Act 2 - the Basic Constellations
Welcome to Sumner Skies Planetarium! Hows that for an entrance. Nothing like retracing the birth and evolution of the whole universe to set the stage for the stars in all their beauty and glory. We're looking at the sky you can see tonight from middle Tennessee, gorgeous isn't it? But actually, this is the sky you could see if everything was perfect outside after dark - no clouds, no moon, and no light pollution. Everyone knows you can't see through clouds, and the brightness and romance of the moon are actually hindrances to seeing the multitude of faint objects we see here. But clouds and the moon can be avoided. Its the third enemy of the stars, light pollution, that not many people know about. Its easy to understand though when you consider how much development there has been around these parts. As brightly lit cities sprawl outwards unchecked, as lights shine not only down where they're needed but up where they're not, the horizon glow gets brighter and brighter until our beloved sars are all but lost in the glare. This sadly is the state of affairs in all metropolitan areas now, including here in Gallatin. There is a movement towards low sodium, top shielded outdoor lighting, but it may be a losing battle. Still, we can drive to the country far away from the city and see the stars as they were truly meant to be seen.
The sky we see above tonight is virtually unchanged from the sky seen by our distant ancestors 2,000 years ago - stars move ever so slowly across our skies not because they themselves move slowly, but because they are so distant. So tonight here in the planetarium you are looking at virtually the same stars the cavemen saw as they struggled for survival. Today of course we have the thousands of yearold legacies of the constellations, or star pitctures - patterns in the sky in which the anicents thought they saw all manner of legendary and everyday beasts, birds, and objects from their world and myths. The beautiful cards encircling the walls of the planetarium depitc thse trantastic imaginings. More recently, we have star classifications applied to the brightness of the stars we can see above - from the brightest zero magnitude stars to the faintest 5th magnitude stars. We see the famous Milky Way, a faint band of light that one must have truly dark skies to even see at all - sightings from Gallatin now are reserved for the darkest, clearest nights. This is our own galaxy seen from within, the one we saw born out of the Big Bang when we began. The Milky Way is not milk at all, it is the co-mingled light of billions of stars too far and numerous to be seen with the naked eye. Ancients referred to the Milky Way as the 'backbone of the night', and its easy to see why.
The stars at night appear to move from east to west across our dark sky, much as the sun does across the brilliant skies of daylight. This of course, as in the case of the sun, is the result of the earth's rotation, not the stars movement. The stars do appear to rotate about the north celestial pole in the sky, a point directly over the North Pole of Earth. Marking the North Pole is the famous pole star, Polaris, tail star of the Little Dipper. The Little Dipper is faint, in the dead north of the sky, and it takes a clear night to make out. More famous is her big brother, the Big Bear, circling nearby. You may know her by her most famous portion - the Big Dipper. The Big Dipper is visible most nights of the year - note how the so-called pointer stars of the Big Dipper point to the North Star. Joining the stately Dippers of the North are the King and Queen of the night sky, King Cepheus and Queen Cassiopeia of mythology. Cepheus looks like a house shaped figure skirting the Milky Way. Cassiopeia is shaped like an M or W flying round the pole. Need help seeing these four famous figures? Now can you see them? (at this point utilize constellation projectors and demonstrate other seasonal points of interest)
Monday, March 1, 2010
A Brief Planetarium Show - Act 1
Act 1 the Big Bang
In the end, the question of where the universe came from, in the beginning, is a matter of belief. What came before the universe is impossible to view with our own eyes, and what happened at its actual birth happened billions of years ago. All we can see and wonder at is what the universe shows us today, not the end produce but the evolving form of the universe at this particular moment of its history. But even what we see out there is misleading, for we see each object as it was when the light reaching our wondering eyes left on its journey to Earth - in the case of distant galaxies that may be millions of years ago. Looking out into space is looking into the past. Observing what has happened since the brief dawning of our own astronomical observations, we can only project back to the beginning. Back to what the evidence supports might have happened. Back to the origin of the space/time/mass/energy mix we find ourselves in on Earth, and in our beautiful night sky.
