AstroFest 2012 press release

INFORMATION FOR ACCREDITED PRESS:

Contacts:

Emily Baldwin

Website Editor, Astronomy Now

Tel: 07815935284

Email: emily(at)astronomynow(dot)com

Wendy Collins

Advertising, Astronomy Now

Tel: 01732 446112

wendy (at) astronomynow (dot) com

Ticket hotline: 01732 446106

Website: www.astronomynow.com/astrofest

Blog: www.astronomynow.squarespace.com 

Twitter: @AstronomyNow

THE UNIVERSE COMES TO LONDON FOR ASTROFEST 2012

Climate change, the footprints of Apollo, alien worlds and the big bang are just some of the themes that will be covered by Europe's biggest astronomy show this year. Organised by Astronomy Now magazine, European AstroFest 2012 hits London's Kensington Conference and Events Centre on 10-11 February. The two day conference and trade exhibition attracts thousands of participants and features speakers from across the astronomical world.

Keynote speakers at this year's event include BAFTA award-winning particle physicist Dr Simon Singh, who will offer a beginner's guide to the big bang and cosmology, and lunar expert Dr Noah Petro from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, who will present some of the finest imagery returned from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to date, including astounding images of the Apollo landing sites.

Professor Don Kurtz will report on the latest findings of the acclaimed planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft with emphasis on the host stars of the alien solar systems, finding that severe stellar weather could be a potential killer for life on accompanying worlds.

Also in attendance is solar physicist Dr Lucie Green who will present a 360-degree view of our Sun, and Dr Stuart Clark, who considers one of the most contentious subjects in science: what is the Sun's role in climate change? 

Former MP Lembit Opik will also entertain the crowds with his story of the Opik-Oort debris cloud, and why it could spell trouble for the Earth in the future. 

Additional speakers include: 

• Citizen scientist Hanny van Arkel on the story of Hanny's Voorwerp
• Dr David Pinfield, who will present new discoveries of the coolest known stars
• Dr Paul Brekke, who will give a tour of the northern lights and offer advice on how and when to look for these stunning natural light displays
• Author William Sheehan, on the lost canals of Mars and on the last chance to see a transit of Venus in our lifetimes
• Professor Ian Bonnell, on the live-fast die-young lives of the most massive stars our Universe has ever seen
• Dr Allan Chapman on the Draper family and the birth of modern astrophotography
• Dr Marc Sarzi on black holes and galaxy formation

The conference programme is chaired and organised by Ian Ridpath, and co-chaired by Iain Nicolson. 

The show also features three floors of trade stands featuring telescope dealers, universities, publishers and astronomical societies. Tickets to the lecture conference start at £15 per session, and entry into the trade exhibition is £6 for adults and £3 for children. 

Reporters wishing to attend should register with Emily Baldwin (contact details at the top of this release).