Welcome to Mars with Fred Watson
Event details
3 June 2025, 7.30pm
Session duration: 60mins
Cost: $28 per person
Age requirement: 16+ years
03 June 2025
Why is there so much interest in the planet Mars? And is there really a race to get there? Mars is the most Earth-like world of the Solar System, characterised by uncanny similarities to our own planet, as well as stark differences. While its climate today is cold and dry, it was once warm and wet, and may have nurtured living organisms. The quest to find evidence of past or present life is a driver in the exploration of Mars - but there are others... Join astronomer Fred Watson as he investigates the red planet and humankind’s future there.
Professor Fred Watson AM is an honorary professor in the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at Macquarie University. From 2018 to 2024, he was the Australian Government’s first Astronomer-at-Large in the Department of Industry, Science and Resources. Educated in Scotland at the universities of St Andrews and Edinburgh, Fred worked at both of Britain’s Royal Observatories before joining the Australian Astronomical Observatory as Astronomer-in-Charge in 1995. He led several projects in advanced astronomical instrumentation and large-scale spectroscopic surveys. Today, he is best known for his award-winning radio and TV broadcasts, books, music, dark-sky advocacy and the Space Nuts podcast. Fred has an asteroid named after him (5691 Fredwatson), but says that if it hits the Earth, it won't be his fault.
*This event is aimed for audiences 16 years and above.
