Our Astronomy Outreach program began in 2003 when Professor Tammy Smecker-Hane received a grant from the UCI FOCUS program, funded by the National Science Foundation. It continues today with funding from the School of Physical Sciences and from fees paid to us by the participating schools and groups. We offer tours of the UCI Observatory, which is located on the outskirts of campus, and we bring lectures, hands-on activities and telescopes to local K-12 schools. You can read more about the program by downloading our poster paper given at the June 2006 American Astronomical Society meeting.

Tours and classroom visits are conducted by undergraduate and graduate students, who are studying astronomy and physics at UCI. Classroom visits usually take place during normal school hours, and tours of the Observatory can either take place during afternoons or evenings. We charge a fee for this service, which pays for the students' salaries and the materials used during your tour or classroom visit. We will work with you to design a program that fits your needs, and the price will vary according to the duration of your tour or visit and the numbers of students involved. A typical tour/visit will include a powerpoint presentation on a topic of your choosing (Earth/Moon/Sun, Solar System, All About Stars, or Galaxies and the Universe) and hands-on activities. See our Activitiy List to get an idea of the range of activities we can do, and we describe below some typical arrangements for tours/classroom visits.

Evening tours:  Evening tours will typically run from 7:00 to 9:00 pm.  We expect students' parents or school to provide their own transportation to/from the Observatory.  Visitors will have the opportunity to tour the main Observatory dome and view planets, star clusters, nebulae and galaxies that are visible that night with a variety of telescopes. Maps of the night sky will be handed out and instructions will be given in how to use them to identify planets and constellations. A Powerpoint lecture can be subsituted for telescope viewing in the event of cloudy weather. Typical Cost: $140 for 50 children, parents and teachers.
Afternoon tours: Afternoon tours will typically run from 1:00 to 2:30 pm. We expect the school to provide students with bus transportation between the school and Observatory. Visitors will have the opportunity to tour the main Observatory dome and 24-inch telescope, build a scale model solar system, create a comet from dry ice, view sunspots and solar flares with other telescopes, and listen to a lecture given in a classroom on campus. See the Activity List for details. High school classes might also be interested in taking the UCI campus tour, which begins at noon and lasts approximately one hour. Typical Cost: $300 for 100 students.
School visits: In the event that it is not possible for a school to come to UCI, we can also schedule a visit to your school. The length of our visit can vary from 2 hours for a few classes to a full school day to visit numerous grades at a given school. Students will have the opportunity to see a Powerpoint presentation about the solar system, stars & galaxies, or whatever subject best fits your curriculum. In addition, we will bring two telescopes to image the Sun and show students sunspots and solar flares, as well as a number of age- appropriate hands-on activities such as creating a scale model solar system, comet making, investigation of cratering, physics of light, etc. See the Activity List for details. Typical Cost: $300 for a 3 hour visit with 120 students.

1. What is your name, email address, postal address and telephone numbers? Please include a cell or work number, and a home number that will be used only in the case of an emergency.
2. At what school and in what school district do you teach, or what is the name of your group?
   
3. What grade(s) are the students?
   
4. Are you interested in a tour of the Observatory or a visit to your classroom? Are you interested in a daytime or nighttime event?
5. If you are interested in a daytime event, how many students are involved? If you are interested in a nightime event, how many students, parents and teachers do you expect to attend?
   
6. If you are interested in a daytime visit to your school, what is the school's address? Please include a zipcode so we can easily get driving directions from the internet.  What is your daytime schedule: start time, recess, lunch, end time? What is the best time for our visit?
7. Consult our Activity List and let us know if there are specific activities you want us to do with your group.
   

• Directions and Campus Map showing the location on campus of the UCI Observatory.
• Directions to UCI and map of the local freeways.