Sharing Idaho’s dark skies: meet physics major Chandler Beasley

"The first thing I ever saw through a telescope was the moon," said Chandler Beasley, a senior physics major and secondary education minor here at Boise State.

Beasley recalls a memorable night from her freshman year, attending a Friday night observing session hosted by Astronomers-in-Training Assisting the Community, or AstroTAC. The group is a team of astronomy educators led by physics Professor Brian Jackson and made up of Boise State students.

That night, student educators used their astronomy expertise and a host of telescopes purchased with money from a NASA Science Activation Grant to guide fellow students and community members on a tour through the night sky. The experience lit a fire in Beasley, and she joined AstroTAC the following semester. Soon enough, she was learning to use the team's equipment to look deep into the night sky and educate the public.

Now in her senior year, Beasley is leading those sessions on the Quad and sharing her expertise across Idaho. AstroTAC places astronomy educators in K-12 schools throughout the state, focusing on rural areas that don't have as many opportunities for astronomy education.

"We get a lot of oohs and aahs," Beasley said. "The kids really like it. They really like what they're learning, too."

The program offers a variety of learning opportunities, with science activities for the classroom and a mobile planetarium. On good nights, the AstroTAC educators are able to bring students outdoors to see distant objects through a telescope.

"Once we pull up a nebula or a galaxy, they kind of lose their minds a little bit," Beasley said. "They don't even know that's an option to look at. So when we pull those up, it's very colorful and very bright."

AstroTAC isn't just a resource for Idaho students; it's also hands-on career experience for Beasley. After she graduates in May 2026, she plans to find work in science education, continuing the mission she began at Boise State.

"I remember we had an event where we were at an Earth Day festival in Haley and just being in that community and being there and educating people," Beasley said. "That helped me decide that this is what I want to do long term."

Beasley will be the first woman to graduate with a specialization in physics education in the department's history.

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