beamjockey (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
beamjockey) wrote2019-08-01 10:14 am
beamjockey) wrote2019-08-01 10:14 am
My Schedule for Worldcon, Dublin 2019
The 77th World Science Fiction Convention will be held this year in Dublin, Ireland, from 15 through 19 August. I'm pleased to say that I'm scheduled to participate in several programme* events.
Talks and panels will be held in the Odeon at Point Square Dublin, which in Google's opinion is an 11-minute walk from the Convention Centre. One can shorten this journey a bit by hopping onto a Luas Red Line train.
Be aware that I am not a professional participant on New Horizons, the James Webb Space Telescope, or any other space missions. I have, however, given talks as a volunteer for NASA's Solar System Ambassadors program for 20 years, and have benefited from briefings and materials NASA has provided. I also witnessed the Kuiper Belt encounter with 2014 MU69, or "Ultima Thule," earlier this year while helping with the Launch Pad Astronomy livestream of the flyby.
Below I list my own events. The full-blown 150 page schedule may be found at this link.
[13 August: Edited to add "How Astronomy Might Break Physics."]
*Not the usual way I, an American, spell "program," but "when in Romme..."
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A Million Miles beyond Midnight: The James Webb Space Telescope
Format: Talk
15 Aug 2019, Thursday
12:30 - 13:20
Odeon 2 (Point Square Dublin)
The James Webb Space Telescope will be the next big space telescope. Named for a former NASA administrator, it is slated for launch in 2021. Its 6.5 metre diameter mirror, orbiting the Sun-Earth L2 point 1.5 million kilometres from here, is designed to give astronomers superb capabilities for exploring the infrared universe. Canada, the European Space Agency, and NASA cooperated to create it. Bill Higgins reviews the Webb’s design and the astronomical phenomena it will examine.
Bill Higgins (Fermilab)
Kaffeeklatsch: Bill Higgins
Format: Kaffeeklatsch
15 Aug 2019, Thursday
15:00 - 15:50
Level 3 Foyer (KK/LB) (Convention Centre Dublin)
Bill Higgins (Fermilab)
[This will be a small gathering for anyone who wants to converse with me. Worldcon urges you to sign up in advance for it.]
How Astronomy Might Break Physics
Format: Panel
19 Aug 2019, Saturday
10:00 - 10:50
Wicklow Hall-1 (Convention Centre Dublin)
Astronomy and physics don’t always have an easy relationship, for example regarding the singularity. Panellists consider how astronomy might break physics with phenomena like resolution of the black hole information paradox, time travel, multiverses, and quantum space engines.
John Bray (Moderator), Dr Edmund Schluessel, Dr Laura Woodney, Bill Higgins
[I'm not an expert on these topics, but will try to hold up my end of the conversation.]
Latest Results from Asteroid Missions
Format: Panel
18 Aug 2019, Sunday
15:30 - 16:20
Odeon 2 (Point Square Dublin)
Asteroids are among the next frontiers. What lies in store for us with these floating chunks of potential in space? What missions have been launched? What data have we gathered? And who owns the material and information discovered? Let’s take a look at what we know and what future missions might reveal.
Brother Guy Consolmagno (Vatican Observatory), Bill Higgins (Fermilab), John Coxon (Moderator), Dr Michele Bannister (Queen's University Belfast)
Beyond Pluto to Ultima Thule: NASA’s New Horizons
Format: Talk
19 Aug 2019
Monday 12:30 - 13:20
Odeon 3 (Point Square Dublin)
Famed for its 2015 flyby of Pluto, the New Horizons spacecraft was designed to go further. But not until eight years after launch did searchers find a small, icy target within reach of the post-Pluto mission. On New Year’s Day 2019, New Horizons encountered Kuiper Belt Object 2014 MU69. Bill Higgins tells the story of the frozen body nicknamed ‘Ultima Thule’.
Bill Higgins (Fermilab)
Talks and panels will be held in the Odeon at Point Square Dublin, which in Google's opinion is an 11-minute walk from the Convention Centre. One can shorten this journey a bit by hopping onto a Luas Red Line train.
Be aware that I am not a professional participant on New Horizons, the James Webb Space Telescope, or any other space missions. I have, however, given talks as a volunteer for NASA's Solar System Ambassadors program for 20 years, and have benefited from briefings and materials NASA has provided. I also witnessed the Kuiper Belt encounter with 2014 MU69, or "Ultima Thule," earlier this year while helping with the Launch Pad Astronomy livestream of the flyby.
Below I list my own events. The full-blown 150 page schedule may be found at this link.
[13 August: Edited to add "How Astronomy Might Break Physics."]
*Not the usual way I, an American, spell "program," but "when in Romme..."
--------------------------------------------------------------
A Million Miles beyond Midnight: The James Webb Space Telescope
Format: Talk
15 Aug 2019, Thursday
12:30 - 13:20
Odeon 2 (Point Square Dublin)
The James Webb Space Telescope will be the next big space telescope. Named for a former NASA administrator, it is slated for launch in 2021. Its 6.5 metre diameter mirror, orbiting the Sun-Earth L2 point 1.5 million kilometres from here, is designed to give astronomers superb capabilities for exploring the infrared universe. Canada, the European Space Agency, and NASA cooperated to create it. Bill Higgins reviews the Webb’s design and the astronomical phenomena it will examine.
Bill Higgins (Fermilab)
Kaffeeklatsch: Bill Higgins
Format: Kaffeeklatsch
15 Aug 2019, Thursday
15:00 - 15:50
Level 3 Foyer (KK/LB) (Convention Centre Dublin)
Bill Higgins (Fermilab)
[This will be a small gathering for anyone who wants to converse with me. Worldcon urges you to sign up in advance for it.]
How Astronomy Might Break Physics
Format: Panel
19 Aug 2019, Saturday
10:00 - 10:50
Wicklow Hall-1 (Convention Centre Dublin)
Astronomy and physics don’t always have an easy relationship, for example regarding the singularity. Panellists consider how astronomy might break physics with phenomena like resolution of the black hole information paradox, time travel, multiverses, and quantum space engines.
John Bray (Moderator), Dr Edmund Schluessel, Dr Laura Woodney, Bill Higgins
[I'm not an expert on these topics, but will try to hold up my end of the conversation.]
Latest Results from Asteroid Missions
Format: Panel
18 Aug 2019, Sunday
15:30 - 16:20
Odeon 2 (Point Square Dublin)
Asteroids are among the next frontiers. What lies in store for us with these floating chunks of potential in space? What missions have been launched? What data have we gathered? And who owns the material and information discovered? Let’s take a look at what we know and what future missions might reveal.
Brother Guy Consolmagno (Vatican Observatory), Bill Higgins (Fermilab), John Coxon (Moderator), Dr Michele Bannister (Queen's University Belfast)
Beyond Pluto to Ultima Thule: NASA’s New Horizons
Format: Talk
19 Aug 2019
Monday 12:30 - 13:20
Odeon 3 (Point Square Dublin)
Famed for its 2015 flyby of Pluto, the New Horizons spacecraft was designed to go further. But not until eight years after launch did searchers find a small, icy target within reach of the post-Pluto mission. On New Year’s Day 2019, New Horizons encountered Kuiper Belt Object 2014 MU69. Bill Higgins tells the story of the frozen body nicknamed ‘Ultima Thule’.
Bill Higgins (Fermilab)
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