The Cosmic Journeys Club will meet twice weekly on an ongoing basis. This social club will be a fun, educational, safe, and positive environment for lovers of all things space so they can learn and grow as a group of peers with similar interests. The universe is a vast, beautiful, and strange place, and this our opportunity to share our passion for space together! 

Every session will be an interactive multi-media exploration of a daily theme/concept. The class experience will be a mix between lecture, discussion, hands-on activities, group-work, use of slide-shows, readings from articles and books,  and video clips from documentaries.  I will also provide weekly recommendations on outside resources that will help students learn more and find opportunities to participate in challenges and citizen science projects. I will also provide weekly, voluntary, engineering challenges where they can learn about different space probes, vehicles, and telescopes and try to recreate them using the materials of their choice. 

All students also have free access to a secure server for an Educational Minecraft version called GalacticCraft which allows the students to build rocket ships and create colonies on the Moon and Mars. In addition, there is an extensive database of resources contained in a secure Google Drive that can be accessed at any time. This resource contains books, audiobooks, lectures, articles, images, link databases, and even a spot to highlight student work. 

I encourage students to bring their own particular astronomical interests/questions to the group whether it be personal stories, books, articles, images, or anything else a student may want to teach/explore/question with the club. Participation and discussion are strongly encouraged and will help make our club an enriching and entertaining environment where we can be passionate about our curiosity.  The following is a more detailed look at the first seven weeks and the topics we will cover: 

Week 1: The Solar System
Our first week will begin here at home in our own solar system. We look at the planets, moons, dwarf planets, and of course the sun briefly. In future sessions, we will focus on each of the planets one by one. 

Week 2: Our Sun & Stars
In our second week we will explore our sun in detail; and the characteristics of stars in general. 

Week 3: The Milkway Galaxy 
In our third week, we will expand our exploration in a wider context and look at our own galaxy the Milky Way

Week 4: Galaxies, Nebulas, & Superclusters
In our fourth week will pull out ever wider and look at the vast numbers of galaxies and how they make up larger structures in space called superclusters. 

Week  5: Black Holes, White Holes, & Pulsars
Now that we have looked at our galaxy and the myriad other galaxies outside ours we can now examine those infamous giants known as black holes which are said to lie at the center of every galaxy. We will even explore some strange variations on black holes called pulsars and/or white holes

Week 6: When Stars Die-Supernovas
What happens when stars die? No, they don't receive stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but rather they explode into beautiful cosmic firework displays called Supernovas! 

Week 7: Dark Matter & Dark Energy 
Even more mind-boggling than the vastness of our universe is the fact that nearly 80% of our universe is invisible and unknown to us. This enigmatic matter is often called dark matter. There is also another invisible and mysterious force at play in the cosmos called dark energy. We will explore these fascinating concepts and try to wrap our heads around the strange, and alien concepts. 

Forthcoming sessions: 

Week 8:  Multiverse, String Theory, & Parallel Universes 
Week 9: Comets, Asteroids, and Meteorites
Week 10: Space Travel & Colonization
Week 11: The Constellations 
Week 12: Moons
Week 13: Colonies on Mars & Moon
Week 14: End of the Universe
Week 15: Begining of the Universe
Week 16: String Theory & M-Theory
Week 17: Exoplanets
Week 18: Types of Stars
Week 19: Types of Galaxies 
Week 20: Cosmic Mysteries
Week 21: Planet X and Planet 9