The Antioch ESPACE Academy is a local and regional center for standards-based astronomy education at all grade levels.

The Academy provides students with a motivational venue for learning about science through research or outreach oriented projects based on instruction in earth science, astronomy and space science.

 

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Science Fair Winners

Several DVHS students won prizes at the 2008 Contra Costa County Science and Engineering Fair. Click here to see our awards page for a summary, and click here to go to the student project page to learn more about our exciting projects.

 

May 13 SSP Demo Day/Black Hole Workshop

Watch this space for announcements about our upcoming workshop.

February 2009 SSP Demo Day/Black Hole workshop


On Wednesday, February 20, the DVHS ESPACE (Earth, Space, Astronomy Center for Education) Academy hosted a Black Holes workshop and Demonstration Day at Deer Valley High School in Antioch, California. The event coincided with a total lunar eclipse, and telescopes and binoculars were provided for you to see this celestial event.

4:00 Welcome
4:10 Black Hole Workshop begins
4:30 Planetarium show "Larry Cat in Space"
5:00 Planetarium show "Earth's Wild Ride"
5:30 Planetarium show "Hubble Vision"
5:45 Lunar eclipse begins
6:00 Dinner Break (1 hour)
7:00 Total Lunar Eclipse totality begins
7:45 Total Lunar Eclipse totality ends (approximately)
8:00 Black Hole Workshop resumes
8:00 Planetarium show "Black Holes: the Other Side of Infinity"
9:00 Telescopes
9:00 Black Hole workshop ends

Black Hole Workshop:
4:00-6:00 and 8:00-9:00
If you are interested in attending the Black Hole Workshop, targeted at educators and including activities, sample worksheets, demonstrations, and an educator's guide to the black hole workshop, please send an email to register to astronomyteacher@mac.com. Space is limited, so write soon if you would like to reserve a space. The Black Hole workshop includes materials from the Sonoma State University Education and Public Outreach program, and the NASA Night Sky Network.

Lunar Eclipse Viewing:
A total Lunar Eclipse will occur starting at around 5:45, reaching totality at 7, which lasts until just before 8 PM. During totality the moon is completely covered by the Earth's shadow, and it is likely to turn some shade of red as light from every sunset on earth is focused on the darkened moon by the earth's atmosphere. We will provide telescopes and docents will explain the eclipse.

Directions: Click here

In case of bad weather:
All events except telescope viewing and the lunar eclipse viewing will still take place.

 

Winter 2007 SSP Demo Day


On December 18 Mars will be as close to the earth as it gets for the next two and a half years. The ESPACE (Earth, Space, Astronomy Center for Education) academy will be providing a Demonstration Day to talk about our program and give you the opportunity to observe the red planet.


There is no charge for attending the event. It is sponsored by the California Department of Education through a Demonstration Day grant awarded to the ESPACE academy last year. The target audience is students, teachers from our school and other schools, and the general public...pretty much anyone interested in our program or the planet Mars!


During this event, we will be doing the following activities, starting at 4 PM in the second floor of the DVHS library. We will be doing activities throughout the evening until about 9 PM.


The program will take place at the Deer Valley High School Planetarium, 4700 Lone Tree Way, Antioch, CA.


Planetarium
One planetarium show every half hour until we do all of our professionally-produced shows, alternating with "What's up tonight" presented by the planetarium staff. The entire sequence repeats at 6 PM. If you haven't seen a show at our planetarium, now's the time to see what we have to offer. For younger viewers we will be showing "Larry Cat in Space" at approximately 4 PM and 6 PM.

Presentations
See short powerpoints about the ESPACE academy and the history of exploration of Mars presented by planetarium and astronomy students. Other students will be on hand to discuss ongoing research projects and plans for the upcoming science fair season. You can meet students who have used NASA space probes and ask them questions about the work.

Telescope Viewing
Weather permitting we will be showing the public the planet Mars through telescopes starting about a half an hour after dark.


Rocket Launches
Low-altitude rocket launches will be demonstrated in the athletic field before it gets dark, weather permitting. Rain or high winds will delay launches for us, just like it does with NASA.


Hallway Exhibits
Hallway exhibits will be on display with past research projects by ESPACE students on Mars, including space probe photos taken for DVHS by NASA using the Mars Global Surveyor. A new exhibit will show a Mars rover on the surface of the red planet.


