The Raleigh Astronomy Club and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences hosts Astronomy Days 2016 on Saturday and Sunday, January 30-31, 2016. This years event was very successful with over 15,800 visitors coming out to learn about space and astronomy.
The Science pf the Martian Panel
This year’s theme was “The search for life in the universe,” and featured a number of great guest speakers including:
- Dr. Seth Shostak from the SETI Institute
- Christina H. Koch – NASA Astronaut
- Dr. Klaus Pontoppidan from the Space Telescope Science Institute
Along with their featured presentations, the guests got to see a panel discussing the science of the hit movie The Martian.
Of course, this event would not be possible without the RAC members who helped out with multiple astronomy related exhibits and astronomical minded presentations. Their efforts were fantastic and we sincerely thank all those who helped out with the event in any way.
The presentations included:
- Steve Christensen – What is the Multiverse
- Ron Monti – Our Amazing Star: The Sun
- Doug Lively – An Introduction to Globular Clusters and Driveway Astronomy
- Matt Lochansky – Introduction to AstroSpectroscopy and what it Teaches Us About the Universe
- Ian Hewitt – Beginning Astronomy
- Micheal Keefe – Getting Your Kids Started in Astronomy
- Chris Cole – Getting Started in Astrophotography
Exhibits created and staffed by club members included:
- Age, Weight and Jumping on Other Planets
- Anatomy of the Daily Planet
- Ask the Astronomer and Astronomy Days Information
- Astrophotography
- Dry Ice Comets
- Exoplanets
- Night Sky Network: Lunar Challenge
- Scale of the Universe
- Simple Astrophotography and How Telescopes Work
- Solar Observing on the Plaza
- Telescopes on Display
