Proposals

Abstract

We are requesting the funds for new equipment that will allow us to expand our outreach to the daytime and to UW students on-campus. Our existing outreach programs reach many members of the UW community, but relatively few UW students. Additionally, much of our existing equipment is from donations, which results in all different and outdated pieces, making it difficult for our student-volunteers to use. By purchasing a solar telescope and an additional mount for an existing - but unusable - nighttime telescope, we will expand our outreach efforts to UW students. Furthermore, a solar telescope will also enable our student-volunteers to become NASA Eclipse Ambassadors and perform outreach for the upcoming 2023 and 2024 solar eclipses. With this equipment, our successful programs at the Theodor Jacobsen Observatory (TJO) and the UW planetarium can provide the unique experience of observing in the daytime, and we will be ready for the upcoming eclipse events, all of which will foster curiosity and excitement in those we reach with these programs.

Access

Although this will be a more casual system, we want to know where the equipment will be at all times. We will have a Google Form where students can request to use it and have a schedule using Google Calendar ran by the League of Astronomers.