SEMO’s College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math is hosting ‘Space Week’ to celebrate astronomy and exploration from Nov. 3-7.
The week is complete with lectures, trivia and other activities related to the galaxies beyond our skies.
According to associate professor of chemistry and physics, Dr. Joseph Murphy, these events are intended to be a learning opportunity for students.
“Space week is our annual celebration of pretty much all things space. It’s an excuse to inform people and have events that are related to things that happen outside of our terrestrial environment,” Murphy said.
On Monday, Nov. 3, the first event was a lecture on the “History of Observation at SEMO” from Peggy Hill, Joseph Murphy and Pamela Mills in Johnson Hall from 6-7 p.m.
Another lecture is planned for Tuesday, Nov. 4, from 6-7 p.m. in Rhodes Hall 121, entitled “Gateways to Life, Mystery and Exploration”. The speaker is Jerry Landewe, a member of the community Astronomy club and a teacher at Notre Dame Regional High School.
A third lecture, “Asteroids, Comets and Interstellar Objects, oh my!” will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 5, from 6-7 p.m. in Rhodes Hall 121, given by Christina Adair. Her talk will include her personal experience working with the Vera Rubin Observatory.
“Her [Adair] other job besides teaching astronomy here is that she works for the Vera Rubin observatory and they just started taking some amazing pictures of the real deep night sky. She’s going to talk a little bit about what kind of things that they’re going to be working on there and how that is going to progress,” Murphy said.
On Thursday, Nov. 6, from 6-7 p.m., the Astronomy Club will be holding a trivia night in Rhodes 121, followed by a night sky observation at Vollink Observatory from 7-10:30 p.m.
The final event will be held on Friday, Nov. 7, from 6-7 p.m. at Rhodes 121, featuring a lecture by Dr. Vayujeet Gokhale entitled “The Threats to Dark and Quiet Skies: Campus Shine and beyond.” This will highlight the Campus SHINE program, which is a program that focuses on light pollution in Missouri.
While the lectures and events are important to Space Week, Murphy said that his goal is to see enthusiasm and passion among students.
“I have had students in the astronomy club that I’ve worked with in their junior and senior year, and they’re talking about how excited they were for space week and that was really what got them moving in a certain direction,” Murphy said. “So I think that taking home the enthusiasm and getting that, but also if you learn any physics, that’s also a good thing too.”
