New England Fall Astronomy Festival

10/19/2024

On behalf of the NEFAF Planning Committee, the University of New Hampshire and the New Hampshire Astronomical Society (NHAS), I would like to thank everyone who attended this year's NEFAF. We had a record turn-out and great weather for the event and saw many happy faces throughout the Festival. Thank you to everyone who made this event possible. Thank you to the Planning Committee for the many meetings and phone conversations you had to plan and execute the Festival. Thanks to the dedicated Astronomers from the NHAS and thank you to our sponsors whose funding allowed the event to take place. Thanks to to New Hampshire Space Grant, The New Hampshire 4-H Foundation, the Southwest Research Institute (SWRi), the Department of Physics and Astronomy, UNH Cooperative Extension, Beswick Engineering, and the New Hampshire Astronomical Society. And thanks to all of the individual contributors for your donations that helped to bring NEFAF 2024 to life. Without you all, the New England Fall Astronomy Festival would not happen. We're already looking forward to NEFAF 2026!

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10/01/2024

NEFAF SCHEDULE for OCT. 4 and OCT. 5

2024 New England Fall Astronomy Festival
Friday, October 4 Keynote Speaker - Heidi Hammel, VP Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA)

7:00 & Observing through telescopes until 11:00 PM
Country Road BBQ (Vegetarian Options) available Friday Night (dinner and after keynote talk) and all day Saturday

Saturday, October 5 : 10:30 AM - GATES OPEN Activities and talks all day and & Star Gazing until 11:00 PM

10:30-5:30
Kids’ Hands-On Activities (Build a motorized Mars Rover, Build a Simple refracting telescope, Play-Doh Model of the Solar System, UV Solar Bead Bracelets, Moon Phases with Oreo Cookies, Astronomer’s Flashlights, Pocket Solar System and more)
Main Tent

Search the NEFAF Universe: AstroScavenger Hunt
Start at the Entrance Table or Main Tent - Kids’ Activities

Kids’ Astro Games (Planet Ring Toss, Black Hole Toss, Galaxy Golf, Constellation Conquest, Planet Scramble)
Lawn in front of Observatories

Face Painting
Entrance of the Main Tent

A Walk Through the Solar System (scale model)
North Field - Self Guided

Raffle Tickets for Telescopes and Binoculars
Entrance Table, Main Tent, Roving Sales

Safe Solar Observing
Telescopes in and near Observatories and Main Tent

Rocket Building and Launching six groups of 12 (Ages 6 and up please!)
Main Tent
Sign-ups start at 10:30
Rocket Building ( Group 1 11:00, Group 2 11:30, Group 3 12:00; Group 4 1:00; Group 5: 1:30 Group 6: 2:00)
Rocket Launching ( Group 1 11:45, Group 2 12:15, Group 3 12:45; Group 4 1:45; Group 5 2:15; Group 6 2:45)

SHORT INFORMAL SCIENCE TALKS (UNH Faculty, Grad Students)
11:30 - 5:00 PM Specifics of each talk posted below and on schedules at the Welcome Table and outside of Speaker’s Tent
5:00 - NEFAF ASTRO RAFFLE
NHAS Telescope Clinics: Have a sick or uncooperative telescope? Let us take a look! * NHAS Booth - Main Tent 12:00-1:00 and 4:00-5:00
7:15 and 8:15PM
Laser Pointer Sky Tour Programs
8:00-11:00 PM
Telescope Observing of the Night Sky

11:30 -5:00 PM
SHORT INFORMAL SCIENCE TALKS
11:30 A Journey from the Sun to the Earth - Ben Zhuang
12:00 Origins of Time Keeping and Direction from Celestial Motion - Kenneth Lannamann 1:00 All Things Sunny - Arlo Johnson
1:30 The 2024 Solar Eclipse: Catching the Sun With Citizen Science - Raman Mukundan
2:00 Solar Storms, Human Consequences, and Machine Learning - Michael Coughlan
2:45 Using Rockets to Study Earth's Atmosphere-Space Transition Region - Diana Swanson
3:15 Aurora and Cube Sats - Jenna Burgett
4:00 Neutron Stars and NASA's IXPE Mission - Jacob Casey
4:30 Balloon Campaigns and Black Holes - Sean Spooner
5:00 NEFAF Astro Raffle
5:45 Star Party Training and the Addition of Astronomy into the NH 4-H programs: Opening remarks by Amy Loader, Interim Director of the UNH Cooperative Extension
6:00 4-H Star Party Training - John Gianforte
NEFAF EXHIBITORS - ALL DAY SATURDAY
Southwest Research Institute (SWRi)
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter/CRaTER
Slooh
Mount Washington Weather Observatory
NASA Solar Sys. Ambassador S. Jensen
Plymouth State University(PSU)
PSU Astronomy Club
American Meteorological Society
McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center (MSDC)
New Hampshire Astronomical Society
UNH Observatory
College of Life Science and Agriculture
UNH Cooperative Extension & 4-H
UNH’s Space Technology Hub
Austin Education, LLC
Leitzel Center
410 Research Laboratory
Department of Physics and Astronomy

