Watch Curiosity land with the Bad Astronomer
Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer, will be one of the people hosting a Google+ Hangout during the Curiosity rover's descent and landing Aug 6, 01:31 EDT: Curious about Curiosity? Here's info on where to watch:
1) Fraser Cain, Pamela Gay, and I will be doing a Google+ Hangout on August 5th starting at 03:00 UTC on August 5/6 and running until 07:00 note that for the US, this starts on the evening of the 5th at 23:00 Eastern time and runs through 03:00 in the morning. We plan on having special guests, a live feed from NASA, and more. The Hangout is being sponsored by Google itself,
CosmoQuest, and the SETI Institute, which has a strong astrobiology mission and therefore is very interested in Mars. Our coverage will be complete, intense, awesome, and fun. Promise! Theres more info at
Universe Today, and we have an events page set up on G+ to help you out. Theres also a
Facebook events page, too! Use the #marshangout hashtag on Twitter to follow along, too.
3) If you are in the Pasadena California area, then join the party! Literally: The Planetary Society is throwing a bash to celebrate and watch the landing at the Paseo Colorado Garfield Promenade. Attending will be TPS blogger (and big pal o mine) Emily Lakdawalla as well as Bill Nye (yes, THE Bill Nye). You can get more info on Emilys blog, and get tickets online. If I could, Id go there too! But Ill be at home and quite busy myself (see #1 above).
4) JPL is holding
PlanetFest at the Pasadena Convention Center on August 4 and 5 its again a celebration of planetary exploration. It looks like fun!
I was at Planetfest '97 to watch the landing of
the Mars Pathfinder. I really wish I could attend this one! I do plan to be up all night, on the edge of my seat watching for the news from JPL and Mars!
Phil has more info on Curiosity:
Curiosity's chem lab on Mars
Wil Wheaton has Curiosity
Landing on Mars: Seven Minutes of terror