Most scientists today believe in the Big Bang Theory of the creation of the universe. They believe that everything that was to be was originally compressed into a single point, a singularity containing the very basic building blocks of all that came afterwards. We represent that singularity here with a single point of brilliant light. What happened next happened with inconceivable speed and power. The singularity, say scientists, must have exploded in an unimaginable outpouring of energy and subatomic particles in every direction - and the universe was born. The outward bound particles began combining according to the ingrained laws of nature, growing ever larger and cooling as they sped apart at unbelievable speed. Gradually the universe began cooling, leaving a swarm of outbound proto-galaxies as hydrogen atoms formed, grouped, and turned on as the first stars, pinwheeling about themsevles in clumps to the eternal song of gravity, the most pervasive of the underlying forces. The galaxies were born as the expansion wore on towards infinity, their combined starlight shifting to the red end of the spectrum as they receded.
In the vast collection of galaxies was one typical spiral member, a huge pinwheel of stars we know as the Milky Way galaxy. Our galaxy. A spiral of billions upon billions of stars. Far outside in the flar-flung reaches of one spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy a smallish, normal yellow dwarf star was born about 8 billion years ago. Around this star revolved gas and dust, which over endless time grouped together to form planets, most importantly to us the Earth upon which we stand. LIghting our skies by day, this star enabled life itself to spring forth, including us. At night though we can still see, from within, our glorious spiral galaxy and a few of its innumerable stars as we continue our outward journey from the ancient Big Bang to we know not where.
Behold the stars!
In the end, the question of where the universe came from, in the beginning, is a matter of belief. What came before the universe is impossible to view with our own eyes, and what happened at its actual birth happened billions of years ago. All we can see and wonder at is what the universe shows us today, not the end produce but the evolving form of the universe at this particular moment of its history. But even what we see out there is misleading, for we see each object as it was when the light reaching our wondering eyes left on its journey to Earth - in the case of distant galaxies that may be millions of years ago. Looking out into space is looking into the past. Observing what has happened since the brief dawning of our own astronomical observations, we can only project back to the beginning. Back to what the evidence supports might have happened. Back to the origin of the space/time/mass/energy mix we find ourselves in on Earth, and in our beautiful night sky.
Most scientists today believe in the Big Bang Theory of the creation of the universe. They believe that everything that was to be was originally compressed into a single point, a singularity containing the very basic building blocks of all that came afterwards. We represent that singularity here with a single point of brilliant light. What happened next happened with inconceivable speed and power. The singularity, say scientists, must have exploded in an unimaginable outpouring of energy and subatomic particles in every direction - and the universe was born. The outward bound particles began combining according to the ingrained laws of nature, growing ever larger and cooling as they sped apart at unbelievable speed. Gradually the universe began cooling, leaving a swarm of outbound proto-galaxies as hydrogen atoms formed, grouped, and turned on as the first stars, pinwheeling about themsevles in clumps to the eternal song of gravity, the most pervasive of the underlying forces. The galaxies were born as the expansion wore on towards infinity, their combined starlight shifting to the red end of the spectrum as they receded.
In the vast collection of galaxies was one typical spiral member, a huge pinwheel of stars we know as the Milky Way galaxy. Our galaxy. A spiral of billions upon billions of stars. Far outside in the flar-flung reaches of one spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy a smallish, normal yellow dwarf star was born about 8 billion years ago. Around this star revolved gas and dust, which over endless time grouped together to form planets, most importantly to us the Earth upon which we stand. LIghting our skies by day, this star enabled life itself to spring forth, including us. At night though we can still see, from within, our glorious spiral galaxy and a few of its innumerable stars as we continue our outward journey from the ancient Big Bang to we know not where.
Behold the stars!
