Date: March 27, 2011
Title: Travel and Astronomy
Podcaster: Mr. Moose
Links: http://www.mistermoose.org
An EPOD entry showing Wolfe Creek Crater from the air:
http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2004/04/wolf-creek-meteorite-crater.html
Also see Wolfe Creek Crater and Henbury Meteor Crater on Google maps.
Description: This is about how astronomy and travel are related. One can travel to astronomy related places or it can be a subject that you can discuss with people you meet in far away places. Astronomy can even be an inspiration to start traveling in an off-hand sort of way.
Bio: I’m Mr. Moose and I’m a mountain biker, traveler and software engineer currently living in the U.S.
My interests are cycling, backpacking, travel, art, astronomy, and a whole host of other things but are too numerous to mention. I have visited all seven continents and forty-some countries and have managed to be deported from none of them (so far).
I’ve had a life-long interest in astronomy and maybe, just maybe, if I ever settle down I will get that nice telescope I’ve had a hankering for since I’ve been young.
Today’s sponsor: This episode of “365 Days of Astronomy” is sponsored by — no one. We still need sponsors for many days in 2011, so please consider sponsoring a day or two. Just click on the “Donate” button on the lower left side of this webpage, or contact us at signup@365daysofastronomy.org.
Transcript:
My name is Mr. Moose, at www.mistermoose.org, and I’m a traveler who has visited over forty countries in eight trips ranging from four months in the American west to almost three years around the world. And a part of all my trips is astronomy.
My first memories of astronomy are of my mom showing me Orion and explaining the belt and sword as well as talking about the Milky Way. I’ve always appreciated Orion and frequently look up in the sky to see it.
I studied computer science and art in college, learning much about the beautiful things man has made, though seeing them on paper but not in person. After graduation, I took my first long term trip. Usually, I slept under the stars even though I had a tent. Once in the foothills of the Rockies, I woke up in the middle of the night and looked at the Milky Way. It was so bright and impressive that I thought, “I’ve never seen a cathedral. I’m going to Europe.” And so I did. Now there might not be a connection between astronomy and Europe to you but it’s what inspired me to become an international traveler.
On my first night south of the equator, I was in New Zealand with my friend Gareth, whom I had met on the previous European trip. We were out walking and I looked up at the stars and saw Orion. I exclaimed, “Oh my gosh…it’s upside down!” Orion is something I had seen my entire life and for the first time it was different. That’s when I knew I was far away from home.
On the way home, I stopped in Fiji and befriended a man, Isoa. On the subsequent three times there, I stayed with him and his family at their home on the ocean. Isoa doesn’t have much formal education and he would ask me questions about the stars. He mentioned seeing a star that moves quickly across the sky and disappears and I explained meteors to him. Other times he would ask about the beautiful band of stars across the night sky and we would talk about Milky Way and he would tell me the traditional Fijian stories of the night. Eventually I told him about neutron stars and black holes. He was absolutely amazed and when we had a men’s gathering at the community hall, we sat around in a circle, naturally consuming large quantities of their traditional drink of kava, and Isoa said, “Tell them about the black holes!” A few nights later, the men from an inland village came to visit and someone naturally said, “Be sure to tell them about the black holes.” And I told them about some of the wonders that lie so far away from our planet. It’s nice to see someone learning about one of your passions.
I spent seven months in Australia and had five goals to accomplish and they certainly weren’t the typical tourist things. To me, the journey to get there is just as important as the destination. Two of the goals were to see meteor craters.
The first one was the Henbury site in central Australia. There are a dozen craters that resulted from a meteor breaking up and scattering craters over a square km. The seven year drought had just ended and much of central Oz was experiencing flooding. Roads were washed out, so getting there was half the fun. I was the only person at the craters that day and walked about the area under a beautiful blue sky with gentle breezes. The biggest of the craters is 180 meters in diameter and it’s a good demonstration of what happens when a small piece of cosmic debris hits the earth at 70,000 km/h. It’s a barren desert yet people live in the area and it’s believed the actual meteor strike is part of local aboriginal folklore as the crater is only 4,000 years old.
