White House to Host Star Party (Astronomy)

White House to Host Star Party

The White House has announced that on Wednesday, after honoring 13 of the nation’s top innovators and inventors, President Obama will host an Astronomy Night on the White House South Lawn.

OSTP is a proud co-organizer of the event, which will bring the President together with 150 local middle-school students and two students (a middle-schooler and a high school student) who have already made notable astronomical discoveries. The event will highlight this Administration’s commitment to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education.

It is also a way to increase awareness of the incredible discoveries, inspiration, and expansion of human knowledge that the field of astronomy can deliver, and we hope that people around the country will take part. The event is to be broadcast on the White House Web site as well as NASA TV, and will be linked with simultaneous events at museums and planetariums across the country.

Separately, the United Nations has declared this week World Space Week, and 2009 is the International Year of Astronomy.

If you are newly interested in astronomy or stargazing, there is a free, open-source program called Stellarium that allows users to simulate the night sky on their computers for their specific location. It is a very easy-to-use tool that helps make stargazing fun and informative.

The event at the White House will include more than 20 telescopes set up on the White House lawn focused on various objects. There will also be interactive dome presentations and hands-on activities including scale models of the Solar System, impact cratering, and investigating meteorites and Moon rocks.

OSTP will be twittering from both events tomorrow; you can follow us @whitehouseostp.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/White-House-to-Host-Star-Party/

Lucky kids!!!

They're so inspirational. Thanks for posting this :hi:.

This is what America and the world should be about --

:sarcasm:

but seriously, this is going to send Christian reich wing heads exploding.

:thumbsup:

Maybe not a dark sky- but weather holding- there'll be cool things to see.

Speaking of seeing things- in a reasonably dark sky you can see this with binoculars:



With a really dark sky- away from lights- if you know where to look (follow stars from Cassiopeia)- it's the furtherest object the human eye can see. Looks a bit like smear in the sky. Once you see it- there it always is.

M13 is another fuzzy ball you can find with binocs:

fit right in there!

This is great..another beautiful way to honor those who are trying to make it a better Planet for its inhabitants.

"OSTP is a proud co-organizer of the event, which will bring the President together with 150 local middle-school students and two students (a middle-schooler and a high school student) who have already made notable astronomical discoveries. The event will highlight this Administration’s commitment to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education."

I lived in a smaller city than DC, but we had to go out to the country to see much of anything.

:)

:applause:

His gut told him that the stars are holes in the sky that Jesus shines through.