Activities
Most days will start with a morning lecture and discussions. Afternoons will typically include more hands-on activities as well as discussions and special talks. There will be evening activities on several nights.
Five days of lectures will cover the fundamentals of introductory astronomy at the college level (we will not try to cram a semester of material into a single week, but it will still be a lot of information!). Topics we will cover: the seasons, phases of the moon, historical astronomy, misconceptions, the electromagnetic spectrum, gravity and orbits, planets, stars, galaxies, and cosmology. Additional talks will focus on special interest topics like black holes, and extrasolar planets. Hands-on activities may include how raw astronomical data is transformed into poster-quality images, and several laboratory demonstrations/exercises. (Every year we revise and, we hope, improve the overall workshop.)
Evening activities may include: discussions of science fiction science, good and bad astronomy in movies/TV, a planetarium show, telescope observations using small individual rooftop telescopes and/or trips to use our 24 inch telescope at Red Buttes Observatory, RBO, and our 2.3 meter telescope at the Wyoming Infrared Obervatory, WIRO. The observing sessions may be cool, so participants should bring appropriately warm clothing.
We sometimes manage to squeeze in an opportunity to visit/hike at Vedauwoo, a picturesque area near Laramie famous for its rock climbing.