May 23, 2013
Outreach
Are you interested in having the Astronomy Club host a star party for your event or organization? Please click here or use the “Plan a Star Party” link to the right to go to our Star Party page!
Sabino Canyon Star Parties:
Every first Saturday of the month we host a FREE star party at the Sabino Canyon Visitor Center from 5:30-9PM. We typically bring 3 telescopes and look at the various wonders of the night sky. Everyone is welcome to join, and if you have a telescope of your own, feel free to bring it and set it up! We typically bring along models to illustrate sizes and distances in the universe, so come join us to learn something new!
Link to event flyer. Feel free to print out and distribute!
Educational Materials:
If you are interested in donating educational materials or telescope components (eyepieces, etc.) to the Astronomy Club, please contact Allison Towner at towner {at} email [dot] arizona [dot] edu or use the Contact Us page.
The Astronomy Club uses many different models and demonstrations for our outreach events. We are currently working on cataloging and uploading these activities, and will post them online as we do. It is our intention, and our hope, that teachers, students, and anyone who wants to learn more about astronomy and science will be able to use these activities themselves. All we ask is that, if you use one of our original ideas (not all of these activities were invented by us), that you please give us credit. Thank you, and enjoy!
Other Outreach and Events:
We hold other social and outreach events. Please see our Events Page and our Calendar for more detailed descriptions of those events!
Gallery
NASA Image of the Day
Launching Balloons to Study Space Weather
In Antarctica in January, 2013 – the summer at the South Pole – scientists released 20 balloons, each eight stories tall, into the air to help answer an enduring space weather question: when the giant radiation belts surrounding Earth lose material, where do the extra particles actually go? This NASA-funded mission is called BARREL, for Balloon Array for Radiation belt Relativistic Electron Losses. Each balloon launched by the BARREL team floated for anywhere from three to 40 days, measuring X-rays produced by fast-moving electrons high up in the atmosphere.BARREL works hand in hand with another NASA mission called the Van Allen Probes, which travels directly through the Van Allen radiation belts. The belts wax and wane over time in response to incoming energy and material from the sun, sometimes intensifying the radiation through which satellites orbiting Earth must travel. Scientists need to understand this process better, and even provide forecasts of such space weather, in order to protect our spacecraft.› Read MoreImage Credit: NASA
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In Antarctica in January, 2013 – the summer at the South Pole – scientists released 20 balloons, each eight stories tall, into the air to help answer an enduring space weather question: when the giant radiation belts surrounding Earth lose material, where do the extra particles actually go? This NASA-funded mission is called BARREL, for Balloon Array for Radiation belt Relativistic Electron Losses. Each balloon launched by the BARREL team floated for anywhere from three to 40 days, measuring X-rays produced by fast-moving electrons high up in the atmosphere.BARREL works hand in hand with another NASA mission called the Van Allen Probes, which travels directly through the Van Allen radiation belts. The belts wax and wane over time in response to incoming energy and material from the sun, sometimes intensifying the radiation through which satellites orbiting Earth must travel. Scientists need to understand this process better, and even provide forecasts of such space weather, in order to protect our spacecraft.› Read MoreImage Credit: NASA
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