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Gathering a sample of an asteroid in order to learn enough to prevent the asteroid from striking the Earth sounds like science fiction, but for Ithaca College Astrophysics Professor Beth Clark Joseph, this mission is very real. Not only is she Chair of the Ithaca College Physics Department, Beth Clark Joseph is also ’the asteroid scientist for NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission which will map and take a sample from the asteroid Bennu in the year 2020. One scientific goal of the mission is to determine if the 500-meter-wide asteroid will collide with Earth in the next century.’ (The Ithacan, 9/4/16)

This OSIRIS REX lecture on Saturday, November 4, 2017 11:30 am at Wells College Art Exhibit Room, MacMillan Hall, second floor, will benefit the Southern Cayuga Planetarium restoration and technological upgrade. Tickets are $35 and include lecture, lunch, silent auction, and tour of the Planetarium and Observatory at Southern Cayuga after the lecture. Please call 315/685-7163 for tickets or send a check to Friends of the Planetarium, Box 186, Aurora, NY 13026.

National Women’s Rights Park Superintendent Ami Ghazala will introduce Professor Clark Joseph. After the lecture, US Park Ranger Ghazala will moderate a question and answer session during which local high school and college women students ask Professor Clark Joseph about her career.

Per NASA, ‘the Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security – Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft will travel to a near-Earth asteroid, called Bennu (formerly 1999 RQ36), and bring at least a 2.1-ounce sample back to Earth for study. The mission will help scientists investigate how planets formed and how life began, as well as improve our understanding of asteroids that could impact Earth.’ The eight year mission will involve the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid and return a sample to Earth for analysis.

For over four decades, thousands of Cayuga County area residents have been inspired to gaze skyward by the Southern Cayuga Planetarium. Greatly enhancing understanding of the night sky, this facility now needs restoration for the next generation. Enhanced in 2004 with a NASA funded observatory next door, the 1968 ‘sputnik’ era Planetarium is sited so that the clear Central New York celestial environs and their lack of ambient light greatly improve the viewing experience.

Friends of the Southern Cayuga Planetarium is a 501(c)3 nonprofit whose Board of Directors includes local high school astronomy, earth science, environmental science and physics teachers; researchers and professors from Cornell University and Wells College; amateur astronomers; Cornell Administrators, local parents, and other professionals. The group was created to support the irreplaceable Southern Cayuga Planetarium and Observatory because of the vital part it plays for immersive education in this region. Closed in September 2014, the Friends’ goal is to restore and reopen the facility as soon as possible so it can fill the next generation with wonder of the universe and encourage students to pursue Science, Technology, Agriculture, Engineering and Math (STEAM) in order to improve our world. Friends of the Planetarium have received initial grants from CNY Community Foundation and John Ben Snow Foundation to assist their work.

This Friends of the Planetarium event is the second in a series which will later include Syracuse University Astrophysicist Professor Carl Rosensweig on “Stars ‘R Us”, Planetarium Board Member Art Samplanski on the Voyager Mission, and other Astrophysicists in future lectures on other NASA missions.

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