ESP Biography



ALLISON MOBERGER, MIT senior in planetary science & astronomy



Major: planetary sci & astronomy

College/Employer: MIT

Year of Graduation: Not available.

Picture of Allison Moberger

Brief Biographical Sketch:

Allison is a senior at MIT majoring in planetary science & astronomy and minoring in physics. She is very excited about astronomy and education, most recently spending the summer working as an educator at the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium in Concord, NH, and she will become a teaching intern in astronomy at Phillips Exeter Academy after graduation. She is currently working on researching and writing her senior thesis on mass detection of Earthlike extrasolar planets.

While she doesn't pretend to understand what would happen if you fell into a black hole, Allison loves answering everyday astronomy questions for friends and family, from "what's that really bright thing up there?" to "why don't eclipses happen more often?" and most things you can think of. Her favorite topic in astronomy is volcanically active outer Solar System moons, particularly the ice volcanoes of Enceladus.

This will be Allison's first year participating in Spark, and she is looking forward to sharing her enthusiasm for astronomy with her students!



Past Classes

  (Clicking a class title will bring you to the course's section of the corresponding course catalog)

S2294: Hands-on Astronomy: Observing with Telescopes in Spark! Spring 2009 (Mar. 07, 2009)
Use telescopes to explore the skies! We will learn how to set up and use MIT's 8-inch teaching telescopes. We will then go onto the roof and use the telescopes to examine stars, planets, and (if the night is good) nebulae and star clusters, including detailed observing of the Moon and Saturn. We'll finish by warming up with hot chocolate and chocolate poptarts*. Class will be from 6-7, running until the end of Spark. From 7-9 will be open observing; all are welcome to observe! Warm clothes are a must for all attendees, including gloves and a hat; a good rule for observing is to dress as if the weather is 20 F colder than it actually is. If you are late and/or want to come to open observing, come to 37-292 and/or have Spark personnel call the teachers. *MIT observing tradition -- we'll tell you about it!