Silicon Valley astronomy lecture series

Wednesday, Mar. 5, 2003, 7 p.m.

Dr. Seth Shostak (SETI Institute) will give a non-technical illustrated talk on: What happens after contact: Responding to a message from space in the Smithwick Theater, Foothill College, El Monte Road and Freeway 280, in Los Altos Hills, California. Free and open to the public. Call the series hotline at 650-949-7888 for more information.

Co-sponsored by: NASA Ames Research Center, Foothill College Astronomy Program, SETI Institute, Astronomical Society of the Pacific.

Dr. Shostak, who is Senior Astronomer at the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute in Mountain View, will discuss what plans scientists have if they detect a radio message from an alien civilization out among the stars. He will examine how any such messages will be verified (to avoid hoaxes), how the news will be announced, how information from the message would be disseminated, and how humanity might decide whether and how to reply.