The Outer Limits: Five Upcoming Astronomy Events

By Troy Segal

Feel like defying gravity? Then check out these literally astronomical talks and presentations, which will be circling New York City in the next few weeks.

BYOB — Bring Your Own Binoculars — and enjoy the sights up above at an Autumn Skies Telescope Party, thrown by the American Museum of Natural History, on Sept. 30.

Even in outer space, you cannot change the laws of physics (as Star Trek engineer Scotty perpetually protested). So who better than a physicist, plus two scientifically oriented philosophers, to discuss The Origins of the Universe: Why Is There Something Rather than Nothing? at the New York Academy of Sciences, Oct. 14.

Chris-Hadfield

Amateur astronauts, strap on your helmets and go into a virtual orbit of Mother Earth, with astronaut Chris Hadfield (above; author of You Are Here: Around the World in 92 Minutes) at the helm. Blast off is Oct. 14. Or, if you prefer to run rings around Saturn, then follow the journey of the spacecraft Cassini and its probe, which spent 10 years examining that far-off planet, on Oct. 20. Both events unfold at the Hayden Planetarium Space Theater.

hubble

The crew members of the space shuttle Atlantis describe their last mission to Hubble, the orbiting telescope — and the final chance to refurbish and install new equipment. Spoiler alert: They succeed (hearing how is half the fun). Nov. 12, at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.