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.