{"id":59107,"date":"2020-04-22T03:23:53","date_gmt":"2020-04-22T07:23:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/?p=59107"},"modified":"2021-01-19T13:28:20","modified_gmt":"2021-01-19T17:28:20","slug":"need-an-online-lesson-for-your-child-sign-up-to-chat-with-a-utoledo-astronomer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/04_22_2020\/need-an-online-lesson-for-your-child-sign-up-to-chat-with-a-utoledo-astronomer","title":{"rendered":"Need an Online Lesson For Your Child? Sign Up to Chat With a UToledo Astronomer"},"content":{"rendered":"

While The University of Toledo Ritter Planetarium is closed during the COVID-19 shutdown, parents and teachers can set up live chats for their children with an astronomer.<\/p>\n

Dr. Michael Cushing, associate professor of physics and astronomy, and director of Ritter Planetarium, is available to answer questions from home through Zoom, Skype and FaceTime with individual children or groups of children in elementary school.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Cushing<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cMy wife and I have a 7-year-old daughter, so we understand that parents are looking for something educational and fun to do with their children stuck at home during the coronavirus pandemic,\u201d Cushing said. \u201cWhen I was a child \u2014 I was too shy to do it \u2014 but I would\u2019ve loved nothing more than to talk to an actual astronomer. These kinds of interactions can really inspire a young person, and I hope that I can provide some of that inspiration by chatting with them about what it is like to be an astronomer.\u201d<\/p>\n

During virtual meetings, Cushing has fielded questions about shooting stars, planets, exoplanets, the rings around planets, and even \u201cStar Wars\u201d movies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen chatting with one young girl, we spent about 10 minutes on \u2018Star Wars\u2019 after she asked why I wanted to become an astronomer,\u201d Cushing said. \u201cWhen I was 4 or 5, \u2018Star Wars: Episode IV \u2014 A New Hope\u2019 was re-released in theaters, and watching that star destroyer come fly over me was a really impactful event in my life because I fell in love with all things space. I\u2019m happy to talk more about \u2018Star Wars,\u2019 as well as answer questions about anything from aliens to the moon to black holes.\u201d<\/p>\n

To schedule a virtual session with Cushing, email michael.cushing@utoledo.edu<\/a> or send him a message through Ritter Planetarium\u2019s Facebook page<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ritter Planetarium also is offering free programs that families can watch online: \u201cDinosaurs at Dusk,\u201d \u201cBirth of Planet Earth\u201d and \u201cDynamic Earth.\u201d Links to the videos are available at Ritter Planetarium\u2019s website<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Michael Cushing, director of the UToledo Ritter Planetarium, is available to answer questions from home through Zoom, Skype and FaceTime with children in elementary school.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":812,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,39,1,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59107"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/812"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59107"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59107\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63825,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59107\/revisions\/63825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}