The second crater is the 880 meter wide crater in northwestern Australia at Wolfe Creek. Aboriginal lore says it’s where a giant snake came out of the ground during the Dreamtime. It’s a long drive down a dirt road and I almost didn’t make it there as a cyclone had hit Australia, flooding large parts of the region. (Actually there was a third crater I wanted to see at Gosses Bluff but the only way there, due to flooding, was by helicopter. One look at the price of the ride and I thought, “Mmmm…not today.”). Wolfe Creek is a big crater and it takes a while to walk around it. Once again, it was a very pleasant and solitary day. I sat at the top of the hills that surround it and looked over the endless and lonely Great Sandy Desert. I didn’t do anything…just sat. These deserts are so appealing it hurts just thinking about it. It’s so vast an area yet on a cosmic scale, we all know, it’s essentially nothing.
I visited Madagascar for the eclipse of 2001. While the intention was to travel around the country, the primary reason for going was the eclipse. It was a grueling seven days of travel from Cairo to the eclipse site with three flights, two multi-day truck rides, and two half-day rides. We were in an ocean-side fishing village with two small guesthouses that isn’t used to seeing people from all over the world. Some of the locals didn’t really understand the eclipse saying, “We’ve never had an eclipse until the white people showed up.” Many were very uncomfortable with the whole event and decided to close their curtains and stay indoors. It’s a shame, because they missed an amazing show.
I was not in the village for the main event; rather I walked about ten km. north and viewed it on a deserted stretch of shoreline upon a sand dune that overlooked the sea. As totality approached I moved my protective glasses outward from my eyes and looked at the sun glinting on the water. Suddenly that glint disappeared in the distance as the umbra rushed across the Mozambique Channel at 1800 km/hr. And suddenly there it was, the eclipsed sun hanging in the sky. I literally gasped at its beauty. It was one of the most striking things I have ever seen. It only lasted two minutes and some change, but those terrible truck rides and sleeping on airport floors were worth it.
Later, I talked to some people who stayed in the village. A few of the local guys were outside to watch and when it went to totality, ran into their houses. When the travelers tried to coax them out, they said, “No! No! No!” and stayed indoors. Historically, eclipses have often been viewed as evil events. As beautiful as it was, if I didn’t understand it, I’d have been scared witless.
The most recent trip was to South America, where I ended up living more than traveling. I lived with a woman, Liliana, who is not only one of Argentina’s up and coming scientists, it’s also her birthday today (Feliz Cumpleanos, Lili). Many nights we be walking after dark in the small town we called home, we usually made a point of looking above. Frequently we would see Orion and some nights we got to see the Magellanic Clouds. When first seeing them, they appeared to be an atmospheric cloud but when they never moved one thinks, “Oh, I know what they are.” It’s a shame one can’t see them in the northern hemisphere, but that just gives you an excuse to throw some stuff in a backpack and go!
These travels have brought me to areas north and south. From Canada, where I’ve seen the aurora borealis to Antarctica where I was hoping to see the aurora australis but hey, you can’t have everything, can you? From below sea level in the Dead Sea to high in the Himalayas (where the nights were cold and oh so clear), covering all the lines of longitude, the stars are a part of traveling. Everywhere you go people have their stories of the night sky and an appreciation of the stars. There are so many more stories to tell…but we only have so much time today.
After almost three years traveling around the world, I returned home and even though we have a house, sleeping outdoors under the stars is the norm. On the first night back, I went outside next to the lake and got in my sleeping bag. Immediately upon looking up, a fireball streaked across the sky and left a glittering orange trail behind it. Yeah, I know it sounds like some sort of fairy-tale movie ending (and I looked across the lake and there might have been a unicorn prancing in the moonlight or something) but that’s what happened that night
I thought how wonderful traveling had been and all the things that had been seen. I saw Orion and noticed it was right-side up. That’s when I knew I was home.
I’m Mr. Moose and if you would like more about travel, art, hang gliding, or vintage mountain bikes, got to www.mistermoose.org. Well, thanks to all for listening to my humble podcast.
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.