Aliens! It's (almost) Never Aliens!
Date: Wed, May 6, 2026
Time: 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM
Venue: Main Library – Main Auditorium, Durham
Price: Free
Category: Community
<p paraeid="{e8ceb02a-1034-4487-bcac-03f2c4dd5053}{4}" paraid="1430297168"><strong><span style="font-size:16px;">Aliens! It’s (almost) Never Aliens! </span></strong></p> <p paraeid="{e8ceb02a-1034-4487-bcac-03f2c4dd5053}{7}" paraid="1525886875"><span style="font-size:16px;">From mysterious lights in the sky to bizarre signals from distant stars, history is full of moments when scientists and the public alike explained phenomena by claiming “it must be extraterrestrials”, only to discover a perfectly natural explanation later. Join Dr. Brand Fortner as he takes you on a whirlwind tour of 5 fascinating cases–the Viking Lander, the Mars rock, life on Europa, Roswell, Gimbal videos--where the truth turned out to be stranger (and more satisfying) than fiction. This lecture is part science, part detective story, and a whole lot of fun! Bring your curiosity–and leave your tinfoil hat at home! </span></p> <p paraeid="{e8ceb02a-1034-4487-bcac-03f2c4dd5053}{9}" paraid="1603140252"><span style="font-size:16px;"></span><span style="font-size:16px;">Brand Fortner is a teaching professor at NC State University, where he teaches astronomy, astrophysics and physics, and is an adjunct professor of physics at UNC. He earned a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in high-energy astrophysics.
