EUGENE, Ore. -- (Aug. 14, 2009) - Astronomer Alex Filippenko will discuss why the expansion of the universe is speeding up, rather than slowing down, during a lecture on Saturday, Aug. 29, in Bend.

Filippenko's talk, "Einstein's Biggest Blunder? Dark Energy and the Runaway Universe," will focus on observations of very distant exploding stars. "Dark energy" stretches the fabric of space faster and faster with time, but the physical origin of dark energy is unknown and often is considered to be the most important unsolved problems in physics.

The lecture is at 7 p.m. at The Riverhouse Convention Center. Tickets are $15 and must be reserved in advance by calling 541-346-3236. No tickets will be available at the door. Attendees of the lecture are also invited to join Filippenko afterwards at the Pine Mountain Observatory, east of Bend, for night sky gazing and tours. The Pine Mountain Observatory will be open that night only to those attending the lecture.

Filippenko-one of the world's most highly cited astronomers-has coauthored approximately 570 scientific publications and is the recipient of numerous prizes for his research. He received his doctorate in astronomy from Caltech in 1984 and joined the UC Berkeley faculty in 1986, where he remains a professor of astronomy. In 2006, he was named the Carnegie/CASE National Professor of the Year among doctoral institutions.

Pine Mountain Observatory is the only dark sky observatory in the Northwest and one of a few research observatories in the nation open to the public. The observatory is operated by the University of Oregon's Department of Physics under special use permit from the Deschutes National Forest. The observatory's primary function is research and other astronomical observations, including basic and advanced scientific research.

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