A Brief Egyptian Module
Themed Module 1 - Under Egyptian Skies
It is a leap of many years from our own backyard skies to those of the ancients, yet here is a time machine like no other available to us. Though the skies change slowly, we can still see the stars mostly as our ancient human ancestors saw them, linking us to them. And among those who left monuments and writings behind so that we may see what they saw, none may be better than the ancient Egyptians. For what monuments have stood the test of time like the Great Pyramids? Behold the pyramid of Khufu, largest of the three outside Cairo that hold so many mysteries of the ages. Mysteries of burial customs yes, for the pyramids were tombs, burial chambers for Egyptian royalty .. The pyramids were engineering marvels - we find evidence of whole towns housing laborers, who may have been slaves but may have been paid workers.. who seemingly somehow built these enormous lasting structures. But prolonged study of the pyramids provide many clues of the skywatching practices of the ancient Egyptians, who literally merged earth with sky for all eternity/
The Great Pyramid of Khufu is part of a three pyramid chain of lesser tombs on the plain of Giza, guarded by the famous Sphinx. The resemblance of their layout to the three belt stars of Orion is well documented, Orion represented one of Egypts most powerful gods, Osiris, god of death, rebirth and the afterlife. It is easy to see why, since Orion is such an imposing celestial figure then and now. But there is more ... two thin shafts connect Khufu's actual burial chamber with the outside of the structure ... originally thought to be airholes, they roughly align with Orions belt, and the then pole star Thuban in the Constellation Draco. In 2550 BC when Khufu ruled, the earths skies appeared to revolve around Thuban as they do today around Polaris, our own North Star. The building of these shafts is an engineering marvel in itself given the huge size of the stones .. how they were aligned so precisely to important stars compounds the wonder!
The most famous star in ancient Egyptian skies was Sirius, the dog star, brightest still in our heavens of today. Sirius would rise in the dawn at the beginning of the Nile River flooding season - the Nile was vitally important to Egyptian life, agriculture, and trade. Egptian priests who learned to site Sirius first appearance in the dawn sky could predict the flooding, giving them considerable power and influence. Sirius follows Orion in the sky, and first appears at dawn during late summer. When we view our sun rising with Sirius gleaming fitfully on the horizon, think back about what it must have meant to these ancient, intelligent people.
The Egyptians had many star myths and legends just as we do today. In addition to Orion being Osiris, the Milky Way represented the sky goddess Nut, giving birth to the sun god Re. The stars were represented by the goddess of writing, Seshat, and the moon by Thoth, the god of wisdom. Even the horizon, something we today never think of, had significance to the ancient Egyptian skywatchers. The rising sun was associated with Horus, child of Osiris and Isis. Re was the strong noontide sun - think of the incredible heat and light of the noonday sun in the Egyptian desert and its easy to see why this was their most powerful god. The setting sun however was named Atum, the creator god. It was he that lifted the pharohs from their Pyramid tombs into the stars - the redness of the setting sun was his blood as he died. Egyptian immortality was tied together with this daily birth and rebirth of the sun and sky.
They Egyptians called the northern circumpolar stars 'the Imperishable Ones', for they never set .. but in truth their entire culture is Imperishable for us since they preserved so much legacy and history. Like the stars, their monuments, writings, and memory seem to linger on into eternity.
It is a leap of many years from our own backyard skies to those of the ancients, yet here is a time machine like no other available to us. Though the skies change slowly, we can still see the stars mostly as our ancient human ancestors saw them, linking us to them. And among those who left monuments and writings behind so that we may see what they saw, none may be better than the ancient Egyptians. For what monuments have stood the test of time like the Great Pyramids? Behold the pyramid of Khufu, largest of the three outside Cairo that hold so many mysteries of the ages. Mysteries of burial customs yes, for the pyramids were tombs, burial chambers for Egyptian royalty .. The pyramids were engineering marvels - we find evidence of whole towns housing laborers, who may have been slaves but may have been paid workers.. who seemingly somehow built these enormous lasting structures. But prolonged study of the pyramids provide many clues of the skywatching practices of the ancient Egyptians, who literally merged earth with sky for all eternity/
The Great Pyramid of Khufu is part of a three pyramid chain of lesser tombs on the plain of Giza, guarded by the famous Sphinx. The resemblance of their layout to the three belt stars of Orion is well documented, Orion represented one of Egypts most powerful gods, Osiris, god of death, rebirth and the afterlife. It is easy to see why, since Orion is such an imposing celestial figure then and now. But there is more ... two thin shafts connect Khufu's actual burial chamber with the outside of the structure ... originally thought to be airholes, they roughly align with Orions belt, and the then pole star Thuban in the Constellation Draco. In 2550 BC when Khufu ruled, the earths skies appeared to revolve around Thuban as they do today around Polaris, our own North Star. The building of these shafts is an engineering marvel in itself given the huge size of the stones .. how they were aligned so precisely to important stars compounds the wonder!
