Evaluation NASA -Earth Day Transit EPO Efforts 2012

By Hilarie B. Davis, Ed.D. Bradford T. Davey, ABD Technology for Learning Consortium, Inc.

Table of Contents

I. Background and Objectives Prior Sun-Earth Day events 3 Objectives 4 Talking points 4

II. Methods and Measures Evaluation Questions 5 Methods 6 Interview List 6 Case Studies 7

III. Results Planning timeline and activities (webcast, partners, packets, website) 8 Resources (website, webcast, packets) 14 Participation (website registration, webstats, social media) 20 Types of experiences and effects (sample event descriptions) 24 Case Studies (Kona school visits, Imiloa, Bishops, Goddard, Fairbanks, Chabot) 34

IV. Conclusions and Recommendations Planning 43 Resources 45 Participation 46 Types of experiences and effects 46

2 I. Background and Objectives

It's rare for us to get pulled over the narrow time horizons defining our lives… These long time horizons are not easy for human beings to digest, but their recognition is essential piece of our evolution in both science and civilization… The sky is the original clock and it has always reminded humans that there are times and cycles that dwarf our own. Now that we have become a global culture whose actions affect the planet on time scales of centuries or more, that kind of reminder couldn't be more ... well ... timely.1 (Adam Frank on the Venus Transit, 2012)

The NASA Sun-Earth team focused on the Venus Transit event for 2012. They have offered Sun-Earth day events for education and public outreach since 2001. For the 2012 event, they developed and identified resources and activities Venus transit as a unique and rare astronomical event. Other Sun-Earth Day events in the past have been: 2001-Having a Solar Blast, 2002-Celebrating the Equinox, 2003-Live From the Aurora

2005: Ancient Observatories Timeless Knowledge The Ancient Observatory theme for 2005 features solar alignments with structures that mark the equinoxes and/or solstices.

2006: Eclipse, In a Different Light Join us in an extraordinary journey of exploration, discovery and understanding of the total solar eclipse of March 29, 2006

2007: Living in the Atmosphere of the Sun We kick off the International Heliospheric Year celebration with Living in the Atmosphere of the Sun!

2008: Space Weather Around the World For Sun-Earth Day 2008, we will engage a world-wide audience in the celebration of the International Heliophysical Year (IHY).

1 Frank, Adam (astrophysicist, University of Rochester), June 4, 2012, The : Who Cares? http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2012/06/04/154282601/the-venus-transit-who-cares

3 2009: Our Sun, Yours to Discover Join us for Sun-Earth Day and the International Year of Astronomy as we explore, experience, study and predict our sun.

2010: Magnetic Storms Magnetic Storms! Explore the effects of the Sun's magnetic fields on Earth.

2011: Ancient Mysteries-Future Discoveries 'Ancient Mysteries-Future Discoveries' opens the door to a much deeper understanding of our Sun and its impact across the ages.

Objectives The objectives for the SED Transit of Venus were: • Engage the public with NASA resources about the Transit of Venus and related science concepts • Work with partners who are also engaging the public with Venus Transit events (e.g., Astronomers Without Borders, Science Centers, Planetaria)

Key concepts § The Sun is a dynamic, magnetic star that impacts the Earth and other planets in our solar system. § Understanding the mysteries of the Sun has been a primary motivator for civilizations over thousands of years. § Human beings use technology (past, present, and future) to understand the Sun and the Universe beyond. § Human beings from diverse cultures have viewed the Sun as the source of life. § Stewardship of these sacred sites is our collective responsibility.

Talking points from NASA HQ Science Mission Directorate Planetary Division (2012)

1. This is the last Venus transit of our lifetime. 100 + years apart, then in pairs of 8 years; the next one is 2117 2. Historical significance in many cultures England - Horrocks; Tahiti - Captain Cook; Hawaii - in 1769 the last King invited astronomers to observe and he missed it because he was in DC 3. Educational significance (Astronomical Unit calculation) 4. US primary viewing (over 6 hours) East Coast ~ 6 pm (1st and 2nd contact still visible); West Coast ~ 3 pm

4 5. Importance of understanding Sun Venus Earth connection…Comparative climatology…what happened there could happen here? Venus' atmosphere is hot and dense with CO2; topography was mapped by the mission; NO magnetic field unlike Earth; Drop Effect and the Venus atmosphere halo visible during the Transit!! 6. Importance of technology for transit viewing: from EPOXi to Kepler. (European mission, with US science instrument team); Kepler mission -- transit is one of six methods to detect extra solar planets 7. Venus is an evening star in the west for 9 mos, disappears for about 8 days in front of the Sun, then returns as a morning star in the east for 9 months

II. Methods and Measures

A variety of methods and measures were designed to answer the evaluation questions:

1) What planning was required for this international, multi-channel education and public outreach effort? How did the NASA Sun-Earth Day team prepare, involve partners, and collect or create resources? 2) What resources did the Sun-Earth team make available to formal and informal educators and the public?

5 3) How many people participated through using resources, watching events, or viewing the transit? To what extent were the resources used? 4) What experiences were offered with what effects?

To answer these questions, multiple methods were used:

Planning Evaluator attended planning telecons with partners Interviews with Sun-Earth Day team and partners about their planning Resources Analysis of website resources Packet materials and resources Participation Event Data Website statistics Streaming video statistics Social Media Data Types of experiences Event descriptions and effects Case studies from observations and interviews

Interviews Interviews were conducted with the following staff and partners by the evaluation team: Jim Thieman Sun-Earth Day team, manager and radio astronomer Elaine Lewis Sun-Earth Day team, formal education lead Carolyn Ng Sun-Earth Day team, informal education lead Lou Mayo Sun-Earth Day team, astronomer Troy Cline Sun-Earth Day team, social media lead, MMS EPO Bryan Stephenson Sun-Earth Day team, web Linda Schenk Sun-Earth Day team, Social Media volunteer Martha Wawro Solar Dynamics Observatory EPO Lead Cara Mayo College Student Camila Fishtuaher High School Student Gary Fujihara Hawaiian Culture/Astronomer Koa Rice Hawaiian Culture EPO Kelly Fast IRTF HQ Manager, Atmospheric scientist Holly Gilbert Heliophysicist Alex Young SDO Heliophysicist Mike Connelly SED-IRTF Liaison, IRTF staff astronomer Walt Lindblom Videographer, Marshall Space Flight Center Blair Allen NASA Edge Producer, Co-Anchor Chris Giersch NASA Edge Director, Anchor Ron Beard NASA Edge team Franklin Fitzgerald NASA Edge team, on-air, photographer, videographer

6 Case Studies Zonabend (19922) describes case studies as based on close observation and analysis of individual cases that incorporates the views of “actors” in the situation. Strauss and Glaser (19673) developed the concept of “grounded theory” in which theory was the efficacy examined with cases (on the ground). As a qualitative research method, case studies are required to describe, understand, and explain (Hamel et al, 19934, Yin, 19945). Case studies has been described as examining a system of action, including the interactions of the individuals engaged in the situation (Feagin, Orum & Sjoberg, 19906). Cases are chosen to maximize what is learned in the period of time available. Results are generalized to the model or theory of action, not to other populations. Data is collected from multiple perspectives to ensure the validity of the processes (Stake, 19957). A case study protocol is presented by Yin (1994): • Overview of the project with objectives and theory of action • Field procedures, including access to sites • Questions the investigator will keep in mind during data collection • Reporting – outline, format for narrative

Case Study Procedures and Questions The general topic of inquiry for the case studies is the ways in which NASA engages with partners and participants to engage and educate them about the Transit of Venus. Multiple sources of data will be collected in this inquiry including observation of events, interview with NASA staff, interviews with participants, documents about the events and activities, and other physical artifacts. Data will be collected from multiple sites.

Case Study Questions • What is the site for the NASA event? • How does offering activities for the Venus Transit support the goals of the organization? In other words, why did they choose to offer activities related to the event? • What are they offering? For whom? With what purpose? • Why did the participants come? • How are the participants engaged with NASA resources? • What are the participants’ reactions/takeaways from the engagement?

2 Zonabend, F. (1992, Spring). The monograph in European ethnology. Current Sociology, 40(1), 49-60. 3 Strauss, A., & Glaser, B. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory: Strategies for qualitative research. Chicago: Aldine. 4 Hamel, J., Dufour, S., & Fortin, D. (1993). Case study methods. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications. 5 Yin, R. (1994). Case study research: Design and methods (2nd ed.). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publishing. 6 Feagin, J., Orum, A., & Sjoberg, G. (Eds.), (1991). A case for case study. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. 7 Stake, R. (1995). The art of case research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

7 • What do they want to know more about? • What are the reflections of the NASA staff or the NASA partners to the event? How do they think it went?

III. Results In this section, we present the results from the data collection by evaluation question.

1. Planning Evaluator attended planning telecons with partners Interviews with Sun-Earth Day team and partners about their planning

What planning was required for this international, multi-channel education and public outreach effort? How did the NASA Sun-Earth Day team prepare, involve partners, and collect or create resources?

WEBCAST PLANNING Elaine Lewis contracted with the NASA Edge team to work with the Sun- Earth Day team for the Venus of Transit event. She then contacted with Gary Fujihara, Institute for Astronomy, with whom the Sun-Earth team had worked in 2004. Support was obtained for webcasting from the Assoicate Director of the Hilo facility, Dr. Claus Kodapp, the Division Chief for IRTF, Dr

Alan Tokunaga, and the manager for the IRTF, Dr. Gunther Hasiger. Kelly Fast, NASA HQ manager of the IRTF became involved later as a representative of the Planetary Division at the request of Kristen Erickson at HQ. Dr. Fast has also done research at IRTF so was experienced with the facility, altitude and personnel.

FEBRUARY 2012 The four members of the NASA Edge team and Troy Cline from the Sun-Earth – team went to Hawaii in February 2011 to meet with University of Hawaii astronomers about sites and telescopes, to identify a broadcast site, and to shoot footage for a promotional video, including some cultural sites, expert interviews, and locations. The promo was shown at the 2011 Sun-Earth Day at Goddard Space Flight Center (April 7, 2011).

