News

July 16 – Aug. 20 | Sundays at 2 p.m. | Planetarium (Bridges 167)

The Sun Revealed takes you on a journey through the historical and cultural view of eclipses, the geometry that gives us eclipses, how to safely view an eclipse, and even gives a first-hand account of one eclipse chaser’s experience during a total solar eclipse. You can even purchase your own Solar Viewing Glasses at the show!

The show leads up to The Great American Total Solar Eclipse, which will occur on Aug. 21, 2017, the first day of fall semester. MSUM will be hosting a viewing party at Nemzek Field, and more information will become available closer to the event.

Congratulations to Aidan Shafer, double major in Mathematics and Physics, who ranked in the top third of the Putnam Mathematical Competition, held on December 3, 2016. The William Lowell Putnam Mathematical Competition is the preeminent mathematics competition for undergraduate college students in all the United States and Canada. On the last edition there were 4,164 contestants from 568 institutions.

Friday, April 28 | 3 p.m. | HA 325

Today in seminar, each student will give a short presentation about an experiment conducted this semester.  Read the rest of this entry →

The Martens Observatory: UND’s and North Dakota’s Largest Telescope Facility

Friday, April 21 | 3 p.m. | Hagen 325  Read the rest of this entry →

Friday, April 7 | 3 p.m. | Planetarium– BR 167  Read the rest of this entry →

Friday, March 31 | 3 p.m. | Planetarium (BR 167)  Read the rest of this entry →

Friday, March 24 | 3-3:50 p.m. | Planetarium (Bridges 167)  Read the rest of this entry →

Are you interested in camping next to the ocean, exploring tide pools, hiking in a temperate rainforest and traversing an alpine meadow? This summer travel course allows students to study general ecological principles and regional natural history within the context of a variety of ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest, including coastal, alpine, freshwater stream, lake, and river, and temperate rainforest systems. The ecological consequences and the science behind specific environmental and conservation issues will be explored. The concept of local and global sustainability will be a pervasive theme throughout the course.  Read the rest of this entry →

Friday, March 3 | 3 p.m. | Planetarium

NASA announced last week they have discovered a star system containing planets with the potential to support life.  The TRAPPIST-1 system is comprised of a red dwarf star and seven roughly Earth sized planets. Three of these planets exist in the “habitable zone” meaning they have the right conditions to have water and thus support life.  Come to the Planetarium on Friday at 3 to learn more about this fascinating discovery during the Department of Physics & Astronomy Seminar Series presented by Dr. Juan Cabanela.

Sara Schultz, Planetarium Director, and Juan Cabanela, Physics/Astronomy Faculty, have been awarded an American Astronomical Society (AAS) grant to support 2017 Great North American Eclipse outreach. The grant will include partnerships with YES School, FM Boys & Girls Club, YMCA, CHARISM, and the public libraries of Fargo and West Fargo. It will support the purchase of solar scopes and eclipse model kits for each participating organization as well as a planetarium show on the physics behind and safe viewing techniques of a Solar Eclipse.

The Great American Solar Eclipse will happen on August 21, 2017. The entire U.S. will be able to see some degree of solar eclipse (where the Moon blocks out some or all of the Sun) while a narrow band stretching from Oregon to South Carolina will experience a TOTAL eclipse. For more information go here: https://eclipse2017.nasa.gov/​.

Friday, Feb. 17 | 3 p.m. | 325 Hagen Hall

Students who will be working on their Senior Projects this Fall will present their proposals for their senior projects. They include:  Read the rest of this entry →

Friday, Feb. 10 | 3 p.m. | 325 Hagen Hall  Read the rest of this entry →

Friday, Feb. 3 | 3 p.m. | Hagen 325

Speaker: Dr. Matthew Craig

The physics underlying climate change has been well understood for over 100 years. Measurements taken over that period clearly demonstrate that the temperature of the Earth is increasing and that the increase is largely driven by human-produced carbon dioxide. While data from the most recent IPCC report on climate change will be discussed, the emphasis will be on understanding the effect.

MSUM’s Society of Physics Students (SPS) chapter has won its 4th consecutive Distinguished Chapter award from SPS National.

In particular, this year’s award cites the Noyce educational program and SPS’s partnership with the local PBS affiliate. Congratulations to the students and faculty in the Department of Physics and Astronomy!

Friday, Jan. 27 | 3 p.m. | Hagen 325

Thousands of planetary systems outside our own have been discovered. Most of these exoplanets discovered to date are much larger than the Earth, but the goal is to eventually identify Earth-like planets orbiting others stars. Dr. Heather Cegla will discuss some of the complications in trying to separate information about the star and planet in such a system. Dr. Cegla graduated from MSUM in 2010, obtained her Ph.D. from Queen’s University Belfast in 2013, and is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Queen’s University Belfast at the University of Geneva.

Friday, Jan. 13 | 3 p.m. | HA 325  Read the rest of this entry →

Friday, Nov. 18 | 3 p.m. | HA 325

The MSUM Physics and Astronomy Seminar Series Presents: Senior Project Presentations on Friday, Nov. 18 at 3 p.m. in Hagen 325.  Read the rest of this entry →

Juan Cabanela, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, was interviewed by Ashley Bishop of KVLY News for their main story on a fireball that was spotted over Western Minnesota by hundreds of their viewers Sunday Night. He clarified that a fireball like this is just a larger than normal meteor striking the atmosphere.  Read the rest of this entry →

Friday, Nov. 4 | 3 p.m. | Hagen 325

The MSUM Physics & Astronomy Series Presents: Research Opportunities in Physics.

Faculty in the Department of Physics and Astronomy will discuss research opportunities in the department for the spring semester.

For the first time, MSUM students presented at the Great Lakes Planetarium Society held in Flint, Mich., last week. Dana Koczur and Anthony Woltman from the Department of Physics and Astronomy were the first students to attend the annual conference and present on the research they completed over the summer under a Strong Endowment grant.  Read the rest of this entry →