AAA Lecture Series: Best NASA Images of 2006 January 5, 2007

Dr. Robert J. Nemiroff, professor of physics at Michigan Technological University, will talk on “Astronomy's Best Images in 2006” as selected by the editors of the website Astronomy Picture of the Day (of which he is one) at the AAA lecture on Friday, January 5. The free public lecture is at 6:15 p. m. in the Kaufmann Auditorium of the American Museum of Natural History.

“Some of the most spectacular images of any sort in modern times have been of space,” Nemiroff says. “From the red rock plateaus on Mars to the magnificent desolation of the Moon to monster-shaped nebulae in deep space, astronomy images continue to excite the imagination, inspire curiosity and challenge description.

“Many of these images have appeared on the popular website Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD). After reviewing the entire archive, APOD's editors have selected some of their all-time favorite APODs and the best images from 2006. These images will be presented along with stories behind them and a running educationally-oriented commentary.”

Nemiroff created the APOD site in 1995 with Dr. Jerry T. Bonnell, an astronomer/astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The two have co-authored “The Universe: 365 Days” and “Astronomy: 365 Days.” APOD gets about 4 million hits a week.

Official Website: http://www.aaa.org/aaalecture.htm