RED N BLUE OBSERVATORY

Friday, February 20, 2009

N.Daviess School Presentation

The students were very attentive to the presentation. During the time allowed, various telescope designs and equipment as well as accessories were talked about. Also showed them a slideshow of the astrophotos that we've taken. Then a slideshow of the construction of our observatory. After that a DVD of "Flight into Mariner Valley" (Valles Marineris, Mars) was shown. Then a short question and answer segment before the students went to their next class.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Golden Living Center Men's Science Club Presentation

Article for Golden Living Center :

Each month, the men at Golden Living Center enjoy a Science Guys’ Club, involving lessons, experiments and hands-on creativity. This month, however, they welcomed the females of the building, as well as all staff, to join them as one of their own nurses, Marcie Miller, and her husband, Mark, presented the program on the Solar System. Marcie has more letters than LPN after her name; add JPL for Jet Propulsion Laboratory, as well as SSA, for Solar System Ambassador from the California Institute of Technology. They were featured last year in the Press-Dispatch with their observatory at their Otwell home. But she doesn’t leave it there; Marcie is the kind of nurse that treats her residents with more than just the medicines their doctors have her dispense; she treats them with dignity, information, and interest every day. Most residents on her hall know much more about the solar system since coming here than they were taught in school, and would tell you that they enjoy it more, too! Marcie received a sixty-four lb. box of training supplies from the University of Arizona to present this program to the residents - posters, dvds, cds, booklets, and even 3-D glasses with which to view a poster of the sun allowing the residents to see it “pop out” in front of them. Along with posters from their trips to the Kennedy Space Station, professional-quality photos taken from their two telescopes, they utilized a PowerPoint presentation and other teaching aids brought from home. They gave a very informative talk on subjects such as Mariner Valley , or the’ Grand Canyon on Mars; which, if compared with Earth’s Grand Canyon, would reach from LA to New York . They brought along their “baby” telescope, an 8” Meade, which is portable, compared to their 14” scope they have mounted at home in the observatory. The Residents asked many questions and went away with keepsakes as well as memories of their “science lesson.” She left them with her favorite question to ponder: “Why does the moons of every other planet in this solar system have specific names, yet we only call Earth’s ‘Moon’?” This special Men’s Science Club was part of the National Activities Professional Week celebrated at Golden Living Center