March Evening at PARI - How to Use a Telescope Workshop

Dr. Bob Hayward and Dr. Michael Castelaz lead more than 40 novice users through the basic functions of telescopes at the March Evening at PARI. Visitors also took guided tours of the campus, including APDA. Click March 2010 PHOTOS to see pictures from the evening. Click REGISTRATION to find out how to register for other upcoming events. Click PHOTOS to see pictures from past Evenings. 

PARI Welcomes Visitors to Our Campus

Each year thousand of people come to PARI. We have welcomed visitors from around the world. Monthly we have guests who attend our very popular Evening at PARI programs. Each Wednesday at 2:00 pm PARI's volunteer docents lead guided tours of our campus. Click DOCENT TOURS to see pictures from past tours. In addition we are pleased to host other groups and individuals during our regular hours and for special events. Click 2010 VISITORS to see recent pictures of our visitors. Click PAST VISITORS to see pictures from previous years.

PARI STAR PARTY March 12-14

Participants at the March 12-14, 2010 Star Party attended the monthly Evening at PARI program Friday night, which featured a workshop of "How to Use a Telescope" by Drs. Bob Hayward and Michael Castelaz. They were also introduced to the research opportunities in APDA by Director Thurburn Barker, heard about the history of PARI from President Don Cline, attended planetarium shows by Director of Education Christi Whitworth and shared ideas among themselves on new techniques in astronomy. Click PHOTOS to see pictures from the weekend. Click PREVIOUS PHOTOS to see pictures from the September 2009 Star Party. 

PARI President Gives Keynote Address at High Point University

PARI president Don Cline gave the Keynote address at High Point University's High Point Universe Day on Friday, February 26, 2010. Don spoke to more that 150 people on, "Time Domain Astronomy: It's All About Physics."  Click PHOTOS to see pictures of his talk. PARI is a leader in Time Domain Astronomy since opening the Astronomical Photographic Data Archive (APDA). Researchers and students have come to PARI to use our resources to examine historical photographic film and plates of astronomical observations.

PARI Represented at Tri-Star

PARI was represented by Don and Jo Cline at the annual gathering of amateur astronomers at Tri-Star in Greensboro, NC on Friday, March 6, 2010. Click PHOTOS to see pictures from the event. The keynote speaker, who gave the Harlow Shapley Lecture, was Dr. Neil Comins from the University of Maine. Don and Jo gave Dr. Comins a tour of the Cline Observatory. His topic for the lecture was, "What if Earth Were a Moon?" The participants also heard from Tim Martin, recenty back from an Arctic expedition.

The PARI 2009 Annual Report is Available

The 2009 Annual Report has been published and is available for downloading. This is the fifth year that PARI has published an annual report. Highlights from this past year include: STEM programs such as Duke TIP, ROBOTS, Homeschool and Space Science Lab; Research programs such as the Astronomical Photographic Data Archive (APDA), the PARSEC Interferometer and the Clemson Fabry-Perot Spectrometer; and reports on Friends of PARI, StarLab and the Stellar Classification Online- Public Exploration (SCOPE). Click 2009 ANNUAL REPORT for a color pdf of the report. Click Winter 2009 VIEW to see the latest quarterly newsletter. Click 2009 STUDENT SUMMER RESEARCH PROCEEDINGS for a copy of this year's research reports.

PARI Was Well Represented at AAS Conference

Don Cline, Jo Cline, Thurburn Barker, Michael Castelaz and Cline Scholar Steve Harenberg participated in the 215th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Washington, D.C the week of January 4th. In addition to attending the sessions, they presented four posters, including: PARI's Space Science Lab, APDA Overview, APDA Research Projects and PARI's Citizen Science Project, SCOPE. Click PHOTOS to see pictures of the PARI team at the conference.

PARI Adds a New Research Instrument

In November 2009 the PARI staff installed a new antenna array to monitor the Vela pulsar. This instrument, which was mounted on the Optical Ridge (south), was donated to PARI by Don and Jo Cline. Click PHOTOS to see pictures of the array being installed. The streaming data from this instrument will be available soon on the PARI website.

Astronomers from Czech Republic Doing Research at PARI

Astronomers Rene Hudec and Lukas Hudec, visiting from the Czech Repubic, are studying the spectra of stars and galaxies using photographic images in the PARI Astronomical Photographic Data Archive (APDA). Dr. Hudec will use the results in combination with data to be taken by the European Space Agency GAIA Space TElescope to be launched in 2012. Click PHOTOS to see pictures from their visit.

Homeschool Day at PARI on November 5th

The next Homeschool Day at PARI was held on campus on Thursday, November 5, 2009. This is the fifth year that PARI has hosted homeschoolers and their parents for these science education days. Topics for the Day included basic circuits, solar energy, remote observation and GPS. Seventy students attended the sessions with their parents. Click PHOTOS to see pictures from the day. Click PAST HOMESCHOOL DAYS to see pictures from previous Homeschool Day programs.

PARI Hosts Furman University Freshman Seminar

Students in Furman University's First Year Seminar, "Mars on the Shoulders of Giants", spent two days at PARI on Wednesday and Thursday, September 30 - October 1, 2009. Furman Professor and PARI Research Associate, Dr. David Moffett, brought the students. He was assisted by Furman's Center for Teaching and Learning Associate Director Mike Winiski. Wednesday evening the students used PARI's instruments to collect astronomical images. Click PHOTOS to see pictures from their visit.

PARI Receives a Plate Collection from Vanderbilt University

Dr. Arnold Heiser, Professor Emeritus, Dyer Observatory, Vanderbilt University delivered a collection of 3,000 astronomical photographic plates to PARI on Tuesday, October 6, 2009. Click PHOTOS to see pictures. The plates, dating back to 1953 were taken using Dyer's 24" elescope. This is a significant addition to the APDA collections. PARI's Science Director, Dr. Michael Castelaz, coordinated this donation.

PARI Hosts R.O.B.O.T.S. Symposium for Third Year

For the third summer PARI hosted students participating in the NSF-Supported R.O.B.O.T.S. program for the annual symposium and robotics competition. This year students from the NC-MSEN program at North Carolina A&T State University came to PARI on Wednesday, August 5th. Click PHOTOS to see pictures from the event. PARI has been a proud collaborator on this program, providing teachers professional development training and opportunities for students from around the state to experience the hands-on science at PARI, both on campus and remotely.

Transylvania Times Thanks PARI for Service to the Community 

An editorial in the April 23rd edition of the Transylvania Times newspaper thanked PARI for meeting our mission. They wrote, "Ten years ago that facility was taken over by the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute, better known as PARI. Since that time PARI has had nothing but a beneficial effect on the community." Click EDITORIAL to read the complete text of the article. Congratulations to the entire PARI staff, including our great partners from Avant Communications, who have helped us spread the word of the good works of PARI. And we especially thank Don & Jo Cline for their many years of support.

Prominent Geologist Helps Design PARI Geology Tour

The Curator of Geology for the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Dr. Christopher Tacker, is leading an effort to develop a self-guided geology tour of PARI. Dr. Tacker came to PARI twice in the last few weeks to collect samples and assess PARI's rock formations. Click PHOTOS to see pictures from his visit on May 27-28. While at PARI, Dr. Tacker made a presentation on the richness of PARI's geological history.

Photos of the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute

Located on the site of the former NASA Rosman Tracking Station in the Pisgah National Forest, PARI offers an unparalleled opportunity for people of all ages to experience the wonders of scientific research first hand. Click PHOTOS to see pictures of PARI taken at various times throughout the year.