These events, held every clear Friday during Fall and Spring semesters, attract a thousand people per year, mostly Penn State students, staff, and State College residents. That's why we do this. Though they caution it's hard to predict, AstroFest organizers expect hundreds of visitors each night. We want to reach people who've looked up at night and wondered what star that is, or why black holes don't wallow the universe, or for how many millions of years the light focused into their eyes by a telescope has traveled. Hopefully, that's a lot of people, says Rigby.
People are naturally curious about the universe and our place in it.
The Importance of Outreach Astronomers at Penn State value public outreach as one of their most important missions. We are learning about the most energetic explosions in the universe, about black holes in the centers of galaxies, and looking far away and back into time toward the beginning of the Universe. Astronomers will be on-hand during AstroFest to talk about these discoveries and new observatories. I strongly believe that art supplements science, which needs visualization. He points to the stunning image of new stars forming in the Eagle Nebula, as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope.