These are the presentations I have available with no lead time. They are kept up to date with current research and the latest photos. All of them are paced to last 45 to 50 minutes, so they fit into an hour block with a little time at the end for questions. You can send me an email at dan@spacemandan.net to set up a presentation for your group.
All of these shows are appropriate for general audiences, but the scope is too broad for the youngest children to follow and stay engaged. For that reason, I suggest third grade and up.
If you don't have something specific in mind, or don't know which presentation to choose, my recommendation is “Your Place in Space.” It includes many of the best photos from the other presentations, but it touches on a wider variety of topics.
We start on the surface of the sun and step through the Solar System in order from there. Besides the planets, the journey includes the asteroid belt and some dwarf planets. At the end, a few pictures show galaxies which contain trillions of other planetary systems like our own.
The photos in this presentation are from the latest space probes and telescopes. It is updated frequently.
We start with the placement of Earth in the Solar System, then move out to the local stars. Then we look at the Milky Way galaxy and explore some nebulae and dust clouds. The outward journey ends with the location of our home in the context of all the other galaxies in the universe.
The last section is to explain how we learned this information. It tells the story of one of the main discoveries that advanced our understanding of the universe and some of the scientists involved. It pays special attention to a woman named Henrietta Leavitt since female astronomers are poorly remembered.
There are many types of objects in space like galaxies, nebulae, and star clusters. Each of these categories has subdivisions as well, making it more complicated. We will go over all the different types. We will also talk about how they interact, and in many cases, how they form. There are photos of everything from the best telescopes we have.
First, we will go over the evidence that convinced scientists that a meteorite impact was the end of the non-avian dinosaurs. (There were also volcanoes erupting, and we won't ignore them.) Next, we will talk about the dinosaurs that existed at the end of the Cretaceous Period when the extinction event occurred. Lastly, we will see the disastrous effects that the impact had on the world and the ecosystem. There were tsunamis, earthquakes, lava bombs, an impact winter, and more.
Every day, tons of meteorites fall to Earth, but they are not easy to find! We will look at the four main types of meteorites, what they look like, and where they come from. We will look at some famous meteorites that have been found, and how you can identify one. Finally, we will look at the newer field of micrometeorite study.
I will bring actual meteorites to display to the group.
Most people have heard of astronomers like Galileo, Halley, Hubble, and Newton. For some reason, most people have never heard of any female astronomers. This talk is about four fundamental discoveries in astronomy, but it also introduces the women who made those discoveries. They deserve to be remembered as well as the men listed above.
The women discussed in this program are: Henrietta Swan Leavitt, Vera Rubin, Jocelyn Bell Burnell, and Andrea Ghez.