AstroFest
Since 1999, Penn State Astronomy students, faculty, and friends have been inviting the public to Davey Lab for AstroFest, a four night festival of Astronomy held concurrently with the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts.
This year, AstroFest will be held Wednesday, July 8 through Saturday, July 11 from 8:30 - 11:30pm each night. During the day, volunteers can be seen (and heard!) all over campus and downtown. Keep your eyes out for them, for they may be observing the Sun if the weather is nice!
The schedule of events for this year's AstroFest won't be finalized until the week of Arts Fest. For an idea of what the schedule may be like, you can see last year’s schedule of presentations.
This celebration of astronomy features many exciting activities, talks, and presentations. One of the most incredible of these takes place on the roof of Davey Lab, where a fleet of telescopes will be available for observations. Our primary targets for 2009 will be the planet Saturn, a sample of the best looking binary stars, and many of the famous Messier objects, which include star clusters, gas clouds from dying stars, and even other galaxies. In the lobby can be found a Mars Rover yard, presented by Penn State's Mars Society, as well as a booth about the Swith satellite, whose base of operations is actually in State College! On the fifth floor of the building, even more astronomy-related activities will be taking place. A full list can be found in the sidebar of this page, but here are a few expanded explanations. Along the hallways, tours of the universe and the solar system will be guided by experts on the subject. An astronomy Q&A table can also be found in the hallway, where you can win prizes by answering questions correctly. Planetarium shows, featured talks given by experienced faculty, researchers, and students, and 3D shows will be presented in various rooms on this floor as well.