Participants of all ages and education levels are invited to “White House Astronomy Night: A Celebration of Science, Technology and Space” Monday, Oct. 19, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at The University of Toledo’s Ritter Planetarium.
Join President Obama, in addition to stargazers across the country, during this seventh annual event designed to ignite the next generation of scientists, engineers, visionaries and celestial dreamers. UT’s Ritter Planetarium is one of hundreds nationwide to host this free program.
“The event is organized so that people can come and go as they please,” said Dr. Michael Cushing, director of the Ritter Planetarium and associate professor in the UT Department of Physics and Astronomy. “There will be lectures and planetarium programs featured every half hour.”
The event will feature four 10- to 15-minute lectures presented by UT astronomers on topics the department is actively researching.
“We have a wide range of research going on at UT, from hot stars, to star clusters, to gas and dust within other galaxies, and even searches for stars near the sun,” Cushing said.
The event also will include free liquid nitrogen ice cream, physics demonstrations, and a different planetarium program every half hour.
Additionally, attendees will have the opportunity to observe the sky, weather permitting, through Ritter Observatory’s 41-inch telescope, the largest optical telescope east of the Mississippi River.
For more information on the lectures and planetarium programs, visit ritter.utoledo.edu.
