Outreach Rooted in Our Community
Starry Nights delight star-mad kids of all ages
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SFU physics professor Howard Trottier and his 800-member strong Starry Nights @ SFU group easily surpassed their goal of hosting more than 2,009 elementary school-aged kids at daytime astronomy workshops in honour of the International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009) celebrating Galileo Galilei’s historic first telescope observations in 1609. In fact, they hosted more than 2,150 kids along with 300 adults from 70 different groups and their generous funding partners donated 85 high-quality ‘Galileo Moment’ starter telescopes to groups and families. The daytime workshops at the Burnaby campus provide students, their parents, guardians and teachers with training in the use of the telescope, along with the basics of observing the Moon, planets, stars and other extraterrestrial wonders. The workshops include a star wheel produced by the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RSAC) and astronomy trading cards.