Alice Sheppard & Grasping the Cosmos

Almost everybody wants to know about space, but while the news is full of it, a lot of the basic science isn’t available to those who don’t know where to look. This has left the door open for some unpleasant elitism in astronomy and a flood of myths that cloud our perception of the skies. Some of these are harmless fun, some are linked with poor understanding of science, some are potentially harmful and some are just frankly extremely sad.

Alice Sheppard, a long-time space addict and ambassador of citizen science, will take you on a tour of some of our most-misunderstood destinations in the Solar System and beyond, and in ourselves as people and potential astronomers. By the end of the evening, you should feelmuch more equipped to understand what’s beyond our planet, and to get this fascinating area of science moving forward.

Alice Sheppard co-founded Cardiff and Hackney Skeptics in the Pub, ran the Galaxy Zoo forum for five years and has given several SITP talks about astronomy and citizen science. She has a postgraduate diploma in Astrophysics and wrote the chapter on Cecilia Payne for the first Ada Lovelace Day book. She now writes the Citizen Science column at the Society for Popular Astronomy magazine.

Join the Facebook event and invite your friends: https://www.facebook.com/events/509444549258672/

—

7.30PM start at St. Aldates Tavern, and entry is free, although we do suggest a donation of around £3 to cover speaker expenses. We tend to get busy, so arrive early to make sure you get a seat. Come along and say hello! All welcome.
http://oxford.skepticsinthepub.org/Event.aspx/9112/Grasping-the-Cosmos