FEBRUARY 2011 Elaine Lewis contacted Content Matter Experts (CME) to be interviewed ahead of the transit. These experts helped tell the history of the transit and the significance of finding the Astronomical Unit. Some also talked about the Sun, solar wind and Venus. NASA Edge interviewed the following people ahead of time: Holly Gilbert, Heliophysics; Eric Christian, Kepler and Transits; Dean Pesnell, SDO; Sten Odenwald, ; Rich Vonfrak, Solar Wind; Gordon Chin, Venus; Steve Dick, NASA historian.

8 On-air speakers for the Mauna Kea event were contacted and put on the schedule: Alan Tokundage, NASA IRTF; Holly Gilbert, Heliophysicist; Alex Young, SCO/Heliophysicist; Jim Tieman, Radio Astronomer; Kelly Fast, Venetian Atmosphere; Cherilynn Morrow, Venetian/Heliophysicist; Gary Fujihara, Hawaiian Culture/Astronomer; Koa Rice, Hawaiian Culture; Camila Fishtuaher, High School Student; Cara Mayo, College student; Lou Mayo, Sun- Earth Day team planetary science/astronomer; Troy Cline, Sun Earth FEB ’12 continued Day/MMS/Social Media; Andrew Lunt, Lunt Scientific. – Lou Mayo, astronomer on the Sun-Earth Day team, invited Andy Lunt to be involved and to bring his solar telescopes and come to the webcast. FEB ’11

PARTNER PLANNING Elaine Lewis, Sun-Earth Day EPO specialist was the lead for this year’s event. She set up a planning group in March of 2011 with telecons to discuss the activities of NASA and the partners, and a private workspace to log communications and documents. Elaine stated the goal of the planning group as: The goal was to have partners from all over the world but mainly in the US to share what they were doing and pull it together without duplicating. The online management system called basecamp was used.

The group met regularly (15-20 times) between March 2011 and the Venus Transit in June 2012. Elaine posted notes from each meeting in the workspace. A template for website links was created and used by members MAY 2012 to post relevant websites. They shared the activities, materials, apps, and – websites they were developing, asked each other questions, and helped each other with issues and resources. 2011

Lou Mayo worked with the amateur astronomer community, offering training, information, getting observes lined up, and pulling in the MARCH Astronomical League (an umbrella for 350 groups). They met in bi-weekly telecons to discuss which observing sites were up and running, how the website was developing, and what they could put on the website, what metadata they would need, what talks were being given, and sharing websites such as http://transitofvenus.org. The amateur astronomer’s observations were made available for the Venus Transit challenge that Lou worked on with Sten Odenwald, astronomer and mathematician on the Sun- Earth team. The challendge was to calculate the astronomical unit using the parallax method. They designed the publicity and certificates for the challenge.

9 The members of the planning group with their titles/organizations appear below: Affiliation First Last Adler Planetarium, Associate Director of Education Lindsay Bartolone Adler Planetarium, Director of Education Adam Tarnoff Adler Planetarium, EPO Michelle Nichols Adler Planetarium, Vice President for Collections Marv Bolt Astrobiology Forum Mary Dussault Astronomers Without Borders Mike Simmons Astronomers Without Borders Steven vanRoode Astronomical Society of the Pacific Marni Berendsen Astronomical Society of the Pacific Ann Hurst Astronomical Society of the Pacific Director Suzy Gurton Astronomical Society of the Pacific EPO Greg Schultz Astrophysics Forum PI, Denise Smith Chico Community Observatory Kris Koenig Director of Bishop Science Center, Honolulu Mike Shanahan Educator venustransit.org Mr Transit Chuck Bueter Georgia State University Cherilynn Morrow GSFC, Planetary Systems Laboratory Fred Espenak HQ Netting HQ Steve Williams HQ Dwayne Brown IMCCE / Paris Observatory in France Jean-Eudes Arlot Institut de Mecanique Celeste Patrick Rocher JPL Center for Astronomy Education Anya Biferno JPL, Informal Education Anita Sohus Kepler Edna Devore Kepler Alan Gould MSFC James Phillips NASA Earth and Space Science Explorer, Educator Andrew Fraknoi NASA Edge Blair Allen NASA Edge Ron Beard NASA Edge Bill Bensen NASA Edge Chris Giersch NASA Night Sky Network Jessica Santascoy National Park Service, Night Skies Program manager Chad Moore Notre Dame Phil Sakimoto Office of Public Outreach, STScI Jim Manning Planetary Forum PI, USRA Stephanie Shipp Planetary Forum, Professional Development Lead Don Boonstra Planetary Science EPO Coordinator, USRA Heather Dalton Planetary Venus Gordon Chin Research Associate, Cooperative Institute for Research in the Teresa Jiles Atmosphere Scientist Steve Pompea SDO Dawn Myers SDO EPO lead Martha Wawro SOFIA Airborne Astronomy Ambassador Pamela Harman Solar Systems Ambassador Program Shawn Laatsch Space Math Sten Odenwald Space Sciences Laboratory, UC Berkeley, Heliophysics Forum PI Laura Peticolas St. Joseph's High School Thomas Loughran

10 Sun Earth Day Nathan James Sun-Earth Day and MMS mission EPO Troy Cline Sun-Earth Day Website curator Bryan Stephenson Sun-Earth Day, Astronomer Louris Mayo Sun-Earth Day, formal education, VT lead Elaine Lewis Sun-Earth Day, informal education Carolyn Ng Sun-Earth Day, Manager Jim Thieman Sun-Earth Day, Website maintenance William -Janney Wooten University of Arizona, Dept. of Astronomy Edward Prather University of Florida Environmental Systems Commercial Space Bill Sheehan Technology Center University of Hawaii at Hilo Gary Fujihara US Naval Observatory Geoff Chester Williams College, Professor of Astronomy Jay Pasachoff

Partners listed on the website are: NASA EDGE Whether it's the latest launch or the coolest gadgets, NASA EDGE hosts provide an offbeat, funny and informative look behind the NASA curtain. If you've ever wanted to learn about NASA but thought you needed to be a rocket scientist, wait no longer. Watch NASA EDGE and embrace your inner astronaut.

Transit of Venus.org Great site with many resources!! Mark your calendar. Plan your observing location and eye safety. Tell friends. Enjoy the rare sight!

Mr Eclipse: Transit of Venus NASA's Mr. Eclipse site has a wealth of information for everyone interested in learning more about the Transit of Venus!

The Year of the Solar System (YSS) See the Calendar of Events and the available resources in the downloads section.

Imiloa-Cultural Center A place of life-long learning where the power of Hawaii's cultural traditions, its legacy of exploration, and the wonders of astronomy come together to provide inspiration and hope for generations.

Galaxy Gardens A 100-foot diameter outdoor scale model of the Milky Way, mapped in living plants and flowers and based on current astrophysical data. Artist Jon Lomberg conceived and designed the garden to encourage scientific education about our place in the Universe.

11 Bishop Museum The largest museum in the state and the premier natural and cultural history institution in the Pacific, recognized throughout the world for its cultural collections, research projects, consulting services and public educational programs.

Astronomers Without Borders A new program for students world-wide; working together to discover the dimensions of our world.

Astro Viten Norway Our partners in Norway show LIVE major celestial events in 2011-2012. The next event is the Transit of Venus, June 6, 2012

Coca-Cola Science Center Enjoy the transit in 3 continents Visit the Coca-Cola Science Center Webcast from Austrailia information will be available prior to the webcast

The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is a project that will publish one podcast per day, for all 365 days of 2009, 2010, 2011 -- and now 2012.

DPS/EPSC meeting in Nantes, France (2-7 October) Four interesting 10-minute talks about the transit of Venus where taped for information and science content.

United States Naval Observatory, USNO United States Naval Observatory, USNO gives links to visibility maps for transits of Mercury and Venus from 2003 to 2012 as well as tables of circumstances for those cities where at least two of the transit contact points will be visible.

Astronomical Society of the Pacific ASP Astronomical Society of the Pacific ASP- The Astronomical Society of the Pacific increases the understanding and appreciation of astronomy by engaging scientists, educators, enthusiasts and the public to advance science and science literacy.

NASA Museum Alliance The Museum Alliance brings Current NASA Science and Technology to museum visitors through professional development of the museums’ staff and access to NASA staff and materials.

Mission Collaborations ACE ISS SDO CINDI Kepler SOHO DAWN LRO STEREO RBSP Voyager IBEX RHESSI SDO

12 PACKET PLANNING

Carolyn Ng of the Sun-Earth team began contacting missions for materials to include in the Sun-Earth Day Packet. These packets are created every year to 2012 support Sun-Earth Day events, so the missions are prepared to provide materials. A folder with information is created and filled with materials such as bookmarks, posters, and flyers. The deadline is normally October 30 for getting MARCH

–

these materials to Carolyn. NASA CORE sent some items in mid-January. This year, she was still accepting materials in January and February as the demand increased, and some additional funding allowed for creating more packets. On 2011 March 5th, Headquarters made a big announcement about the Transit and the

MAY NASA packets available which created more demand. The final order was March 27th.

WEBSITE and SOCIAL MEDIA PLANNING Many of the historical and educational resources from the 2004 Venus of Transit Sun-Earth Day event were timeless enough to be used for the 2012 website. Dr. Sten Odenwald of the Sun-Earth Day team wrote articles on the Venus Transit in his Technology Through Time series on the history, science, mathematics, and cultural impact.

Social media had already been added to the Sun-Earth Day website for previous years. The 2011 event included a tweet up (in partnership with SDO), and the Sun-Earth Day Facebook page was kept up by Troy Cline. SDO

2 contributed an event locations map based on sites registering their Venus Transit events. A link to the Flickr gallery is on the website. Notes on how to participate before, during and after the transit were posted, along with sample posts and links for social media connections. The hashtag is MAY 201

– #VenusTransit. The Sun Earth Facebook fan page is http://www.facebook.com/SunEarthDayFan The Flickr site is http://venustransit.nasa.gov/2012/transit/flickr.php The YouTube channel 2011 is http://www.youtube.com/sunearthday

A social media strategy plan was developed by a team of Troy Cline, Sun-

February Earth Day team, Martha Wawro, SDO, Linda Schenk, volunteer from Virtual Linda, and others. Dr. Alex Young (website, http://www.thesuntoday.org/) was also a partner. The team met weekly throughout April and May 2012. The strategy was defined as: To provide an additional focus on NASA related events in key locations including those events happening in Hawaii, Alaska, and NASA Ames thereby amplifying our outreach efforts while ensuring that a strong connection exists across geographical and cultural boarders. We also wish to assist the public with information that will help them understand the importance of staying connected via social media even if viewing the transit is possible from their own locations.

