October 3, 2009 was the first annual Science Day at the Santa Barbara Zoo. Many excited kids, parents, and teachers got to spend a sunny Saturday surrounded not only by hundreds of exciting and exotic animals, but by also learning about different types of science and by participating in several fun and educational hands-on activities.
Rachel Ross, Derek Johnson, Gary White, and Andrew Pickles from LCOGT joined in the excitement with a few hands-on astronomy activities that can easily be modified to be done in the classroom. These included learning how a telescope works by holding two lenses together to try and create a focused image, creating a distance-scaled model of the Solar System from the Sun to Pluto that they could fit in their pocket, and getting their photograph taken in the infrared while learning why observing different wavelengths of light that our eyes can't see is important in astronomy.
Science Day at the Zoo was a complete success (from the point of view of LCOGT who were very busy at our booth) and thank you to everyone for making it that way! Hope to see you there next year!
If you would like any information about our astronomy activities or observing groups please look at the education section of our website.
