Day 5 Astronomy Project

Today we had a presentation from Matthew W. Ritsko, NASA Program Business Manager, Joint Polar Satellite System and Deputy Project Manager for Resources Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) Project. Mr. Ritsko explained the ins and outs of TESS the new satellite being launched this April and will photograph and collect data for the next two years. Tess is one of the smallest satellite ever put into space for this kind of exploration, https://tess.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Part of the video he shared with us about exoplanets and TESS is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=94&v=ZsPStvGgNuk

We also put the finishing touches on our planetarium including a glow in the dark milky way and prepared our keynote for the symposium. Can anyone guess what constellation this is?

We were also lucky to catch Mrs. Kosakowski in, she gave students a talk about celestial navigation!

Day 4 Astronomy Project

Due to the weather, we were unable to go to Pomfret School and use their observatory. So we spent a day inside and watched the movie Interstellar which featured an all-star cast, including Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, and Michael Caine. According to the education guide, “The film Interstellar takes us to the stars with imagination and encourages us to look into the future, and the Interstellar study guide can help make that future a reality. It’s an engaging teaching tool to inspire a new generation of students to value science and seek careers in science, technology, engineering, and even space exploration. These careers can introduce them to a universe of exciting possibilities” (Interstellar-education.com)

Ms. Mulcahy also gave a quick lesson on sextons and some nautical navigation.

Day 3 Astronomy Project

We built our own Planetarium!! Watch how we did it in our video:

We took a 50 foot piece of plastic and taped the edges, added a box fan and went inside to map out the northern constellations. It was a huge success we will share during the symposium.

Day 2 Astronomy Project

On our second day, we welcomed John S. Gianforte from the University of New Hampshire. Mr. Gianforte is the Director of the UNH Observatory as well as an astronomy instructor. He also has his own telescope at home!!  He talked with students about our 3741 exoplanets, 2794 systems and out of these systems the 625 known multiple planet systems. Something we didn't know was the best tool to view stars is a set of binoculars! We also learned that Galileo was not the inventor of the telescope, Han Lippershey was. Galileo only improved on it calling it an "optic tube."

Day 1 Astronomy Project

Today we had a lot of fun at the Boston Museum of science. We went to two different shows at the planetarium the first one was called Explore the Galaxy and the other one was Inside NASA from Dream to Discovery. Students were so enthusiastic asking questions while we learned about the James Webb space telescope and the New Horizons Mission to Pluto in real time as if it was happening on the big dome screen although it took 10+ years to complete the mission.

Astronomy Project Week!