13 The team identified audiences for the Venus Transit social media effort as: § General public who may be interested in attending an event in their area § General public who may be interested in seeing a rare event § People who have already connected with Camilla SDO, The Sun Today or Sun- Earth Day § Science teachers, educators § Children and students interested in science § People who like technology (interested in social media aspect or science) § Science Bloggers § Science Reporters

The social media teams by location were: Hawaii Team: Troy Cline (MMS, Sun-Earth Day – Hawaii SM Lead) Alex Young ( The Sun Today) Linda C. Schenk (virtuallinda.com) Bryan Stephenson (Sun-Earth Day) Ruth Netting (NASA HQ – Imiloa TweetMeet) Elaine Lewis (Sun-Earth Day-Imiloa TweetMeet) Carolyn Ng (Sun-Earth Day-Imiloa TweetMeet) Lynne Hehr (University Arkansas ERC-Imiloa TweetMeet ) Alaska Team: Martha Wawro (SDO E/PO Lead) Romeo Durscher (SDO – Social Media and Data Tracking) Wendy Van Norden ( SDO) Ames Team: Michele Johnson (Public Affairs Officer, Kepler Mission) John Yembrick (HQ Social Media Team) NASA Headquarters: John Yembrick (HQ Social Media Team) Jason Townsend (HQ Social Media Team) Goddard Space Flight Center Genna Duberstein (GSFC Social Media) Rebecca Roth (Flickr)

2. Resources Analysis of website resources List of packet materials and sources

What resources did the Sun-Earth team make available to formal and informal educators and the public?

Website The Sun-Earth Day website offered the following resources: On the home page:

14 § NASA Edge promo video for Venus Transit § Video series including: Hawaii and the Cosmos, Venus Transit parts 1 and 2, Kepler Transits, Hawaiian Students Learn about the Transit § Safe Viewing instructions § Technology Through Time essays on the history, science, math and culture of the Venus Transit § Space Weather Media viewer for viewing real time NASA satellite images of the Sun and the Earth, including SDO that captured the Venus Transit § Planetary comparison § Audio Podcasts for day of the transit § Mr. Eclipse link § SDO Solar Art Show link

15

Live Webcast Locations

Transit math was developed by Dr. Sten Odenwald of the Sun-Earth team. The book (also available on the website Transit of Venus tab at http://spacemath.nasa.gov) contains background on transits, and 44 problems for grades 3-12 in geometiry, celestial movements, transits, and occultations. For example:

When a dark object like a planet passes across the disk of a brighter object such as a star, the light from the star will become dimmer as it is blocked by the planet from our vantage point in space. The figure to the left shows the planet Mercury as it transited the face of the Sun on May 7, 2003. It’s black disk reduced the brightness of the Sun by an amount equal to the area covered by the planet’s disk. Because the shapes of both the Sun and planet are very-nearly circular, the percentage of brightness change in the Sun’s light is: Where R is the angular radius of the Sun in degrees and r is the radius of the planet in degrees. Problem: During the transit of Venus on June 8, 2004, from the vantage point of Earth, the angular diameter of the Sun was 0.53 degrees and the angular diameter of

16 Venus was 0.016 degrees. A) By what percentage was the light from the Sun reduced during the transit of Venus? B) If the brightness of the Sun is 1300 watts/meter2 at the surface of the Earth, by what amount was the power reaching Earth reduced?

Live Webcast with NASA Edge and NASA Sun-Earth Day Team June 5, 2012 from Mauna Kea The webcast offered 6.5 hours of programming that was archived in 18 episodes for later viewing on NASA Edge ustream channel http://www.ustream.tv/nasaedge. The 6.5 hours of programming was shot in high definition video through three different wavelength of telescopes provided by Lunt Scientific (H-alpha, Calcium-K, and White Light).

A rough plan of how to use pre-taped interviews and on-air interviews was developed in March 2012, and revised as things changed. On June 4th, people assembled at the IRTF where Blair and Chris did a briefing on the next day’s events. On June 5th, everyone met at 9 am at the IRTF to be sure they made it before the visitor traffic began. During the webcast, the plan was modified based on people’s availability. For example, Koa Rice opened the event with a Hawaiian chant, but she was unable to stay to do further interviews or the closing since she was supporting the Imiloa Astronomy Center public events in Hilo. Cherilynn Morrow did the closing chant. Throughout the day, questions were coming in through social media channels, and being answered on air. Troy Cline and Linda Schenk were monitoring the social media activity, referring some questions to Marshall who were maintaining an FAQ. Dr. John Hehr, Geoscience Professor from University of Arkansas Fayetteville and amateur astronomer was a volunteer who jumped in to collect incoming questions to be answered on air by content matter experts. He reported that most of the questions were good questions that more than one person would want answered. Examples of questions:

§ Why does it look different through the different telescopes? Why did the Sun appear in different colors? Filters? So why do we need filters? § Where is it going to go? It’s starting to have a curved trajectory. § What kind of scientific information are we going to get out of this? § What will we learn about the ? § What will we learn about the sun? § Would we get more information if Venus and Mercury lined up? § How fast is Venus moving in its orbit? § How fast is Venus rotating? § Are Venus and the Sun rotating in the same direction?

A core group of content matter experts were there the whole day and able to answer questions as needed. Sometimes they checked with each other about the answers before going on air. The core group was Kelly Fast, Cherilynn Morrow, Holly Gilbert, and Alex Young. Kelly and Cherilynn often went on camera together, as did Holly and Alex. Other content matter experts that went on air multiple times as needed were Lou Mayo and Jim Thieman. Andy Lunt of Lunt Scientific supplied the

17 telescopes. He responded to questions about the solar telescopes, how they are different than those used at night, and the information gained from the different wavelength telescopes. He was invited to participate by Lou Mayo, astronomer on the Sun-Earth team.

June 5, 2012 (plan) 11:45:00 Coverage Begins 11:48:40 Break: Planned Hold on Telescope Footage 11:49:40 Live: Talk about culture, history and significance of Transit of Venus 11:54:40 Break: Telescope Footage 11:55:40 Live: Explain Transit of Venus & SDO’s role with imagery 12:01:40 Live: The science- The Sun and Venus 12:04:00 Ingress (duration between 1st & 2nd Contact 18:00) 12:30-1:00 Live: Alan Tokunaga – IRTF 2nd hour Video: Jim Green – Venus Transit; Start fielding questions, continue throughout Live: Kelly Fast, Cherilynn Morrow – Venus; Video: Transit of Venus Part 1 Live: Andy Lunt – Solar Telescope; Video: Transit of Venus Part 2 Live: Troy Cline – MMS, Social Media; Video: Dean Pesnell – SDO Live: Holly Gilbert – SDO 3rd hour Video: Eric Christian – Kepler; Live: Jim Thieman-Radio Astronomy Video: Richard Vondrak – Solar Wind; Live: Lou Mayo; Video: Jim Garvin – Venus 4th hour Live: Kelly Fast, Cherilynn Morrow – Venus; Video: Gordon Chin – Venus Live: Students: Cara Mayo, Camila Fishtuaher Student Activity; Video: Steve Dick - History of Transit of Venus 5th hour Live: Discussion Koa Rice – Hawaii; Polynesian Wayfinders Live: Hawaii & Transit; Video: Hawaii and the Cosmos Live: NASA EDGE-questions and update 6th hour Video: Jim Green Live: NASA EDGE-questions and update; Video: Transit of Venus Pt 1 Live: NASA EDGE/Sun Earth Day Team-questions and update; Video: Transit of Venus Pt 2 Live: Alex Young, Holly Gilbert: Video: Dean Pesnell Live: Science discussion with NASA EDGE/Sun-Earth Day and Holly Gilbert, Kelly Fast, Alex Young, Cherilynn Morrow 06:26:00 Egress (duration between 3rd & 4th Contact 18:00) 06:45:00 Live: Chris, Blair, Franklin & Guests 06:55:00 Fade to black: Prerecorded Audio of closing chant 06:56:00 Off Air

On the webcast live: NASA EDGE Team: Sun-Earth Day Team: Hawaiian Science, Cultural Blair Allen Lou Mayo and Historical Experts: Chris Giersch Troy Cline Alan Tokunaga Franklin Fitzgerald Jim Thieman Gary Fujihara Holly Gilbert Koa Ell Alex Young

18 Scientists: Telescopes: Andrew Lundt Students: Kelly Fast Camera: Walt Lindblom, Cara Mayo Cherilynn Morrow Marshall Camila Fishtauher IRTF liaison: Mike Connelly

Venus Transit Packets 30,000 packets were created and distributed by Carolun Ng of the Sun-Earth Day team, to individuals, museums, science centers, astronomy groups, and others. The packets included up to 15 items. Packets were distributed up until the end of May 2012. The first 7000 packets had 15 items, the next 13,000 had 14 items, and the last 10 thousand had posters, theme bookmarks, Kepler information and 5000 of them had solar eyeglasses.

Who it was sent to? • Individuals – 1-5 packets • Astronomy groups • Museums • Teachers

Sun-Earth Day Packets included: § January-April: 20,000 items of everything except #10 - there were only 7,000 booklets. § April-May: 10,000 items of #1, #2, #6 and #16; 5,000 packets also contain #17:

1 SED 2012: Shadows of the Sun Folder 2 SED 2012: Shadows of the Sun Poster 3 Space Weather CD, Version 16 CD-ROM 4 SDO Postcard Postcard 5 Space Math Flyer 6 Kepler Mission Bookmark Bookmark 7 Planet Candidate Poster Poster - 11 x 17 8 Kepler General Litho Litho 9 Kepler Field of View Litho Litho 10 How Big is Our Universe Booklet 11 NO2/Air Pollution/Earth at Night Lenticular Card 12 Year of Solar System Bookmark 13 Solar System Calendar Folded 14 CINDI Postcard 15 Voyager bookmark Bookmark 16 SED 2012: Shadows of the Sun Bookmark 17 SED/Venus Transit Solar Glasses

19 People The Sun-Earth Day team, the NASA Edge team, the SDO team, the partners, and the Hawaiian culture experts were all important resources in this event. They reached thousands of people through their talks at conferences, listservs, special interest groups, in-person presentations, student outreach, and general support for the Venus Transit activities.

