Tellus Science Museum, Cartersville, Georgia.

EXO- NIGHT

1. OVERVIEW DESCRIPTION This was a family event to highlight . Activities included use of the observatory and our 20 inch telescope to observe with exoplanets and to view and as examples of early discoveries. We had hands on activities including logging on to micro-observatory network to send an image to the home E-mail address. My staff led groups on brief tours of the night sky in the planetarium. We hosted (Virtually) JPL-NASA astronomer Jessie Christiansen, who gave a brief overview of her research and a general introduction on exoplanets. Time was also allotted for questions and answers and interaction with our guests and our guest astronomer.

A. Universe of Learning Resources - Harvard Observatory staff helped me with contact information to locate and contact a Subject Matter Expert. JPL-NASA astronomer Jessie Christiansen. - Harvard Observatory staff also helped me by creating a special log on address and an abbreviated menu of target objects that could be associated with exoplanets. This allowed us to incorporate micro observatory into the event. https://www.nasa.gov/kepler/starwheels https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/alien-worlds/exoplanet-travel-bureau/ https://media.universe-of- learning.org/documents/UoL_TRAPPIST_Scale_Model-2018-02.pdf https://mo-www.cfa.harvard.edu/OWN/training.html https://mo-www.cfa.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/OWN/Own_SAN.pl https://www.nisenet.org/earthspacekit-2020 -

2. PROGRAM DETAILS A. Goals: To educate, enrich and excite families about astronomy and exoplanets. B. Target Audience: Families and children ages 8 and up. C. Timeline or Schedule of Events: September 12, 2020, 7 – 11 pm

3. PROGRAM MODEL The original idea for this event was to host an evening event for about 1000 guests. That was the plan and then Corona happened. The event was transformed into a workshop with a maximum ticket sale of 60. This event turned out to be the first event the museum hosted since it reopened in mid-June. All participants and staff were required to wear masks. Staff in close contact with public also had face shields. We divided the guests into 3 approximately equal groups and we rotated them through 4 activity areas.

Exo-Planet Night September 12 8 – 11 pm

A fun family evening at Tellus to highlight Exo-. We will be using the observatory to hunt for planets around distant stars. Family activities in the great hall from Special talk on Exo planets by (Virtual talk) from a NASA Astronomer on Exoplanets. Viewing in the observatory of Stars that have planets as well as Jupiter & Saturn (Weather permitting). (Note if the weather is cloudy or rainy planetarium will be substituted).

Work shop participants will rotate through 3 stations (45 minutes each) Family Activities in great hall will include: (45 min) Formation: You have 30 seconds to gather up star stuff. Will you make a dwarf star? A star? Or a super-? Come test your skill! Prizes! Gravity Well: Experiment with different objects as they orbit a black hole. What kind of orbits will you create? Cloud in a Bottle: Learn how to make clouds in a bottle.

Trappist 1 system Orrery demonstrations. Volunteer to be a planet in the human powered exoplanet solar system demonstration.

Micro Observatory: Learn how to connect with NASA’s robotic telescopes to take your own pictures of deep space objects. Exo planet Travel Poster: Photo opportunity stand in front of a banner of Exo-Planet Star Chart: Make an exo-planet rotary star chart. Make a star chart so you can find stars in the sky that have planets. Planetarium tour: Short live tour of the fall sky. Script is attached, but since this was a live presentation it served more as an outline to my staff.

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Interact with a JPL Astronomer: (45 min) Tellus Theater Virtual chat with NASA Astronomer who will talk to you and answer questions all about all about exoplanets. Jessie Christiansen is an Australian astrophysicist working at the NASA Exoplanet Science Institute at Caltech. She won the 2018 NASA Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal for her work on the Kepler planet sample.

Observatory: (45 min) Observatory: Viewing of Stars with exoplanets, View Jupiter & Saturn as examples of early exoplanet discoveries.

Rotation of Groups

First Rotation 8 pm – 8:50 pm (20 in each Group) Group A Theater; Group B Great Hall; Group C Observatory Second rotation 9 pm – 9:50 pm Group A Observatory; Group B Theater; Group; C Great Hall Third rotation 10 pm – 10:50 pm Group A Great Hall; Group B Observatory ; Group C Theater

• Staffing: This events required 9 part time staff and 4 volunteers. 3 people in the observatory, 1 in the Tellus Theater, 1 in the planetarium, 3 group leaders, and 5 people overseeing activities.

• Facilitation guide: Two days before the event I taught a training session so that staff was comfortable conducting the interactive activities. Observatory Activity: Have three telescopes set up. We had two 8”telescopes and the main telescope (our 20”) set up. We allowed one family group at a time at each telescope and used alcohol wipes to disinfect between observing groups. One telescope was on Saturn, One on Jupiter and one on a star that had exoplanets. The planets I used as examples of as types of objects that were discovered early on in Exoplanet hunting. For early autumn these stars are good ones to use as examples:

3 Xi Aquila b, b, b, , b, Alpha Aries (Hamal). Subject Matter Expert: I had one staff member in the Tellus Theater as a host to welcome our subject matter expert. This was facilitated through a Zoom connection so that we could hear our guest astronomer and she could hear us. We allowed about 25 minutes for a brief presentation by our virtual guest and then about 20 minutes of questions and answers. Interactive Activities: I had 5 staff members in our great hall facilitating interactive activities, one at each activity. For Star Formation, Gravity Well and Cloud in a Bottle refer to the Earth Space Kit web site listed under resources. This has detailed instructions and material lists to carry out these activities. I choose these because there was a minimum of communal touching of objects and they touched on different aspects of exoplanets. Star formation helps to teach the process of the formation solar system. The Gravity Well helped to understand how objects orbited stars. Finally the Cloud in a Bottle connected to atmospheres around planets. Trappist 1 system Orrery demonstrations: Detailed instructions for this activity can be found under resources under “Trappist Scale Model”. Exo planet Travel Poster: I used some of my grant money to have a large banner made of one of the NASA “travel” posters. This was a photo opportunity to stand in front of Kepler 16-B. You can find details under resources “Exoplanet Travel Bureau”. Materials: You will need a frame to hang your banner. Exo-Planet Star Chart: This activity was making a rotary star chart and being shown how to use it. Each guest could take a star chart home with them. Instructions and template can be found under resources “Kepler star Wheels”. • Materials: You will need off white card stock to run off star chart parts. Plus clear adhesive tape to put everything together. We cut everything out ahead of time so that we would not need to sanitize many pairs of scissors.

• Additional resources: Evaluations from my guests can be found attached in this same file.

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