School groups are welcome but should contact Jeff Adkins to ensure that enough staff is on hand to handle groups. Contact Jeff at astronomyteacher@mac.com.

Directions

The Deer Valley High School Planetarium is located at Deer Valley High School in Antioch, California.

From San Francisco, the East Bay and Contra Costa County:

 

[ Yahoo! Maps ]
Map of 4700 Lone Tree Way
Antioch, CA 94531-8486

  1. Take Highway 4 East from Concord through Bay Point and Pittsburg. We are located about 10 miles east of the Pittsburg/Bay Point BART station.
  2. Take the Hillcrest exit in Antioch. Turn right at the top of the ramp.
  3. Hillcrest becomes Deer Valley Road (Hillcrest branches off to the left; if you go straight you stay on Deer Valley Road.)
  4. Turn left on Lone Tree Way (about 3 miles).
  5. Deer Valley High School is on the right and easily visible just a few hundred yards down the street.
  6. To get to the Planetarium, go past the school and turn right on Sagebrush. Pull into the back parking lot and enter the planetarium from the back of the library.

 

Science Fair Winners! ESPACE students collect multiple awards at the 2007 Contra Costa County Science and Engineering Fair. Click on the Awards link to learn more. Contratulations to Justin Spahn, Grand Prize winner at the fair this year and competitor at the 2007 Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.

NSTA National Conference Did you attend one of these sessions at the NSTA National conference in St. Louis? Click on the this link to go to the conference documents download page.

Fall 2006 SSP Demo Day-Transit of Mercury

Click here to see the agenda, directions, etc. for this meeting. The meeting/workshop was held on Wednesday, November 8. We observed a transit of Mercury. Over 200 students and 6 teachers observed the transit. Here is a sample picture from the transit.

This image is from 3 images collected (out of over 3000 recorded!) by Karla Flores as part of her ESPACE project. The images were added together, then processed with unsharp masking to enhance Mercury, which appears on the right. Finally, false coloring was applied to enhance the contrast. The images were collected with an 8" SCT using a mylar over-the-aperture filter, with a 25 mm eyepiece (f.l. 1000 mm) by attaching a webcam to the telescope.

After Karla analyzes the images, samples and raw images of the transit will be posted on the project page (see links at left.) In this image, the large circle is the sun, and the line in the upper left is the edge of the telescope's field of view. The smudge near the center is dirt in the optical path. Mercury is the dark dot on the right side. This image was captured at 1:57 PM, about 2/3 of the way through the transit.

Many thanks to the Research and Planetarium classes for their assistance throughout the day.

 

"Hubble Vision" presented at DVHS Planetarium in November

The Loch Ness Productions fulldome planetarium program "Hubble Vision" is being offered at the DVHS Planetarium on each Tuesday night at 8 PM from now until October 10. For more information go to the DVHS Planetarium page.

Assessment Results from 2005-2006

Each year all astronomy and geology students are given the state Earth Science test, which includes many of the academy's students. Every year since implementing our SSP we have shown improvement and this year is no exception. We have the highest scores of all science subjects at DVHS (excepting physics this year), and the lowest percentage of below basic and far below basic of any content area in the school. In addition, 9th grade science classes switched to earth science curriculum this year and showed dramatic improvement. For a table of data and graphs showing the 3 year trend, click here.

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Contest page is updated with deadlines and links for Fall 2006.

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Courses: includes links to the planned and offered courses for the academy.
FAQ: frequently asked questions about the academy.
News: announcements and milestones for the academy plan.
Partners and Funding: Supporting organizations and funding agencies for the academy.
Projects: Currently operating research projects, associated teacher training programs, and student-directed research projects.

External links from the DVHS science department appear at left.

NOTE: Presentation links and the outline from the NCNAAPT meeting in Berkeley are posted on the web log in the November 14 entries.

 

 

 


Jeff Adkins, Director
astronomyteacher@mac.com

Cheryl Domenichelli, Assistant Director
cheryldomenichelli@antioch.k12.ca.us

4700 Lone Tree Way
Antioch, CA 94531

The ESPACE Academy is sponsored in part by a grant from the California Department of Education's Specialized Secondary Program.