3. Participation Event Data, Website statistics, Streaming video statistics, Social Media Data

How many people participated through using resources, watching events, or viewing the transit? To what extent were the resources used?

Summary of participation data from Elaine Lewis • Web Hits: 380 million • Web Streams: 7 million • Countries: 157 • Global Events: > 1 million • NASA Centers: 10 • Mission Packets: 30,000 • Educators: 13,038 • Students: 1.5 million • Scientists: 2,823 • Museums: 4,328 • Amateur Astronomers: 10,174

Social Media Summary for Sun-Earth Day site http://venustransit.nasa.gov • Facebook Fan Page (SED) New Likes – 9,000 Highest Reach – 301,804 (6/04/12-6/10/12) • Sustained Facebook Friends Page (SED) 5,000+ • Facebook Fan Page (SED) New Likes – 9,000 Highest Reach – 301,804 (6/04/12-6/10/12) • Sustained Facebook Friends Page (SED) 5,000+

20 Social Media for NASA Portal from Elaine Lewis

Twitter @NASA Impressions (Tweets/Retweets seen by) 28,579,769 @NASA Unique Accounts Retweeting Us 20,182 @NASA Inbound Messages (tweets sent to us) 31,475 @NASA Outbound Messages (tweets sent out) 205 @NASA Mentions 7,277 @NASA New Followers 20,066

Traffic according to hashtracking.com pulled on June 6 at 3:45am ET for the previous 24 hours #VenusTransit Tweets (sent out containing hashtag) 16,541,065 #VenusTransit Impressions (Tweets/Retweets seen by) 74,900,101

Facebook: Total number of direct post impressions on news feed of NASA’s 2,509,963 posts Total number of post impressions from shares to other 7,823,757 walls/friends news feeds Total number of page impressions 518,016 Total number of unique fans interacting with page/posts (shares, 531,721 likes, comments, mentions) Total number of mentions of NASA on Facebook 111,036

Participants Registered on the Sun-Earth Day Website

As of June 6, 2012, the following registrations were identified: Group Number Educators 13,038 Scientists 2823 Museums 4328 Astronomers 10,174

Astronomical League statistics AL Clubs holding events 140 Participating AL Members 10,200 General Public Attendance 560,000 Members Working Observing Challenge 1400

21 Event Data from the Registration Map of 150 countries participating, estimated participation = >1,000,000

Website statistics, Streaming video statistics, Social Media Data

Website data from June 14 from David Valliere of eTouch Name Pageviews Views/sec Hits www.nasa.gov and other portal sites 15,687,958 612.30 285,747,421 sunearthday.gsfc.nasa.gov 8,863,751 756.40 170,267,792 venustransit.gsfc.nasa.gov 4,178,979 367.60 151,408,802 science.nasa.gov 327,506 6.70 6,013,177 ciencia.nasa.gov 54,154 1.60 1,069,995 Total 29,112,348 1,744.60 614,507,187 Note: http://venustransit.nasa.gov=http://sunearthday.nasa.gov=http://suneartheday.gsfc.nasa.gov http://www.nasa.gov/venustransit = http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/venus_transit/index.html

STREAMING Covers June 5, 2012 12:00 AM to June 6, 2012 11:55 PM EDT - 48 Hours Live Streams Total Connections Peak Volume Peak mbps NASA_Edge 3,569,311 339,623 361.3 TB 271,698 NASA_TV 2,167,737 166,749 226.6 TB 133,399 MSFC 190,825 7,633 10.4 TB 5,121 Fairbanks 310,755 5,770 8.8 TB 3,264 Norway 205,413 8,670 3.0 TB 4,905 140,067 1,943 3.9 TB 1,099 Mt. Wilson 601,366 40,923 12.4 TB 23,151 Much_Hoole 153,069 1,051 3.3 TB 595

22 GRC 106,931 2,096 2.8 TB 1,186 India 184,944 1,346 2.4 TB 761 Live Stream 29,854 905 1.2 TB 512 MSFC 190,825 7,633 2.8 TB 4,318 ESA_TV 80,886 34 0.0 TB 13 Total: 7,741,158 576,743 628.1 TB 444,901

Video Use - Transit of Venus YouTube Playlist http://bit.ly/JLeoQQ

Video Views NASA Edge Promotional Video 37,000 Polynesian Wayfinders 900 Hawaii and the Cosmos 1900 The Transit of Venus Part 1 131,000 The Transit of Venus Part 2 40,000 Hawaiian Students Learn about Venus Transit 5100 Kepler Transits 9500 Total 225,400

Sun-Earth Day Packet User Comments

From: Autumn at ChabotSpace.org Date: June 7, 2012 To: Carolyn Ng, Sun-Earth team Subject: Venus Transit Packets Good morning, Thank you to NASA, and to you specifically for coordinating, and for making these great packets available to us! Our guests were so thrilled with them and so disappointed when we ran out. We had over 2500 visitors at our Center and hosted observatory deck viewing as well as activities inside. It was an amazing time!, Best, Autumn

From: Ken, Princeton, NJ Date: June 7, 2012 3:17:49 PM EDT To: Carolyn Ng Subject: Newpaper pic - Ken does NASA Venus Transit outreach at Princeton U

Hi Carolyn, See this newspaper link of me at Princeton University doing Transit of Venus outreach for NASA next to our astro club scopes. It was a joint event held with Princeton's Astrophysics Department.

23 http://photos.nj.com/the-times/2012/06/transit_of_venus_viewing_at_pr_3.html http://photos.nj.com/4506/gallery/transit_of_venus_viewing_at_princeton_universi ty/index.html

I'm handing out the over 200 solar glasses, posters and bookmarks you kindly sent me as I'm mobbed by a bunch of eager folks, kids and parents with outstretched hands. Amazingly, well over 500 people attended so it was a phenomenally successful event ! In fact I ran out of glasses the crowd was so big! We did see the transit very well several times through breaks in the clouds ! All were thrilled. I also told folks about an ISS pass that night at 10:07 pm during the transit and led a viewing - all were 1st timers and excited to see it pass in between breaks in the clouds>

I know budgets are tough - but I think its really important for NASA to have some minimal funding for this type educational activity. These pics show a tangible return on NASA's investment.

Thanks again for all the great help!

Ken (Dr. Ken Kremer, speaker, freelance science journalist, scientist and photographer in Princeton, NJ, www.kenkremer.com www.kenkremer.com)

4. Types of experiences Event descriptions from website signup and effects Case studies of EPO events (observations and interviews)

What experiences were offered around the Venus Transit?

Some sample event descriptions are given in this section. These descriptions are followed by case studies from four sites: Bishop, Imiloa, Goddard, Fairbanks.

Sample events described in this section: 1. Department of Physics at NC A&T State University hosted "Venus Transit Space Camp" 2. Sociedad Astronomica Dominicana Dominican Republic 3. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Allahabad. Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India 4. Peace Corps Malawi – Malawi Africa 5. Transit of Venus at BGSU Observatory - UK 6. Venus Transit Observing with St Cronans Stargazers – Ireland 7. University of Exeter Astro Venus BBQ - UK 8. Transit of Venus 040 – The Netherlands 9. 10. Venus Sighting – Israel 10. Nepal-Dear Sir/Madam,

24 11. A la Sombra de Venus - Universidad de Antioquia and the EPM Foundation, Columbia 12. A la Sombra de Venus - Universidad de Antioquia and the EPM Foundation, Columbia 13. Michigan Events – from Chuck Bueter 14. Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto 15. UI Astronomical Society and the Champaign-Urbana Astronomical Society 16. Morehead Planetarium, Chapel Hill, NC 17. Wheaton College IL 18. JDSU, Santa Rosa CA 19. Adler Planetarium, Chicago, Illinois

1. Venus Transit And Space Camp – NC A&T State University With the exiting occasion of Venus Transit 2012, the Department of Physics at NC A&T State University hosted "Venus Transit Space Camp" catering to 100 students, teachers and members of the public, with the aim of bringing awareness about space science, space education and research, as well as encourage young people to take career paths in Science Mathematics Engineering and Technology (STEM). fields. We will follow the transit through our 14" solar telescope, and visual observation using solar glasses. We also reached out to observers in Africa, particularly space science clubs in Ethiopia, including Adama University Students Space Science Club, AASDO Space Science, and the Ethiopian Astronomy and Space Science Network. This is done through social networks to exchange experiences. Our website: http://sirius- b.ncat.edu/venustransit/index.html

2. Sociedad Astronomica Dominicana Dominican Republic La Sociedad Astronómica Dominicana, junto al Museo Nacional de Historia Natural de Santo Domingo, estaremos siguiendo el transito de Venus desde la azotea del Museo, tendremos varios telescopios y binoculares equipados con filtros solares, asi como equipos de video CCD y fotografía para observar y grabar este evento. También contaremos con el Telescopio Solar Coronado (H-alfa).

3. Venus transit 2012 - India We organized this event" Venus Transit" in Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Allahabad. Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. You will pleased to know that we Gurudev Observatory are going to make the state wide grand event for Venus Transit at Urmi-BRG group of schools Vadodara where we have observed TLE on 22/7/2009 in presence of 10000 crowd.

The Community science centre, Local SVP Planetarium Municipal Corporation, Sanskriti Astronomy & Nature academy & several other institute will take an active part. We will put more than 7 Solar telescope,3 live presentation system including live from telescope-Internet and Slooh observatory with help of LCD & giant screens,5000 watt sound system, mega exhibition, live multimedia presentation. We will spread the awareness about the event with help of media, banners, big hording near railway & bus station, cable advt.,S MS,Emails, and multimedia.

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The National Print & Electronic Media with their OB Van & infrastructures have been invited with other personalities, professors, scientists, astronomers, amateur astronomers, students, general public & guests. We expect more than 10000 persons. The live coverage will be spread through out the district with help of Cable Operators.

4. Peace Corps Malawi – Malawi Africa Peace Corps Volunteer, Cassandra Moore and the youth group at Nathenje Health Centre along with JICA volunteer, Kiyoshi Furusawa and his science club will meet at the health center at 5:00 am and proceed to Miyi mountain to observe the transit. After the transit, Kiyoshi will lead a science discussion and explain what just occurred.

