Katherine Rueff's blog

Ruth Craft invited me to give the guest talk for the Michiana Astronomical Society April Meeting

It was a real pleasure to present my research for the Michana Astro Society (MAS).  Two other astrophysics graduate students joined me and we were able to meet the members of the society as well as hear their schedule for some opportunities for the ND astrophysics students to do outreach and get involved in the upcoming astronomy events.

I was really impressed and surpirsed by how tough the MAS questions were.  Some questions about the star forming regions I have yet to fully study, some about the nature of the galaxies, and some about the connections of this work to dark matter, cosmology, and galactic evolution.  I couldn’t have enjoyed presenting more and am so thankful for the invitation.

As we’re all gearing up for the Transit of Venus in June, it’s exciting to hear the plans that the local astronomers and groups are preparing.  I know we’ll be collaborating and working with them again soon!

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Transit of Venus had its own table presentation during the 5th annual Forum titled:  Collaborating for Education and Research

Local South Bend teacher and astronomer, Ruth Craft, visited the table to make paper plate activities for students.

The stained glass transparency art I made to commemorate the Forum in the theme of the Transit of Venus.

Chuck Bueter led the table with information and ways for teachers and schools to get involved for the June 5th transit!

Only 3 Months until the Transit of Venus!!!!

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Science Alive 2012 was a GREAT DAY!
Here’s Collin McClelland and me in front of the Transit of Venus poster.

In collaboration with the Joint Institute for Nuclear Astrophysics (JINA) we were able to bring the Transit of Venus’s stained glass art project to nearly 1000 people!

Here are some of the really spectacular art that was created during Science Alive 2012:

JINA was also giving out Astronomy & Science Tongue Tattoos!  Which Tom graciously offered to test for us…

You can see the Sun, Saturn, Moon and Earth!

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Where will YOU be on June 5th/6th of 2012?

(Above: Map of transit of Venus visibility)

If you answered “Watching Venus transit across the Sun’s sphere with all of your friends, family, teachers, and pets!” then you are already WAY ahead of the rest of the world!

As the date draws closer, more buzz will be building about this incredible, LAST CHANCE IN YOUR LIFETIME, astronomical event.

Why is it so special?

(Above: Timeline for past and future transits of Venus)

I’m pretty sure I’m not living until 2117 to the ripe old age of 132, unless modern medicine really takes some strides this century.  So on June 5th, I’ll be somewhere in South Bend, Indiana (Notre Dame) watching the transit LIVE with local students, parents, teachers, and other members of the Michiana community.

I’ll be dedicating the majority of THIS blog to the Transit of Venus (TROVE) for the next few months…. So stay tuned!

If you’ve ever wanted to stare at the Sun, HERE’s your chance!
There are TONS of SAFE ways to watch the transit!
TransitofVenus.org is a great place to find any of the info you’re probably wondering about!

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Ever needed to plot a function,
…….let’s say y=(x^3 * sqrt(cos(x^2+pi)) + 6/sqrt(cos(x^2 +pi))?…..

Don’t have your graphing calculator laying around and you’re too tired to open Mathematica or some other program?

GOOGLE it!

HOW AWESOME IS THAT!?!

You’ve got to be careful though, I wouldn’t just start using this to do my trig homework…

TRY IT OUT TODAY and TELL all your math/science/computer/nerdy friends!

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