Last night at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History , Dr. Alex Filippenko of Berkely gave a lecture entitled Dark Energy and the Runaway Universe. Filippenko is the second speaker of the Las Cumbres Observatory Lecture Series, in partnership with the University of California, Santa Barbara and the Museum of Natural History.

 

National Astronomy Day 2007 was celebrated across the country on April 21. Rachel Ross of LCOGTN joined the crowd at the Prince Kuhio Plaza in Hilo on the Big Island of Hawaii.

 

The first teacher training day was held in Santa Barbara, CA in partnership with UCSB's Kavli Institute of Theoretical Physics (KITP).

 

KITP holds annual one-day conferences that brings over a hundred science teachers from secondary schools from around the country to UCSB. During the day, the teachers get to meet and talk to several of the worlds experts on different areas of the latest and most exciting physics research. More information about KITP and the teachers conferences can be found here.

 

The American Astronomical Society (AAS) held its annual meeting this year in Seattle, Washington between January 5th and 10th. Two members of LCOGT (Rachel Ross and Stuart Taylor) went and presented posters. The poster presented by Rachel Ross can be viewed below. (Click to enlarge)

 

This year, the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 's (ASP) Annual Engaging the EPO Community was held in Baltimore, Maryland September 15-18. Two members of LCOGT attended, Rachel Ross (Santa Barbara) and Bill Geibink (Maui).

 

Three members of LCOGT (Paul Roche and Sarah Roberts from Cardiff, and Rachel Ross from Santa Barbara) attended the Annual Global Hands On Universe (GHOU) Conference held this year in Provence France at the Observatoire de Haute Provence from August 6th through 10th, 2006.

 

Dr. Alan Dressler , of the Carnegie Institution of Washington, kicked off the first of the Las Cumbres Observatory Lecture Series at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History tonight, presented by the University of California, Santa Barbara .

National Astronomy Day occurred on May 6, 2006. Several people from LCOGT celebrated at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. There were hands-on activities run by members of the museum's teen program, telescopes with solar filters set up by the Santa Barbara Astronomical Unit for safe viewing of sunspots and the active corona, a raffle for kids with a telescope as a prize, and lots of information about astronomy!

The Astronomical Society of the Pacific 's Astronomy From the Ground Up (AFGU) workshop was held April 19-21 in Tucson, Arizona. Rachel Ross attended along with people from natural history museums and nature centers across the country.

 

Several hands-on activities were done and field trips were taken to places such as Kitt Peak and the Sonora Desert Museum.