ScienceFest Beams Down At StarFest

DENVER - April 24, 2019 - PRLog -- The StarFest convention at the Denver Tech Center Marriott April 26-28th not only features stars of stage and screen, such as William Shatner, Nichelle Nichols, Peter Macon, and others but also brings together a collection of scientists to talk about astronomy and space exploration. They are part of ScienceFest at StarFest, one of may "fests" the event hosts.

StarFest co-organizer KathE Walker, who runs the event with her husband Steve and their family, said that bringing working scientists to share their work with attendees is a way to connect the science-fiction and fantasy-interested public with astronomers and space scientists. "We are so excited to have planetary scientists and physicists and astronomers to our fest," she said. "So many attendees got their interest in science from science fiction. And, so many scientists who come to our events tell us they got started on a path to research after watching Star Trek and other shows and reading science fiction."

This year's ScienceFest at StarFest features more than a dozen speakers and panelists. They are: Dr. Ken Carpenter from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, who will talk about NASA's flagship telescopes as well as searches for planets around other stars. Also talking about specific exoplanets is Dr. Sarah Lipscy of Ball Aerospace. They are joined by local planetary scientist Dr. Carly Howett, who is a researcher at Boulder's Southwest Research Institute. She  will speak about the latest news from the New Horizons spacecraft. Dr. Christopher Grasso of Blue Sun Enterprises and Lockheed Martin's Pieter Kallemeyn will present a joint talk about planetary defense against asteroids, and Kallemeyn will talk about Mars missions. In addition, ScienceFest is bringing an array of well-known space artists, who will talk about the role of art and science. Dr. Dan Durda, also of Southwest Research Institute, is a planetary scientist and accomplished space artist. He will start off a three-talk seminar with a look at space art through history. Local artist and writer Michael Carroll will share his experiences in Antartica and how they inform his space art, and Star Trek illustrator and model builder Rick Sternbach will focus on 50 years of NASA and space art.

There will also be talks about meteorites, offered by Professor Andy Caldwell of Front Range Community College, and a look at neutrinos, from Drexel University's Kelley Commeford. Rounding out the presentations is a panel discussion by members of the Denver Space Society, focusing on space colonization in the near future.

ScienceFest at StarFest is organized by local science writer and producer Carolyn Collins Petersen. She is a veteran of many StarFests and began speaking at the cons during her graduate school days at the University of Colorado. "ScienceFest started out with just me giving Hubble talks back in the day," she said. "Today, I am very fortunate to be able to bring in colleagues and friends from the science community to talk about their work. Attendees really love being able to talk with them and ask all those questions they've been wanting to pose to a scientist. We're all really grateful to the StarFest folks for encouraging this informal way of sharing science with the public in a very welcoming venue."

StarFest Denver is celebrating its 41st year, and is actually a collection of festivals geared toward people with special interests in art, comics, games, cosplay, horror, model building, robots, media shows (TV and movies), science, and much more. It attracts attendees from around the world. This year's theme is "Starfest, The Universe, and Everything."  For more information and a list of speakers and schedules: https://starfestdenver.com/