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Volunteer NetworkThe Planetary Society's
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StarConn 2005 Todd Sullivan at StarConn 2005. |
Connecticut - Even before his Volunteer Application had been fully processed, Todd Sullivan was preparing to represent us at two events – StarConn, a Connecticut star party, and at Yale University, where he gave a very successful talk to members of the Astronomical Society of New Haven. Many questions were asked about the Solar Sail launch failure, SETI@home, future projects, and other Society activities. For this talk Todd used an approved power point presentation about the Society that he created from material on our web site. Todd expects to use this presentation when he sets up his computer at future astronomy events and would like to share it with others. Contact him at todd.sullivan@earthlink.net
Georgia - In May, Tom Crowley made several presentations to home school groups and science classes in the greater Atlanta, Georgia area. He concluded several presentations with solar viewing in both white light and H-alpha. The response from students was so favorable, he expects to work with the county school districts next year to reach even more students. Tom also attended the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute’s (PARI) annual Space Day and again provided safe solar viewing.
Mexico - Raul Azcue from Leon, Mexico, has been offering a series of workshops
to students 13-20 years old. To read a full report on the success of this
workshop, go to
Spotlight on: Raul Azcue, Mexico
The Netherlands - New volunteer Arno Wielders organized a well attended Cosmos 1 event at Dutch Space on June 30. Speakers discussed the concept of solar sailing in general and the Cosmos 1 mission in particular. A third speaker discussed the Sun and its role in "propelling" a sail through space. Despite the loss of Cosmos 1 the previous week, the audience was enthusiastic about the potential for exploration that a solar sail offers and encouraged further development of a future mission. One attendee, who is currently working on a Darwin-related piece of hardware allowed all participants to have a look at the clean room facility and see the hardware. Darwin is a European planet finder mission, slated for launch 2015.
New Jersey - Regional Coordinator Ken Kremer continues to represent the Society at special events such as Super Science Weekend and Jersey Starquest. He has also developed a web page with links to Mars information, which he would like to share with other volunteers. Please contact Ken if you are interested in seeing the page of links he has created.
Cosmos 1 Model
Cosmos 1 model at the San Diego Aerospace Museum. |
Southern California - On April 16, Pasadena volunteers Mary Brown, Robert Kelly, Sara Mori, Joe Oliver, and Lee and Jerry Piro, represented us at the SunSational Festival at the Kidspace Children's Museum in Pasadena. Charlie Shawl represented the Society at Space Day activities at the San Diego Aerospace Museum.
Mary Brown and a group of Pasadena volunteers have taken the Society telescope to a number of events at the Cerritos Library. Because of her work with the library and her contacts there, Mary was asked by the librarian to create an astronomy section for the library’s website.
The Pasadena volunteers lent a lot of support to the Society staff during the very busy time prior to the launch of Cosmos 1 and the Deep Impact encounter. Up to 10 volunteers met weekly at Society headquarters and worked on press kits, programs, and membership tasks.
Texas - On April 1, Executive Director, Louis Friedman and Vice President Bill Nye spoke about the Solar Sail to 1,000 people at the National Science Teachers Association conference in Dallas, Texas. Our information table was staffed by local Society members who volunteered their time. Among them was Dan Stockelman, who subsequently became a volunteer and is interested in forming a regular group in the area. Please contact Lonny if you would like to join.
UK Volunteers Booth
Cosmos 1 booth built by United Kingdom volunteers for the British Festival of Science. Credit: The Planetary Society |
United Kingdom - Regional Coordinator Andy Lound, along with volunteer Michael Horne, worked many long hours to construct a 6-foot model of Cosmos 1, which was displayed at the British Festival of Space from June 30 - July 3. Stuart Williams helped them construct a booth worthy of a professional exhibitor. Angela Britton helped staff the booth for several days. Their display area also included models of Mars Express, Deep Impact, and a Mars Exploration Rover. Andy gave his "Saturn, Lord of the Rings" presentation, complete with costume.
Astronomy Day - Astronomy Day has become a major event in cities throughout the United States. Amateur astronomers set up their telescopes at museums, shopping malls, parks, anywhere people might gather. We'd like to thank the following volunteers who represented us on April 16 and 17: Ken Kremer (Northeast Astronomy Forum, New York), Jeannette Schodroski (River Bend Astronomy Day, Illinois), Gina Schraut (Clay Center, Massachusetts), Mary Filkins (Seven Ponds Nature Center, Michigan), and John Goss ( Roanoke Valley Astronomical Society).
