Next Meeting: Wednesday May 8th at 8:00pm Star Trek & Star Wars: The Science behind Sci-Fi Chris Crowe Live Session T&Cs apply

Ready your phasers! What are the chances of finding intelligent life out there? Many of the ideas featured in Star Trek and Star Wars are based on genuine scientific theories. In the last few years, researchers have discovered thousands of planets orbiting distant stars, opening up the tantalising prospect of discovering life on other worlds. Find out what is and isn't possible according to the laws of physics for phasers, life, and Darth Vader. Dr Chris Crowe is a professional astronomer, chartered physicist, teacher, and elected fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, and received degrees in theoretical physics and mathematics from the universities of Nottingham and Cambridge. He is currently the Head of Astronomy and Director of The Rayleigh Observatory in London where he teaches astronomy, Chair of Examiners for the GCSE Astronomy, and Director of the Caribbean Sky Education Programme.  He works extensively in public outreach at science festivals across the UK and hosts public observing evenings. Previously part of a research team at the University of Cambridge studying the relic radiation from the big bang, he worked in the same department as the late Stephen Hawking while studying for his doctorate.  Recently he has been part of a team designing a new state-of-the- art observatory in the Caribbean. His main research interests are cosmology and the early Universe, and was part of the international Planck collaboration, a European Space Agency project which uncovered light from the earliest moments of the primordial Universe.