Please join us at the Harrison House for a celebration of the April full moon – the Pink, Egg, or Sprouting Grass Moon – with an informative and entertaining talk by Dr. Gary Blackwood. Gary will discuss the Moon from the perspectives of science, culture, and the awe we experience through the sense of connection to something larger than ourselves. You will enjoy a view of the rising moon with telescopes and participate in a laser-guided tour of the brightest constellations and planets.

Dr. Nick Siegler is an astrophysicist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory where he works with teams from around the country developing breakthrough technologies to one day directly image and analyze the atmospheres of planets orbiting other stars. In recent years, astronomers have discovered that most stars in our Milky Way likely host planetary systems. Are any of these distant worlds suitable for life? And if so, what would the signs of life look like from afar? In this talk, we’ll explore how scientists are searching for biological and technological fingerprints on exoplanets.

Dr. Eric Mamajek, Deputy Program Scientist, Exoplanet Exploration Program, at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, serves as a leader of the NASA Exoplanet Exploration Program. He’s part of a team that developed and use advanced science and technology to search for life in the universe. Eric earned his degree in Astronomy at the University of Arizona, in Physics at the University of New South Wales, and Astronomy & Astrophysics, Physics, at the Pennsylvania State University.

Professor Sara Seager is an astrophysicist and a Professor of Physics, Planetary Science, and Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering at MIT. Her research has introduced many foundational ideas to the field of exoplanets. She is now at the forefront of the search for the first Earth-like exoplanets and signs of life on them and is pursuing exploration of Venus as a habitable world. Professor Seager was awarded a MacArthur “genius” grant, the Kavli Prize in Astrophysics, and has Asteroid 9729 named in her honor. She is the author of, “The Smallest Lights in the Universe: A Memoir”.

Daniel’s primary scientific focus is mining the rich scientific vein provided by supermassive black holes for understanding the universe.  In his early career, he found some of the most distant galaxies and black holes known at the time.  He then used infrared satellites to study the large-scale environments of accreting supermassive black holes and X-ray satellites to study their innermost regions.  Most recently, he’s using time-domain surveys to probe the extrema of quasar variability, including candidate merging black holes, black holes tearing stars apart, and black holes turning on or turning off faster than they ought to.  He is heavily involved in multiple astrophysics missions led by or partnered with NASA, including the NuSTAR X-ray satellite, the Euclid optical/near-IR satellite, and the UVEX and Ultrasat ultraviolet satellites. He has also helped develop future large NASA mission concepts.

“For any worlds that we ever explore, artists and dreamers will have been there before.” GB

A journey into the present and future of earth through satellite imagery, artist interpretations of exoplanets and a tour of the night sky putting it all in perspective. As NASA discovers exoplanets and possible deserts billions of years older than our own artists, project images of what was and yet to come. Meanwhile satellites peer down on Earth revealing our human impacts but offering hope for the future in how to heal our planet.

Dr. Jason Rhodes grew up in West Des Moines, Iowa. He earned a B.S. in Physics from Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, CA; an M.A and a Ph.D. in Physics from Princeton University, NJ.  After stints as a researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland and Caltech in Pasadena, California, he landed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in 2004. His projects include NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, the European Space Agency’s Euclid mission, and the Vera Rubin Observatory’s Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST).  All of these are designed to study “dark energy,” the hypothesized cause of the Universe’s accelerated expansion and the mysterious dark matter that holds the universe together.  He has been the JPL Chief Scientist for Astronomy and Physics since February 2025.