Events

The Silicon Valley Lecture Series is back in person and talks will be available on the YouTube channel post event for viewing at your convenience.

On Wednesday, Nov 19, 2025 at 7 pm (PST), Dr. Alfonso Davila (NASA Ames Research Center) will give a free, illustrated, non-technical lecture entitled:

"The Search for Life on Saturn’s Intriguing Moon Enceladus"

in the Smithwick Theater at Foothill College, in Los Altos (see directions below)

The talk is part of the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture Series, now in its 26th year.

In 2005, the Cassini spacecraft made a groundbreaking discovery—it found a massive plume of ice and gas erupting from the south pole of Enceladus, a small but geologically active moon of Saturn. The plume is now believed to originate from a subsurface ocean of liquid water beneath the moon’s icy crust, with conditions compatible with life, as we know it. This talk will focus on our current understanding of Enceladus' plume and subsurface ocean, and on strategies to search in them for possible evidence of life.

Alfonso Davila is a Research Scientist in the Exobiology branch at NASA Ames Research Center, where he helps develop strategies to search for evidence of life beyond Earth. He also conducts theoretical and experimental research on the nature and distribution of life in Earth environments that are considered analogous to extraterrestrial settings. His work investigates factors that affect biological potential and biosignature preservation in those environments. He has been a guest speaker at international conferences and a guest lecturer in universities and research institutes in the US, Canada, South America and Europe.

Foothill College is just off the El Monte Road exit from Freeway 280 in Los Altos.
For directions and parking information, see: https://foothill.edu/parking/
For a campus map, to find the Smithwick Theater (Bldg. 1000), see:
https://foothill.edu/map/
Note: Parking lot 1 is closest, with access to the theater by stairs. Parking lot 5 provides access from the same elevation as the theater.

The lecture is co-sponsored by:
* The Foothill College Science, Tech, Engineering & Math Division
* The SETI Institute and
* The Astronomical Society of the Pacific

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Foothill College is just off the El Monte Road exit from Freeway 280 in Los Altos, California

For directions and parking information as well as a campus map to find the Smithwick theater, see ilnks below.

NOTE: Parking lot 1 is closest, with access to the theater by stairs. Parking lot 5 provides access from the same elevation as the theater.

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