5. Transit of Venus at BGSU Observatory - UK Bowling Green State University will have an open house at their planetarium and observatory with rooftop viewing of the transit through the university's telescopes. The open house and viewing are scheduled from 6pm till sunset. Come to the planetarium and they will take you up to the roof. The Observatory open house will be held only if the sky is clear. You can call 419-372-8831 beginning at 4 p.m. on June 5 for a recorded message giving the status of the open house. Rain or shine, a webcast of the transit will be projected in the planetarium's multimedia theater.

6. Venus Transit Observing with St Cronans Stargazers – Ireland Our school astronomy club St Cronans Stargazers will observe the Venus Tranist on June 6th at 05:00 . Weather permitting myself , some of the children and their parents will be sketching ,imaging and looking.

7. University of Exeter Astro Venus BBQ - UK The University of Exeter Astrophysics Group head out to Haytor on Dartmoor to spend the night, have a BBQ and wait for the sunrise to view the last hour and egress of Venus' transit across the sun. (weather permitting)

8. Transit of Venus 040 – The Netherlands If the weather permits amateur astronomers will set up 14 different solar telescopes on the roof floor of parking garage P4 on the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven. Everyone is welcome to have a look through the solar telescopes. But you will have to be early, because at 06:50 the spectacle will be over and won't be visible for the next 104 years. Take a look at http://xyzon.nl/tov040/ for the latest info or follow #tov040 on twitter.

9. Transit of Venus – Durham Region Astronomical Association, Canada WHITBY -- The Durham Region Astronomical Association (DRAA) invites the public to view a rare astronomical event when the planet Venus transits across the face of the Sun. A transit of Venus (ToV) occurs when Venus passes directly between the Sun and Earth. This rare alignment comes in pairs that are eight years apart but

26 separated by over a century. The most recent ToV was a thrilling sight in 2004. The event is on Tuesday, June 5 beginning at 5:30 p.m. and is being held at Anderson Collegiate and Vocational Institute, 400 Anderson Street, Whitby. After the June 5 ToV (the last one in your lifetime), the next such alignment occurs in 2117. The DRAA would like to remind the public to never look at the Sun without proper filters designed to protect your eyes. Many solar-filtered telescopes will be available for the public to enjoy safe viewing of Venus passing across the face of the sun, when the disk of the planet will be obvious. The ToV will begin shortly after 6 p.m. and will still be underway as the Sun sets around 8:50 p.m. Indoor streaming over the Internet of the ToV will be broadcast and projected on to a large screen, giving an opportunity for those unable to look through a telescope to also enjoy the spectacle. In case of cloudy weather, locales with clear skies will be broadcast. After the transit event and weather permitting, public stargazing, including views of the ringed planet Saturn, will be offered until 10 p.m. All are welcome and admission and parking is Free.

10. Venus Sighting – Israel Israel- Hi. I had a great event in Israel, with about 100 people who came early in the morning. I wrote a full summary here and you are welcome to take text and photos from there and give a link to it in you summary. This is the link http://www.thevenustransit.com/2012/06/venus-transit-summary.html Regards Gadi Eidelheit

11. Nepal-Dear Sir/Madam, We had a great program here in Chitwan, Nepal. We did three days program especially focused to school level students and for general people. On June 5 we did a workshop on making pinhole camera where 58 students participated. On the June 6 we conducted observation program from different schools based on Chitwan where about 500 students and general people enjoyed the rare event. Local media (news paper, Television and FM radio) covered of our program, Local FM radio name Kalika FM had done live coverage for half an hour from Aroma College, Chitwan. Here, I have attached copy of our press release and link of photograph of the program in my facebook: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3301827429879.2133152. 1393748163&type=3 If you have any queries please feel free to write to me.

Regards Amit Poudel Founder and Active Member Nepal Astronomy and Space Science Association

12. A la Sombra de Venus - Universidad de Antioquia and the EPM Foundation, Columbia

27 "Under the shadow of Venus" (http://tinyurl.com/sombra-venus-2012), is an outreach activity organized by the Explora Park, the Medellin Planetarium, the Undergraduate Program in Astronomy of the Universidad de Antioquia and the EPM Foundation. The event will include a Jazz Concert, Guided observations of the transit, periodic updates and the central event will be a talk about the history, importance and curiosities about the Venus Transits. In the evening after the sunset we will transmit in a giant screen (http://goo.gl/b1oSb) the event as webcast from different places in the world.

13. Michigan Events – from Chuck Bueter On June 5, 2012, Venus quietly passed directly in front of the sun for the last time in our lives. Without exaggeration, Michiana was a hub for the global 2012 transit of Venus experience. Thousands of people saw the celestial phenomenon through solar shades and telescopes at Bittersweet Elementary School, University of Notre Dame, LaSalle Intermediate Academy, New Carlisle Public Library, Andrews University, Warren Dunes State Park, as well as local backyards and parking lots. Together we shared a solar spectacle with observers around the world. Leading up to June 5 were demonstrations and public lectures at PHM's Digital Video Theater; family AstroFest events at Kennedy Primary Academy and at Union Station in South Bend; a stained glass window art contest by the JINA team at Notre Dame, with the winners getting rooftop telescope time with ND astronomers; two rooms of activities at Science Alive! in the South Bend Main Library; two historical displays at Harris Branch Library and at Hesburgh Library, both featuring artifacts from the US Naval Observatory, which celebrated the Hoosier connection to two 19th century expeditions; musical performances at the ND Digital Visualization Theater and at Penn High School; and three concurrent transit of Venus art exhibits in Mishawaka, Granger, and Benton Harbor. Meanwhile, visionary businesses supported science with fun consumables, led by Victorian Pantry in Granger, Pizza Transit in Niles, The Livery in Benton Harbor, and Thyme of Grace in South Bend. Two dozen Michiana businesses and institutions participated in a Transit of Venus treasure hunt that gave away free solar shades. All advocating science with a regional flavor. Social media was a major factor in getting out the word about transit of Venus events, education, and relevance. YouTube videos created in Michiana reached large audiences: Predicting a Transit of Venus--The Two-Minute Explanation, 11,000+; Transit of Venus—An Astronomical Alignment With Meaning, 800+; Cosmic Cocktail to Celebrate the Transit of Venus, 600+; Venusian: Ale Celebrates 2012 Transit of Venus, 400+; the Transit of Venus, 123,000+; 2012 Transit of Venus—Region X, 10,000+; Transit of Venus March by John Philip Sousa, 11,000+; Black Drop Effect Simulated With Pinched Fingers, 500+. Our transit-related website pages, led by www.transitofvenus.org, enjoyed over a million visitors in the first week of June alone. Visitors to the Slooh webcast, which included a live 30-minute broadcast from Benton Harbor, were in the high thousands. The Transit of Venus Group on Facebook, administered locally, attracted over 1,900 members. Educational content that was used globally originated in Michiana for workshops, family events, and social media outlets was created

28 by Riverbend Community Math Center, Michiana Astronomical Society, Notre Dame's NDeRC and JINA teams and Kalamazoo Astronomical Society.

14. Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto From: Chris Sasaki [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2012 11:44 AM To: Lewis, Elaine M. Subject: Re: Transit of Venus

Hello Elaine, I'm very happy to report that the transit-viewing event organized by the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto, far exceeded our expectations in every way. The event took place in the university's Varsity Stadium athletic facility. We gave a free pair of solar-filter glasses to every guest who came through the gates; at the end of the day, we had given out a total of 5600 pairs of glasses. It was our biggest public outreach event by far. Visitors viewed the transit from the grandstand (which faced directly west) and watched live-streamed video from various locations, including the Keck Observatory and our own 8" refractor located in the university's campus observatory. Transit fans also viewed the event through the dozen+ telescopes and binoculars set up on the stadium track. University of Toronto astronomers were on hand to answer questions. We set up our portable planetarium in the adjacent Varsity Arena. One of our postdocs gave a talk on transits and how they help us study . We even presented a performance of Canadian playwright Maureen Wright's "The Transit of Venus", which told the story of Guillaume le Gentil. After some changeable weather in the morning, the afternoon skies cleared, and the 5600 transit fans had a fun, exciting and inspiring day. A large part of the success was the result of the collaboration with our partners at the university: the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, the Institute for the History & Philosophy of Science & Technology, the Centre for Drama Theatre & Performance Studies, the Office of Alumni Relations, and the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics. • You can find more information at our transit site: www.universe.utoronto.ca/transit2012 • Our transit event photo gallery is here: www.universe.utoronto.ca/transit-at- varsity-photo-gallery • A sample of the media coverage is here: www.di.utoronto.ca/in-the-media • And there's more about the Dunlap Institute here and below: www.di.utoronto.ca

15. UI Astronomical Society and the Champaign-Urbana Astronomical Society From: David Leake [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2012 11:53 AM To: Lewis, Elaine M. Subject: Re: Transit of Venus

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Hi Elaine, We have an excellent turn-out in Champaign, Illinois. The UI Astronomical Society and the Champaign-Urbana Astronomical Society teamed up with the Staerkel Planetarium to offer transit viewing just west of the planetarium at Parkland College. We had roughly 20 telescopes set-up and I expected maybe 500 people. The crowd was estimated at well over 1000! In fact, we had people show up after sunset! It was quite amazing!

Regards, Dave Leake

16. Morehead Planetarium, Chapel Hill, NC From: Sayle, Amy E [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2012 11:56 AM To: Lewis, Elaine M. Subject: RE: Transit of Venus

Hi, Elaine, We’re still recovering over here (Morehead Planetarium, Chapel Hill, NC) from the THREE THOUSAND people who showed up for our Transit of Venus event. That would be about 2000 more than expected even in our most wildly optimistic estimates. Our local/regional media had provided us with lots of free promotion, and we were lucky to have unusually good weather (low humidity, high temp only 76), with just enough clouds passing through to make things exciting without being frustrating. The visitors started showing up hours in advance of the 5:30 start time, reportedly brought downtown traffic to a standstill, and filled up all nearby parking lots and decks. Fortunately, virtually everyone was able to keep their good humor while we attempted to manage the craziness. And fortunately, there was a lot going on for people to do: • Solar viewing: 500 eclipse glasses (gone within an hour even with strict rationing of 1 per group, but people were good about sharing) • 9 telescopes • 2 sun spotters • A webcam view from the observatory scope sent to the planetarium theater and other rooms in the building. • Roving educators (those great AFGU cards) • 6 capacity crowd (n=229) back-to-back live planetarium shows about the transit, with a 7th hastily added after the official end of the event to accommodate people still waiting. The energy the audiences brought to these shows was something to behold. They applauded, gasped, sighed at just about anything we did. They really showed a Willingness To Be Wowed. • 6 over-capacity crowd (n=75-100) presentations on 4 different topics related to the Sun and Venus by two NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassadors • 8 hands-on activity stations inside and outside the building, several of which used AFGU materials (thank you, AFGU!)

