First Day at the ASP

Today was my first day as an intern at the Astronomical Society of the Pacific!  After a wonderful tour and introduction to the office, I got to work.  One major focus of this summer is researching and preparing materials on multicultural Astronomy education.  An interesting article on the subject can be found here.


I spent today researching Native American Astronomy traditions, legends and activities.  It's been so much fun; I got to read a myriad of folklore on astronomical topics, and all were very interesting.  I've started compiling this information in a document that is broken up into five sections: legends/folklore, videos, journal articles, activities, and useful links.  My hope is to be able to add to this document throughout the summer, make similar documents that pertain to other cultures, and using these,  maybe put together a small program that might include a folk tale with accompanying videos, activities, etc so that they can be more easily used in an educational setting.

For some samples of Native American sun-related folklore, check out this link.

Tomorrow, I'll be going with the rest of the ASP crew to help out with a transit of Venus event at the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley, CA.  This is the last time you'll be able to see a transit of Venus in your lifetime -- the next transit will be in 2117!  To learn more about the transit of Venus and find a viewing time (depending on location), check out this article.

Looking forward to the rest of my summer working here!