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Julian StarFest 2013

August 9th - 11th, 2013  Menghini Winery, Julian, CA

Brought to you by the San Diego Astronomy Association (SDAA) and the town of Julian

Calendar of Activities

Check This Page Often For Updates

Shuttle Service

Shuttle services were provided by the Santa Ysabel Resort and Casino (SYRC) and ran from the Menghini Winery to Julian to the Casino, and downtown Julian.

Guest Speakers

Special thanks to our 2012 speakers listed below:  
  • Francis French, a former director of events for Sally Ride Science, and a director at the San Diego Air & Space Museum, will present "The Race to Land on the Moon."   Francis French is a book and magazine author specializing in space flight history.  His space history books have been reviewed by the Smithsonian's Air & Space Magazine, The San Diego Union-Tribune, Jeff Foust of The Space Review, Student Life newspaper, Popmatters, Quest: The History of Spaceflight, Blogcritics, Space Times, Oxford Journals, Air Power History, Technology and Culture, Journal of Cold War Studies, Michelle Evans of the National Space Society, readers of collectSPACE, and Hugo Award nominee Steven H Silver of Silver Reviews, hosted by SF Site.  His space history writing is noted for the amount of personal interviews with astronauts and cosmonauts, including Wally Schirra, Gordon Cooper, Scott Carpenter, and Pavel Popovich.  In addition, he is a contributor to the magazine of the British Interplanetary Society, and is a Fellow of the society.  In 2005, astronaut Wally Schirra personally inducted French into the astronaut branch of the Ancient Order of Turtles.  On 20 August 2010, he was inducted into the US Space & Rocket Center's Space Camp Hall of Fame for his contributions to space history writing plus making science and technology accessible and understandable to family audiences. For more, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_French
  • Rica Sirbaugh French, Professor of Astronomy, NASA Center for Astronomy Education, NSF Collaboration of Astronomy Teaching Scholars and Coordinator, Professional Development Program & Flex Calendar, MiraCosta College Department of Physical Sciences, will present "Astronomy Through the Ages."   Originally from Tennessee, Rica earned degrees in physics and astronomy from Middle Tennessee State University and the University of Texas at Austin.  She has worked for the Maria Mitchell Observatory, the Southeastern Association for Research in Astronomy, and the National Optical Astronomy Observatories.  Her astrophysical research is mainly on open and globular star clusters, utilizing data from observatories such as McDonald, Kitt Peak, Mauna Kea, and the Hubble Space Telescope.  She divides her time between building the Astronomy Program at MiraCosta College and working with NASA's Center for Astronomy Education as a member of CATS, the Collaboration of Astronomy Teaching Scholars, doing research on, and educating instructors about, the teaching and learning of astronomy for nonscientists.  "I love sharing this with people," Rica says. "When someone looks through a telescope for the first time, the uninhibited response that comes out--that's the best thing!"
  • John Garrett, Vice President, Temecula Valley Astronomers, will present "Parhelia: Optical effects from our Sun & Atmosphere."   John is a member of the International Dark-Sky Association and the Temecula Valley Astronomers holding several leadership positions including President from 2008-2011, Vice President, and Newsletter Editor.  With IDA, he works with Palomar Observatory to reinvigorate awareness of light pollution at the County and city level in southwest Riverside County.  He has published photos in Astronomy Magazine (April 2005 Readers Gallery, April 2005, and The Sky This Month, Oct. 2006).  For the past seven years, he has been a speaker and supplementing star parties with personally illustrated presentations and presented “Exoplanets” at the 2010 Julian StarFest.  About ten years ago he started studying climatology in the primary scientific literature.  Illustrating the involvement of astronomy with regard to climate science became the basis of his presentation “Earth, Orbit, and Climate.” In 2010 he started contributing to the website Skeptical Science, which was nominated for the George Mason University’s 2010 Climate Change Communicator of the Year award.  Most recently, he has been cited as a contributing author on a series of posts on Skeptical Science comparing the Eemian interglacial of 125,000 years ago to the Holocene (past 10,000 years).  This comparison is part of his “Earth, Orbit, and Climate” presentation.
  • Jerry Hilburn, JPL Solar System Ambassador (SSA), will present "Mission to Mars - Latest Updates on the Curiosity Mission to Mars will land on August 6th 2012."   Jerry Hilburn is active member of the San Diego Astronomy Association participating in more than 20 star party events annually.  Jerry is also a volunteer public speaker for the NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador program and a strong proponent of NASA/JPL science initiatives.  Over the past 6 years he has run a small start-up company in the emerging new space commercial space sector, and is an amateur astronomer for more than 40 years.
  • Mark Lane, astronomy professor, who presented "Our Past and Future Star" - the formation, life, and death of our star - the Sun.   Mark is an Associate Professor of Astronomy and the Director of the Planetarium at Palomar College.  After earning his degrees in astronomy at SDSU, he has spent the last 17 years teaching astronomy at several of San Diego's local community colleges (14 years at Palomar College).  He is a member of the SDAA and a Docent at Palomar Observatory.
  • Dennis Mammana, astronomer, lecturer, astrophotographer, will present "Flying Blue Marble."   Dennis is a nationally syndicated newspaper columnist with Creators Syndicate and author of six books on popular astronomy, Dennis Mammana is also an invited member of TWAN, an international team of the most highly-acclaimed sky photographers on the planet.  He offers workshops and leads public tours to view and photograph amazing celestial events such as total solar eclipses and the aurora borealis.  Mammana is a full-time resident of Borrego Springs where he writes and lectures about—and, of course, photographs—the clear dark skies of the Anza-Borrego Desert.  To learn more, you may visit him online on his website, and follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and elsewhere.
  • Craig Stark, astronomy author and software developer, will present on "Nebulocity 3.0." Craig Stark is the author of PHD Guiding, Nebulosity, and a host of other pieces of software by Stark Labs that are designed to make astrophotography simpler.  He is the author of over 35 astronomy articles and reviews and has been a frequent speaker here at the Julian Starfest, as well as at NEAIC, MAIC, RTMC, and AIC.  By day, Craig is a Professor of Neurobiology and Behavior who studies memory by pulling faint signals out of dim, noisy, moving pictures of people's brains in an effort to understand how that fascinating and incredibly complex system works.  By night, though, the camera turns skyward as he pulls faint signals out of dim, noisy, moving pictures of DSOs, just for the sheer joy of it.
  • William (Bill) Welsh, San Diego State University Professor, will present on "NASA's Kepler Mission: Discovering Strange New Worlds." William (Bill) Welsh is a Professor of Astronomy at San Diego State University, and a member of NASA's Kepler Mission Science Team.  Welsh joined the faculty at San Diego State in 2000, after doing postdoctoral work in Austin (Texas), and in Keele (England).  Welsh graduated from the Ohio State University, having done his PhD research at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.  In 2008 Welsh was selected to join the Kepler Mission as a Participating Scientist, and in January of 2012 he led the discovery and publication of two circumbinary planets, Kepler-34 and Kepler-35.

More information Coming Soon!

Activities

Activities on Friday and Saturday are available in the Vendor/Exhibit area.

Note: Day use does not require pre-registration.  Admission to the Vendor / Exhibit area is $5.00 per adult, $2.50 for Teens (13 to 18) payable at the gate.  Children, 12 and under are free.  Admission for registered campers is included in their camping fee.  Just show your wrist band for admission to the Vendor / Exhibit area. 

You only have to pay once for admission.  Your wrist band will allow you entrance for both days of activities.