image credit: NASAYear of Science (YoS) is a special international outreach program of the scientific community to engage the general public is discussions and hands-on activities. Each month a different scientific topic is highlighted and local YoS partners conduct programs and interacts with the public. It’s great! This month-long outreach program is an intersection of the Year of Science and The International Year of Astronomy 2009 and together both Celebrate Astronomy throughout the month of July.
As explained on the Year of Science website, Astronomy is the oldest field of science, dating back to early man watching the night sky, developing calendars, navigating ocean routes, and the recent travel into space. And this has been a landmark week in Astronomy and Planetary Sciences.
July 20, 2009 is the 40th anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s walk on the moon. NPR had Dr. Bernard Harris on Tell Me More to discuss his space walk in 1995. He also discussed his outreach program – The Harris Foundation Summer Science Camp.
It is a summer academic program for middle-school students to engage in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). There are science camp programs all over the U.S. and as I just learned in my town of St. Louis. Click here for a list of participating campuses and look into having a youngster you know participate in the future. How did I miss this? I’m all about the outreach. If you all need to expand your summer camp faculty in the future, then call me. Wednesday, July 22, 2009 there are a solar eclipse, best seen in Asia. The accounts of the event sounded beautiful. See the image provided by NASA below. Read more about it here.
Today, July 23, 2009, I heard a story on NPR about an amateur astronomer in Australia who discovered an impact spot of a comet on Jupiter. Anthony Wesley was doing his routine sky watching and made a discovery that rivals that of professional scientists and space science programs like NASA.
Citizen Science rocks!
Me at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago, Illinois.
Hey, BlogHer conference attendees check this cool science museum out.