The speaker at the October meeting will be Patrick Young from ASU's School of
Earth and Space Exploration. His talk is titled, "Building Worlds:
Astrobiology from a Stellar Perspective." Extrasolar planets exhibit an
amazing diversity far beyond what we find in our own solar system.
Understanding these worlds and assessing which are not only habitable but the
best targets for *detection* of life requires detailed characterization.
Chemical composition is fundamental to these issues, and turns out to vary
significantly from star to star. The NASA Nexus for Exoplanet System Science
"Exoplanetary Ecosystems" project at ASU aims to build planetary systems from
the exotic compositions seen in nearby stars to understand the consequences for
the evolution of stars, habitable zones, and planetary mineralogy and
geophysics. The project's goal is to help future missions directly observing
Earth-like planets to pick the targets most likely to be able to maintain
detectable signatures of life.
SAC meetings are held in the Fleming Building at Grand Canyon University. Room
105. Parking details may be found at this site.
http://saguaroastro.org/content/Meetings.htm
After the meeting we go to JB's Restaurant on the southwest corner of Northern
and 35th Ave.
We look forward to seeing you at the meeting.
Tom Polakis
SAC VP
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