Moon Talk Commemorates 50-year First Steps

SANTA CLARA, CA — Astronomer Andrew Fraknoi will present an illustrated talk titled “50 Years Since Our First Step: What Do We Know about Where the Moon Came from, its Puzzling Motions, and Its Future?”

The public lecture is scheduled for July 8 from 7 p.m. at the Santa Clara City Library located at 2635 Homestead Road in Santa Clara.

The talk, which is free, is part of the library’s “Summer of Discovery" and appropriate for children ages 11 and older. Attendees are urged to arrive early.

July 20, 2019 is the 50th anniversary of humanity’s first steps on the surface of the moon. In that time, the Apollo missions as well as a fleet of robotic probes and observations from Earth have taught Americans a lot about Earth’s surprising satellite.

In this non-technical talk, Fraknoi will look at the past, present, and future of the moon —including its violent origins, the mystery of the frozen water at its poles and its long-term future as it moves further away from us. Fraknoi will use beautiful images taken from orbit and on the surface. The talk is expected to make the moon come alive as an eerie world next door, a changing object in the solar system and a possible future destination for humanity and its ambitions.

Fraknoi recently retired as the chairman of the Astronomy Department at Foothill College and now teaches non-credit astronomy courses for seniors at the Fromm Institute at the University of San Francisco and the OLLI Program at San Francisco State. He also served as the executive director of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific for 14 years and was named the California Professor of the Year in 2007.

Interested parties may register to receive emails and reminders. Seating is first come, first served.

The Summer of Discovery at the Library has a slate of programs.