Next Florida Tech Astronomy Lecture Looks at Ball Lightning

MELBOURNE, FLA. — Florida Tech’s Astronomy and Astrophysics Public Lecture Series will present “Ball Lightning” on Jan. 23 at 8 p.m. The free presentation,
in the F.W. Olin Engineering Complex auditorium, Room EC118, will be by Joseph Dwyer, Ph.D., Florida Tech professor of physics and space sciences.

For centuries, people have reported strange glowing orbs, about the size of an orange; they hover or move just above the ground and sometimes enter houses
through closed windows. This ball lightning phenomenon has eluded scientific explanation and so has remained a great mystery. This presentation will
discuss ball lightning sightings and the lasts scientific research.

There will be stargazing afterward, on the rooftop of the Olin Physical Sciences Building, weather-permitting, including through the university’s new 0.8-m
Ortega Telescope. The F.W. Olin Engineering Center is located on University Boulevard. For more information, call (321) 674-7717, or visit
www.fit.edu/aapls online.