What do birdwatching and stargazing have in common? Looking up and binoculars.
My friend and neighbor Jon Minard, a longtime eagle monitor, once told me the secret of his success in finding eagle nests is looking up, something a lot of people don’t do.
On January 29, I took his advice light years farther, looking at a galaxy beyond the Milky Way, Andromeda, the farthest anyone can see with the naked eye.
I did this outside Kenyon College’s Miller Observatory, my first visit to the open house held on the first Friday of each month, year-round, sky conditions permitting.
Guided by Paula Turner, Kenyon professor of physics and astrophysics, we also saw the Orion nebula, a nursery for the birth of stars right at the middle of the three stars that form Orion’s sword. And we saw Betelguese, a red star on Orion’s right shoulder. (Betelguese gave the movie “Beetlejuice” its name.) All this during just the outdoor portion of star-gazing at the observatory.
Besides a shooting star, we also saw the Pleiades, Gemini, Perseus, Sirius, Pegasus, and Canis Major and Minor--all of which can only seen in fall and winter. And we saw the Leo constellation, which is another seasonal constellation.
We also saw constellations that are visible year-round: Cassiopeia, Cepheus, and Ursa Major and Minor.
Some people brought binoculars and Turner taught how to use them--identical to what is taught on birdwatching walks.
But, in a later interview, Turner said that while birdwatchers use binoculars to make birds look bigger, stargazers use binoculars to make the stars brighter.
One of the members of our group mentioned an astronomy app for smartphones. With the “Sky Guide” app, I’ve gone out a few nights in my yard and been able to see and identify stars I’ve never been able to before--Sirius, the dog star, Betelguese, Pollux (part of Gemini) and Ursa Major. I also saw my first planet, Jupiter.
Up to then, all I could identify was Orion and maybe the Big and Little Dipper.
Inside the observatory, we looked at the heavens on a computer screen as Turner cued a camera on the telescope to take photos.
In an interview with Turner on February 12 at her office in Kenyon’s physics building, she explained what she meant at the observatory when she said that we are all star dust: We are made up of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and oxygen--all but hydrogen made by stars. These elements spread throughout space, the source of life.
In fact, stars manufactured all of the elements in the periodic table, except for hydrogen, helium, lithium, boron, and beryllium--which were produced by the Big Bang 14 billion years ago.
Stars have also produced our iron, lead, uranium, and all other minerals.
Turner also explained that most stars are fueled by nuclear fusion in their cores, the same fusion used in hydrogen bombs. The outward pressure of gases heated by fusion counteract the inward pressure of gravity which would cause stars to implode.
Nuclear fusion is what causes starlight, but it takes new stars tens of thousands of years to light up.
The public is invited to come to the Miller Observatory on the last Friday of each month, from 9 to 11 p.m. (Daylight Savings Time). The Observatory is reached from a driveway off of Route 229, near Kenyon, on Brown Family Environmental Center land. Coming from Apple Valley, you can go left on Route 308 off of Coshocton Avenue and turn right on Wiggins Street, then right on 229, and after a short distance, take a right on the driveway identified by a sign and follow the driveway until it ends at the observatory.
Note: You can check out my monthly "Nature in the Valley" article in the March 2016 issue of the Apple Valley Cider Press here. It includes a short section on my visit to the Observatory.
