Public lecture, telescope viewing part of SCOPES conference at UMN Morris

The University of Minnesota Morris will be hosting a conference and workshop in June centered on small campus observatories.

The Small-Campus Observatories as Promoters of Education in Science (SCOPES) conference will include faculty, staff and student participants from 19 different colleges from Minnesota, South Dakota, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, and Ohio.  Topics include archeoastronomy, technical dome problems, science outreach ideas, and student projects in exoplanet hunts.

The conference is funded by a grant from the Heising-Simons Foundation and is being coordinated by UMN Morris Associate Professor of Physics Sylke Boyd, who is the caretaker of the campus observatory.

“I am hoping this conference can serve to create a community, exchange experiences and ideas associated with the facilities, allow our students to shine, and learn from each other.”

As part of the conference, Michael Coughlin, assistant professor at the Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics, will give a public presentation titled, “Eyes and Ears on Spacetime,” at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 5 in the Science Auditorium. That will be followed by an outdoor telescope extravaganza on the campus mall at approximately 8:45 p.m, with mobile 8” and 12” telescopes from various institutions. Additionally, the UMN Morris observatory will be open for public viewing through the 16” telescope that evening.