A miniature radio telescope from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory at Green Bank was part of the array of telescopes deployed on the South Lawn of the White House earlier this week to accommodate a night of star gazing that involved President Barack Obama, four NASA astronauts, "Science Guy" Bill Nye, "Mythbusters" Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, and science students from across the nation - including 10 from a program hosted by the Pocahontas County observatory.
"The White House Astronomy Night was awesome," said Sue Ann Heatherly, director of the education program at NRAO Green Bank, who represented the National Radio Observatory system at the National Science Foundation's exhibit at the event. "I took a one-meter dish - we call it the Itty Bitty Radio Telescope - with me, and many young people made some radio discoveries during the night. They were most likely satellite transmissions, but who knows?"
Among students invited to the event were 10 from the NRAO's summer program at Green Bank called Physics Inspiring the Next Generation (PING).
"PING camp is a partnership between NRAO and the National Society of Black Physicists to encourage girls and minority boys to consider STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) careers," Heatherly said. "As rising high school freshmen, they come to Green Bank for an intense immersive experience in astronomy with a good dose of engineering and computer science thrown in."
While most of the PING students are from the Washington-Baltimore area, some come from as far away as California and New York to take part in the program. Ava Patino of New York City was selected to represent the PING group, and met with Obama inside the White House, Heatherly said.
"I did not get to meet the First Family while I was there, but the Mythbusters did spend some quality time with me and the Itty Bitty Telescope," Heatherly said.
Among other students attending the event was Ahmed Mohamed, the 14-year-old NASA T-shirt-clad Texas student who earlier this year was arrested, handcuffed and suspended from school for bringing a homemade clock to school that school officials suspected of being a bomb.
In conjunction with the White House event, observatories, planetariums and amateur astronomy clubs hosted their own star parties across the nation.
Reach Rick Steelhammer at rsteelhammer@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5169, or follow @rsteelhammer on Twitter.