Students aged 14 or above may take this special program. Learn what happened to the dinosaurs, and what the chances are of it happening to us, and what our options are if an asteroid or comet is headed our way. At the end of their lives, some stars blow themselves to smithereens wreaking havoc not only on their own planetary systems, but also on their neighboring star systems. Explore its connections with life in the cosmos - how the supernova giveth and how it taketh away.
Large galaxies can swallow their smaller neighbors in slow acts of cosmic cannibalism.
Find out about such galactic scale violence and how it can lead to the birth of new stars and planets. A ndrew Fraknoi has offered special weekend programs like this to enthusiastic audiences at several campuses of the University of California Extension for over 20 years. He has taught astronomy at San Francisco State University and currently serves as the Chair of the Astronomy Program at Foothill College in Los Altos. For 14 years, he served as the Executive Director of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, where he also edited their popular magazine and newsletter for teachers. Bay Area residents probably know him best from his frequent appearances on KGO, KQED, KSFO, and KCBS radio, interpreting astronomical discoveries and ideas.