Empow Studios will hold a STEM Demo and Open House on Saturday, August 27, 1PM-3PM at its Newton Studios (180 Needham Street, Newton). Empow will show how its talented teaching staff and project-based classes and camps have helped Empow win the most STEM program awards in Massachusetts. Demonstrations will start at 1PM, 2PM, and 3PM. Register here.

MassRobotics will hold its 5th Annual Robot Block Party on October 1,  11AM-4PM  — free and open to the public — at the Seaport Common (85 Northern Avenue, Boston.  More than 40 companies and universities will offer demonstrations, presentations, hands-on interactions with robots, games, and more.

On September 30 is School STEM Field Trip Day, when schools for Grades 7-12 are invited for 1.5 hours of interactive activities and demonstrations from FIRST robotics teams, drones, robotic hands, and more. Teachers may register here for visits to be scheduled 9:30AM-3PM that day.

The Discovery Museum (177 Main Street, Acton) will present the movie Hidden Figures for its third STEM + Movie Night on the Lawn, on August 11 (rain date August 12). Admission to the event is free; the museum will be closed except for access to bathrooms. Activities start at 7:30PM and the movie will start at 8:30PM. Advance reservations are not required.

The Discovery Museum (177 Main Street, Acton) will host STEM + Movie Night on the Lawn on July 21 (rain date July 22). Admission to the event is free; the museum will be closed except for access to bathrooms. Activities start at 7:30PM and the movie, FernGully, will start at 8:30PM. Advance reservations are not required.

NASA will release the first images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope on July 12 in a live broadcast beginning at 10:30AM. Images will simultaneously be available on social media and this website. The images will be of these objects:

• Carina Nebula — one of the largest and brightest nebulae in the sky, located approximately 7,600 light-years away.
• WASP-96 b — a giant planet outside our solar system, nearly 1,150 light-years from Earth.
• Southern Ring Nebula — a planetary nebula (expanding cloud of gas surrounding a dying star), approximately 2,000 light years from Earth.
• Stephan’s Quintet — the first compact galaxy group ever discovered (in 1877), about 290 million light-years away
• SMACS 0723 — Galaxy clusters in the foreground that magnify and distort the light of objects behind them, permitting a deep field view of extremely distant and faint galaxy populations.

Separately, the Christa McAuliffe Center at Framingham State University will host a free open house on July 29, 6PM-9PM, to celebrate the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope. Participants will be able to ask NASA Solar System Ambassadors questions about the universe and explore the night sky with telescopes. A keynote presentation will talk about the Webb Space Telescope and the first images received from it, and there will be free-choice learning activities related to astro imaging. For directions, use 7 Maynard Rd in Framingham. Face masks are required indoors.

Boston’s Museum of Science will host a free, evening-long, locally focused, deliberative, in-person forum — Extreme Heat Boston — on July 20, 7PM-9PM. Using materials developed by working with community groups and civic partners, participants will explore local extreme heat issues using community science collected data, local resilience plans, and a strong call to action. Snacks will be provided. Masks and optional and encouraged. This event is supported by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration and the Lowell Institute. Register here.

The Discovery Museum (177 Main Street, Acton) will offer free admission on summer Fridays, 4:30PM-8PM. (Treehouse and Discovery Woods close at dusk.) Reservations are required and can be made 10 days in advance. Donations of non-perishable food will be gratefully received for Open Table and the Acton Food Pantry.

The Discovery Museum will also host drop-in sessions of the amazing Caterpillar Lab on July 5-6, 9AM-Noon and 1PM-4PM.