Miss Leavitt's Stars - January 21, 2012 Teacher Workshop - Register Now!

Post date: Dec 17, 2011 2:9:3 AM

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.