Boy Scouts Explore Space at Penn State

A troop of Boy Scouts recently went on a journey to outer space with Penn State faculty and students. Chris Palma, senior lecturer in the Penn State Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, welcomed Boy Scout Troop 422 from Annapolis, Md on December 5.

Astronomy lecturer Chris Palma tells a scout troop about different telescopes in the Davey Lab rooftop observatory.

The 43-year-old troop, led by Scoutmaster Ray Ciupek (Penn State ’71), was at Penn State for their second visit to the astronomy department.

While at Penn State, the scouts took a tour of the Davey Lab rooftop observatory. Here they were able to observe with a variety of telescopes to examine outer space. Nino Cucchiara, a graduate student in astronomy, followed up by presenting the scouts with a 30 minute planetarium show which featured scenes of stars, planets and other celestial objects.

Ciupek and his troop were pleased with the visit, “I again want to thank you and your staff for the great time we had visiting Davey Lab. You guys always put on a stellar program.”

Hosting scouts is only one of numerous outreach activities that the department participates in. Over the years, the astronomy department has hosted thousands of K-12 classes, troops, and other groups in the planetarium and at our rooftop observatory. For more information on the Penn State planetarium, visit the astronomy department Web site at www.astro.psu.edu or contact Chris Palma at planetarium@astro.psu.edu or 814-865-2255.