Statewide Star Party 2020: Monday, November 9

Join us for our virtual statewide star party! Eventbrite registration link at the bottom of the page or click the button below.

Register Now

7 pm: Come to the Dark Side: Protecting Your Starry Night Sky

Dr. Connie Walker | Scientist at NSF’s NOIRLab and Director of Globe at Night

Dr. Walker will kick off our Statewide Star Party by discussing the citizen science project Globe at Night, the importance of protecting our night skies, how it can be done, and our individual contributions to ending light pollution.

Dr. Connie Walker has worked for 14 years regionally, nationally, and internationally on light pollution issues. Interest began 14 years ago as a joint project of students in Tucson, Arizona, and La Serena, Chile, which became the monthly international citizen science campaign Globe at Night today. Along the way, Connie has been on the board of directors for the International Dark-Sky Association for six years. She is currently the president of the International Astronomical Union’s Commission on Observatory Site Protection (e.g., light pollution issues). She is also currently co-hosting several workshops/sessions/conferences on the hot topic of the impact of satellite constellations on astronomy—a new type of light pollution. Cool fact: She has an asteroid discovered and named by Carolyn Shoemaker and David Levy (discoverers of Shoemaker-Levy 9 that smashed into Jupiter). They named asteroid 29292 connie_walker for her contributions to outreach in astronomy. She has a wonderful husband, daughter, son and cat who all tolerate her interests in the dark side of astronomy.

8 pm: Launch of Globe at Night, A Citizen Science Project, for Minnesota.

In an attempt to set a record number of submissions for Minnesota, tune in to learn more about how you can participate in the Globe at Night citizen science project, joining others in collecting and submitting important data from all across the state!

8:30 pm: Live Telescope Observing from the Bell Museum Observation Deck

Grab your star map, sit back, and enjoy a tour of the night sky—live! Virtual star parties, happening every night this week, will allow you to see the wonders of the night sky from telescopes directly broadcasted to your screens. Our team and partners around the state will take you on a tour of the night sky and show you celestial objects from our solar system and beyond!

Visit the link below to return to the 2020 Statewide Star Party main event page.

Statewide Star Party Info

Accessibility: All programs will be captioned and all keynotes will be live captioned; ASL interpreters available upon request. Please contact the accessibility office at 612-624-4268 or bellaccess@umn.edu.

Special thank you to Ruth and John Huss for their generous support.

The Statewide Star Party is funded in part by