.15, our Kickstarter will terminate, and unsold tickets will be available at the Brava Theater box office at regular, undercounted prices. Ouch! If you haven’t already purchased tickets, please reconsider this Halloween spectacle of skepticism, magic, and science. It features skeptic Michael Shermer, magician Jamy Ian Swiss, and UCSF neuroscientist Melina Uncapher — if not the ghost of Harry Houdini! Please support Wonderfest by purchasing discount tickets (or other deeply-discounted Houdini Séance Kickstarter rewards, like Skeptic magazine subscriptions and Exploratorium “After Dark” tickets) before midnight Thursday.