30 • Tours of the Observatory. And to think that my biggest worry a week ago was that hardly anyone would come!

17. Wheaton College IL From: A.J. Poelarends [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2012 12:57 PM To: Lewis, Elaine M. Subject: Re: Transit of Venus The Venus Transit at Wheaton College (IL) was a huge success. We had about a 1000 people visiting us, including many children. People had to wait in line for about an hour to get to the big telescope and the observation deck, but were very patient and excited to see the transit. We had two white light telescopes, and two Hydrogen alpha telescopes on our deck (one of the H-α telescopes was equipped with a camera that broadcasted the view to several class rooms), and a telescope equipped with a white light filter in the dome as well. When the sun disappeared behind the horizon, we still had between 50 and a 100 people in line (to ease their disappointment, we turned the telescope to Saturn, which was very much appreciated, and generated as much excitement!). So, needless to say, we look back at a great event! Thanks for the publicity! Dr. Arend J. Poelarends :: Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy Wheaton College :: Wheaton, IL :: 630.752.5894 :: http://www.wheaton.edu

18. JDSU, Santa Rosa CA From: Mike Nofi [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Thursday, June 28, 2012 1:28 PM To: Lewis, Elaine M. Subject: RE: Transit of Venus

Dear Elaine, JDSU (formally OCLI) at the Santa Rosa, CA work site has about 600 people. I set up my telescopes in a common patio area just off our break room. The event was during work hours and the turnout was much more than I expected. I had about 200 people. We sent a companywide email notice 3 days prior to the event. We did not send out a reminder the day of the event (which would have been a good idea). Even my daughter and granddaughter dropped by to share it with me. We viewed the event through a 4-inch APO refractor with a white light solar filter. I also had a 60 mm Solar Max II set up as well and a pair of eclipse glasses. This was fun since people asked whether or not the transit would be visible to the naked eye (with proper filtration, of course!). Everyone who viewed through the glasses was able to see Venus. The glasses use carbon black filtration. These, as you know are not as scatter free as metalized mylar. I had a steady flow of people throughout the event. The more knowledgeable observers came early in order to hopefully see the “black drop” effect. I started around 3:00 pm PDT and ended at 7:30 pm PDT. Several employees with children

31 brought them into the plant after work hours to view the event. Unlike their parents most of the kids seemed confused as to what they were looking at. I have been an amateur astronomer for over 50 years and what I found most interesting were: • No one expressed concern about whether or not it was safe to view the event. Of course, we are an optical thin-film coating company so this may have been a factor. • How this event reminded many of the observers of just how ephemeral we are in the scheme of the • About 50% of the people took pictures of the event using their cell phones (afocal projection). Many of them went away with some really excellent images. • How excited, appreciative and thankful everyone was to get a chance to participate in this event. • Hydrogen alpha viewing was the most popular and enhanced the event, since in addition to seeing the transit, observers were able to see solar prominences as well as sunspots. This was the first time that most of them had seen solar prominences. • Most people were surprised at how big Venus was relative to the sun (I expected the opposite comment). For me, personally, the only downside was that I did not get to do the scientific work I had planned. There was just too many people to attend too. However, I don’t have any regrets, getting to share this event with my friends and colleagues was more than worth the price of admission. It is something I will never forget! Sometimes it is best to leave the science behind and just enjoy the sheer beauty of the event.

Best regards, Mike Mike Nofi, Metrology Lab Manager, JDSU, Flex Products Group, Santa Rosa, CA 95407

19. Adler Planetarium, Chicago, Illinois

Photos courtesy of Craig Stillwell/Adler Planetarium, Chicago, IL

4-9 pm Events at Adler • Telescope observing of the transit from 5:04 pm • Early nighttime sky telescope viewings until 9:00 pm • Transit-themed educational activities • History of Astronomy temporary exhibit

32 • Open house hours in the Space Visualization Laboratory • “Night Sky Live” shows currently contain a section about the Transit of Venus. • Live NASA video of transit from Mauna Kea to be shown via NASA-TV. Location: Universe Theater.

Other resources created: • The Transit of Venus page on the Adler website is populated with the latest information: http://www.adlerplanetarium.org/transitofvenus • The Transit of Venus video produced by Katie Peterson is now available on YouTube and has been added to the Adler’s Transit of Venus page. It will also be in the horizontal and vertical video signs in the museum very soon. • Transit of Venus podcasts posted in May

Media coverage: Type Number Print - Newspaper 7 Print – Magazine 2 Broadcast – Television (number of different stations) 30 Radio 6 Online 27 Total Media Coverage 6,519,413

Source Number Attendance for the day from ticket sales 4875 Adler members who came who identified themselves 1000 Attendees at the donor event 200 Telescopes on site for the event 20 People who went through the Space Visualization Lab (30 people at a 875 time)

Adler has documented that about 6,000 people came to the Adler on June 5. That does not include the number of people who just came to look through the telescopes and then left. One of our staff who has been at Adler for more than 40 years said that this was the single best attended Adler observing event he has ever seen. The single-day attendance is also a record (at least for the past few decades). In 2003, the Mars Opposition drew 5,000 people to Adler for a couple of observing nights. Adler reports that they had a huge response to the Mauna Kea broadcast. They showed it in the Universe Theater throughout the event, and it was packed the entire time. Easily over 1,000 people saw it. Adler sent out the SED packets to the Heliophysics Education Ambassadors and distributed the others on June 5. They

33 were gone quickly as was the large stack of Sun-Earth Day bookmarks.

Case Studies: What were the effects of participating in a transit event or activity?

Feedback from participants in the informal education events was very positive; from Bishop Science Museum in Honolulu, the Imiloa Astronomy Center in Hilo, the Galaxy Garden in Captain Cook, Adler Planetarium in Chicago, the Fairbanks Public Library in Alaska, and the Chabot Space Center in Santa Fe. Participants were engaged in the activities, asked questions, listened attentively to science talks, and were excited to see the Transit. They want to learn more about Venus, transits, and the solar system

School Visits Koa Rice, Elaine Lewis, and Troy Cline worked with students grades 2-6 at the Waikiloa School summer program (Hawaii). Observations showed they were very interested in the science of the Transit and the connection with their culture and location. They were able to answer questions, asked questions and participated in activities. They particularly like the kinesthetic activities (effects of a solar storm on the magnetosphere) and the singing the Sun song (The Sun is a ball of incandescent gas….). In April and May, Koa Rice reached over 1500 students and 53 teachers in grades 2-8 in 9 schools with her activities and slide show about the Transit.

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Teachers completed an evaluation survey after each session (22, 43% return). All (100%) of the teachers reported that the presentation was interesting for students, age appropriate, peaked the interest of students to do research on their own, and could increase their interest. Was the presentation Students were amazed, very interested, and will participate in the interesting for the transit students? Very interesting for students with attention problems 22/22 or 100% Pictures, narrative and interactions were great Was the presentation age Content was presented in a clear manner for students appropriate? Some of it was a stretch 22/22 or 100% Continuing to make connections Students cannot wait to view the transit Students could follow and understand Best for 5-7 and ok for 3-7 Good for the multi age group Great making the school part of the presentation Do you believe that this Presentation involved students and our school presentation peaked the I believe it sparked interest in the students interest of the students Very interested in connections to our history to continue research on Having the glasses was great their own? Students were inspired 22/22 or 100% Students got a greater interest Were shown something they could be part of Placed-based history so important Oldest students wanted to know more Could use more guidance to do more research Do you believe that the Added to their interest in astronomy presentation could Connections were great increase their interest in Great slide show science, astronomy, Need more of these types of events and/or culture? Very informative for all students 22/22 or 100% Comments that you may Continue to present the cultural connections have, which can help us Great presentation to improve the service to Could have been longer for questions students: More time for sharing Great connection to our history Please come back; Come more often Some kinesthetic activities would have been great for K-2 students

35 Perhaps pass around some objects to aid understanding Would like to know about events at least once a year So engaging for the students Nice visuals Comments and Students loved recreating the transit of Venus suggestions: Continue to keep us in touch with special happenings Larger screen would have been better on our end Love the emphasis on math and science Wonderful experience for the kids Koa is a very engaging presenter Thank you! Koa is a knowledgeable and captivating presenter Would have liked more pre information Made the information relevant

Informal Centers We observed Venus Transit activities at Bishop Science Center in Honolulu, and Imiloa Astronomy Center in Hilo on the Saturday before the transit.

Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, Honolulu Hawaii, June 2nd, 2012

At the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, visitors were invited to participate in the different activities offered throughout the afternoon on June 2nd and 3rd. Mike Shanahan, Director of Exhibits, Education, and Planetarium, was interviewed about the events. Solar viewing, Venus transit planetary show, NASA activities and talks were offered on both days. NASA Sun-Earth Day team members Carolyn Ng and Dr. Jim Thieman supported the event with talks and activities.

Participant Summary for Saturday (observed by the evaluator) • 25 total participants at the 12 PM solar cookie activity (16 children and 9 adults) • 17 additional participants did the solar cookie activity before the 1 PM talk began • 40 total participants at the 1 PM Solar Talk

36 • 7 total participants at the 2 PM solar cookie activity after talk On June 5th, Venus Transit day, the Museum showed a simulcast of NASA TV, planetary shows, viewing with local astronomers on the lawn, talks from scientists, cultural programs, performance of 1883 John Phillip Sousa March by local brass quartet, and scientists answering questions throughout the day. Three additional films were shown, the astronomy club attended, and the science on a sphere was available,

When asked why the museum partnered with NASA and offered Venus Transit events, Mike Shanahan, Director of Education said, “The Bishop Museum is the foremost educational learning center on Hawaii. We are a place that serves the community and astronomy events tie into that. I think it is a really good fit since it can been seen from Hawaii and has significance with the history of Hawaii. Being able to partner with NASA means a lot to us here at the museum, and being able to say that NASA will be here helps bring in people. Keeping this relationship going is important to us.”