The most famous star in ancient Egyptian skies was Sirius, the dog star, brightest still in our heavens of today. Sirius would rise in the dawn at the beginning of the Nile River flooding season - the Nile was vitally important to Egyptian life, agriculture, and trade. Egptian priests who learned to site Sirius first appearance in the dawn sky could predict the flooding, giving them considerable power and influence. Sirius follows Orion in the sky, and first appears at dawn during late summer. When we view our sun rising with Sirius gleaming fitfully on the horizon, think back about what it must have meant to these ancient, intelligent people.
The Egyptians had many star myths and legends just as we do today. In addition to Orion being Osiris, the Milky Way represented the sky goddess Nut, giving birth to the sun god Re. The stars were represented by the goddess of writing, Seshat, and the moon by Thoth, the god of wisdom. Even the horizon, something we today never think of, had significance to the ancient Egyptian skywatchers. The rising sun was associated with Horus, child of Osiris and Isis. Re was the strong noontide sun - think of the incredible heat and light of the noonday sun in the Egyptian desert and its easy to see why this was their most powerful god. The setting sun however was named Atum, the creator god. It was he that lifted the pharohs from their Pyramid tombs into the stars - the redness of the setting sun was his blood as he died. Egyptian immortality was tied together with this daily birth and rebirth of the sun and sky.
They Egyptians called the northern circumpolar stars 'the Imperishable Ones', for they never set .. but in truth their entire culture is Imperishable for us since they preserved so much legacy and history. Like the stars, their monuments, writings, and memory seem to linger on into eternity.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
A Cakebox Full of Stars
Its Built .. On With The Show
It strikes me as odd that most endeavors in life are not like this .. we fly the airplane as we built it mostly, jobs dont stop as we train .. if we switch jobs/careers there is urgent pressure to get back in the game .. some game... any game like I had to .. I didnt grow up wanting to sell cell phones... most things the signposts come hot and heavy .. exit one mile! college in September! the baby is here in December .... you'll be 70 in X year s...
so into the midst of this built it as you fly it world we seem to live in .. comes this leisurely thing called home planetariums ... and look at me.... i need another year to get my power cords organized ... give me another 3 years and i'll write a show ..
NO MORE! March 1st .. Its BUILT. its refreshing really ... i wonder if broadway productions are like that .. still painting scenery opening night . oh well
somewhere in the back musty corner of whats left of my mind I keep hearing this description of the universe that may fit this pursuit .. maybe it was carl sagan in cosmos who said it
somebody said it .. the universe is finite, but unbounded ...
ive been living in an infinite, unbounded illusion .. time to come to grips with the finite part. Ive still got unbounded to built gegenschien projectors .. but at least I'll have something concrete at last ..
We need markers in our lives, some are given to us .. birthdays, anniverseries.. milestones .. last weekend I visited my son away at college and was stopped in my tracks .. in his dorm room was MY SIGN .. dream big ... I liked that so I stole it! said he .. and then I realized some kind of torch had been passed .. my kid is showing the dream big sign to the future while I sit here on my farm ..
i dug up this picture .. the future, and the past .. the little starbox not only the museum inspired, but that cakebox that started me when I was his age.. the past and the future, taken root in today .. a cakebox full of stars.
