You may complete up to three of these over the course of the semester. Each is worth 50 homework points (equivalent to one half of a weekly homework). All options except #2 require that you (a) take notes during the event and have one of the facilitators sign your notes verifying that you attended and (b) write a one page (double spaced) page describing what you did and what you learned.
(1) Attend a Lecture Outside of Class
- Steward Observatory Public Evening Series
- generally Monday evenings 7:30-8:30 pm
- See www.enterprise.as.arizona.edu/~taf/pubeve/pub_lect.html for schedule and directions
- University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Lab Evening Lecture Series
- Wednesday evenings 7-8pm
- See www.lpl.arizona.edu/outreach for schedule and directions
- Sonora Astronomical Society
- Second Tuesday of the month 7-9pm with observing on 14” telescope afterwards
- La Posada recreation center (Green Valley)
- http://www.sonoraastronomicalsociety.org/
(2) Report on a Recent Astrononomy-Related News Article
Any reliable news source is fine (newspaper, science magazine, podcast etc.), although regardless of what you pick you should schedule a day to present and send me your article at least 1 week in advance. This option requires that you summarize the article for your classmates in a ~2 minute presentation at the start of class. You will also be expected to field questions from your classmates about the article.
Some good places to start looking:
- Astronomy Picture of the Day (http://apod.nasa.gov/apod)
- NASA News (www.nasa.gov/news)
- Or, follow the twitter feeds of Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) or Phil Plait (@BadAstronomer) – both comment frequently on astronomy-related news
(3) Attend a “Star Party”
- The University of Arizona Astronomy Club
- Sporadically throughout the year
- See http://astroclub.as.arizona.edu for a schedule
- Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association
- Most TAAA star parties are “private”, but some are public
- See their calendar for more details – look for entries that have an “SP” for star party but don’t say (Private) after them or e-mail them about attending or setting one up yourself
- http://www.tucsonastronomy.org/Public-Calendar.htm
(4) Take a Tour
- Kitt Peak National Observatory
- Open daily 9am -4pm except holidays
- Admission to visitor center and self-guided tour of the mountain are free
- Guided tours daily at 10am, 11:30am and 1:30pm $7.75
- More info at www.noao.edu/outreach/kpvc
- Steward Observatory Mirror Lab
- Tuesday-Friday weekly at 1:00pm and 3:00pm
- Reservation required
- $8 for students
- http://mirrorlab.as.arizona.edu
(5) Attend a Nightly Observing Program
- Kitt Peak National Observatory Nightly Observing Program
- Reservation required
- $44 for students ($48 otherwise, includes dinner)
- more info at www.noao.edu/outreach/nop
- Mt. Lemmon Sky Center “Sky Nights”
- Reservation required
- $48 (includes dinner)
- more info at http://skycenter.arizona.edu
(6) Other
Subject to approval by Kate in advance