“We are offering lectures to the public and offered a mixture of programming that can support both kids and adults. Half our audience is local and the other half are visitors from out of town. In addition to offering the planetarium show, families can make solar cookies, listen to a solar talk, and do a solar plate activity.”

When asked, families reported that they came to the event because they heard about it on the news. Two of the families were members and they come to all of the events that they can. They really love the museum and were very excited to hear they were partnering with NASA to do some activities.

The adult participants felt the activity was very interesting and fun for their kids. The kids were eager to share what they had learned and used terms about the sun like “plasma,” “sun spots,” and “solar flares.” Two children reported that they really “liked it.” As one parent put it, “I wish we got to learn science like this when we were kids.” Two children wanted to know more about exploring the sun, while others wanted to know about living on other planets.

The Museum had made the local media aware of the events on Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday. Three local media stations finally came to the center on Friday, June 1 to find out more after three weeks of sending out announcements. Information was left out of the local print paper on Friday and Mike Shanahan, the Director of Education thought tghat may have hurt the turnout since it is a major source of information for people looking for events on the weekend. “Getting folks attention is hard. Real events get noticed and this brings in visitors. We do the eclipse events (lunar) and have as many as 400 people show up.”

37 Imiloa Astronomy Center, Hilo, June 2, 2012 Imiloa offered events on Saturday, Saturday evening, and Tuesday for viewing the transit. We observed the Saturday planetarium show, interviewed participants, interviewed Jeff Harman, Director of Sales and Marketing, observed the AstroJazz evening concert/lecture on Saturday evening and collected survey data. We obtained information about the June 5th events from Jeff Harman and from NASA team members Elaine Lewis, Carolyn Ng, and Ruth Netting.

Jeff Harman, Sales and Marketing Manager was interviewed about the role of the Venus Transit events in the IAC. Imiloa’s mission is: To honor Mauna Kea by sharing Hawaiian culture and science to inspire exploration

The Venus Transit event was right in line with their mission. They have approximately 50,000 visitors per year. The attendance was above average for a rainy Saturday on June 2. The AstroJazz concert was sold out (120), and the Venus Transit day activities drew over 1400 visitors – more than for any other paid event that has ever been offered at the Center. On Saturday, they offered a Venus Transit planetarium show and were giving away solar viewing glasses. Most people said they were going to come back for the Transit or view it on their own. On Tuesday, NASA team members and volunteers supported tweeting, skyped with William Crabtree’s home in England, and helped with the viewing of the transit outside the Center. The NASA connection brought a lot of resources to the Center, improved visibility of the event, and improved attendance. The 40 new membership/renewals on June 5th is how many they typically get in a month, not one day.

Imiloa Venus Transit Events Attendance 6/2 Saturday 6/5 Tuesday Members visiting 133 391 New members/renewals 8 40 Education program participants 47 87 Other visitors 44 49 On-island visitors 42 193 Group tickets 53 21

Reactions of the visitors to the transit and activities were very positive. One woman said she had not studied astronomy in school but she really wanted to know more. Carolyn Ng shared with her the story of a scientist at Goddard who had the same experience and went to school, starting with undergraduate, and kept going until she became the chief scientist at Goddard.

Many visitors were very excited to be able to skype with the staff at Wiliiam Crabtree’s home in England. “William Crabtree (1610–1644) was an astronomer, mathematician, and merchant from Broughton, then a township near Manchester,

38 which is now part of Salford, Greater Manchester, England. He was one of only two people to observe and record the first predicted transit of Venus in 1639.”8

AstroJazz, Evening Concert, Jun 2 with Cherilynn Morrow, Professor, Georgia State University AstroJazz was developed by Cherilyn Morrow to “awaken the cosmic curiosity of both adults and children” (http://www.cherilynnmorrow.net/AstroJazz/home.htm). The performance was sponsored by NASA and held at the Imiloa Astronomy Center in Hilo, Hawaii. All 120 tickets were sold. Attendees were given index cards and pencils to answer questions at the end of the performance. There was a 50% rate of return (61). These were collected and analyzed by the external evaluator. Open- ended responses were analyzed for themes. More then one theme could appear in an answer so the number of comments does not add up to 61. The additional comments are given verbatim.

1.What did you like best? More than half of those responding (37) commented on how much they liked the music (25), the vocalist (5), the horn player (3), and the lyrics (3) and the Hawaiian chant (1). Another 19 gushed with “it’s all good” and “excellent” or “over the top.” They found it informative (11) and entertaining (6). Other things people liked were the slide show with graphics (4), the planetarium graphics (4), the pictures from Hubble (2), and the technology.

2. What did you like least? Twelve people commented that there was too much lecture, too many slides, and that they wanted more of a musical event. Seven felt the program was too long, or should have had a break (it was advertised as one hour but ran for two hours). Two people didn’t like having the words on the screen. One didn’t like the slides. Another though the slides were too fast. One person commented that more use could have been made of the planetarium. Other comments were that the duet seemed unplanned, that they didn’t like hearing about constellation names from other cultures, and that the presentation could have been more scientific.

3. What were you delighted to learn? Fifteen people wrote that they were delighted to learn more details about the transit, Venus, the Sun-Earth-Venus relationship, how the Earth revolves around the Sun, and how Venus changes from a morning to an evening star. Two people were delighted to learn about auroras. One person liked learning about how Venus has been an inspiration for artists. Another liked learning about how navigation instruments were used by early Hawaiians. One liked seeing the views from Hubble. Another liked learning about how large the universe is.

8 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Crabtree

39 4.What would you like to learn more about? Five people want to learn more about the cultural aspects including the Hawaiian names for the constellations, and the connection of cultures to the universe. Five people want to learn more about the search for life on other planets, four want to know more about astronomy and the Venus Transit. Three want to know more about other galaxies, our galaxy, and the music. Two people want to learn more about Venus.

Other comments Some people made extra comments. All were positive. The main theme was the blending of the music and information in a creative way. • Thanks for bringing something special to Hilo • Keep it up! • Would love to see it again • Thank you for sharing your love of astronomy and jazz with the public and helping us to understand astronomy in a delightful way. • Is any of this available in commercial format? • Astrojazz should be used to teach kids • I will retain more of the lecture because of the way it was presented • Good blend of music, information and talented performers – continue on! • I am a polymath PhD engineer who was one of the engineers who designed and analyzed Apollo. This was outstanding creative and brilliant. • Thank you! Aloha!

Goddard Event June 5 An informal evaluation of the three-hour GSFC Visitor Center Venus transit event was conducted on June 5, 2012 from 5-8 pm. The event was led by Heliophysics and supported by Goddard Informal Education.9

Offerings included a photo booth, education activities and presentations by subject matter experts. Volunteers from NASA Missions, the Goddard Office of Education, AESP, and the Einstein Fellowship Program supported the event.

June 5th Venus Transit Event Agenda NASA Goddard Space Flight Center 5:00 – 8:00 Have your Venus Transit Photo taken (Visitor Center Main Gallery) Education Activities (Solar Pizza, Solar Cookies, UV Beads, Matching Game, Venus Activity, Solar viewing through telescopes, View the transit on NASA TV and from the Solar Dynamic Observatory Spacecraft (Visitor Center Auditorium) 5:15 – 5:30 Presentation: What is a transit?

9 Thanks to Geraldine Robbins, Einstein Fellow at Goddard for providing this information

40 Auditorium – Bill Buckingham 5:45 – 6:30 Venus transit begins! 6:45 – 7:00 Presentation: Venus and Earth: Divergent Paths in Planetary Evolution Auditorium – Dr. Lori Glaze 7:15 – 7:30 Presentation: Science on a Sphere Presentation SOS Auditorium – Dr. Michelle Thaller 8:00 Program ends

More than 1040 people attended. Ninety four percent (94%) of the 77 Goddard survey respondents indicated yes to the question, ‘did the activity engage you?’ and 77% responded yes to the question, ‘did you learn something today?’

Fairbanks Public Library – the Noel Wien Public Library

The Solar Dynamics Observatory Education and Public Outreach team were in Fairbanks for the Venus Transit (Martha Wawro, Wendy can Norden, Romeo Durscher, Debbie Schur and Dawn Myers). Activities were offered from 2-9 pm. They worked with Martin Gutowski, the head of the amateur astronomy club who invited the media, served as the main contact, helped get teachers and telescopes and attended the event. The library had a Venus Transit story hour. The telescopes were set up in the field next to the library. The webcast was in the auditorium (150-200 people). Dean Pesnell, Project Scientist for SDO, and Robbie Harrick, University of Alaska Geophysical Institute gave public talks on SDO and the transit.

It was a very successful event. 1500-2000 people from a town of 30,000 people came out. SDO gained 2300 followers on twitter, got 33,000 mentions, and the first image from SDO was retweeted 200 times and seen by 5 million people. The SDO website had 293 million hits (not unique). The local television station, NPR, and the Fairbanks News Miner covered the event.

Martha Wawro, SDO EPO lead was interviewed about the event. “Ten telescopes (H alpha telescope) were set up, most from the Faribanks Astronomical Unit (local astronomy club), Some people just showed up, like people on vacation. We had a couple from Massachusetts who came just for the even with their own H alpha telescope. The Astronomical Unit had white light telescopes with filters on them. We also had several sun spotters, some from the University.”

