Star Party -- Noun: A gathering of astronomers from every age, background, and experience sharing their love of astronomy and telescopes with the general public. Less formally: An incredible chance for people of all walks of life to experience the joy of staring at Saturn through the telescope of someone that knows what all those shiny knobs are.
An Ode to Scientific Celebrations
“We have a healthy spacecraft. We’ve recorded data of the Pluto System, and we’re outbound from Pluto.” With that beautiful sentence from New Horizons Mission Operations Manager, Alice Bowman, a tremendous cheer was heard throughout the land. New Horizons phoned home. Millions watched, followed, and tweeted during the live event. If you were lucky, you attended a live event celebrating this monumental achievement. If you were blessed by Sagan, you attended TWO!
Space: An Out-of-Gravity Experience
Open through September 7th, Space: An Out-of-Gravity Experience gives visitors a window into what it’s like to not only live in space but how scientists solve problems inherent in low-orbit residence. How will the astronauts eat? How can they perform necessary experiments? How will long term weightlessness affect their bodies? With all the risks, how can we keep our astronauts alive? Necessary to solve for long term missions, many questions scientists are working on now are revealed in this exhibit.