After almost a year without its monthly star parties and solar viewings, the Robert Ferguson Observatory has decided to go meet its audience members where they live – literally – launching a monthly series of online speakers.
Their Astronomy Speaker Series takes off this Friday, Feb. 12, with Sonoma State University’s astronomy lecturer Rachel Freed’s personal journey toward becoming an astronomical writer, researcher, editor and docent at RFO in Sugarloaf Ridge State Park.
A bit less than a year ago, Freed was the enthusiastic host for an astronomical watch party on Zoom about the Lyrid meteor shower, as participants called in meteor sightings from around the region.
This time she’ll use the format to tell of her own journey into a career in astronomy. “My presentation will focus on how I turned my passion for astronomy into a profession and the role that RFO played in my journey,” says Freed.
Freed is a co-founder and the president of the Institute for Student Astronomical Research (InStAR), working with students and educators around the world to help bring research opportunities to students. She has a B.S. degree in biology from UC Davis and an M.S. in neuroscience from Northwestern, and is working on her doctorate in astronomy.
To sign up for the free lecture, visit fb.me/e/3WVraW2GF or Robert Ferguson Observatory on Facebook.
Future presentations in the RFO speaker series include those on the Mars atmosphere, the Fermi paradox and Drake equation (the apparent contradiction between the lack of evidence for extraterrestrial civilizations and various high estimates for their probability), and many more. Speakers will include both RFO docents and other experts outside the organization. In addition, the observatory is exploring offering some presentations in Spanish.
“We are following the county’s orders to not hold public events indoors,” said Chris Cable, executive director of RFO. “But our knowledgeable and dedicated docents managed to create programs that will help inspire the public and continue our mission of bringing the universe to our community.”
The observatory is located in Sugarloaf Ridge State Park and houses a 40-inch reflector telescope, the largest telescope in Northern California that is accessible to the public; a robotic 20-inch research-grade, “CCD” telescope; and an 8-inch, 2-meter long refractor telescope; and a teaching lab for in-person presentations, when they are again allowed. Visit rfo.org for more information.
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