Astronomy night
<p>Astronomy enthusiasts listen to David Nye describe space from a factual and philosophical side. </p>
TROUT CREEK - The Trout Creek Community Improvement Association [TCCIA] held its last Campfire Talk last Wednesday, “Astronomy For All of Us”, at the Trout Creek Park Stage.
The event was led by astronomer David Nye.
As everyone waited for the sun to set, Nye gave a talk about astronomy, astrophysics, and astrophotography.
Nye began by expressing his love of astronomy, but, to additionally capture people attention, he also gave a warning. He said to beware the dangers of where astronomy and space can take you.
He told everyone that to try and fathom the vastness of space can change your own perceptions of life on earth, from one moment feeling confident within your own surroundings, to questioning existence, because of how infinitely small you are within the scope of space. His warning was, be inquisitive, but also grounded.
As with every class on astronomy, Nye started at the beginning. He covered Kepler and his laws of planetary motion, Galileo’s improvements of the telescope and his heliocentric model [planets revolving around the sun], Hubble’s laws of expansion and Henrietta Levitt’s period-luminosity relationship, to name a few.
The next topic Nye discussed with the attendees was what over history became very paradoxical, light. He discussed its speed and different wavelengths, but then he threw in how it can be understood in terms of mass and energy. Explaining all the nuisances, in the end he said that it remains as something understood as one thing, but then another. To then demonstrate an even bigger paradox he said, ‘to understand space and astronomy, you must know light.’
To finish his talk, Nye showed digital pictures he had taken with his telescope and a mounted camera. He expressed how rewarding it can be because looking at a dot in the sky move for hours can quickly become boring, but to be able to take a picture of something you can’t see with the naked eye is amazing.
When it was finally dark and the stars started to appear, Nye led the group of enthusiasts over to an dark open field. There he had a nine and a quarter inch wide telescope with a computer that was programmed to track the stars or clusters of stars he selected. Thankfully, the clouds held off just enough for the brightest lights in the sky to shine through.
Nye passed out informational packets and Astronomy magazines for people to take home.