Outreach

This page is designed to keep members of the Columbia astro community informed of outreach events. Most importantly, it allows people who are interested in volunteering to check in and see what is being planned and where their help is needed. There is also a mailing list for outreach volunteers that anyone in the department can sign up for at ​https://mail.astro.columbia.edu/mailman/listinfo/outreach-volunteers. Keep in mind that the official homepage for our outreach activities (the one designed for the public as opposed to this one) is ​http://www.astro.columbia.edu/outreach; there you can read the schedule, sign up for our public mailing list, and check up on the weather and other links.

Outreach activities have suffered from poor communication of event-planning within the astro department. We hope this page will help, by at least keeping the information organized and accessible to everyone.

If after reading this you think there's a way you'd like to help out, or you have a suggestion, email outreach-admin@astro. Remember that you need not have any experience doing outreach/teaching to participate. The most important thing is that you care and want to share the Universe with people; after that everything will fall into place!

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Overview of Activities

First, a summary of the kinds of events we have hosted in the past:

Children's Programs

In the past, we have held "Family Astro" days on a few weekends each semester, on which 7-10 year-olds spend a few hours doing a hands-on activity in the library. We advertise these events through our mailing list ​https://mail.astro.columbia.edu/mailman/listinfo/outreach, which is always growing.

We also get miscellaneous requests from school groups of all ages who want to see the stars and planets from our observatory, or have an indoor lesson/activity session.

Public Observing/Star-Gazing Nights

We try to do a star-gazing session every two weeks on the roof. Each star-gazing night is coupled with an astronomy talk and a slideshow. The talk/slideshow is especially worthwhile when the sky is cloudy, which is usually the case (less than half of the nights are clear from NYC). Traditionally it has been Friday nights; however, transient events like eclipses, transits, and comets demand alternative scheduling.

Public Astronomy Lectures

People in our department are welcome to give lectures aimed at the general public. Ideally these coincide with star-gazing nights, and are about 30 minutes long (leaving plenty of time for questions afterwards).

AstroWall Events

There is a stereoscopic projection system installed in the classroom (Pupin 1332) that is relatively easy to set up and use. It includes a wide range of astronomical datasets from stars to the cosmos and has been used for a number of public outreach and education activities. Please see Greg Bryan or Stuart Gill for more information or training.

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Volunteer Requests and Upcoming Events

If you have a request/event to add, feel free to edit this, and email outreach-admin@astro.

Unscheduled/Tentative

none at the moment

Scheduled

Full Lunar Eclipse - Wed, Feb 20, 8:30-11:00pm

Ongoing

Family Astro Day

Resources for planning the activity are on the web; for example: ​http://www.astrosociety.org/education/family/involve/educators.html). Aside from running the lesson for two hours or so, the volunteers need to get materials and snacks. It is a two-person job if there is a typical turnout of about 20 kids. Since that number can vary widely, it is useful to ask parents to sign up in advance.

Star-gazing Nights

Fall 2008 star-gazing dates: Feb 1, Feb 15, Feb 29, Mar 14, Mar 28, Apr 11, Apr 25, May 9.

We currently have a healthy core of observing volunteers, but it's always good to have different faces, so sign up (or just show up to see what it's like)! If you are unfamiliar with our equipment, training sessions with the veterans can be arranged.

These are a lot of fun when the weather cooperates. Turnout is typically around 40 people - a mixture of Columbia students, local families, and enthusiasts.

