SIGNATURE EVENTS AND PROGRAMS

Friday, September 18, 2026, 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m. | Dougherty Hall-West Lounge

Join us for a free, hands-on workshop led by NASA experts from the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC) and hosted by the Villanova One Sky Center for Astrophysics.

During this one-day workshop, you will learn how astronomers access and analyze real observations from NASA’s high-energy astrophysics missions. We will begin with an introduction to HEASARC and the Chandra X-ray Observatory, followed by an accessible introduction to Python and the browser-based Jupyter environment available through NASA’s Fornax Science Console.

Through guided, interactive activities, you will learn how to:

• Query HEASARC’s astronomical catalogs using Python tools such as PyVO and Astroquery;
• Locate and download observations from NASA missions;
• Work with FITS files, the standard data format used in astronomy;
• Read FITS headers and display astronomical images; and
• Create a short time-series movie using Chandra X-ray observations.

The program will also include brief research presentations from students. The workshop is designed for students interested in astronomy, astrophysics, or data science, and no previous Python experience is required.

Please bring a laptop for this interactive, coding-based workshop.

 Breakfast, lunch and breaks are included, and the workshop is free of charge. Limited funding for transportation is available upon request.

Space is limited, and participants will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.