Wednesday, March 30

The Cassini-Huygens mission at Saturn and Titan

Join us for fine Spanish cuisine and a multimedia trip to the outer solar system at NCSWA's next quarterly dinner meeting at the Patio Español Restaurant, San Francisco. We'll hear first-hand from one of the scientists working on the spectacularly successful Cassini-Huygens mission, which arrived at Saturn and its moon Titan in July 2004 after a 7-year journey from Earth.

Our speaker is planetary scientist Jeffrey Cuzzi of NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View. Cuzzi, one of the world's experts on the rings around Saturn and other giant planets, is the interdisciplinary scientist for planetary rings for Cassini-Huygens. He led the rings subgroup for the Voyager encounters with Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. In 1999, NASA honored Cuzzi with its Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement for his research on planetary formation from nebulas of gas and dust, and links to the properties of primitive meteorites.

Cuzzi will have just returned from the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in mid-March, where scientists will unveil the latest Cassini-Huygens results. He promises a big-screen multimedia show of images, movies, and sound files from Cassini flybys of Saturn, its rings, and various moons, as well as the descent and landing of the Huygens probe onto strange methane-shrouded Titan. Highlights include the best-ever images of Saturn's moons Iapetus and Phoebe, a movie of Saturn's winds, computer graphics of Cassini crossing through the planet's rings (complete with audio of grains hitting the spacecraft), lightning on Saturn, Titan's howling winds heard by the Huygens probe, and close-ups of Titan's eerie surface.  

When: Wednesday, March 30
No host bar and social hour: 6:00 pm
Dinner: 7:15 pm
Speaker: 8:30 p.m.

Where: Patio Español Restaurant
2850 Alemany Blvd.
San Francisco, CA 94112

An upscale taste of Spain is in the offing at Patio Español Restaurant. We will dine buffet style in the El Greco room, where the menu will be as follows:

Potato salad
Tossed green salad
Fresh vegetable and fresh fruit platter
Hot Pasta Primavera
Paella Valencia (with clams, prawns, chicken and pork)
Roast pork (with Navarra sauce, wine, garlic, peppers and diced tomatoes)
Rolls and butter
New York Cheesecake

Freshly brewed coffee

Directions: From Downtown SF/Oakland
Take 280 Southbound and exit at Geneva/Ocean Avenues. Turn left onto Geneva Avenue. Continue on Geneva until you get to Alemany Blvd., then make a right. Continue on Alemany until Farragut, and turn right.

From San Mateo/Pacifica/San Jose
Take 280 Northbound and exit at Geneva Ave. Make a right at Geneva and continue until you get to Alemany Blvd., then turn right. Continue until Farragut, and turn right.

Cost: $30 each for members and guests
$20 for students

(NCSWA is subsidizing the event to make the cost more affordable.)

Registration: Mail your check (payable to "NCSWA") by Friday, March 18, to:

Robert Irion
115 Northrop Place
Santa Cruz, CA 95060

Contact Rob with any questions at irion@nasw.org.

Carpooling: For those interested in carpooling to the dinner, Karen Street again will play transportation matchmaker, matching up those of you wanting a ride with those who are driving. Contact her at karen_street@sbcglobal.net. She will mail out information as she receives it. Many thanks to all those who have offered rides in the past, enabling people to attend.