July 22-26, 2008

Lafayette Planetarium – Lafayette Natural History Museum – David Hostetter

Dear Colleague:

It’s almost time for this year’s SEPA conference, to be held at the Lafayette Natural History Museum & Planetarium in Lafayette, Louisiana! I hope you will be able to join us from Tuesday, July 22 – Saturday, July 26, 2008 for a conference in Cajun country. Please note those dates — the conference is in July this year, not June.

The conference registration fee is $175 per person. The theme is the old Cajun expression “Laissez les bons temps rouler!” — “Let the good times roll,” or in a planetarium context, “Making astronomy fun.” What do you do to make astronomy fun for the people you serve?

Among the conference highlights will be trips to a public observatory and to Mulate’s famous Cajun restaurant, a Messier Shootout, and all your great papers and presentations. Speakers will include Dr. Paulette Hebert from Oklahoma State University (formerly of the University of Louisiana-Lafayette) and Chair of the International Dark-Sky Association’s Education Working Group. Dr. John J. Caldwell from York University in Toronto, a scientist working with the Kepler Mission set to launch next year, will be our banquet speaker.

The conference hotel will be the Holiday Inn-Lafayette, located near the I-10/I-49 interchange about a 15 minute drive from the museum. Room charges will be $98 per night single or double, plus a 12% tax. Conference rooms will be held at this rate through July 7, 2008.

Lafayette can be easily reached by car, and Lafayette Regional Airport (LFT) is served by American Eagle, Continental Express, Delta Connection, and Northwest Airlink.

Lafayette has a subtropical climate. You can expect July to be very hot, and very humid, and afternoon thunderstorms are common. Happily, except the observatory trip, we will spend most of our time indoors.

Enclosed in this packet you should find the information you need to plan your trip to SEPA 2008. I hope to see you there!

Sincerely,

David E. Hostetter
Curator of the Planetarium