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On a recent trip to Canada in the great province of Ontario, I found a quiet corner on Lundy’s Lane. I had been enjoying the scenic beauty of Niagara Falls and to break away for the tourist aspect seemed like a welcome respite. How could someone who lives, eats and breathes space 24/7 pass up an opportunity to visit a place like this? The answer was… I couldn’t.

For any one old enough to remember and still too young to resist, the retro-styling and drive-in atmosphere of this super clean diner was enough to make you smile the moment you stopped in the parking lot. Glittering multi-colored lights and a welcoming glow was all I needed to take a chance. Once inside I was transported back to all of my childhood fantasies, and despite having a well stocked refreshment area – all you really wanted was a cold soda or a milk shake. Why spoil the fun?

When the menu came, my grin got even wider. There’s nothing that delights me more than a sense of humor… and to combine it with good food makes the experience even more extraordinary. Needless to say, I didn’t just stop by this place on a whim. I’d researched my restaurants in advance and every sample around the family table proved to be just as tasty and well prepared as the reviews promised. The “Jupiter Burgers” were absolutely among the finest I’ve ever eaten and the clam chowder didn’t come out of can, my friends. Even though the hour was late, I had a delightful time talking to the “natives” who were patient with my questions and seemed to enjoy the company as much as we enjoyed theirs!

Right down to the little stuffed aliens…

So what’s a less than serious piece about finding a flying saucer restaurant doing in a serious astronomical webpage like Universe Today? It’s to remind you to take a chance on what you love. If you love astronomy and having dinner in a restaurant shaped like a flying saucer looks like fun? Do it! You may end up in some remote corner of Iowa having the worst cup of coffee you’ve ever tasted… Or you might end up in a quiet corner of Niagara Falls surrounded by your laughing family enjoying diner food at it’s best.

Because the fun is what’s for real…

Thanks to Richard Weiss for the additional image!

So what’s more fun than a barrel of monkeys? Try acres of telescopes and hundreds of amateur astronomers. If you’re not familiar with NEAF then let me introduce you into some of the fun that’s been going on for almost two decades at Rockland College in Suffern, New York.

When NEAF first began, it was a small affair sponsored by the Rockland Astronomy Club and held in a cozy corner of the college campus. As each successive year passed, the event expanded and grew more popular – drawing ever larger crowds from further distances and encompassing every aspect of astronomy. Today, some 18 years later, the NorthEast Astronomy Fourm’s speaker, vendor and guest list reads like a virtual “who’s who”… Yet, unlike other social events, a gathering of astronomers is, well… a gathering of astronomers. If you’re not wearing your favorite battered space t-shirt and willing to talk about telescopes, imaging techniques, eyepieces, tripods, supernovae and the latest recipe for calamari in chocolate sauce then you just might be in the wrong place.

If you want to know what’s new on the market? Then take a walk around. There’s what seems like endless acres of the latest technology and the best representatives of each company willing to take the time to talk to you about their products. It doesn’t matter whether you’re looking or cooking – the point is getting what’s available to the public to be seen, tested, talked about, and drooled on. There are telescopes here that none of us will ever be able to afford – but that’s part of the beauty of NEAF. At least these magnificent instruments are here for us to see, and more than a fair share of equipment we can’t usually find readily available offered at prices that are darn hard to refuse. And if you’re feeling lucky? The vendors who come here are hugely generous and give away thousands upon thousands of dollars worth of merchandise to the guests in door prizes.

But, NEAF is a whole lot more than just a sales floor. Two days prior to the event is the NorthEast Astro-Imaging Conference, where some of the finest minds share their talents and their secrets with all who are willing to listen. During the weekend, guests can enjoy planetarium programs, amateur telescope making workshops, or engage in fine array of guest speakers. Why not step outside and enjoy the sunshine while you’re here, too? Because the courtyard is always filled with a huge array of solar telescopes where you’ll have the opportunity to see our nearest star through every aperture and wavelength you can imagine.

Is it all about astronomy? Yeah. It is. The astronomy family. And nothing makes the astronomy family more happy than to see a smiling face. It can be the smiling face of the fellow you’ve seen at every star party and astronomy event for the last 15 years and never did catch his name – or it might be the smiling face of a child who has a plastic bag filled with tiny treaures accumlated through the day. And sometimes the smiling face you see?

Is your own at the end of a day at NEAF.

Walking the halls of the AAS meetings we found Galileo Galilei, who actually looks pretty good for being 440 years old. He had a briefing with officials from the inquisition (the media) and said that he has just returned from Rome on his book tour, promoting Sidereus Nuncius (Starry Messenger). But here, he met up with another author, Dava Sobel, who wrote “Galileo’s Daughter,” and is in St. Louis to speak at a public lecture in conjunction with the AAS meeting.

The International Year of Astronomy (IYA) which celebrates 400 years since Galileo looked through his telescope, is being promoted heavily here at the AAS meeting, which includes educational workshops and symposiums sponsored by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, highlighting special educational programs specifically created for IYA.

Speaking of education, Galileo says that being a professor is difficult. “The work is hard and the pay is terrible,” he said. “I’m looking to invent something here during the next year which might give me some fame.”

Galileo was played by Mark Thompson, an impersonator who actually is an amateur astronomer. Although he kind of transited back and forth to the present and the past, he said he’s currently living in IYA time, which means he hasn’t yet built his telescope. That will happen coming up next year.

More information about Mark Thompson as Galileo.

Sir Arthur C. Clarke, writer, inventor and visionary, has died from heart failure at age 90. A master of science fiction, Clarke was known most for his futuristic book “2001” published in 1968, which was made into the landmark movie. Clarke wrote scores of fiction and non-fiction books, more than 100 short stories, and numerous articles and essays.

Some of his early books included Interplanetary Flight (1950), Prelude to Space (1951), and The Making of a Moon (1957). He wrote a series of “Odyssey” books: 2010: Odyssey Two (1985) –also made into a movie—and 2061: Odyssey Three (1988) and 3001: The Final Odyssey (1996). His last book was published in 2005, The Last Theorem.

Clarke foresaw many technological advances in his writing, describing, among other things, cell phones, the internet, and moon landings using a mother ship and a landing pod. He was also known as the “godfather of the telecommunications satellite.” In a 1945 article in Wireless World magazine, he outlined a worldwide communications network based on fixed satellites orbiting at 22,240 miles (42,000 km) – a geosynchronous orbit – often referred to as the Clarke Orbit.

Clarke was born December 16, 1917 in Somerset, England. From an early age he was interested in astronomy and science. During World War II he was a pioneer in using radar with the Royal Air Force. Later, he completed a college degree, with honors, in physics and mathematics at King’s College in London. He was an editor for the journal Physics Abstracts when his first science fiction books were published.

Clarke spent most of his life promoting science and space exploration. He was an American Astronautical Society Fellow, the British Science Fiction Association President, an International Academy of Humanism Laureate, was on the National Space Society Board of Governors and Planetary Society Advisory Council, was a member of the Royal Astronomical Society and was Knighted by the British Empire in 2000. He has a nebula and an asteroid named after him.

Clarke suffered from post-polio syndrome since 1988 and sometimes had to use a wheelchair, but until recently, he still continued to scuba dive, one of his lifelong passions. His love of scuba diving brought him to Sri Lanka, where he lived since the 1950’s. Clarke once said he was “perfectly operational underwater.”

On his 90th birthday, Clarke released a video, in which he talked about his life and accomplishments. “Sometimes I am asked how I would like to be remembered,” Clarke said. I have had a diverse career as a writer, underwater explorer and space promoter. Of all these I would like to be remembered as a writer.”