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One science fiction film, one animated movie and a popular television show now in syndication were featured in Dr. Eric Klumpe’s First Friday Star Party on March 1, 2013. Klumpe, a professor in the MTSU Department of Physics and Astronomy, poked fun at Hollywood with his “Funky Fizix in Film: Having Fun at Hollywood’s Expense” Star Party in Wiser-Patten Science Hall. You can learn more about the event at http://mtsunews.com/mtsu-star-party-march-2013.
Dr. Eric Klumpe
One science fiction film, one animated movie and a popular television show now in syndication will be featured in Dr. Eric Klumpe’s First Friday Star Party on Friday, March 1.
Klumpe, a professor in the MTSU Department of Physics and Astronomy, promises a fun time with his “Funky Fizix in Film: Having Fun at Hollywood’s Expense” Star Party starting at 6:30 p.m. The event will be held in Room 102 of Wiser-Patten Science Hall. It is free and open to the public.
“What do ‘Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow,’ ‘Despicable Me’ and the TV series ‘Monk’ all have in common?” Klumpe said. “They all ‘bend’ the laws of physics and, as such, are this semester’s installment of ‘Funky Fizix in Film.’” Klumpe promises “a hilarious good time watching movies and talking physics.”
Weather permitting, the star party will continue when participants go outside and utilize telescopes set up by the observatory. People should dress warmly; temperatures are expected to be in the mid- to upper 30s.
To learn more about the spring Star Party series, visit www.mtsu.edu/physics/images/Star_Parties.pdf.
Free parking is available for attendees behind Wiser-Patten. A campus map can be found at http://tinyurl.com/MTParkingMap12-13.
To find the parking lot, turn off of East Main Street onto Baird Lane. Turn right onto Alumni Drive and then turn left onto Friendship Street next to the Science Building construction site. Before the road starts to curve, turn left into the parking lot. Handicap parking requires a state permit.
For more information, contact Klumpe at 615-898-2483, Dr. Chuck Higgins at 615-898-5946 or the physics and astronomy office at 615-898-2130.
You can watch a video about this Star Party below.
— Randy Weiler (Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu)
Dr. Charles Higgins will share his perspective of “The Cosmological Principle” during the MTSU Department of Physics and Astronomy’s next First Friday Star Party.
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey, shown above, is two separate surveys in one. Galaxies are identified in 2-D images, at right, then have their distance determined from their spectrum to create a 3-D map, left, that is 2 billion light-years deep. Each galaxy is shown as a single point and the color represents the luminosity. This survey only the 66,976 of the 205,443 galaxies in the map that lie near the plane of Earth’s equator. (Photo courtesy of Sloan Digital Sky Survey)
The event will be held starting at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 1, in Wiser-Patten Science Hall Room 102.
Following Higgins’ 30- to 45-minute talk and weather permitting, attendees will go outside to utilize telescopes set up by the observatory. Attendees should dress warmly, because temperatures are expected to be 27 to 28 degrees.
“The Cosmological Principle in modern physical cosmology is the assumption that there is no special place in the universe,” Higgins, an associate professor, said.
“The view of the universe is the same and the laws of physics apply, no matter where you are located. This principle can be tested; these tests, examples, and consequences of this principle are presented and related to our understanding of the universe.”
To learn more about the spring First Friday Star Party series, visit www.mtsu.edu/physics/images/Star_Parties.pdf.
Free parking is available for star party attendees behind the Wiser-Patten building.
To reach the parking lot, turn off of East Main Street onto Baird Lane. Turn right onto Alumni Drive, and then turn left onto Friendship Street next to the Science Building construction site. Before the road starts to curve, turn left into the parking lot. Handicap parking requires a state permit.
For more information, contact Higgins at 615-898-5946 or Dr. Eric Klumpe at 615-898-2483, or call the physics and astronomy office at 615-898-2130.
— Randy Weiler (Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu)
The Supernovea will be the primary topic of professor Chuck Higgins’ Dec. 7 MTSU Star Party. (Photo courtesy of NASA/ESA)
Department of Physics and Astronomy professor Chuck Higgins will explore the Supernovae during the Friday, Dec. 7, First Friday Star Party.
Higgins’ presentation is titled “Supernovae: Nature’s Brightest Candles.” It will be held starting at 6:30 p.m. in Wiser-Patten Science Hall Room 102. The event is free and open to the public. MTSU students, faculty and staff and children are welcome.
After Higgins’ 30- to 45-minute talk and weather permitting, participants will go outdoors to utilize telescopes set up at the observatory.
Free parking is available for Star Party attendees behind Wiser-Patten.
To reach the parking lot, turn off of East Main Street onto Baird Lane. Turn right onto Alumni Drive, and then turn left onto Friendship Drive adjacent to the construction site for the new Science Building. When the road starts to curve, turn left into the parking lot. Handicap parking requires a state permit.
A printable campus map is available at http://tinyurl.com/MTParkingMap12-13.
For more information contact Higgins at 615-898-5946, Dr. Eric Klumpe at 615-898-2483 or call the physics and astronomy office at 615-898-2130.
Physics and astronomy is one of 10 College of Basic and Applied Sciences departments.
— Randy Weiler (Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu)
Dr. Charles “Chuck” Higgins will discuss “Juno to Jupiter” during the fall semester’s final First Friday Star Party at MTSU on Friday, Dec. 2.
The star party will begin at 6:30 p.m. in Wiser-Patten Science Hall Room 102. After the lecture, weather permitting, there will be an outdoor telescope-observation opportunity for participants.
The Juno spacecraft is a NASA New Frontiers mission to Jupiter. Launched Aug. 5 from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Brevard County, Fla., Juno is expected to arrive at our solar system’s largest planet around July 4, 2016.
It will travel about 1,740 million miles. Instruments aboard Juno will take thermal radiation measurements from within Jupiter’s atmosphere and collect other data. The mission, expected to end in October 2017, will include the spacecraft completing 33 orbits before being de-orbited and crashing into the planet.
Higgins is an associate professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and has been at MTSU since 2001.
Along with MTSU Space Grant coordinator Mark Abolins, Higgins’ most recent research grant study has been “Analysis of Jupiter’s Radio Emission” using the Voyager, Galileo and Cassini spacecrafts as part of the Tennessee Space Grant Consortium since 2006.
First Friday Star Parties are open to the general public as well as MTSU students, faculty and staff, and children are welcome. Free parking is available beginning at 4:30 p.m. behind Wiser-Patten only on Star Party Fridays.
For more information, call Higgins at 615-898-5946 or Dr. Eric Klumpe at 615-898-2483.
The spring 2012 schedule for First Friday Star Parties will be announced early next year.
– Randy Weiler (Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu)
