2011-12 News
Finding Bright Star Trails
Finding Bright Star Trails
- photo by Janet Branson On a clear and moonless night, Stars at Yerkes invited teachers to an evening of exploring constellation photography. Our newest contributor, Janet Branson, showed us just what a camera can capture over time. Viewed from Yerkes South Lawn, the star trails swirling around Polaris were intersected by several aircraft. |
Don't Miss It - Our Last Stars at Yerkes Teacher Workshop for 2011 - 2012!!
Saturday, April 21, 2012 Workshop will be held at Yerkes Observatory from 9:00 am to 4:30 pm. Join us for our last workshop of the 2011 - 2012 Stars at Yerkes year.Our workshop leader Rich DeCoster, along with several expert breakout leaders, will guide you through a day filled with activities using your digital camera to photograph the constellations and analyze the data from those images. Included in the day will be lessons on recording the motion of Mars and Saturn through the zodiac, using Astrometry.net to identify you and your students’ beautiful images of the sky, Hands-on activities related to constellation photography including how to change photographic slides to digital images will be included. Learn how to find geostationary Earth-orbiting satellites and engage your students in projects based on this. Learn the basics of variable stars, observing them, and making light curves with Skynet’s Afterglow. Our special guest will be Astronomers Without Borders member Chuck Ruehle, who will discuss his work with "Telescopes to Tanzania." Cost for the workshop is $25.00 and registration is suggested. Registration includes CPDU's and lunch. Click here for event agenda and registration. |
You're Invited - Stars at Yerkes Spring Gala 2012 Saturday, April 21
Stars at Yerkes Spring Gala 2012 Come join us as we celebrate a year of outreach and learning at Yerkes Observatory
Guest of Honor will be Yerkes Observatory Director Kyle Cudworth. Workshop leaders will be recognized for their contributions this year.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Reception begins at 6:00 pm in the Yerkes Rotunda followed by Dinner served at 6:30 pm
Reserve your tickets today – reception and dinner tickets $5.00 per person. Honorees are guests of Stars at Yerkes. RSVP to mcorp@starsatyerkes.net by Monday, April 16 with number attending. Hope to see you there! |
Friday Night April 20 Star Lights - Yerkes April Star Party
Clear or cloudy, Yerkes Observatory will host its April Star Party on Friday April 20, 2012 from 7:30 to 10:00 pm. We invite you to join us in exploring the very visible universe. The planets Mars and Venus will be perfectly situated for our observing pleasure. The summer constellations will be greeting us in the east as we say goodbye to our winter friends in the west. Special addition to this evening's party: the use of digital cameras to photograph constellations. But don't worry if it's cloudy. Inside, you'll be able to see how telescopes from around the world can be operated remotely through SKYNET. There will be plenty of hands-on activities and some short presentations available as well. Bring the entire family, and join the Yerkes April Star Party. The cost for this event is $5.00 per person, with a maximum of $15.00 per family. All children must be accompanied by an adult. Available space is limited, so please pre-register here. Yerkes Observatory also hosts Family Night Programs. Click here for Family Night information and dates. |
Skynet Telescope Network Featured in February
In 2012, Yerkes will be engaged in a series of fund-raising events to support the restoration and upgrades of Yerkes telescopes and support funding for Yerkes Education Outreach programs. On Friday evening February 24th, Yerkes will host the first of these events.
Click here for information about Yerkes Winter Star Party held Saturday, February 25, 2012 Yerkes Observatory also hosts Family Night Programs. Click here for Family Night information and dates. |
Citizen Science Saturday at Yerkes - February 25, 2012
Call them amateurs, hobbyists, or citizen scientists; they have always
been a part of research astronomy. With unmatched passion for the night
sky and its mysteries, patience and long-term dedication, they discover
supernovae and comets, track asteroids, and plot the light curves of
variable and binary stars. With advances in technology has come an
explosion of opportunities for participation and discovery.
Join the Stars at Yerkes Professional Learning Community for a day celebrating the citizen scientist. We will look back at the history of the amateur in astronomy and explore the oldest amateur research group in the nation, the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO). We will also take a look at two new opportunities, Zooniverse and Globe at Night. We strongly recommend that you bring a laptop to use during the early afternoon session. Our late afternoon highlight is a talk by Bob Holmes of the Astronomical Research Institute (http://www.astro-research.org) whose passion for astronomy has been acknowledged in the December issue of Sky and Telescope magazine. Stay around for an evening of stars. For a detailed agenda and registration information, click here. |
Stars at Yerkes Teachers Travel to SEEC
Stars at Yerkes teachers Lynne Zielinski and Margie Corp traveled to Space Center Houston in Houston, Texas for the 18th annual Space Exploration Educators Conference (SEEC) February 2 - 4, 2012. Their session entitled "From Steam Engines to Stars" illustrated principles of thermodynamics and discussed how these principles help us understand stars. Resources presented at their session are found below. Visit the article "Seeing the Unseen" to learn more about SOFIA and infrared light (including an infrared light photo gallery). How does the radiometer "light-mill" work? Visit this site to learn more. |
S@Y at AAS 2012, Austin TX
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Miss Leavitt's Stars - January 21, 2012 Teacher Workshop - Register Now!
Come join us on Saturday January 21, 2012 from
9:00 am - 4:30 pm for our next Stars at Yerkes teacher workshop. The workshop will be held at Yerkes Observatory. Henrietta Leavitt’s analysis of Cepheid variable stars gave astronomers an ability to measure distances outside our galaxy. Miss Leavitt’s Stars by George Johnson was mentioned last year at the first Stars at Yerkes book discussion. This book does an excellent job discussing how astronomers determined that the Sun is a member of one of many million galaxies that compose our Universe. We are excited to feature discussion of this publication this year especially in light of the recent Nobel Prize in Physics being given to Perlmutter, Schmidt, and Riess for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe. The workshop will begin with a discussion of our featured selection and an opportunity to “live the book” by analyzing Henrietta’s stars as she did. The afternoon will feature activities on galaxies, variable star observing and analysis using Skynet (UNC), and the use of supernovae to measure distances to galaxies. Cost for the workshop is $25.00. Click here for registration and more. |