Mt. SAC Hosts Kepler Scholarship Event April 8

April 05, 2017 - 12:45 AM

Mt. SAC will host the 8th Annual Kepler Distinguished Lecture and Scholarship Dinner featuring guest lecturer JPL scientist Steven Levin on Saturday, April 8, 5 p.m., beginning in the college’s dance studio, building 2T, room 121. All proceeds from the event will go to the Mt. SAC Kepler Astronomy Student Scholarship Program.

Dr. Levin, a research scientist for the JPL/NASA Juno Project, will speak on “The New Jupiter: Juno Mission Early Results.” Launched in 2011, the Juno Project’s mission is to have the spacecraft fly to Jupiter to study the largest planet’s atmosphere, magnetosphere, and gravitational field. Juno reached Jupiter last summer and began orbiting the giant planet while traveling at a speed of 129,000 mph. Levin began at JPL in 1990 and before that was at UC Berkeley. Master of ceremonies for the event will be NBC4 meteorologist David Biggar.

Mt. SAC will award the Kepler Scholarship to three astronomy students for their academic work and additional work within the Astronomy Program. Mt. SAC’s Astronomy Program affords its own planetarium and observatory with a 23-foot rotating astronomy dome that houses the college’s main 16-inch telescope. The observatory deck also includes six other eight-inch telescopes that are available for students and the public to use.

Tickets for the event, which includes dinner and the feature lecture, are $85 and are available online at  http://www.mtsac.edu/kepler/

For more information, call Mt. SAC Natural Sciences Division Office at (909) 274-4425.