Learn the Stars, See the World

Talking About Astronomy

In my last entry I talked about seeing the stars of the southern hemisphere during my recent trip to the South Pacific as an enrichment speaker for the Smithsonian Journeys program. They were gorgeous, when I could see them. Clouds and ship lights aren’t always conducive to stargazing, but on this last ship, we had two areas on board where the lights were not much of a problem and the skies looked gorgeous from those spots when the weather was clear.

During my first talk I showed people how to find a few easy-to-spot objects in the sky, and many folks did go out and find a few. Like the Pleiades. They were fairly prominent, and for people who were totally lost in the southern hemisphere skies, a little reminder of something familiar.

Astronomy really is a pastime and science that unites people around the world. In my travels (and as I shared with my traveling mates), I’ve sought out information about different ways that different cultures have used astronomy through the ages and across many countries and populations. Of course, for this trip, we were interested in learning more about the Polynesian voyagers and the methods they used to find their way across a vast ocean. And, yes, the Pacific is HUGE!

Knowing the positions of stars relative to Earth landmarks was a useful part of their navigational toolkit. But, so was a complex array of other knowledge, including the shapes and colors of clouds, the shapes and heights of waves, the migrations of ocean life and birds, and many other “clues” to a navigator’s location in a vast ocean. I spent some time talking about those methods and the stellar connection. Cross the Pacific from Tahiti to Fiji and then down to New Zealand really gave us a very visceral feel for just what an accomplishment it was (and is) for Pacific Islanders to make their way across the waves.

I had a really interested audience for my talks and lots of time to talk astronomy during our days at sea. I was sitting having a coffee one afternoon and a couple of ladies joined me to ask questions about the stars. We got into a spirited discussion about the Big Bang and how the first stars formed. That night at dinner, one of my table mates wanted to talk about the Big Bang and what came before it.

Now, none of these people were astronomers. They were very interested and some were quite well-read about recent astronomy stories. I asked all of them if they ever visited their local planetarium. Only a couple said they had recently, but most said they’d been to one in school back when they were kids.

I’d like to see more people use planetariums as the astronomy outreach resources they are; places where you can go to find out the latest accurate information about astronomy—looking beyond the headlines to what it is that our universe contains. And, of course, I’m happy to keep bringing astronomy and space science and planetary science and all the sciences that connect and intertwine with astronomy to audiences, whether it’s through my shows and books, or as part of a traveling group of like-minded explorers interested in learning more about the cosmos.