Family Nights at Yerkes Observatory are a Great way to Learn About Astronomy, say Participants

     Each month, the staff and scientists at Yerkes Observatory host a night of activities based on a theme, geared toward students in grades three through eight and their families. Past themes have ranged from Arduino’s, to snap circuits, to comets.

     Some of the activities completed during the night about comets on January 16 included making a “Comet on a Stick,” which is a three-dimensional model of a comet using Play-Doh, tongue depressors and other materials, as well as demonstrating how the tails of a comet move in relation to the Sun by using a hair dryer to represent the Sun. One of the participants moved the Play-Doh model of the comet around the hair dryer, and the parts of the “comet” representing the tails moved in correspondence with the way the hair dryer was blowing. Students also heard a lecture about comets, asteroids and their orbits given by Dr. Richard Kron, a professor at the University of Chicago’s Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics. (Kron was the director of Yerkes Observatory from 1989-1991.)

     Participants say the themes and activities presented at the Yerkes Observatory Family Nights encourage them to study astronomy at home.

     “I think we liked the Snap Circuits the best,” said fourth-grader Connor Pecht.
     “I agree,” Connor’s father, Herb Pecht, said. ”We liked them so much we got a large set for Christmas.”

     Chuck and Sue Ruehle are both amateur astronomers who teach astronomy in Tanzania, as well as to their five grandchildren. “We learn new things,” Sue said. “[Family Nights give us] new things to take with us when we go teach. It’s a great resource.”

     Later in 2014, Yerkes Observatory will unveil the Skynet Junior Scholars program, which is a program enabling middle- and high-school students to request images from telescopes all over the world using an online telescope network called Skynet. Family Night coordinator Brittnay Strubel said parents seemed excited about the idea when they were told about it at the January 16^{th event}.

     “They were all actually pretty excited to eventually do the program,” Strubel said. “Some of the parents did ask more about it, like, ‘What exactly is Skynet?’ and where the different telescopes are located. They all seemed really interested in it.”

     The next Family Night takes place March 11, and the topic will be SOFIA, which stands for the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy. This is a modified 747 jet, with a 100-inch telescope built into the back of it. One of the cameras on SOFIA was constructed at Yerkes Observatory.

Visit the Yerkes Observatory homepage at http://astro.uchicago.edu/yerkes/ to sign up for Family Night programs.