Starry, starry night |
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Students get up close and personal with the constellations Story and photos by Jim Murtagh The stars shone brightly at Melissa Jones Elementary School last Friday evening, to the delight of eighty youngsters and their parents. Local astronomer and author, Bob Crelin, weaved stories about the mythology behind the constellations into an educational slide show, as a prelude to an evening of star gazing. Crelin is the author of “There Once Was a Sky Full of Stars,” a children’s book that attempts to explain why the stars are disappearing. He assured the kids that the stars are still in the heavens, but pointed out they are becoming more difficult to see as light pollution increases. Crelin has observed a noticeable decrease in the visibility of easily recognizable constellations, just within the past few decades. His motivation for writing the book was to educate people that outdoor lighting needs to be used responsibly, to preserve the view of our universe for future generations.
As a precursor to what lie ahead, the audience was shown slides of the constellations that would be visible once they ventured outside. Crelin recounted the story of how the constellation “Ursa Major,” also known as “Great Bear,” was formed. With vivid animation and a variety of voices, Crelin described how the god Zeus hurled the princess Callisto, who incidentally had assumed the shape of a bear, into the sky by her tail to protect her from a hunter. Zeus’s strength was so great that Callisto’s stubby tail was stretched in the process, giving the constellation its distinctive shape. Crelin then demonstrated to the kids how lights on Earth can overpower the glow of millions of shining stars. He taught the audience that each one of us can help preserve the heavens by simply tilting evening light fixtures down toward the ground, instead of up into the sky. With passion in his voice, Crelin remarked that the sky and the stars are our strongest connection to our earliest ancestors. The audience then accompanied Crelin outside, where the real spectacle for the evening revealed itself. The evening air was cool, but not terribly cold for late January. At first glance, the dark sky appeared peppered with glints of white, but as eyes acclimated to the darkness, the stars began to pop from the heavens. Soon the entire sky glistened from the twinkle of millions of stars, and what initially appeared to be so far away, gradually begun to seem just outside one’s reach. Awaiting the kids in the parking lot were two massive eighteen inch mirror telescopes, their fourteen inch sibling, and a pair of smaller telescopes Each scope was pointed to a different part of the sky to showcase the evenings most desirable attractions.
At center stage, there was a magnificent view of the planet Saturn. Staring through the eyepiece of the largest telescope, Saturn appears bright white, and about the size of a popcorn kernel. Its rings are clearly visible as well as several of its moons. It is a humbling and inspiring view. Other telescopes were focused on the Andromeda galaxy, whose light has been traveling for 2.3 million years to reach our eyes, and the Orion Nebula (M42), which can actually be observed with just the naked eye. Each telescope was manned by a member from the Astronomical Society of New Haven, to ensure the telescope remained fixed on its target, and to answer questions. The evening came to a close with a book signing and an opportunity to talk directly with Crelin. For information about reducing light pollution, or to learn more about astronomy, visit www.bobcrelin.com. |
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