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Parker Punch-Palooza

Feb 22 2025 - 10:00am to 3:00pm
Location: 
Museum and Planetarium

Learn about NASA’s two newest missions to the Sun with hands-on activities and back-to-back presentations from NASA researchers! This event includes a special preview of the PUNCH Mission Launch, guest speakers, and short talks by the Parker mission scientist and Parker mission engineer about the Parker Solar Probe.

Enjoy info tables, handouts, and giveaways from the Parker Solar Probe and PUNCH mission teams, hands-on activities about the Sun, and demos from local teachers who are working with the Johns Hopkins, Space Exploration Maker-Place Program. Plus, catch a special preview of the PUNCH Mission and Launch by PUNCH mission scientists, including researchers from our museum!

At 1:00 pm, catch a special Parker Solar Probe planetarium show and short talks by a Parker mission scientist and Parker mission engineer about the Probe. Then at 2:00 pm, enjoy a special PUNCH mission planetarium show, including a live feed from PUNCH scientist in California at the launch site, and a short talk by a PUNCH mission scientist. 

Both are free with museum admission: come to one or stay for both! NOTE: our regularly scheduled 2:00 pm Planetarium show will be canceled on Feb. 22.

About the Missions

Parker Solar Probe: A NASA mission that is in orbit around the sun to study the Sun’s corona (outer atmosphere) and the solar wind. On December 24, 2024 the probe made a very close approach to the sun and became the first to fly through the corona at a record 3.8 million miles from the sun’s surface. It’s solar shield successfully protected it from temperatures reaching 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit. Learn more at science.nasa.gov/mission/parker-solar-probe.

PUNCH: PUNCH stands for Polarimeter to UNify the Corona and Heliosphere. The NASA PUNCH mission is focused on what is called the inner heliosphere (between the Sun and Earth) to better understand how the corona and solar wind affect Earth. Four small satellites will orbit Earth to image the solar wind and monitor “space weather.” The New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science is one of the key institutions on the PUNCH outreach team. PUNCH is on the launchpad at Vandenberg AF Base right now and will launch on Feb 27. More info at science.nasa.gov/mission/punch/.

Special Guests

Dr. E.K. (Manolis) Georgoulis, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. Senior Professional Staff Physicist, Space Exploration Sector, Science Team Member, Parker Solar Probe.

Dr. Chris Lowder, astrophysicist, PUNCH team member giving a short talk entitled "Reading Sunlight." Dr. Lowder specializes in studying the magnetic field of the Sun's corona.

John Wirzburger, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. Aerospace Guidance and Control Engineer. Currently Parker Solar Probe Mission Systems Engineer and Group Supervisor of the Astrodynamics and Control Group, Space Exploration Sector

Price: 
Included with Museum Admission
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