Photos: (left) Haojing Yan and Gourab Nandi, credit: Paul Miceli; (right) Paul Miceli on Lowry Mall, credit: Frida Qi, @frida_qi_photography

Physics and Astronomy faculty, staff, and students provide outreach to campus and communities in Missouri throughout the year.

Solar Eclipses

During the 2023 and 2024 solar ecilpses, faculty and graduate students set up viewing stations on Lowry Mall with telescopes and eclipse glasses, offering a 60% partial view of the October 14, 2023 annular solar eclipse and an almost 95% totality experience for the April 8, 2024 total solar eclipse.  

Faculty members Haojing Yan and Silvia Bompadre, and many students, including graduate students Gourab Nandi, Manoj Gadtoula, and Jenna Bologa, organized the April 2024 event, providing telescopes and demonstrations at Lowry Mall and interacted with nearly 750 visitors. Coordianted by Yicheng Guo, these events reached more than 2,500 Missourians.

Graduate students Alec Martin, Charles Mentzer, Bangzheng Sun, and Bo Yang traveled to the path of totality in southern Missouri to set up telescopes and provide information at the Eleven Point State Park for nearly 250 visitors. Teja Teppala reached nearly 1,000 visitors at a fair in Poplar Bluff.

Alex Martin and Charles Mentzer (foreground) help with eclipse information at Eleven Point State Park. Photo by Bangzheng (Tom) Sun.

Laws Observatory

Laws Observatory on top of the Physics Building is open to the public on Wednesday evenings, weather permitting, throughout the year except during the coldest months and mid-summer break. Recent upgrades to some of the rooftop scopes include modifications for a handicapped accessible scope. The observatory provided live streaming of the April 8 solar eclipse on Facebook. The events are run by student volunteers and by Randall Durk and Valentine German of the Central Missouri Astronomical Society.  

Open House

The department's annual Open House was held April 20, led by faculty members Yun Zhang and Yicheng Guo, and graduate students Dylan Chiaro, Charles Mentzer, and Teja Teppala.

Fifteen volunteers, including students from the Physics and Astronomy Graduate Student Association and Society for Physics Students, made significant contributions to the event's success. Nearly 150 adults and children explored more than 50 hands-on displays, built kaleidoscopes, and made color subtraction pictures. They watched eye-opening large-scale demonstrations and fun demonstrations with liquid nitrogen to make ice cream on the spot.