‘Cosmic Kitsap’ coming to History Museum

Published 11:50 am Thursday, August 6, 2015

BREMERTON – As Bremerton prepares for a mid-August visit from the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope science team, Kitsap History Museum prepares to open an astronomy exhibit. “Cosmic Kitsap” will open to the public on Friday, Aug. 7 at 6 p.m. with a special guest speaker from Olympic Astronomical Society.

The exhibit will explore the role of astronomy and space science in the history of Kitsap county and beyond. It will be presented in Kitsap History Museum’s library area. “This exhibit will be a comparatively brief overview of astronomy in our region with interactive, youth-friendly components and links to local resources and organizations for those who wish to expand their understanding of the material we present,” said Curator Jeanine Greco. In mid-august, a group of 300 international scientists from the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope will come to the Kitsap Conference Center for an annual workshop.

Bob Abel of Olympic College is organizing programs and activities for the LSST team and the community during the team’s visit, including special talks at SEEfilm and a multi-business “Astronomy Slam” night Aug. 18 from 7-8:30. Abel describes the Astronomy Slam as “an event where astronomers can ‘sing’ for a beer … a series of open venues, with multiple speakers signed up at each venue. The astronomer comes in, they hand her a beer and she gives a 15 minute talk. It can be any kind of astronomy story – how your atoms came to be, what a supernova is like, what it’s like to do work at 14,000 feet at 3:30 a.m.”