Welcome to Planet VAMPY, where the stars don’t just light up the night sky, they shine in our classrooms, on our mission patches, and in the faces of the brilliant students around us.
Our first week was nothing short of stellar. We kicked things off by channeling our inner NASA engineers and artists to craft a one-of-a-kind class mission patch, because every great mission needs a great emblem.
From there, we traveled back to the very beginning… literally. We dove into the Big Bang Theory (yes, the real science one), using spectroscopes to examine the light signatures that support the theory. It was part cosmic detective work, part magical science moment.
And what’s an astronomy class without some rocket launches? Enter the NASA sound “straw” rockets, no fuel, just air power and a whole lot of excitement. While our rockets may not have hit escape velocity, our energy definitely soared.
We also explored the elegant chaos of Kepler’s Laws and the motion of planets, learning that nothing in space likes to travel in a straight line, drama, but make it celestial.
Midweek, we embarked on an out-of-this-world field trip to Bell’s Observatory, home to Kentucky’s largest telescope. Later, we found ourselves under the dome of Hardin Planetarium, where we sat back and explored the constellations through mesmerizing shows.
To help us navigate the night sky on our own, we mastered the use of star wheels, turning us into official cosmic cartographers.
And speaking of stars, we started following the journey of real-life astronaut and space legend Col. Chris Hadfield. His insights on space, and life on Earth, are quickly becoming our guidebook for both science and character.
Each day wrapped up with a collective “wow” as we admired the NASA Photo of the Day, because few things beat seeing the universe’s daily masterpiece.
From straw rockets to stargazing, our first week was filled with curiosity, discovery, laughter, and maybe a bit of imaginary moon dust in our hair. Stay tuned, this journey is just getting started, and our trajectory is straight into the stars.
