GALILEO TO HUBBLE AND BEYOND

Dr. Stephen P. Maran
Scientific Spokesman for the American Astronomical Society

Abstract
Astronomers are celebrating the 400th anniversary of Galileo's first (1609) telescopic views of the Cosmos, while the Hubble Space Telescope, with major upgrades, enters its final years of exploration. We describe Galileo's great discoveries and contrast them with the latest information on the celestial wonders that he probed, with glimpses of the anticipated next steps in investigating the Universe.

Bio
Dr. Stephen P. Maran, a senior advisor with the American Astronomical Society, is an astronomer and author with long experience in the Space Program. The author or editor of twelve books and of over 100 popular articles on astronomy and space exploration, and many more scientific publications, he retired from NASA on October 1, 2004 after more than 35 years with the agency.  On August 31, 2009, he retired after 25 years (most of them overlapping with NASA service) as Press Officer of the Society.

The Dallas Morning News says that "Dr. Maran takes up where Carl Sagan left off, telling the story of space to anybody who's interested. Except that Dr. Maran is funnier."

The Washington Post describes him as "a rumpled astronomer with Einstein hair and a tie blazing with bright suns," and adds that Maran "is a phenomenon about as rare as cold steam, a scientist who gets a big kick out of talking to the rest of us. " The Post also noted, in April 2000, "You might have seen him on NBC's "Today" show last August, giving Katie Couric the play-by-play on an in-progress eclipse of the sun. Or (if you're well off) you might have run into him aboard some cruise ship, explaining the mechanics of a solar eclipse to passengers on the way to landfall at a Malaysian snake temple or bound for the sheep show in Rotorua, New Zealand."

For information on Dr. Maran's books please check out Amazon.com.