Date: September 19, 2010
Title: They’re Everybody’s Stars
Podcaster: Carolyn Collins Petersen
Organization: Loch Ness Productions (www.lochnessproductions.com)
Music from A Gentle Rain of Starlight, by Geodesium (http://www.geodesium.com)
Description: Carolyn Collins Petersen, TheSpacewriter, takes a trip through two stories of astronomy inspiration.
Bio: Carolyn Collins Petersen is a science writer and show producer, as well as vice-president of Loch Ness Productions, (http://www.lochnessproductions.com/index2.html) a company that creates astronomy documentaries and other materials. She works with planetariums, science centers, and observatories on products that explain astronomy and space science to the public. Her most recent projects include documentary scripts, exhibits for NASA/JPL, the Griffith Observatory and the California Academy of Sciences, video podcasts for MIT’s Haystack Observatory and podcasts for the Astronomical society of the Pacific’s “Astronomy Behind the Headlines” project.
Today’s sponsor: This episode of “365 Days of Astronomy” is sponsored by Kevin Marvel.
Transcript:
This is Carolyn Collins Petersen, TheSpacewriter, and today I’m going to tell you a couple of stories about ordinary people being inspired by astronomy.
A long time ago, in a backyard that’s now a highway overpass, a little girl went outside with her dad one night and asked him, “What are those shiny things were up there in the sky?”
He told her they were “stars”.
She wanted to know, “What are stars?”
He tried his best to explain what they are and she seemed satisfied with what he told her. Then she asked, “How far away are they?”
He told her about light-years and how they were bigger than miles. For a little girl who still measured long distances as the trip into town (a few miles away) for shoes and food, the concept of a light-year was like stepping into another dimension. But, those stars captivated her, and started her on her journey to understand them. First, she got interested in Mars. Then she studied comets. Then, in college, she learned how to observe the universe through the world’s space-based and ground-based observatories. Her journey has taken her from a backyard to the most distant reaches of the cosmos. It’s a journey that continues with each new discovery of stars, exoplanets, galaxies, and measurements of space and time that her colleagues in the astronomy community report on.
Once upon a time, there was a little boy who went to the planetarium. He’d never been to one before, and his aunt and mother told him how wonderful it would be. He couldn’t fathom the idea of stars on a curved ceiling, but he was excited to see them.
When they got to the museum, he raced to the planetarium door and waited impatiently for it to open. He couldn’t wait to see inside!
Finally, the doors swung open and he stepped inside. It was a dim room, with a huge instrument in the center surrounded by seats. He found a seat close to the machine and sat staring at it while the rest of the audience members came in and sat down. When the house lights dimmed, he shivered with excitement. Then, the stars came on!
The little boy was completely overwhelmed with the sight of so many bright, twinkling points of light. There were more than he could ever have seen from his backyard because he lived in a big city and the light pollution drowned most of them out.
For 45 minutes, that little boy sat, captivated by the stars. He hardly heard what the lecturer had to say. Finally, when the house lights came up, he ran back to the console where the lecturer was standing and asked if he couldn’t just see a few more stars. The man said, “Sure, son.”
To this day, that little boy – now a man who made astronomy his career – remembers that fantastic experience under the planetarium sky. It was what sent him on his own quest to understand the stars, planets, and galaxies.
There are lots of little girls and boys who stepped outside in their lifetimes to see the stars. We are their descendants, because people have been stargazing throughout history, and they’ve passed what they learn from generation to generation.
For every astronomer who makes a fantastic discovery, there’s a story of youthful discovery, of looking up one night and seeing those stars for the first time and becoming captivated with the urge to understand them. And, it doesn’t just happen to professional astronomers.
Teachers, doctors, truck drivers, train engineers, astronauts, police officers, checkout clerks, taxi drivers, airline pilots, city mayors, actors, farmers, you name it – people – all of them like you and me – know and love the stars. They belong to all of us, no matter where we live. All we have to do is look up – and just like that, another great life experience happens – a life experience that turns into a story of discovery and excitement.
What will your story be? Will your child have a story to tell? Go outside tonight… and look up! . Make your own astronomy history!
For night sky guides and advice on stargazing, check out my web page at www.thespacewriter.com/wp and click on the 365 Days of Astronomy tab! And, welcome to the world of astronomy!
End of podcast:
365 Days of Astronomy
=====================
The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Astrosphere New Media Association. Audio post-production by Preston Gibson. Bandwidth donated by libsyn.com and wizzard media. Web design by Clockwork Active Media Systems. You may reproduce and distribute this audio for non-commercial purposes. Please consider supporting the podcast with a few dollars (or Euros!). Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org. Until tomorrow…goodbye.