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09/27/2024

Okay space enthusiasts the New England Fall Astronomy Festival is just 1 week away! Things will kick-off next Friday evening, October 4 at 7 PM when our special guest, Heidi Hammel will talk to us about the amazing James Webb Space Telescope, what we've learned from its observations and what we can expect. Following Heidi's talk, we'll spend the rest of the night observing the nighttime sky. Then, on Saturday morning, October 5 the NEFAF gate opens at 10:30 with lots of wonderful astronomy-related activities for anyone interested in space. There will be kids hands-on science activities, safe solar observing, telescope clinics where you can bring your own sick telescope where our experts will help you learn how to use your scope or tell you what you can do to get it working again. Here are some of the celestial wonders you'll be able to see for yourself! NEFAF is just the event for families with budding scientists who can't get enough SPACE!

08/29/2024

We are planning some fantastic activities for astronomers of ALL ages for the upcoming New England Fall Astronomy Festival. Our young scientists will be building and launching their own rockets from the official UNH Launch pad, they'll be able to build motorized Rovers, and build working refracting telescopes that they can bring home! For Adults we'll have short, informal science talks that will run throughout the day on Saturday, safe solar observing and our famous telescope clinics to help you get to know that telescope that's been in your closet since last Christmas.
After dark, on both Friday and Saturday we'll all be scanning the heavens with many different telescopes provided by Astronomers from the New Hampshire Astronomical Society and Astronomers of the UNH Observatory staff.

Where else can you do all of this for free? Not in this galaxy!

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08/21/2024

The New England Fall Astronomy Festival will return to the Durham UNH campus this fall on Friday and Saturday, October 4th and 5th. This year, our Keynote speaker is Dr. Heidi Hammel, the Vice President of AURA (the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy). Dr. Hammel is a planetary astronomer and will kick-off this year's NEFAF on Friday evening October 4th at 7 PM with her talk on the new James Webb Space Telescope. Following Dr. Hammel's talk, there will be evening stargazing and telescope observing using the UNH Observatory's two research grade domed telescopes as well as sophisticated telescopes provided by the New Hampshire Astronomical Society(NHAS), the long time co-founder and co-supporter of the festival. The UNH Physics and Astronomy Department along with NHAS has put on the festival since 2011 and has benefitted from the collaboration with regional amateur astronomy club members who have provided their time, expertise, and their telescopes to make NEFAF a success. NEFAF is a family friendly event with a multitude of educational and fun activities for space fans of all ages and educational levels. The event is free and open to everyone.

08/05/2022

In case you haven't heard The New England Fall Festival is back! Yes, NEFAF 2022 is on for Friday, September 30 and Saturday, October 1 at the UNH Observatory site on the Durham campus. Set your GPS application to 16 Spinney Lane, in Durham, NH and you'll drive right to the AstroAction of this immersion into Astronomy and Space Exploration designed for astronomers of all ages and their families! If you did not attended any of our previous NEFAFs in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, or 2018 you do NOT want want to miss NEFAF 2022. Follow the link below to our new NEFAF website that tells you everything you need to know about this year's Festival. Like all NEFAFs in the past, there is no admission charge for the festival, but we are stressing that donations are welcome and very much appreciated as we try to plan for future NEFAFs. Learn more here:

The New England Fall Astronomy Festival

03/30/2020

Learn the science behind space travel

03/03/2020

Mark your calendars! Yuri's Night Portsmouth is your chance to meet real astrophysicists, rocket scientists, and astronomers from University of New Hampshire and beyond. Join us on Tuesday, April 7th at 3S Artspace in Portsmouth for this fun event!
McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center

03/26/2019

Celebrate the anniversary of humanity's first voyage into space at Yuri's Night Portsmouth! Join us on April 10th at 3S Artspace for an evening of fun and exploration featuring astrophysicists, rocket scientists and astronomers (including "The Sky Guy" John Gianforte, a University of New Hampshire physics professor and director for the UNH Observatory). Tickets and more info below.
UNH Engineering & Physical Sciences UNH Physics Department

Yuri's Night PortsmouthWednesday, April 106-10pmPartially seated$10 AdmissionGet "spaced out” at Yuri’s Night Portsmouth: a social, educational, and artistic celebration of humanity's first steps into the “final frontier."It was April 12, 1961 when Soviet