Star Parties - In summertime, amateur astronomers head for dark places where the sky is clear and the stars are bright. In an earlier newsletter, we asked anyone attending a star party to contact us if they would like to represent the Society. Bret Little (Utah) and Rich Purcell (Ohio) responded that they would be with groups far from the city lights. In late June, Bret joined a group of 60 people heading into the mountains for a county-wide get together. He made sure plenty of telescopes and binoculars were available. In early July, Rich organized an astrophotography camping weekend for friends at Red River Gorge in southern Kentucky. If you plan to attend a gathering of amateur astronomers, please let us know, and we will send you information about The Planetary Society for you to distribute.
New Resources
The Society and several volunteers have developed Society-approved power point presentations on The Planetary Society, Cosmos 1: the Solar sail, Cassini, etc. If you would like to share your presentation with others, or if you would like to use an approved Society presentation, please e-mail Rita.
Working Together - Volunteer Collaborations
When Tom Crowley (Georgia) wrote to say he was developing a solar system power point presentation and asked if we had any materials he could use, we referred him to Ken Kremer (New Jersey) who had developed a presentation that he was using successfully at his events (see past Newsletters). Some time later Tom wrote, "Ken was very helpful in providing planetary images. He also helped reviewing the material that was presented. As always two heads are better than one."
While reading Gina Schraut's report on Astronomy Day at the Clay Center Observatory , Vilia noted that Gina mentioned that one of the highlights of the Astronomy Day was a "10 watt laser beam bounced off the International Space Station." With some questions, discussion on the subject, and connecting people, a deal was struck between the Clay Center Observatory and The Planetary Society to support Cosmos 1 with high resolution telescopic imaging and tracking of our sail in orbit. What a wonderful connection initially started by a volunteer!
While Ken Kremer was in Pasadena for the JPL Open House, he stopped by for a tour of the Society's house and to meet Vilia (we hope you will, too, when you are in the area). Mary Brown happened to be representing the Society that evening at an event, and when Vilia introduced the two of them, Ken decided to go along. "Going along" meant that Ken, with his laptop computer in hand, gave a power point presentation on the Mars Rovers and the Cassini mission to Saturn to an audience of kids and adults eager to learn about astronomy and telescopes. This helped to round out Mary’s 3-D picture display and interactive Mars rover display Said Ken, "It was great fun to work as a team."
Spotlight on: Raul Azcue, Mexico
Society Member and volunteer Raul Azcue, from Leon, Mexico, developed
a series of workshops called Taller de Inventores (Inventors Workshops),
designed to introduce students to the excitement of scientific discovery.
He and his partners developed a series of activities designed for students between the ages of 13 to 20, to lead them to "taste the great-good feeling of getting closer to knowledge. Schools in my country often work against enjoyable learning. Many people leave high-school hating topics like mathematics, chemistry, and history because their teachers tell them the most exciting part of the discipline (e.g. how to solve differential equations) without explaining its use. What is the point of solving differential equations if nothing in their lives is related to that knowledge? Students lose interest.”
"In our workshops, we take a different approach. We begin each - 6-week session by not telling the students that we will be working with things like physics, chemistry, and mathematics. Instead we start with very creative activities, such as launching rockets. As their interest grows from using tested prototypes, the students build some simple models to develop a deeper understanding of how a device works. They then discuss how to make calculations to improve performance or for the model to do a more complex task."
The first subject, Máquinas Voladoras: Cohetes (Flying Machines: Rockets) included the following activities: launch pre-made rockets, discuss design of launched rockets and break into teams to design own rocket, construct rocket, prototype launch, modify design, launch final design in contest. Both students and teachers had a great time!
Raul was very impressed when one of the inventors came to a session with some equations that he'd made, based on his own research, for calculating acceleration and altitude based on weight, pressure level, and water capacity. "The Inventors Workshop IS WORKING!," concluded Raul.
Raul has also encouraged students to become Planetary Society members. Those students who are Members receive a 50% discount off the cost of the workshop.
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