And last but not least for This Week In Pictures, the finale of Akimel A-al Astronomy Night in Phoenix, Arizona. The final speaker of the evening was none other than Geoffrey Notkin of the Meteorite Men!
He let me touch his rock. And this one was heavier than I am! (I think I asked him where he found it, and he told me, but I was so bowled over by all the fun that I promptly forgot. If I find it on his website somewhere, I'll update later. ;)
Heather & Geoff
Being oblivious to most things on cable television, I was something of a buzzkill latecomer to the space rocks party, but was quite immediately hooked by their adventures once I tuned into the new episodes!
Geoff tells great stories, works hard to engage people interactively in the science of his calling, and truly brings to life the excitement of being a meteorite hunter -- whether it's fun, rugged, intoxicating, cold, crowded, rewarding, life-threatening... or all of the above:
здравствуйте = Russian = Hello!
Like astronaut Bill Gregory before him, he spoke about his training and knowledge base, then took questions from the children. He also then challenged them to answer questions about things they were learning at their Astronomy Night event, and passed out copies of his book to those who offered up correct responses.
Geoff kept the audience well-engaged, and stayed for hours displaying his meteorite samples, answering questions about his tools of the trade, and signing autographs or posing for photos with everyone who asked.
I also managed to get a signed book, which I've been reading hungrily and will describe tomorrow. For the entire suite of pictures from the evening, see the Astronomy Night album in my Picasa Gallery.
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