Public Outreach

Eclipse Tour: Visit to Arco – 2017 May 15

Posted by admin on May 14, 2017
Posted in: Public Outreach. Tagged: .

Little Camas reservoir south of Arco

As part of our statewide eclipse tour, this week I visited the town of Arco, perched on the margin of one of the youngest extinct lava flows in the world, the Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve. The blocky a’a flows in Craters resembles the surface of the Moon so closely that Apollo astronauts trained there in the 1960s. Arco itself has a very interesting history as the first town in the world light entirely by nuclear power.

During my visit, I spoke with hundreds of elementary, middle, and high school students. Then in the evening, I gave a presentation to the wider Arco community. Those presentations are available below.

In addition to the conversations with the citizens of Arco (Arconoids?), I enjoyed the fried pickles at Pickle’s Place. And the drive between Boise and Arco was filled with sparkling lakes, snow-scarfed mountains, and a podcast from Radiolab. Just as Highway 20 spilled into the valley of Castle Rocks, the sunglint from the Little Camas reservoir crashed in through my windshield. It was very Idaho.

Because Arco is in the path of totality for the August eclipse, they are hosting an event for their visitors, and you can find out more about that event here – http://arcosrockincountryoutdoors.com/.

Presentation to Arco Elementary School

Presentation to Butte County High School

Presentation to Arco Community

2017 Solar Eclipse Tour

Posted by admin on April 26, 2017
Posted in: Public Outreach. Tagged: .

On the morning of August 21, 2017, a total solar eclipse will be visible across the continental United States. The Moon’s shadow will also pass through Idaho, and visitors from all around the world will flock to our state.

Boise State has partnered with local libraries, astronomy clubs, and science museums to organize outreach events all over the state throughout 2017. With these partners, Boise State will host public presentations about the eclipse and provide eclipse shades for safe viewing.

You can find more information about the eclipse in Idaho at the Physics Dept’s website.

The calendar below shows the planned visits across Idaho. If you have questions, contact Prof. Brian Jackson (bjackson@boisestate.edu).

This outreach effort is supported by a grant from the Idaho STEM Action Center and by donations from the Boise State community.

Pony Up Campaign: Eclipse Shades Ordered

Posted by admin on April 11, 2017
Posted in: Public Outreach. Tagged: , .

To those of you who have given to our Pony Up Campaign, thanks very much. We have raised more than $3,000. We are very gratified for your very generous donations to our Eclipse Outreach project.

Thanks to you, we will have a very robust and engaging public outreach effort this summer, reaching folks from all across our state. We’ve already scheduled several of the trips, with more to come. Keep checking this space for additional details on those events.

I’m also excited to announce that we just placed our order for eclipse shades, giving us nearly 13,000 pairs in total! That’s almost 13,000 pairs of eyeballs that will be able to safely enjoy this once-in-a-lifetime event in August.

And if you haven’t donated yet, don’t worry – there’s still time to help out and get your own shades.

Once the shades come in, we’ll mail them out to qualified donors as quickly as we can. So keep an eye on your mailbox in the coming months.

And special thanks to donors Tracy Landauer, Justin McGilvery, and Robert Jahn.

Habitable Planets of the TRAPPIST-1 System

Posted by admin on April 4, 2017
Posted in: Public Outreach. Tagged: , , .

Google’s TRAPPIST-1 doodle.

UPDATE: KBSX ran a story about our event this morning – http://boisestatepublicradio.org/post/bsu-and-university-washington-part-search-life-nearby-planets.

The seven Earth-sized planets orbiting the nearby star TRAPPIST-1 reveal that rocky worlds are common in our galactic neighborhood. Three of the planets are in the habitable zone, the region around a star in which liquid water is possible. However, planets that are Earth-sized and in the habitable zone have merely cleared the first two hurdles for a planet to support life!

Join the Boise State Physics Department and Prof. Rory Barnes from University of Washington on Friday, April 7 at 7:30p in the Multi-Purpose Classroom Building, room 101 to learn about how these planets were discovered, what it means to us, and the potential of discovering life beyond our Solar System.

Contact Prof. Brian Jackson (bjackson@boisestate.edu) with any questions.

The Bewildering Zoo of Extrasolar Planetary Systems – Friday, Mar 3

Posted by admin on March 3, 2017
Posted in: Public Outreach. Tagged: , .

With 50-plus attendees, Friday’s event was a great success. Lots of great questions and feedback from the audience.

The next event will take place on Friday, Apr 7 at 7:30p with a talk from Prof. Rory Barnes of U Washington.

Dr. Penev was kind enough to share his presentation with me, and I’ve posted it below.

And our Pony Up Campaign finished on Sunday evening. Thanks so much to all our donors, particularly Mat Weaver, Danielle Weaver, Axel & Nancy Kappes, Scott Ki, Rex Hanson, Sonja Ward, and several very generous anonymous donors. Thanks to you all we will be able to pay for seven site visits around the state.

Talking about the Solar Eclipse at Flying M in Nampa

Posted by admin on February 27, 2017
Posted in: Brian's Presentations, Public Outreach. Tagged: .

I had a great time talking about the August 21st solar eclipse at the Flying M in Nampa last night. A packed house asked lots of interesting questions about this unique celestial event, and I’ve posted my presentation below.

Several folks in the crowd kindly donated to our Pony Up Campaign to support additional public outreach, bringing us nearly halfway to our goal. One more week to go!

Thanks to our donors for their support, particularly Joann Mychals, Mark Funaiole, and M Lewis, as well as several anonymous donors.

Don’t forget about our public astronomy event on Friday, Mar 3 at 7:30p in the Physics Building, when we’ll have Dr. Kaloyan Penev of Princeton join us to talk about his exoplanet research. If the weather’s clear, we’ll also do some stargazing.