Promoting Rural Engagement in Solar Science (PRESS)

With the occurrence of two solar eclipses occurring over Oregon during our project, we leveraged those events along with Southwestern Oregon Community College’s Discovery Dome planetarium and Sunspotter portable Solar telescopes to engage with K-12 students and community members in a series of regional solar-themed outreach programs. From October 2023 through June 2024, our outreach team was able to engage with over 1000 individuals from multiple rural communities in Southern Oregon. We provided hands-on opportunities to explore sunspots and eclipse variations through safe solar observing while also providing scientific context of solar activity, eclipses, and their implications on Earth.