For immediate release
Visiting American researcher Dr Seth Shostak says humans will find extraterrestrial life in the next 24 years, or he’ll
buy you a cup of coffee. That’s the premise of a free public lecture Dr Shostak will make at the University of
Canterbury on 13 October.
Dr Shostak will explain why new technologies and the laws of probability make the breakthrough so likely — and forecasts
how the discovery of civilisations far more advanced than ours might affect us here on Earth.
Shostak is a senior astronomer at California’s SETI Institute, where over 50 researchers study all aspects of the search
for life, its origins, the environment in which life develops, and its ultimate fate. SETI stands for search for
extraterrestrial intelligence. In his weekly ‘Big Picture Science’ podcasts heard around the world, Shostak interviews
guests about the latest scientific research on a variety of topics: cosmology, physics, genetics, palaeontology,
evolutionary biology and astrobiology.
Dr Shostak’s Christchurch lecture will follow his appearance at the Aoraki Mackenzie Starlight Festival (9-11 October
2015), which celebrates the creation of the southern hemisphere’s first international dark sky reserve.
The Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve is the world’s largest such reserve (4,367 square km) and the first
to gain gold tier status – the highest that can be accorded. Its formation is recognition of the pristine skies above
the Mackenzie Basin in the centre of New Zealand’s South Island, which are essentially completely free of light
pollution.
The three-day Starlight Festival is an official event for 2015’s International Year of Light and is organised by the
Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve Board, in partnership with the University of Canterbury, which runs the
Mt John Observatory in the area.
The 13 October lecture will be held in the C2 Lecture Theatre on the Ilam campus from 11am until 12 noon. Free tickets
are available from Eventfinda.
ENDS