From City Lights to Moonlight: NASA Training Shows How Urban Parks Can Connect Communities with Space Science

When you think about the programs of astronomy of the National Park and Public Lands, you can portray remote places away from city lights. But the recent NASA Earth to the sky Training, financed as part of the NASA Activation Program, problems that the assumption demonstrate how city parks, wildlife shelves, museums and green spaces can be incredible sites for connecting communities with space science. Programs facilitated in urban spaces can cover people where they already live, work and recreate. This creates opportunities for constant participation, since participants in the city astronomical program can find that the sky over their environs has the same miracles as distant places.

During the first week of August 2025, NASA Earth on SKY collaborated with the National Parks service and the American fish and wildlife service to ensure an innovative program for preparing astronomy under the name “River Stars and History: Interpretation of the Northern Night Heaven” in the Minneson Valine of the National Ghost in Minneapolis. Floor. This three-day course gathered 28 translators Park Ranger, environmental teachers and open-air atmospheres from all over the area of ​​twin cities. Presentations and discussions were focused on attracting an urban audience with the miracles of space science, using the advantages of capital's spaces and unique opportunities that provide urban sky.

Throughout all this immersive training, participants studied everything, from lunar observations and science of Aurora to the program of Artemis NASA and astrobiology. The training authorized the participants, confirming that everyone is an effective storyteller Stargazer and Night Sky, turning starting into confident astronomical communicators. One participant captured his experience, noting that they switched from “nothing knowing anything about this to a much better understanding of the basic concepts and, most importantly, where to find more resources!” In addition to resource exchange, this training also launched a practice community where communicators can continue to cooperate. Participants participated in discussions on how to respect the local prospects of indigenous peoples in astronomical programming and honor traditional managers of the Earth, avoiding the native peoples when assigning or distorting science.

The course also created a constant connection with NASA using presentations of NASA experts and demonstrations of instruments for NASA activity. As one of the participants noted in the assessment, “this is only the beginning of a long training, but now I know where to look and how to find answers.” Tool sets and general resources are included Globe (Global Learning & Wassation in the environment) Game Observer's Nube (Cloud)IN Our dynamic sun Thanks to the NASA Activation team (Heat) and Night Sky Network, The Aurorasaurus Citizen Science ProjectAnd local Solar system ambassador Net.

The sense of participants in the land to the sky community increased sharply. These results confirm the strategic goal of NASA to create sustainable public interaction with the Earth and Cosmic Science. In the vast majority of positive reviews, when 100% of participants express their interest in passing more of such courses, they demonstrate great value to the Earth in order to cooperate with the service of national parks and the US fish and wildlife service, since the goals of public communication of all agencies.

This type of joint work is crucial because it creates a network of scientific communicators who can cover thousands of visitors throughout Minneapolis-STIS. Paul parks, nature centers and open spaces. Teaching local informal teachers, in order to confidently share NASA's discoveries and missions, the program expands access to space science for the city audience throughout the region of scuba cities.

The Earth to Sky team will continue to develop these valuable partnerships with the National Parks service and the American fish and wildlife service, as well as with other state and local institutions and non -profit organizations. Learn more about the earth to work Sky with translators of the park and informal teachers to share NASA cosmic science, visiting: https://science.nasa.gov/sciact-team/earth-to-sky/

Learn more about how scientific activation connects NASA scientific experts, real content and experience with community leaders in order to engage in science that activate minds and contribute to a deeper understanding of our world and beyond: https://science.nasa.gov/learn/about-scieence-activity/Field

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