USF PLANETARIUM AND FORT WAYNE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY ANNOUNCE JOINT VENTURE
The Edwin Clark Schouweiler Memorial Planetarium at the University of Saint Francis and the Fort Wayne Astronomical Society (FWAS) are collaborating on community astronomy education efforts.
A series of events to provide public information, activities and safe viewing guidance in preparation for the June 5 Transit of Venus will take place from now through the date of the transit. Safe-viewing locations for residents of the greater Fort Wayne area will be provided, with alternate indoor Internet viewing sites in the event of inclement weather. The partners will also develop an informational booklet for beginner stargazers, which will be available from both organizations at their public events.
The rare transits of Venus occur in pairs a few years apart and then not again for more than a hundred years. This 2012 transit is the last until 2117 and 2125.
A transit of Venus occurs when, from the vantage point of Earth, the planet Venus is seen as a dot passing across the face of the sun. Transits of Venus played important historical and scientific roles in the 16th, 18th and 19th centuries. Expeditions were mounted to remote parts of the world to time and measure transit phenomena for calculating the size of Venus and the Earth-Sun distance. Today, similar and more precise electronic measurements are made by astronomers and spacecraft to locate possible planets in transit around stars other than the Sun.
The Schouweiler Planetarium and FWAS partners are planning other public events through June. A schedule with information about events, viewing sites and times for the transit of Venus will be released by the end of March.
These astronomical education ventures formed in fall 2011, when the FWAS board and Schouweiler Planetarium Director Alan Pareis agreed to work together on the 2012 projects. Pareis chairs a joint steering committee made up of FWAS members BJ Harper, Gene Stringer and Dave Wilkins, and planetarium educator Jackie Baughman, to plan the events.
For more information, visit the websites of the venture partners for updates and links to other worldwide transit of Venus sites.
The Fort Wayne Astronomical Society is a not-for-profit organization, incorporated in 1959, for the purpose of public education in astronomy and related sciences. The society holds public meetings the third Tuesday of each month at 7:30 p.m. at Schouweiler Planetarium. The society has moved its public observing site and will conduct public observing sessions at Jefferson Township Park every clear Saturday evening, from April through November, led by experienced society members. Visit fortwayneastronomicalsociety.com
For four decades, the Edwin Clark Schouweiler Memorial Planetarium has provided astronomy education experiences to the greater Fort Wayne area as an outreach of the University of Saint Francis. Visit www.sf.edu/planetarium.
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