Over the years I have been fortu

Over the years I have been fortunate enough to meet a few of the more famous astronomers that I admire. Some of them are authors, some of them are known through television shows. Here are a few images to share.

San Diego Astronomy Association (SDAA) 2008
Annual Banquet
Keynote Talk with Dr. Alex Filippenko

Dr. Alex Filippenko (UC Berkeley) accepted my invitation to be the keynote speaker for the 2008 annual banquet of the San Diego Astronomy Association. I had met him once before (10 years ago) and it was good to see him again. He is a very gracious and entertaining speaker and all around nice guy. You might have seen him in various astronomy programs on the Discovery Channel, the A&E Channel, PBS and others. (Click on any image for a larger version)
	(compare that image with this one taken 10 years ago. Why is it that I am the only one that looks older?!)
Mark & Alex.		Alex gave a terrific talk titled "Dark Energy and the Runaway Universe"	Alex was very warmly received by the audience and stayed late answering all of the questions.

OPT's Southern California Astronomy Expo (SCAE) 2008
Keynote Talk with Seth Shostak
(Hosted by Palomar College)

Dr. Seth Shostak (SETI Institute) was the invited keynote speaker for the 2008 SCAE. Palomar College was invited to co-sponsor this event with Oceanside Photo & Telescope. His lecture was "Where are all the Aliens?" You might have seen him in various astronomy programs on the Discovery Channel, the A&E Channel, PBS. Larry King (CNN), and many others. After the talk, the College hosted a vendor star party in one of the campus parking lots. (Click on any image for a larger version)

The audience eagerly awaits Dr. Shostak's lecture.

Seth Introduced himself to the crowd.

His lecture was informative and humorous!

Questions and answers from the audience.