Category Archives: Education

Astronomy, Education

Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures available on line

An announcement from Andrew Fraknoi, chairman of the Astronomy program at Foothill College:

Popular Astronomy Lectures Can Now Be Seen on YouTube

We are happy to announce that the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures, featuring noted scientists giving nontechnical illustrated lectures on recent developments in astronomy, are now available on their own YouTube Channel, at:  http://www.youtube.com/SVAstronomyLectures/

The talks include:

  • Frank Drake discussing his modern view of the Drake Equation,
  • Michael Brown explaining how his discovery of Eris led to the demotion of Pluto,
  • Alex Filippenko talking about the latest ideas and observations of black holes,
  • Natalie Batalha sharing the latest planet discoveries from the Kepler mission,
  •   nthony Aguirre discussing how it is possible to have multiple universes, and
  • Chris McKay updating the Cassini discoveries about Saturn’s moon Titan.

The lectures are taped at Foothill College near San Francisco, and co-sponsored by NASA’s Ames Research Center, the SETI Institute, and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.

Note that the top page of the channel shows the lectures in the order they happened to be uploaded to YouTube.  If you want to see them in chronological order, select the Playlist option.

Both new and older talks in the series will be added to the channel as time goes by.  Many noted astronomers have given talks in this series since its founding in 1999; recent lectures are being recorded so that people around the world can “tune in.”

We appreciate your sharing this information with colleagues, students, and interested astronomy enthusiasts.

Education, Space Arts

Space art contest winners gather at National Space Symposium

A report on the space art contest at the 29th National Space Symposium  (see also the earlier report: 2013 Space Foundation student art contest winners selected – Space-for-All at HobbySpace):

Art Contest Award Reception Attracts Student Winners
from Across the U.S.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (April 8, 2013) – The 36 winners of the 2013 Space Foundation International Student Art Contest were invited to attend the Space Foundation’s 29th National Space Symposium, being held at The Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs this week.

Grand Prize, 3rd-5th grade and 1st Place, 3rd-5th Grade, Drawing Vincent Zheng
Vincent Zheng – Grand Prize, 3rd-5th grade and 1st Place,
3rd-5th Grade, Drawing 

Young artists from 12 countries were selected for the top slots from among more than 4,700 entries representing 45 countries, including 38 U.S. states and territories – the largest response since the contest began three years ago.

Surprisingly, nine of the student artists and their families from across the U.S. plan to attend the Space Symposium’s April 10 art contest reception, including:

Poem Shiuey, Meyerholz Elementary School, San Jose, Calif.
Grand Prize, PreK- 2nd Grade and 1st Place, PreK- 2nd Grade, Painting and Mixed Media

Vincent Zheng, SKA Academy of Art and Design, Duluth, Ga.
Grand Prize, 3rd-5th grade and 1st Place, 3rd-5th Grade, Drawing

Skylar Duncan, The Colorado Springs School, Colorado Springs, Colo.
1st Place, 3rd-5th Grade, Painting and Mixed Media

Bryan Montenegro, The Mirman School, Los Angeles, Calif.
2nd Place, 3rd-5th Grade, Digital

Edwin SJ Nah, St. James Episcopal School, Los Angeles, Calif.
2nd Place, 6th-8th Grade, Painting and Mixed Media

Koty Thomas, Penn Trafford High School, Harrison City, Pa.
3rd Place, 9th-12th Grade, Painting and Mixed Media

Raquel Arens, Air Academy High School, Colorado Springs, Colo.
1st Place, 9th-12th Grade, Digital

Sydney-Paige Kay, Jericho Senior High School, Jericho, N.Y.
2nd Place, 9th-12th Grade, Digital

Ananya Jain, Jericho Senior High School, Jericho, N.Y.
3rd Place, 9th-12th Grade, Digital

The students will meet former NASA astronaut Dr. Leroy Chiao at the reception, and will receive ribbons and prizes co-sponsored by Fisher Space Pen. Dr. Chiao is Space Foundation special advisor – human spaceflight.

About the Contest
The Space Foundation invited students from around the world in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade to submit original artwork depicting the theme, If I Were Going…, challenging them to imagine how they would personally experience space travel, exploration or settlement and then interpret that idea into an original work of visual art.

Where to See the Artwork
Winning artwork submitted for this year’s contest can be seen on the Space Foundation website photo gallery at www.spacefoundation.org/media/photo-galleries, and at www.artsonia.com/museum in the If I Were Going… Space Foundation art gallery.

Learn more about the annual Space Foundation International Student Art Contest by visiting www.spacefoundation.org/education.

Education, Space Collecting

First annual Astronauts4Hire on line silent auction

Astronauts4Hire is holding their First Annual Online A4H Silent Auction

The funds raised from this year’s auction, which runs from Sunday, April 7th until Friday, April 12th, will be used to support A4H’s educational outreach program, furthering the A4H mission: “To increase the competitiveness of commercial astronaut candidates by providing skills training, facilitating forums for candidate communication, engaging the space research community, and inspiring the next generation.”

The auction is “held in conjunction with Yuri’s Night events across the globe”: 2013 A4H Silent Auction – Astronauts4Hire.

The items up for auction were generously donated by A4H friends, members, and partners, and range from collectible NASA spaceflight memorabilia, autographed books, and unique patches, to lifetime Associate memberships in Astronauts4Hire. We would like to thank everyone who donated an item for this year’s auction, for without you and our supporters, we would not be able to carry out the A4H mission.