Upcoming events @ Monash

Public lectures / observing nights

A series of 45-min public lectures will be given by prominent astronomers from Monash (and elsewhere) on topics of broad interest, including the Milky Way and Black Holes. To better engage the audience, observing sessions will be run after the public lectures, so members of the public can observe examples of various celestial objects, in some cases including examples of objects discussed during the lecturers.
These observing sessions will be co-hosted by the Astronomical Society of Victoria .

Public Lecture Rosemary Mardling (Monash) "Extrasolar planets: discovering other worlds"

Thursday 15th Oct 2009 Lecture theatre C1, Monash University Clayton Campus, 7pm.

100 hours of astronomy

One of the cornerstone projects at the international level is a contiguous period of observing coordinated world-wide and lasting for 100 hours in April. This project will include live webcasts from research observatories and public obseving events, and will involve an unprecedented internation coordination of astronomical activities. We are planning to take part in this event in collaboration with Swinburne and Melbourne universities, and possibly also coordinate with one of our public observing nights.

Monash Science Centre Exhibition

An exhibit titled "Astronomy - Past, Present and Future" will be shown at the Monash Science Centre from mid-March onwards. The exhibition will benefit from input by members of the Monash research community as well as the expertise of the Science Centre staff. Banners and interactive displays will describe ancient astronomy, as well as the past, present and future of the field, with an emphasis on Australian facilities as well as instruments currently in use by Monash researchers.

Schools outreach

The Monash Science Centre staff plan a comprehensive package of materials for schools to contribute to astronomical education at the primary and secondary levels. The materials will include new school lessons, as well as adaptation of a lesson to Family Science Night activities and a new Lending Library box featuring astronomical titles, which will be lent to schools in the area. These resources will include input from Monash educators and researchers and so will feature state-of-the-art science, providing a valuable resource to educators.

The lending Library is a system of self contained boxes that are hired by schools for 3 weeks at a time, and which contain a series of sequenced lessons that provide activities, background information and instruments for at least 3 lessons. They are provided with consumables for one class to do all of the activities, but often the whole grade level uses them while they are at the school for 3 weeks.

Media and publicity

With the help of Monash Radio we will create a series of podcasts featuring interviews of Monash astronomers on topics of interest.

We also plan a series of 4 informative posters to run in the Age and/or Herald Sun newspapers on various astronomical topics: Stars, the Solar System, Black Holes, Galaxies etc. These posters will be prepared by Monash Science Centre staff in collaboration with Monash researchers.