Astronomy Education « Colorado Springs Astronomical Society

Galaxy Zoo

A couple of days ago I came across this very interesting and “cool” website! Part of the Zooniverse (there is a link to Zooniverse on the links page). From the Zooniverse website, “Galaxy Zoo – The original Zooniverse project. Help astronomers figure out how galaxies form and evolve by classifying their shape. Over 50 million classifications so far but we need more!”

You register at the Galaxy Zoo website and then you can participate by classifying galaxies. They show you how and then you just classify when you have time. You can save the galaxies that you like the most to your own “gallery”. You can get very technical info on each galaxy, but don’t expect the Messier number!

There are also other things you can participate in, such as merging galaxies and detecting supernovae. Enjoy!

Telescopes for Beginners Workshop

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When: Sat, January 23, 2010, 1:30pm – 3:30pm

Where: Bear Creek Nature Center

Description: Bring your telescope for this indoor workshop led by members of the Colorado Springs Astronomical Society. Learn how to use different kinds of telescopes, find out which will be the most effective for you and discover how to overcome the biggest bugaboo for beginners – the alignment procedure. With a basic knowledge of major stars and constellations, you should be off and running to explore the night sky on your own or with your friends. ($4.00/member, $5.00/nonmember, RR)

Astronomy Night at the White House

This is from October 7, 2009 – thought it was interesting for 2 reasons — 1. The President acknowledged two teenagers who discovered stellar phenomena. This is impressive and I really hope that more and more of our young people will share that interest and passion for science and the stars. 2. There was a telescope (and presumably more although you couldn’t see them) set up so that the President and First Lady could see a binary star in Lyra — all this while the area was lit up brighter than daylight with all the spotlights and cameras. It’s amazing if they actually saw anything! Regardless, it was an interesting video of a moment in history. Enjoy!

Orion and M42

Since we are experiencing the wonderful clear, COLD skies of winter, I thought it appropriate to share this You Tube video about Orion and the Orion Nebula or M42. Enjoy!