Welcome to Michele Stark's home page!

Looking at the stars always makes me
dream, as simply as I dream over the black
dots representing towns and villages on a
map. Why, I ask myself, shouldn't the
shining dots of the sky be as accessible as
the black dots on the map of France?
-Vincent van Gogh

Relevant info:

Physical Address: 417 Davey Lab
Mailing Address:
525 Davey Lab
University Park, PA 16802
Phone: (814) 865-8484
E-mail: stark_(at)_astro.psu.edu
Advisor: Richard Wade

What's here:

Star
Cluster The Sky

The Sky's my treasure chest,
It's there that I store
Diamonds and sapphires,
Emeralds galore
Rubies of red, jades of green
Topaz and opal, iridescent sheen
Gems of all color,
Jewels of all hue,
This treasure's all mine,
But I'll share it with you.

-G. O. Pitcovich

     Believe it or not, the primary purpose I had in creating this page was to provide links to places that I found interesting, informational, and/or otherwise useful (with a few entertaining links to wacky sites) so I could access them from any computer, anywhere. The vast majority of links that I have collected are to sites that deal with astronomy and/or space sciences. My links have been divided up into various sub-pages (off my links page - divided by category) they include: links to family and friends, colleges resources, science links, fun links, and (of course) lots of astronomy links.
     Well, that's not all that's here anymore - from its humble beginnings, my page has grown quite a bit more than I had ever expected. Now, not only does it include an ever-growing collection of links, but it also contains a small (but sporadically growing) photo gallery of a few of my pictures, information on research projects (past and present) that I have worked on, and is additionally home to the web page of the ASTRO 11 sections that I have taught at Penn State (including some labs that I wrote).
     Feel free to explore to your heart's content... "The important thing is not to stop questioning." (Albert Einstein, 1879-1955)

Light Pollution News!!!

National Dark-Sky Day Petition - sign the petition to encourage congress to create a nation dark sky day!

National Dark Sky Week - April 19-26, 2004 (10pm-12am Eastern and Mountain time zones, 9pm-11pm Central and Pacific time zones)

Lake Hudson Dark Sky Preserve - bill passed in Michigan in Jan 2002 preserving dark skies around Lake Hudson State Recreation Area (near Clayton, MI)

Pennsylvania "Outdoor Lighting Control Act" originally introduced by Representative Bruce Smith on October 30, 2000 and reintroduced on March 26, 2001 as HOUSE BILL 300. For information on how you can help check out Pennsylvanians for an Outdoor Lighting Control Act (POLCA) website.

For more information on light pollution and what you can do to help be sure to check out:

Quote from Contact that I particularly like
Why are we here? - a mind-boggling answer from astrophysicists

E-mail to stark_(at)_astro.psu.edu

Last Updated: May 12, 2005.