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Public Evening Lecture Series

 

STEWARD OBSERVATORY PUBLIC EVENING LECTURE SERIES

Lavinia Steward made her historic contribution of $60,000 to the University of Arizona “…TO BUY TELESCOPE OF HUGE SIZE,” on October 18, 1916.  However, the United States entry into World War I delayed the construction of the Steward Telescope and its 36-inch mirror.  That original Steward Telescope was finally used for the first time on July 17, 1922.  It would take another 9 months before the Steward Observatory and Telescope would be formally and officially dedicated on April 23, 1923.

The Telescope, however, was ready to be used before the official dedication date and Prof. Andrew Ellicott Douglass, the first Director of Steward Observatory, did not leave the telescope idle. He invited members of the campus and Tucson communities to view the wonders of the night sky through this new, large (for the time) telescope.  The date was September 28, 1922, and the Steward Observatory Public Evenings were born.

We are thrilled to celebrate over 100 years of presenting lectures on astronomy & telescope viewing to the public.  

Public Evening Lectures will begin at 7:30 p.m. in Steward Observatory Room N210.

All of the lectures and the use of the telescope are free of charge and open to the general public.

For more information, contact Dr. Thomas Fleming at 621-5049 or taf@arizona.edu.

Sign up for our monthly Astronomy Newsletter for more information about our lectures and other events taking place at https://signup.e2ma.net/signup/1797802/1759894/

                                                                                                                               

Click here to stream videos of previous Public Evening Lectures.

 

You can watch each lecture live on ZOOM at the following link:  https://arizona.zoom.us/my/stewardobservatory

 

Fall 2024 Lectures TBA

 

 

*Roger will give an update on what Steward's big spun-cast mirrors are doing and where they are
heading. Also how other telescope ideas are doing - like fibers catching starlight, and lobster eye
optics now imaging the x-ray sky.   He will also talk about new ways to use optics to counter
climate change, by shading the Earth, or better, by powering carbon dioxide removal using
sunlight. 

               

 

For the public
For Public

Public events include our Monday Night Lecture Series, world-reknowned Astronomy Camp and Mt Lemmon Sky Center.

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For Students

A good place to start if you want to become an undergrad major or grad student, or need to find our schedule of classes.

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For Scientists
For Scientists

Find telescopes and instruments, telescope time applications, staff and mountain contacts, and faculty and staff scientific interests.

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