(r11) 2024 < Main

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---+ Past Events from 2024

For photos of all past events, see [[https://www.flickr.com/photos/143414768@N07/albums][our Flickr Page]].  
For lecture recordings, see [[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpslw1KdoUvnCKi0swsb23w/videos][our YouTube Page]].<br>

To learn more about each event this year (including abstracts, titles, etc.), click on the event links below.

---++++ Friday, January 12, 8-10PM

[[20240112][Lecture and Stargazing - Supernovae: The Brilliant Endings of Massive Stars]]<br />
*[[Lecturer]]*: Michael Pajkos<br />
*[[LectureCaptain][Lecture Captain]]*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[LectureVolunteer][Lecture Volunteers]] (2+)*: Dee Dunne, Nicholas Rui<br />
*[[TelescopeCaptain][Telescope Captain]]*: Andreas Faisst<br />
*[[TelescopeVolunteer][Telescope Volunteers]] (4)*: Sam Rose, Xander Hall, Soumyadeep Bhattacharjee<br>
*Attendees*: 180<br>
120 in-person + 60 online = 180 attendees.  Really great event last night with good weather, an excellent<br>
presentation, and a lively panel and audience.  No technical difficulties this month after some issues in<br>
December, and we had so many intriguing questions from the audience that we struggled to get through all<br>
of them in time!  A good problem to have.  Jupiter, M42, and M33 were targets.<br>

---++++ Tuesday, January 16, 5:30-7PM

Telescope Training on Dobs and eVscope<br />
*Organizer*: Cameron Hummels<br>
*Participants*: Javier Roulet, Ed Nathan, Eliot Finch, Marco Crisostomi<br>
Good group.  We got through setting up and taking down 6" dob; viewing Moon and Jupiter.<br>
Also setup and takedown of eVscope with a view of M42.<br>

---++++ Saturday, January 27, 5:00-7:00PM

Astronomy Night at Kester Avenue Elementary<br />
*Organizer*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*Volunteers* (1-2): Ashish Mahabal<br />
*Attendees*: 400<br>
Elementary school in Thousand Oaks hosted an astronomy night for their 800 students.  Ashish went out<br>
and answered questions for a few hours at the Ask an Astrophysicist table.  It sounds like the event went<br>
really well overall.  Clear weather for stargazing with the Burbank Sidewalk Astronomers.<br>

---++++ Monday, January 29, 7:30-9:30PM

[[20240129][Astronomy on Tap @ Dog Haus]]<br />
*[[AoTCaptain][MC]]*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[AoTSpeaker][Speakers]] (2)*: Kaustav Das, Niyati Desai<br />
*[[AoTVolunteer][Volunteer]] (3+)*:  Sam Rose, Nicholas Rui, Jean Somalwar, Nik Prusinski<br>
*Attendees*: 250<br>
Great event with two great presentations and a good turnout.  eVscope provided views of M1 and M42.<br>
Lots of engagement by the audience and several compliments from attendees afterwards.  Warm weather<br>
and no event for 7 weeks may have contributed to the great turnout.<br>

---++++ Friday, February 16, 8-10PM

[[20240216][Stargazing Lecture - Chasing the Solar Atmosphere using Eclipses and the Parker Solar Probe]]<br />
*[[Lecturer]]*: Gabe Muro<br />
*[[LectureCaptain][Lecture Captain]]*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[LectureVolunteer][Lecture Volunteers]] (2+)*: Ivey Davis, Robin Wen<br />
*[[TelescopeCaptain][Telescope Captain]]*: Sam Rose<br />
*[[TelescopeVolunteer][Telescope Volunteers]] (4)*: Xander Hall, Kira Nolan<br>
*Attendees*: 130<br>
90 in-person + 40 online = 130 attendees.  Solid presentation and good audience engagement tonight.<br>
The weather was hazy with a few clouds, so moon and Jupiter were the only possible observations.<br>
The telescopes got some dew on the mirrors, but it should be OK.  Lots of discussion during the Q&A<br>
of the eclipse, the Carrington Event, as well as dark matter.  Good event.<br>  

---++++ Thursday, February 22, 5:30-7:30PM

Telescopes with Annandale Elementary School<br />
*Organizer*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*Volunteers* (1-2): Adolfo Carvalho, Xander Hall<br />
*Attendees*:75<br>
We hosted the Annandale Elementary School's telescope night with two telescopes.  It's a public school of about <br>
100 students in grades K-5 in Highland Park. and they were very excited to welcome us.  The event was quite early<br> 
in the evening, and we only had views of the full Moon for the first 15 minutes.  Then we were able to view Jupiter and<br>
finally the Orion Nebula using the eVscope2.  We also brought HST lithographs, solar eclipse glasses, NASA stickers,<br>
and Caltech Astro business cards to hand out to families.  Pretty good overall.<br>

---++++ Friday, February 23, 5:30-7:30PM

Telescopes with San Rafael Elementary Science Fair<br />
*Organizer*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*Volunteers* (1-2): Kira Nolan<br />
*Attendees*: 150<br>
We joined local school San Rafael Elementary for their event which was part science fair, part black history month celebration.<br>
There were a number of outdoor activities for the kids to do, including our telescope set up, as well as indoor activities with<br>
entries in the science fair, a Ghanaian drumming demonstration, an art demonstration and more.  At our station, we had views<br>
of Jupiter and the Orion Nebula, and at the very end of the night the Moon rose high enough that we could observe it.  <br>
Lots of enthusiastic children, but we were a little too close to the air-powered rocket demonstration and rockets kept coming <br>
down on our group.  If we do it again, it might be good to move.<br>

