Please join IU South Bend faculty and student hosts for all-ages educational programming designed as preparation for the April 8th, 2024, solar eclipse (link to NASA’s eclipse site). These events are free, open to the public, and all are welcome! These are intended to be fun yet educational and structured so that attendees have… Read more »
Community Outreach
Meet the “Stars” Event
Details: The IUSB Observatory will be open, weather permitting, from 7:00-8:30 p.m. on Wednesday, November 15. Two of the best object for visual observing, Saturn and Jupiter, are in the evening sky these days, and we’ll be slewing the telescope back and forth between them, with maybe a short detour to Uranus, during this event…. Read more »
2023 Welcome Back Fair
The Physics Club staffed a table for the Fall 2023 Welcome Back Fair on Monday, August 21st21, with members and faculty taking turns to greet students and welcome new members to the club.
Dataloggers for the Classroom and Industry
Four physics majors are working with Dr. Davis and Dr. Levine on data logger projects. These are devices which control and read input from sensors and save them to an SD card for later use. Thus far, their designs utilize an Arduino microcontroller, custom circuit boards, and a simplified C-like open-source language. Versions have been… Read more »
Physics-Marine Biology Collaboration to Reduce Shark Bycatch
IUSB physics professors Ilan Levine and Brian Davis, in coordination with emeritus biology professor Peter Bushnell, have established a broad collaboration with three different teams of marine biologists in an effort to reduce shark bycatch – the inadvertent catching of sharks – in commercial fishing operations. Notably, sharks have an organ which detects electric fields,… Read more »
Prof. Davis Interviewed by ABC57 Regarding August Fireball Over Kentucky
Professor Davis was interviewed by ABC57’s Gordy Young about meteors and, more specifically, the fireball that was observed on August 2nd in Kentucky. Here’s a direct link to the clip: https://abc57.com/news
Prof. Davis Interviewed by ABC57 Regarding Recent James Webb Telescope Findings
Prof. Brian Davis was interviewed on July 9th by Emmet Twomey for ABC57 regarding recent discoveries by the James Webb Telescope; here’s a direct link to the interview hosted by abc57.com.
Teaming Up with Concord Elementary Weather Balloon Launch
Students in the Concord school system launch weather balloons each year to learn about project design and development, collaboration and, of course, the atmosphere. Since 2017 this annual project / event has been led by Ms. Elizabeth King, who is the teacher for high-ability students at Concord Ox-Bow. Here’s coverage, including pictures and video, from… Read more »
Successful Meet the Stars Event on April 19th
Several Physics Club members along with Prof. Hinnefeld hosted a fun MTS event on Wednesday, April 12th. Club member/ finance major / photography buff Nick Muraya used a 1980s-era Polaroid Sun 600 LMS to get a great group photo.
MTS Event: Wednesday, April 12th (Venus, Mars, and Stars!)
CURRENT STATUS: Conditions for the 12th are looking good! Details: The IUSB Observatory will be open, weather permitting, from 8:30-10:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 12th. Venus will still be high enough to view with the telescope at 8:30. Then we’ll have a look at Mars, and then a variety of star clusters and maybe a… Read more »