The H. Lee White Maritime Museum at Oswego is pleased to present “Navigating the Sky: A Story of Constellations and their Role in Navigation” by SUNY Oswego Professor Natalia Lewandowska as part of the museum’s History Lecture Series scheduled for Wednesday, April 15th at 6:00pm. As the oldest natural science, astronomy has been used in numerous applications. Dr. Lewandowska’s talk centers on constellations, how they came to be, and how sailors and explorers used them for navigation for centuries.
Dr. Lewandowska is an Assistant Professor in the Physics and Astronomy Department at SUNY Oswego and serves as director of the Shineman Planetarium. Her research focuses on highly magnetized and quickly rotating neutron stars, known as pulsars. As an observational astronomer, she uses data taken with various telescopes – both ground and space-based – and is a member of the NANOGrav and the NICER Collaboration working with radio, X-ray, and gamma-ray data of pulsars. Her passion for educational outreach led to her becoming the project director for the Pulsar Science Collaborative (PSC) from 2018-2020, which is an educational outreach project providing middle and high school students the opportunity to gain research experience using data taken from the Green Bank Telescope. As director of the Shineman Planetarium, she welcomes the public twice per week during the semester to learn new things about the Universe.
Join us, as we take a journey through time and space to discover the origins of constellations and their role in navigation. This event is free and open to the public. The Maritime Museum and Treasure Chest Gift Shop are open Monday through Friday, 1-5 pm through May 15th, then daily 1-5pm (10-5 in July & August). For more information regarding this or other Museum programs, contact the Museum at (315) 342-0480, or visit hlwmm.org.