---++++ Tuesday, February 27, 6:00-8:00PM

CANCELLED: Telescopes with Marshall Middle School Science Fair<br />
*Organizer*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*Volunteers* (1-2): Sam Rose<br />
*Attendees*: 0<br>
Weather was overcast and no chance of observing, so we bailed.<br>

---++++ Monday, February 26, 7:30-9:30PM

[[20240226][Astronomy on Tap @ Dog Haus]]<br />
*[[AoTCaptain][MC]]*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[AoTSpeaker][Speakers]] (2)*: Zach Weinersmith, Maria Camarca<br />
*[[AoTVolunteer][Volunteer]] (3+)*:  Harshda Saxena, Xander Hall, Jean Somalwar<br>
*Attendees*: 250<br>
Awesome event despite some initial setbacks.  Wet weather was forecasted for Monday's event, and because our venue<br>
is outdoors, I made the call on Saturday and rescheduled it for Wednesday.  This is our first time rescheduling, and I wasn't<br>
sure what to expect, but we seemed to get the word out successfully through social media and the calendar, and we had<br>
a great turnout of 250.  The talks were both really good, and people seemed to enjoy it all.  Clear skies with views of M42 and M1.<br>
Lots of positive feedback from attendees.  <br>

---++++ Thursday, February 29, 5:30-7:30PM

CANCELLED: Telescopes with Mayor at State of the City event<br />
*Organizer*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*Volunteers* (1-2): Sam Rose, Max Goldberg, Adolfo Carvalho<br />
*Attendees*:<br>
Weather was cloudy so we ended up canceling the event.<br>

---++++ Friday-Sunday, March 1-3

[[20240301][Death Valley NP Dark Sky Festival]]<br />
*Organizer*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*Volunteers*: Kathryn Plant, Phil Jahelka, Sam Rose, Joanna Piotrowska-Karpov, Platon Karpov, Nils Vu, Kira Nolan, Harshda Saxena, Kaustav Das, Xander Hall, Aniket Sanghi, Qicheng Zhang, Nicholas Rui<br>
*Attendees*: 7000<br>
High winds throughout, which required some changes to the plan.  All outdoor activities (including star party) were canceled for Friday and Saturday.<br>
This included canceling our camping plans, due to concern with torn tents in the 30 MPH consistent winds with gusts to 50+ MPH.  DVNP allowed <br>
some of us to sleep in a storage room in the visitor's center, which wasn't ideal but better than the alternatives.  Our activities went well overall, with <br>
two at-capacity Astro on Tap events (130 and 165), lots of engagement with our "Build a Comet" and solar observing demos, a good turnout for Cameron's<br>
"Space Exploration" Lecture, and some great questions for our Astrophysicist Q&A Panel.  But our group (and the public) remained in good spirits, and <br>
lots of science communication was had.

---++++ Friday-Sunday, March 8-10

[[20240308][Great Orion Dark Sky Festival]]<br />
*Organizer*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*Volunteers*: Gabe Muro<br>
*Attendees*: 200<br>
Cameron got COVID from the previous week's Death Valley Dark Sky Festival, so he was unable to participate.  Gabe gave three presentations<br>
over the course of the weekend with lots of engagement with attendees on the topics of stellar evolution, heliophysics, and the eclipse.

---++++ Friday, March 15, 8-10PM

[[20240315][Stargazing Lecture - SPHEREx: Zooming Out to See the Big Picture]]<br />
*[[Lecturer]]*: Jamie Bock<br />
*[[LectureCaptain][Lecture Captain]]*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*[[LectureVolunteer][Lecture Volunteers]] (2+)*: Harshda Saxena, Sam Ponnada<br />
*[[TelescopeCaptain][Telescope Captain]]*:  Sam Rose<br />
*[[TelescopeVolunteer][Telescope Volunteers]] (4)*: Robin Wen<br>
*Attendees*: 200<br>
120 in-person + 80 online = 200 attendees.  Great turnout despite some cloudy weather.  People were very excited<br>
about Jamie's talk topic.  Lots of great questions from the audience and lots of engagement.  We had some <br>
technical difficulties in that the Hameetman projector system didn't work at all.  Starting it up, it just displayed <br>
"No Stream Detected" error.  Neither Jamie nor I could fix it through troubleshooting over 20 minutes.  Fortunately,<br>
I had a cheap portable projector in my office that I was able to rig up to work, but it was not very powerful, bright, and <br>
wasn't able to fully focus, so it wasn't great.  But at least it was something.  Very embarrassing for this to happen, <br>
especially during a professor's presentation.  We really need to have a reliable projector system in Cahill for these events.<br>


---++++ Saturday, March 16

[[20240316][PUSD Science Festival]]<br />
*Organizer*: Cameron Hummels<br />
*Volunteers for 11:30-2:30 slot (2-4)*: Ivey Davis, Soumyadeep Bhattacharjee<br>
*Volunteers for 2:30-5:30 slot (2-4)*: Yuping Huang<br>
*Attendees*: <br>


Link back to [[https://sites.astro.caltech.edu/twiki_outreach/bin/view/Main/WebHome][home page]].
Topic revision: r11 - 2024-03-17 - OutreachAdmin
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