Public Information and Outreach Activities
Our mission includes outreach and service beyond the traditional boundaries
of academia. We aim to share the excitement of the discoveries of astronomy
into the widest possible community, in order to spread appreciation of
science, the wonder of discovery, and the process of science education to
students and interested people of all ages.
Specific programs and activities are targeted at young students (Kindergarten
to Grade 12), teachers, undergraduate students and the general public.
Some of these activities are detailed below.
Events
Public Outreach Events Schedule:
Events (open houses, lectures) which are free to the public and held throughout
the semester. These include:
- Spontaneous Astronomy
Events - From time to time exciting events generate wide popular
interest. Bright comets, meteor showers, eclipses and spacecraft observations
have all been targets of past Astronomy
Dept. Events .
- Pre-College Astronomy Shows
- Astronomy graduate students and faculty volunteer to give talks,
slide shows, planetarium shows and other demonstrations for various pre-college
student groups.
- Penn
State Astronomy Club - An amateur astronomy extra-curricular
activity at Penn State, the Astronomy Club holds regular Open Houses and
Star Parties to pursue their interests in observing the sky.
Educational/Informational Astronomy
Programs
- Penn State Inservice
Workshops in Astronomy - Workshops for middle-school and high-school
science teachers who wish to bring modern astronomy into their classrooms.
Two 1-week-long Workshops at Penn State are offered in the summer with graduate
credit. Financial support is available.
Links to Popular Astronomical Resources
There are many beautiful and informative images, databases, and software
resources dedicated to astronomy on the World Wide Web. Some of these resources
are collected here.
Last updated 10/16/03 by Cathy Lutz (lutz@astro.psu.edu)
Web page by John Nousek ( nousek@astro.psu.edu
)
Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics
Penn State University