Weekly Astronomy Hour

[cosmoquest]

We're pleased to announce that we're beginning a weekly astronomy hour (and planets and spacecraft count as valid things to talk about). During these weekly Google On Air Hangouts, we'll be bringing you talks, interviews, and round tables with the scientists, engineers, and educators that are helping make modern astronomy what it is.

The first talk will be given by our own Dr. Pamela L. Gay (starstryder) who will be speaking on the history of citizen science (and acting as a sacrificial lamb as we work out the technological hurdles).

Talks will be each Wednesday (Thursday in parts of Asia and Oceania) at 4pm L.A. / 7pm New York / midnight London / 11am + 1dy Sydney.

As we work on fleshing out our calendar, we'd love to know what (and who!) you want to hear. We know you want to hear from LRO scientists. Who else is on your must have list?

Thanks for being here!
The CosmoQuest Team

P.S. For now, all talks will be in English, but if anyone wants to host non-English talks in a different time slot, let us know. We are happy to provide online hosting, we just don't have the in-house foreign language skills needed to branch out on our own.

[imported_Apollo17]

Lawrence Krauss would be an excellent guest...as would Neil deGrasse Tyson, Phil Plait, or Michio Kaku, perhaps.

[ocoini]

I would like to hear from some of the "unknown" people, that are not in "top positions" but are still filling roles around the astronomy subject.
Say, a lawyer working in "space law".
Or who are the people sitting in "mission controls?" What background do they have, how did they end up there?
Are there any politicians around that has focused alot of their time furthering astronomy and space programs?

etc, people not directly involved, but facilitate and support the research and science programs.

[kmasterdo]

Space law is one of my suggestions, too. (In fact, there's even a space law competition for students around the world.)

And what about someone from the medical staff?

[dearastronomer]

There's a few telescope operators on Google+ as well. Might be neat to get them to drop in on a talk.

[dearastronomer]

One other idea I'd love to try out is a weekly "Astronomy Office Hours". Use the power of the Google+ "on air" format and encourage Astronomy students who need help to participate.

Students could post their questions as comments and the presenter could assist. Just need someone with a large whiteboard, a webcam/google+ account and a solid understanding of Astronomy.