Forum: Look! Up in the Sky!

by Mike Johnson

Jeff Hester on Astronomy

Our October Guest Speaker at the Greater Phoenix Mensa Forum is quite a
celebrity, I find. For one thing, the United States Post Office, for one
of its commemorative stamps, chose Dr. Jeff Hester's image of the Eagle
Nebula, taken through the lens of the Hubble Space Telescope. Besides a
reward for work well done, what an honor! And who better to honor, than a
member of the team that salvaged the Hubble Space Telescope after it was
discovered to have a major flaw that prevented the capture of clear images.
Just being a member of that team had to be quite an honor, not to mention
daunting, to be selected to second guess the builders of the behemoth. He
was also one of the scientists to announce the success of their mission.

On the 11th of October at 7 p.m. Dr. Hester will take us full circle, from
the wondering minds of our ancient ancestors as they gazed up at the stars,
to our current crop of curious minds who now ponder our origins and our
futures among the stars. for every breath we take proves that we earthlings
are part of the whole of them. It is now we who are honored, to have this
man of accomplishment come to speak to us, and we respectfully welcome him.

We will meet, as usual, at The Pyle Center, located on Southern Avenue in
Tempe, just west of Rural Road (the second driveway). Parking to the rear
of the building to the right is most practical. The room to which we will
be assigned will be in a corridor to the left, and marked with appropriate
signs.

Afterwards we will all retire to the Uptown Brewery for The Debriefing,
and hope that Dr. Hester will join us there. It is located about two miles
to the east (past McClintock), easily identifiable by the large red neon
sign for Green Tomatoes Restaurant just west of it, on the north side of
Southern.