THE USM SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM
207-780-4249 www.usm.maine.edu/planet
70 Falmouth Street Portland, Maine 04103
43.6667° N 70.2667° W
Altitude: 10 feet below sea level
Founded January 1970
CELESTIAL EXPLORATION CLASSES
Monday evenings
7:00 - 8:30 p.m.
$12 enrollment.
$20 for two
[$80 for a student to attend them all; $125 for two people to attend them
all.]
Walk ins welcome!
*# 1: THE MOON*
Monday, June 24, 2019
The sky's fastest mover is our first stop. We'll explore every aspect of
the moon: its phases, motions and eclipses. We'll examine its surface
and explain why it has dark regions and craters. Every student will
receive a "Moon Watcher's Guide."
*CLASS # 2: THE SOLAR SYSTEM*Monday, July 1, 2019 7:00 - 8:30 p.m.
We explore our own little niche in the galaxy. Our solar system consists
of a blazing hot star encircled by a retinue of exotic worlds: Rapid
Mercury, brilliant Venus, verdant Earth, blood-red Mars, giant Jupiter,
magnificent Saturn, strange Uranus, and azure blue Neptune. (We won't
forget poor, neglected Pluto.) Join us for this odyssey through the solar
system.
*CLASS # 3: THE SUMMER CONSTELLATIONS*Monday, July 8, 2019 7:00 - 8:30
p.m.
We explore the summer night sky! Learn to find the constellations that
adorn the summmer evenng sky:
Cygnus the Swan, Hercules, Scorpius the Scorpion, Sagittarius the Centaur
and many more!
*CLASS # 4: COMETS AND ASTEROIDS*
Monday, July 15, 2019 7:00 - 8:30 p.m.
Tens of thousands of asteroids and comets careen through the solar system!
Today's class takes students to the main asteroid belt between Mars and
Jupiter. We also venture out to the Kuiper Belt, the origin disk of the
short period comets and the Oort Cloud, the expansive reservoir of long
period cometary nuclei. How many unknown comets are approaching the inner
solar system? Could Earth soon be devastated by an impacting asteroid?
*CLASS # 5: THE NEARBY STARS*Monday, July 22, 2019 7:00 - 8:30 p.m.
We visit the nearby stars. How do astronomers know what they know about
the stars? This class will teach students the basics of stellar astronomy.
How do we know the distances to the stars, their sizes and temperatures?
We'll use the H-R Diagram ("The Astronomer's Stone") to learn how to
decipher star light to understand the stars.
*CLASS # 6: SPACE WEATHER*Monday, July 29, 2019 7:00 - 8:30 p.m.
We venture into the upper atmosphere today to learn about the northern
lights, meteor showers and the green flash! Solar storms to corona mass
ejections, we discover the mechanisms behind the different types of space
weather. We'll learn the causes of the aurora and meteor showers.
*CLASS # 7: GALAXIES AND CLUSTERS*
Monday, August 5, 2019 7:00 - 8:30 p.m.
GALAXIES: the building blocks of the Universe. The Milky Way, our home
galaxy, is but one of hundreds of billions of galaxies in the cosmos.
What is its structure and history? How do the galaxies differ in size
and composition? We'll go far afield to explore the Local Group, and the
local supercluster.
CLUSTERS: Astronomers divide star clusters into two main types: Large,
old and distant globulars and small, young and relatively nearby galactic
clusters. This class focuses on both enormous galaxies and comparatively
small star clusters.
*CLASS # 8: THE BIG BANG*
Monday, August 12, 2019 7:00 - 8:30 p.m.
We end the Celestial exploration summer classes at the very beginning of
the Universe! Cosmologists believe that the cosmos began about 13.8 billion
years ago in a single event dubbed "The Big Bang." This class takes us as
far back in time as it is possible to travel. How did scientists determine
how the Universe was born?
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