First Friday Astronomy: The PERYSCOPE Project; Aug. 5

The Department of Physics presents “The PERYSCOPE Project: Involving Astronomy Students in Star Formation Research” with Katie Devine of the College of Idaho at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 5 in the Science and Education Building, room 112 at Boise State.

Devine will discuss the results of the 2015 citizen-science, or people-enabled, Milky Way Project examining the plane of the galaxy in which citizen scientists originally discovered — and named — objects known as “yellowballs.”

Devine writes that, “Yellowballs were found to be sites of massive and intermediate mass star formation and follow-up studies have focused on determining the physical properties of these objects.”

The PERYSCOPE Project, which stands for People Enabling Research: a Yellowball Survey of the Colors Of Protostellar Environments, allows students in introductory astronomy classrooms to measure the light from yellowballs and contribute results to the science program.

Full event details can be found on the event website.