Quick Facts
Title:
Senior Lecturer in the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics and an Outreach Fellow for the Eberly College of Science
Outreach duties include:
- giving astronomy presentations
to students from kindergarten through 12th grade - working with science teachers during workshops
- presenting planetarium shows
- assisting visitors with stargazing from Penn State's rooftop observatory on Davey Laboratory
Palma's research has been featured on CNN.com and on the Astronomy Picture of the Day Web site.
You can contact Chris Palma here:
Phone: 814-865-6236
cpalma@psu.edu
Catching up with Chris Palma
How did you first become interested in your specialty?
I picked up astronomy as a hobby as a kid -- the real inspiration wasn't because of the sky, because I lived in one of the most light-polluted areas of our country, about 30 miles from Manhattan. Instead, I was given children's books on astronomy starting when I was in 2nd grade. That interest stuck with me through high school, and I wound up in the world class undergraduate astronomy program at Penn State in 1990.
What has been your most satisfying research experience (or greatest professional accomplishment) thus far?
The topic of my talk is all about how persistence and a little luck allowed us to discover one of only a few examples of an ongoing interaction between a large spiral galaxy and one of its much smaller satellite galaxies. This led to a professional publication, but also popular press in the form of a NASA "Astronomy Picture of the Day."
If you could solve a single mystery in your field, what would it be?
Part of this research was motivated by our wish to understand, "what is dark matter?" -- I think that this is one area in our field that is ripe for a major shift in our understanding. I would love to know why we find conflicting results about the dark matter content in dwarf galaxies -- are they dark matter rich or poor? If they really are dark matter rich, then how are they so easily ripped apart?
When you’re not on campus working, where can you most often be found?
Simple answer -- playing volleyball. Anytime, anywhere. I play in the Parks & Rec League (we use Fairmount and Gray's Woods school gyms) and the Raytheon / HRB League (we use State College High School's gym). I'm also a board member for the Penn State Women's Volleyball Booster Club and attend all of the home matches that I'm able to make.
What is the most interesting place you’ve ever traveled to?
Las Campanas Observatory, in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile.
Favorite music and artist?
Mostly popular music from my high school and college days. The Police and Pearl Jam are two of my favorite artists.
If you weren’t an astronomer, what would you be doing right now? Something to do with volleyball (coach, running a community gym) and making the time to play as frequently
as possible.
