|
|
|
|
| WorldWide Telescope Ambassadors |
| Dr. Patricia Udomprasert |
| Thursday, Dec 10, 2009 at 8:00 PM |
|
|
|
| WorldWide Telescope (WWT) [www.worldwidetelescope.org ] is a rich visualization environment that functions as a virtual telescope, allowing anyone to make use of professional astronomical data to explore and understand the universe. Patricia will demonstrate WWT’s breathtaking features, including the ability to visualize and explore in 3-dimensions our solar system, nearby stars in the Milky Way galaxy, and large-scale structure in the universe out to hundreds of Mpc. She will discuss how to create engaging interactive presentations called “tours” that will not only allow users to display beautiful astronomical images in their proper context in the night sky, but also to demonstrate the physical principals at work in those images.
WWT has the potential to dramatically impact educational outreach work done by amateur astronomers. We plan to recruit and train astronomically-literate volunteers to serve as Ambassadors in schools, neighborhood libraries, and community centers by giving presentations that demonstrate WWT's power to help laypeople visualize and understand our universe. Users will be able to link WWT tours to highly vetted multimedia content from NOVA, the renowned PBS multi-platform series produced by WGBH. Virtual tours will be freely available and centrally managed in order to form a comprehensive astronomy curriculum for both formal and informal educational use. WWT Ambassadors will help to increase science literacy in the general public and to improve science learning in the next generation while forming intergenerational connections within their communities. Patricia will discuss ways to become involved.
Patricia Udomprasert holds a Ph.D. in astronomy from Caltech, where she studied the interaction between galaxy clusters and the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation. Although she values the thrill of discovery that comes from observing on a remote Chilean mountaintop and looking to the furthest reaches of our universe, she most enjoys working closely with students and explaining why our universe is as it is and how we know. She taught high school astronomy, physics, and math at Concord Academy for 5 years and is now helping to launch the WorldWide Telescope Ambassadors Program. She particularly relishes sharing the joys of the night sky with her pre-schooler and is looking forward to taking him and his little sister on their first trip to Stellafane.
Speaker Bio
Please join us for a pre-meeting dinner discussion at Changsho, 1712 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA at 6:00pm before the meeting. |
|
|
|
|
|
| Other Monthly Meetings |
|
<<
2016
>>
|
| Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
| Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
|
Logon
