UMD Astronomy Observatory: MD Day 2002

Maryland Day 2002

The UMD Astronomy Observatory Remains Closed

Fall 2024 Update: The UMD Astronomy Observatory remains closed to all public outreach activities.

27 April 2002

MD Day 2002 logo Come out and join us for the 4^th annual Maryland Day. The Astronomy Department will once again set up with other CMPS departments in front of the Math building.

Official Maryland Day website

Thank you to our volunteers -

The AstroTerps - Leah, Tim, Blair, Eric, Mandy, Ben, Jacob, and Betsy
The UFO/Strange Lights team - Rachel Kuzio de Naray, Derek Richardson,
Dennis Wellnitz, John Trasco, and James Lawless
Deep Impact - Elizabeth Warner, Lucy McFadden, and the SDU students
Our reps at the "Meet the Dean" event - Marv Levanthal and Stacy Teng
Yuan-Kuen Ko and the rest of the SOHO team
and a HUGE thank you to my [Gretchen W] two assistants,
James Lawless & Jeremy Miller!

Here are the events that we held:

Ask an Astronomer -- Have an astronomy question? Astronomy faculty and students will be on hand to answer those perplexing astronomy-related questions!
UFOs Explained??! -- UFOs or natural phenomena? Learn how some of nature's optical illusions are commonly mistaken for UFOs. Session lasts for 45 minutes.
Deep Impact: The First Look Inside a Comet! -- Learn about the NASA Discovery mission Deep Impact! Meet a few of the project scientists and participate in fun crater and comet making demos.
Solar Observing -- Take a SAFE look at the big yellow (or red, depends on the filter!) ball in our sky through telescopes with observatory staff.
Science, Discovery and the Universe -- Visit with scholars from the College Park Scholars Living and Learning Astronomy Program.

pictures taken by Betsy Miller & Elizabeth Warner

Jeremy supervises as a family looks at the sun.	Eric demonstrates the SunSpotter to the crowd.
Leah answers some questions for a student taking notes.	Ben and Leah modeling with the C-8.
Blair advertises for a campus sponsor while a member of the public takes a look through Jacob's telescope.	Ben checks the telescope's alignment.
Tim and Leah align the Sunspotter.	Dr. Trasco and the first astronomy major of the class of 2014.
Tim tries to pull the focus away from chemical engineering's goo table and on to the sun.	Betsy turns over the camera and takes a look for herself.
The telescopes draw an early morning crowd.	Gretchen argues that those spots are sunspots and not dirt on the lens.
John Trasco discusses the finer points of sunspots.	Lucy McFadden explains the current planetary alignment.
Making craters with Deep Impact.	More cratering with Deep Impact.
More cratering with Deep Impact.	More cratering with Deep Impact.
Elizabeth Warner gets a future scientist to make a prediction.	SDU student Jessica explains the planetary alignment.
Dr. Trasco gets some help realigning the SunSpotter!