It strikes me as odd that most endeavors in life are not like this .. we fly the airplane as we built it mostly, jobs dont stop as we train .. if we switch jobs/careers there is urgent pressure to get back in the game .. some game... any game like I had to .. I didnt grow up wanting to sell cell phones... most things the signposts come hot and heavy .. exit one mile! college in September! the baby is here in December .... you'll be 70 in X year s...
so into the midst of this built it as you fly it world we seem to live in .. comes this leisurely thing called home planetariums ... and look at me.... i need another year to get my power cords organized ... give me another 3 years and i'll write a show ..
NO MORE! March 1st .. Its BUILT. its refreshing really ... i wonder if broadway productions are like that .. still painting scenery opening night . oh well
somewhere in the back musty corner of whats left of my mind I keep hearing this description of the universe that may fit this pursuit .. maybe it was carl sagan in cosmos who said it
somebody said it .. the universe is finite, but unbounded ...
ive been living in an infinite, unbounded illusion .. time to come to grips with the finite part. Ive still got unbounded to built gegenschien projectors .. but at least I'll have something concrete at last ..
We need markers in our lives, some are given to us .. birthdays, anniverseries.. milestones .. last weekend I visited my son away at college and was stopped in my tracks .. in his dorm room was MY SIGN .. dream big ... I liked that so I stole it! said he .. and then I realized some kind of torch had been passed .. my kid is showing the dream big sign to the future while I sit here on my farm ..
i dug up this picture .. the future, and the past .. the little starbox not only the museum inspired, but that cakebox that started me when I was his age.. the past and the future, taken root in today .. a cakebox full of stars.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
The Art of Being Subtle - (and Bulb Busting)
I've noticed in my own planetarium a few things .. actually everytime I sojourn in there I notice more things. Im at the years long tweaking stage now .. its all about being subtle (or is it suttle). And this is first taught when we note once again (I think I mention this in It is a Feeble Light) .. that a real tendency for home planetarians is to bust bulbs regularly. Because we go in there and look at our stars not for an hour at a time .. but in and out .. and this does not allow our eyes sufficient time to dark adapt . therefore, we tend to forget how subtle starlight is .. and turn it up! Turn it up to 11. Thats better, innit. If we were but to wait the proper time, we'd see that the stars arent supposed to BLAZE. And blazing stars lead to busted bulbs.
Where have subtle pleasures gone? I find myself overlooking so much beauty because I dont look. I wait to be hit over the head. I do this constantly in my little woods out back. Instead of walking round wishing it was 20 acres instead of 5, I determine I havent looked at any of the trees I DO have .. looked at the immeasurably subtle bark on any given tree .. subtle pleasures overlooked waiting for the next bigger and bigger bang.
I do not believe people have lost the art of subtle. I believe it merely sleeps, and can easily be reawoken. Ah what pleasures then await.
Astronomy used to be about self-managing expectations. I was always happy with whatever I could see. The past 20 years brought so much innovation however, it seems easy NOT to be happy anymore with those subtle pleasures.
But we still can be.
Where have subtle pleasures gone? I find myself overlooking so much beauty because I dont look. I wait to be hit over the head. I do this constantly in my little woods out back. Instead of walking round wishing it was 20 acres instead of 5, I determine I havent looked at any of the trees I DO have .. looked at the immeasurably subtle bark on any given tree .. subtle pleasures overlooked waiting for the next bigger and bigger bang.
I do not believe people have lost the art of subtle. I believe it merely sleeps, and can easily be reawoken. Ah what pleasures then await.
Astronomy used to be about self-managing expectations. I was always happy with whatever I could see. The past 20 years brought so much innovation however, it seems easy NOT to be happy anymore with those subtle pleasures.
But we still can be.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Why Atmospherium?
