On December 1, Adams Elementary School in Santa Barbara held their annual science night. Several science and engineering groups from around town were invited to participate including LCOGT. Hands on activities covering a broad range of sciences were present including entomology, marine biology, seismology, marine biology, physics, geology, engineering, astronomy, and more packed into an hour and a half.
Five LCOGTers (Rachel Ross, Jessica Barton, Federica Bianco, David Petry, and John Martinez) brought 3 activities to share. Inside the auditorium, where most of the groups were set up, we had an exoplanet theme where we did Seeing Through Alien Eyes (adapted from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific) and had an orrery which simulated how astronomers detect transiting exoplanets. We of course also talked about Agent Exoplanet where users analyze data of transiting exoplanets to create light curves. Behind the auditorium on the playing field we also had 2 telescopes plus a pair of binoculars set up. A 6” Newtonian reflector was pointed at Jupiter where all 4 of the Galilean moons were visible and a Skylight refractor showed crisp images of the just before 1st quarter Moon. The binoculars were passed around between those in line to look through the telescopes and were pointed everywhere around the sky, across the field to see a friend on the other side, and even down at the ground to see the grass in detail.
Other activities included the popular UCSB Physics Circus with fun, hands-on physics demos; a tank filled with starfish, sea anemone, and other marine life that participants can pick up and observe close up; an earthquake simulator where the magnitude of the earthquake was depended on how hard a platform was jumped upon; a large hide-and-seek game in the dark using infrared cameras; and more. Everywhere you looked, there were kids of all ages (which includes the kids-at-heart adults) having fun learning about science and engineering.
It was estimated that about 350 people attended, the best attendance of their Science Nights yet. Thank you to the Adams School Science Night Team for including us!
Image Credit: Eric Isaacs/EMI Photography