Past star-gazing dates (clear nights are underlined):

Fall 2007: Sep 14, Oct 14, Oct 19, Nov 2, Nov 16, Nov 30, Dec 14

Summer 2007: June 22, Jul 19, Aug 17

Spring 2007: Jan 19, Jan 26, Feb 23, Mar 3, Mar 23, April 20

Fall 2006: Sep 22, Sep 29, Oct 20, Oct 27, Nov 17, Dec 15

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2008 Summary of Completed Outreach Activities

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2007 Summary of Completed Outreach Activities

Feb 23 - Public observing; Cameron Hummels, Jeremy Carlo (physics), Ian McGreer; 100+ participants

Feb 27 - Moon lesson for students of Jewish Theological Seminary; Cameron Hummels; 20+ participants

Mar 3 - Total Lunar Eclipse: Children's activities and public viewing; Neil Zimmerman, Dave Spiegel, Cameron Hummels, Duane Lee, Kathryn Stanonik, Stephanie Tonnesen; 200+ participants

Mar 24 - Solar system lesson and observatory tour for kindergardeners from Hunter College Elementary School; Andreea Petric, Maria Pereira, Maureen Teyssier, Emily Rauscher, Neil Zimmerman; 30 participants

Apr 20 - Public observing; Neil Zimmerman, Cameron Hummels, Jan Kratochvil; 40 participants

May 7 - 2-hour lesson/observing session for students from Bronx High School of Business (public); Neil Zimmerman; 20 participants

May 17 - 1-hour lesson with stereograph projector for students from Urban Peace Academy (public high school); Neil Zimmerman; 20 participants

May 24 - 2-hour lesson/observing session for the Imagine Series for Refugee Children ​http://www.imagineseries.org; Neil Zimmerman; 4 participants.

May 25 - 2-hour lesson on telescopes for students from the Talented and Gifted School for Young Scholars ​http://www.insideschools.org/fs/school_profile.php?id=362; Neil Zimmerman; 8 participants.

Jun 22 - Public observing; Neil Zimmerman, Sanjib Sharma, Dave Spiegel; ~40 participants

Oct 12 - Public observing; Franz Bauer, Erika Hamden, Cameron Hummels, Matt O'Dowd, Neil Zimmerman. Astro slideshow presented by Josh Schroeder.

Oct 19 - Public talk by Arlin Crotts: The Inconstant Moon.

Oct 20 - Siemens Science Day. Astronomy exhibit and Solar System workshops. Volunteers: Marcel Agueros, Lia Corrales, Erika Hamden, Cameron Hummels, Duane Lee, Ian McGreer, Kyle Parfrey, Kathryn Stanonik, Andreas Svedin, Stephanie Tonnesen, Neil Zimmerman.

Oct 30 - Introduction and astronomy Q&A with 7th and 4th grade students at Anderson School. Cameron Hummels, Dave Spiegel, Neil Zimmerman.

Nov 2 - Public talk by Roban Hultman Kramer: Weather on Other Planets.

Nov 8 - Astronomy activity with 7th grade students at Anderson School: Craters; Cameron Hummels, Dave Spiegel, Neil Zimmerman; 2*30 participants

Nov 16 - Public observing; Lia Corrales, Holly Larson, Robert Morehead, Kyle Parfrey, Neil Zimmerman. Talk by Jan Kravochtil: Digital Imaging.

Nov 17 - Girls' Science Day Lab / Astrowall Demo on large scale structure for 2*20 middle school girls ; Maria Pereira, Stephanie Tonnesen, Antara Basu-Zych.

Nov 30 - Public observing; Maria Pereira, David Stenning, Neil Zimmerman. Talk by Kathryn Johnston: Galactic Cannibalism. ~40 participants.

Dec 6 - 1.5-hour lesson/observing session with 8th grade students from MS 862/Mott Hall II; Lia Corrales, Neil Zimmerman. 10 participants.

Dec 13 - Astronomy activity with 7th grade students at Anderson School: Scales of Size and Distance; Cameron Hummels, Dave Spiegel, Neil Zimmerman; 2*30 participants.

Dec 14 - Public talk by Dave Spiegel: Astrobiology: Life Elsewhere in the Universe?; slideshow by Emily Rauscher; ~30 participants. Photos: ​http://www.cita.utoronto.ca/~jank/Photo/Astro/Columbia_Public_Outreach071214/index.html.