Atmospherium is a term that never took off, but if one wishes to build the sky, why do it only half way? A planetarium depicts (or used to) the night .. the starry realm, and wondrously effectively. This is of course back when planetariums majored in stars. They've long since relegated the stars to the background - we can see black holes revolve, we can go to alpha centauri or see the Earth being born. But no child anymore will strain to recognize that star pattern rising over the coop .. is that Cepheus or Cassieopiea? But we look up in the daylight too . the sky is never idle .. I thought and thought and decided, I liked my sky busy
Pristine darkness - the deep blue of that rare cloudless day were appealing yes. but most of my life there were other things happening .. overlooked .. the moon .. airplanes .. clouds .. glows on the horizon .. rainbows . who's even heard of zodiacal light and the gegenshein . no two snowflakes alike? try no two sunsets are alike .
So an atmospherium shows everything in the atmosphere or above it.. satellites .. vapor trails.. meteors . raindrops .. thunder and lightning
Much more difficult to reproduce? In some ways, but in some ways easier -
but just as universal to the human experience.
So why Atmospherium?
Because thats whats really UP there.
Pristine darkness - the deep blue of that rare cloudless day were appealing yes. but most of my life there were other things happening .. overlooked .. the moon .. airplanes .. clouds .. glows on the horizon .. rainbows . who's even heard of zodiacal light and the gegenshein . no two snowflakes alike? try no two sunsets are alike .
So an atmospherium shows everything in the atmosphere or above it.. satellites .. vapor trails.. meteors . raindrops .. thunder and lightning
Much more difficult to reproduce? In some ways, but in some ways easier -
but just as universal to the human experience.
So why Atmospherium?
Because thats whats really UP there.
Friday, January 15, 2010
What No One Else Is Doing (Between the Cracks)
I long struggled with WHY.. WHY I like to build and show home planetariums, in fact this was the subject of my very first essay, Issue 1, of the HPA (where 'wanting it, we turn it on', just like our stars. The only answer I could come up with at the time was 'because it will be fun', and that resonates still today 16 years later. This internalizes as I age, for now two mothers have been lost, and when one sifts through the lifetime belongings of someone so close, many of the things were personal in nature, and one can only conclude 'mom had this collection of plates, or this ballroom jewlry from the 30s, because IT MADE HER HAPPY. Nobody else. But her.
So home planetariums make me happy. And others too, or potentially so. But theres another reason behind all of this. Im a Beatles freak - and I was reading George Martin, their famous producer, got started and got where he was because in the beginning, he couldnt make it in regular music producing. Those bases were all covered. He decided he wanted to do something 'between the cracks' .. something NO ONE ELSE WAS DOING .. so he began to produce comedy records (Peter Sellers, the Goon Squad) which no one thought would sell. And eventually they did.
Im not thinking eventually Home Planetariums will sell like the Beatles! No, but I like them even more because at least HPA's brand of build everything and tie in every passion imaginable fits with this - nobody else is doing it like we do.
And it makes us happy. So if you are bored, if the paths seem too well trodden, find something no one else is doing that makes you happy. Something between the cracks. You wont regret it.
As my son entered college, we sat in the schools theater and the President strode among us, nervous freshmen and parents alike and said two words ... over and over
He looked at all of us and said .. no regrets .. no regrets.
GO for it.
So home planetariums make me happy. And others too, or potentially so. But theres another reason behind all of this. Im a Beatles freak - and I was reading George Martin, their famous producer, got started and got where he was because in the beginning, he couldnt make it in regular music producing. Those bases were all covered. He decided he wanted to do something 'between the cracks' .. something NO ONE ELSE WAS DOING .. so he began to produce comedy records (Peter Sellers, the Goon Squad) which no one thought would sell. And eventually they did.
Im not thinking eventually Home Planetariums will sell like the Beatles! No, but I like them even more because at least HPA's brand of build everything and tie in every passion imaginable fits with this - nobody else is doing it like we do.
And it makes us happy. So if you are bored, if the paths seem too well trodden, find something no one else is doing that makes you happy. Something between the cracks. You wont regret it.
As my son entered college, we sat in the schools theater and the President strode among us, nervous freshmen and parents alike and said two words ... over and over
He looked at all of us and said .. no regrets .. no regrets.
GO for it.
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