41 Martin arranged for several teachers to come and help with the activities. The University of Alaska at Fairbanks made water and air rockets with people. Other activities included: • Oobleck – mix cornstarch and water to make a non- Newtonian substance • Solar cookies • Matching game – 2 images, magnetogram, and 171 • Resolution activity • UV beads • Magnetism activity – look at magnetic fields of earth and Sun with magnaprobes

Other Feedback

New York Date: June 6, 2012 1:38:18 PM HST To: "[email protected]" Subject: [nasaedge] My Comment for NASA EDGE I am 63 years old and took several college courses in astronomy. I thoroughly enjoyed the study and did exceptionally well in them, however, like so many things in life, I never really pursued the science except on a very elementary level. Yesterday, while watching your broadcast live stream from Hawaii re the transit of Venus, I was once again intrigued on the subject. Your coverage was very well done and exciting to watch. Astronomy helps me to put sooo many things in perspective and reminds me of how insignificant I am in the greater scheme of things. Sometimes we all need to be reminded of that. Again, a job well done. Thanks for the memories. Phil

Australia Date: June 6, 2012 1:46:48 PM HST To: "Giersch, Christopher E. (LARC-E5)[WYLE INTEG. SCI. & ENG.]" Cc: "Allen, Blair M. (LARC-B701)[Crewestone Technologies, Inc.]" Subject: RE: [nasaedge] My Question for NASA EDGE Chris, Thanks so much for the shout out...we loved it! I didn't tell the students that I contacted you so they were really surprised when they heard our school on the NASA Vodcast- the principal was even speechless. I couldn't stop talking about it all day! We are such a small school located in a rural community just outside of Melbourne (Australia), so it was great that we could be a part of such an important astronomical event. I really wanted to go and watch the event with a local astronomical society, through their telescopes, unfortunately I had to go to work, so the shout out was definitely the best part of my day and now I will never forget the 2012 Transit of Venus (the students won't forget it either). I hope to download the Vodcast when available and see if we are on that too.

I had never watched a NASA EDGE Vodcast before, the quality of the programming and information was awesome. I loved the jokes as well (they reminded me of my university days!!). Even though some of the information was too advanced for the 9-, 10-, 11- and 12- year old students, they enjoyed the programming and have decided that they really love astronomy now (they never knew about the cool events like the Transit of Venus and Lunar Eclipse etc..., all they had ever studied with other teachers

42 was the order of the planets).

Thanks again (you all have such cool jobs, I'm so jealous!) Megan, Teacher, Hoddles Creek Primary School, Hoddles Creek, Australia

Indonesia Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2012 3:15 AM To: [email protected]; Cline, Troy D. (GSFC-672.0)[HONEYWELL TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS INC] Subject: Transit of Venus or 'Penyerberangan Venus' in other words.

Martha and Troy, Thanks so much for sending Peace Corps Indonesia the information and -- most importantly -- the glasses for the June 6 Transit of Venus. I am a Volunteer at a high school in East Java, and without your help, MAN Genteng and I would not have been able to enjoy this event Exams were in session today, but that didn't diminish the students' and teachers' interests in the transit. One counterpart helped me haul a white board out to the basketball court during the first exam. I transcribed and translated important info from the packets you sent and made diagrams of orbits. While I marked up the white board, my CP went around to each classroom to tell the exam-taking students about the opportunity. I was flooded with students during their twenty-five minute break between exams and then again after the second exam. Pretty cool. Salam, Jay

IV. Conclusions and Recommendations

Planning Conclusions Interviews and observations of the planning for this worldwide event revealed that a multi-pronged approach with at least one year of advance planning by knowledgeable individuals is required. Knowledge of the field and those involved in education and public outreach both within and outside NASA led to the formation of planning/partner group that met for a year to discuss what they were doing individually and what they could do collectively. It resulted in a web design that integrated multiple webcast locations for viewers, eliminated duplication of efforts, and supported co-promotion of resources. NASA is uniquely positioned to offer such leadership around events such as eclipses, transits, and other astronomical phenomena and events. Amateur astronomers, professors, and researchers are all willing to work with a NASA team around such an event. In addition, the stakeholders for an event like this know the members of the team. Elaine Lewis has worked with formal educators for many years around eclipse, transit, and solstice events. Carolyn Ng works with the Museum Alliance and other informal educational groups and institutions on an ongoing basis. She is well known to the Science Mission Directorate community as the person who widely distributes packets of information about Sun-Earth events each year that can include their materials. They

43 budget to provide these materials for distribution. They benefit by having their materials included in a packet that has support and interest generated by an important yearly event.

In planning the webcast, the Sun-Earth Day team has worked with the NASA Edge team on many occasions. The Sun-Earth Day team members serve as on-air resources, and identify content matter experts for interviews. They make suggestions for contacts, and locations, identify key messages, and work hand-in- hand with the NASA Edge team during the planning process. The two teams, and individual team members are respected and trusted by each other so they like working together, and are willing to try new things, such as broadcasting live video from solar telescopes on top of a 13,000 foot mountain.

For the social media plan, the Sun-Earth Day team member, Troy Cline, partnered with Martha Wawro of SDO, building on their prior collaborations. Alex Young, heliophysicist, with his website http://thesuntoday.org and Linda Schenk of http://virtuallinda.com joined the team to widen their reach from prior events. They worked with others to develop a social media strategy for the event.

Options for the Future Suggestions that came out interviews with staff and observations by the evaluators are offered as ideas for enhancement. The planning process was effective and comfortable for those involved. We asked people about lessons learned and found that they would tweak things here and there, and keep some of the things they tried this time. For example, broadcasting from a NASA facility a staff astronomer as liaison, a supportive contractor, and a NASA manager who had done research from the facility was ideal. Inviting the developer/manufacturer of the solar telescopes to come and bring his telescopes meant he was available for setup, troubleshooting, and as an on-air expert about the telescopes. Having multiple webcasts available from one webpage was very good for viewers and kept them using http://venustransit.nasa.gov as their primary source. Offering live video feed meant that the television networks picked up the footage.

Things to improve for a similar event include having additional pre-taped video of experts, educators, animations, activities and explanations of key concepts. These could be used to address some of the more persistent misconceptions and questions that people had. While the content matter experts were able to answer the questions posed from social media, having more pre-taped video on difficult topics would have helped get the ideas across. Along those same lines, having a key to the resources by question or topic would have facilitated responding to questions. With such a key, people could have been pointed to resources as well as having their questions answered on air to satisfy their curiosity and perhaps extend their interest. More questions, answers, and resources could have been cached for distribution as the event was occurring. Having someone devoted to pulling questions for on-air response, in addition to the social media team was observed to be needed on Mauna Kea and was added immediately. The Fairbanks team found

44 they needed someone devoted to social media, in addition to those working on the public event to feed questions to the Mauna Kea team. The Mauna Kea team also pointed people to the Marshall team who were answering questions online, and maintaining an FAQ. Planning to have additional social media people and another site responding to questions would enhance the responsiveness to people as they get excited about an event and give them additional resources to use.

Resources Conclusions The NASA resources on the Transit were extensive and varied. They range from informational pieces, math problems, historical artifacts, satellite imagery, and animations. The resources were presented in printed format in the 30,000 packets that were distributed, as well as on the website, and through social media channels. More packets would have been used if the funding had been available. Formal and informal educational groups are particularly interested in the packets as a follow up to their own programming, to extend the interest and learning of their participants.

The website was not limited to information about the Venus Transit but incorporated resources that have been effective in extending audience’s understanding of the Sun-Earth connection and the solar system. While the Transit might have brought people to the website, the other resources there may extend their interest in heliophysics and future events. The Sun-Earth Day website is already widely known as a hub for resources in heliophysics. The links to partner sites and activities only extends this central position of the website. The Sun-Earth Day website has consistently incorporated cultural, historical and a strong mathematics component into the its resources and key concepts. This draws additional people into the website, and offers different avenues into the helophysic events and content.

The people on the core teams – Sun-Earth Day, NASA Edge, and SDO were critical resources to the success of the event. Their prior working relationship, previous experience with events, knowledge of materials, and actual contacts with the public, educators, and partners provided essential support for the planning, pre-event activities, and implementation of the transit viewing events.

Options for the Future More funding for resources earlier in the process, including packets, people to travel to key conferences and meetings, people to support the social media on the day of the event, and technology support in form of hardware and web curating would contribute greatly to the event. The lack of redundancy in people and technology could have caused serious problems, especially on the day of the event. The initial lack of funding for packets meant there was unmet demand.

45 Participation Conclusions The very high participation levels on the day of the event show that people are interested in sustained, high quality program over a long period of time. The barrage of questions over social media channels indicates a potentially untapped audience as well as an easy way for those already interested to tune in and participate. The format of NASA Edge is popular and entertaining, and at the same time focused on educating people. While they do other long events, like covering the Lunabotics competition, their work with the Sun-Earth Day team around auroras, eclipses, and transits has engaged different audiences in new ways.

Final numbers indicate one million events, with an average attendance per event of 3,000. The smaller groups of people watching in their homes, in parking lots, after school gatherings makes the team question the counting of events only. Through the efforts of the partners the Sun-Earth teams feels the reach may have been more like one billion.

Options for the Future Providing additional resources to support responsiveness to the online followers of events, before, during and after an event can enhance the inspirational and educational impact of the events. Continuing to work with partners by providing leadership in planning will ensure NASA is considered the go-to resource for the public and educators. To do this, the core team may need more staffing and technological support to showcase NASA resources and integrate partner sites and feeds.

Types of experiences and effects Conclusions Many institutions and organizations depend on NASA for accurate, high-quality, and unique resources. Teachers use the activities, show the animations, and attend teacher workshops or webinars. NASA presentations at educator conferences are well attended, and teachers tend to use the resources they learn about. Informal Similarly, informal educators were quick to order bundles of packets to use with their audiences both before and after the event. Many of the resources include activities that are “tried and true” so the educators use them. While the experiences they offer are local, NASA content resources and people are always appreciated when they are available. For this event, and others in the past, the Sun-Earth Day team works with organizations from the broadcast location, providing NASA staff to support planning, pre-taping, pre-event activities, and day of activities. With technology, these local efforts also benefit the wider audience as in the contributions of Hawaiian cultural experts to the Venus Transit as a context for learning and for additional cross-curricular content.

Options for the Future From this year’s evaluation, as well as those in prior years, we have examples of programming efforts by different kinds of institutions. These could be a valuable

46 resource to groups in the future if they were made more accessible. Perhaps templates, and suggested formats and activities could be developed in future years. The Sun-Earth team has developed curriculum applications in the past, as well as designed programs for informal groups. The SDO team has offered support for local tweetups. Building on the wisdom of successful activities, and using them to build models could bring other groups on board with future events.

The event registration on the website was very effective in collecting events, and making them known to the community and potential audiences. This community- building function could be enhanced further by providing more tech support so it is reliable, by adding fields for the type and size of the potential audience (and an updating function for the actual participants, by adding a field for description of the planned event, and adding a refreshing window showcasing pictures of the events afterwards. The showcasing function would encourage reporting on the events since their site would only be chosen if they had updated their event participant information and added pictures.

47