Amateur Astronomy Magazine

SSttaarrss AAbboovvee MMoouunnttaaiinnss An Outreach Program Linking Nature and the Sky A modest-sized telescope at one of the main AMC lodges, Highland Center, was used day and night to get people looking ‘up’ Douglas Arion, PhD zation, founded in 1876. They manage trail systems, lodges, Professor of Physics and Astronomy, Carthage College and high mountain huts, and conduct many educational and Director, Carthage Institute of Astronomy outdoors programs throughout the northeast. Over half a mil - President, Galileoscope LLC lion visitors a year take part in AMC activities. But, until we [email protected] got involved with them, the programming reached from the ground to the mountaintops – and didn’t include the sky. So, You, the reader, are a member of the choir. No one reading this partnership is perfect – the AMC already has a large this needs to be convinced that the sky is important, and no nature-oriented audience, and we have expertise in astrono - reader needs to be told how connected we all are – as indi - my and outreach, and students who are trained in astronomy viduals and as inhabitants of Earth – to the entire Universe and telescopes to work with the public. Perfect! around us. But the vast majority of the public doesn’t think that way, and, frankly, if we, the converted, don’t do some - We received financial support from the National Science thing about that nobody else will. My professional life is Foundation, which has allowed us to acquire more equip - now dedicated to solving that problem – getting the public to ment and to support undergraduate students who intern over understand, at a deep level, how important the Universe is to the summers here in northern New Hampshire. Donors have their own existence. provided us with resources for additional gear, including several 4.5 inch Starblasts that are installed at four of the How to achieve that aim? We need to provide people with high mountain huts. Celestron was very generous to provide real information – so they know what is out there and how it us with one of their high-end mounts, on which we put one connects. And, we need to give them a moving experience, of our aging, but fully functional, C11 tubes for our main so that they will internalize and feel the connection. outreach telescope. Add to that a quiver of equipment from my collection, including an 80mm carbon tube refractor We’ve put together a partnership between the Carthage (which, with a lightweight mount, is hike-able up into the Institute of Astronomy at Carthage College (where I am on mountains), and a PST solar telescope, and we have a rea - the faculty) and the Appalachian Mountain Club (the AMC). sonable collection of optics to show people the Universe. We The AMC is the nation’s oldest outdoors and nature organi - also utilize a dozen tablet computers, each of which has 34 www.AmateurAstronomy.com Summer 2013 Issue # 79 Left: A youngster gets to look right at the Sun, safely!! Right: A great way to capture attention and draw audiences is to do daytime solar observing – as this hiker does next to Greenleaf Hut just below the summit of mile-high Mt. Lafayette, guided by intern Zach Troyer. planetarium software and a variety of other apps to connect dust’ content, where we talk about how AGB stars and people with celestial happenings, along with green laser supernovas are responsible for providing all of those heavy pointers so participants can point to, and be pointed to, elements we need for life. It’s important to get people to celestial sights. understand that large mammals (i.e., us) are here only because an asteroid happened to impact the earth 65 million Our program has a number of major components. We work years ago, taking out those meat-eating dinosaurs, and with several different audiences: affecting evolutionary patterns. But, most people don’t real - • Members of the public (our primary audience), who (a) ize the continuing impact of cosmic rays (higher cancer pass through AMC facilities; (b) attend AMC events; and/or rates for long haul pilots, for example), or that animal coats (c) visit and stay at the high mountain huts change because of shortening daylight, not lower tempera - • AMC staff and volunteers, whom we train in astronomy tures (and, indeed, many of these animals are dying off so they can include it in their ongoing programs because they are changing to white and, with climate warm - • Undergraduate astronomy and physics students, who ing, now do so in a background that is no longer snow cov - develop skills in engaging the public, giving presentations, ered). People don’t know that the solar spectrum and the operating telescopes, and knowing the night sky. color sensitivity of the human eye have the same wave - length dependence. These, of course, are not coincidences – There are several differences between the programs that we we (and the other life forms on Earth) have evolved to fit conduct and what is typically done in outreach. First, I’m our environment. The Earth is a ‘goldilocks’ planet – not only an ATM and an amateur observer, but I’m also a formed in the right area of space to have the right mix of ele - professional astronomer (which means I get to use big tele - ments, at the right range from a star of the right temperature, scopes that you don’t get to look through, which is scientif - for the world we know to exist as we see it. ically useful but not as much fun as gazing into an eye - piece!). This has a benefit in credibility with the audiences. The pictures accompanying this article show many of the Second, the content of our presentations is aimed at show - things that we’re doing. First – we conduct workshops for ing and explaining the intricate connections among every - all of the AMC staff who engage the public. Most of these thing in the Universe. Sure – there is the usual ‘we are star - individuals are experts in one or more areas of nature – Summer 2013 Issue # 79 www.AmateurAstronomy.com 35 Nightly observing is conducted by the students, and having a go-to mount makes it much easier to slew from object-to- object quickly, essential when there are long lines of people, and it’s already late (remember that northern NH is at 45 N Latitude, so it doesn’t get dark until late during early sum - mer). The students discuss each of the objects shown in the context described earlier. This is not just a ‘look at this neb - ula….’ observing. This is an opportunity to show people parts of the Universe they haven’t seen, and explain to them how those kinds of objects have or do affect them. It’s important for people to realize that planetary nebulae are a source of mid-weight atomic species that are critical to for - mation of a planet (like ours). Showing Albireo, for exam - ple, is an easy way to discuss star colors and temperatures. But here we then explain how the Sun’s temperature is crit - ical to the type of light we receive and the distance at which the Earth can be located to have a temperature where water can exist as solid, liquid, and gas simultaneously – the right environment for our kind of life to exist. The Moon? How have impacts affected the formation of life on Earth? As I hope you realize, we have tried to make sure that every experience each of our visitors has is tied to something that they will actually understand and feel, and motivate them to both learn more and to act differently. This past summer we conducted weekly public lectures A young family gets to see the Sun for the first time, at a (with observing following) at the AMC’s Highland Center session we did at the AMC’s Pinkham Notch center. lodge. We drew good audiences – and had great feedback and lots of questions, signs that they were actively engaged plants, animals, geology, and meteorology – but are gener - and interested in what we presented. There isn’t enough ally not trained in astronomical topics. The workshops have room here to fully describe the content of the presentation, been very successful in both informing and training them, as but, briefly, we cover the following: well as exciting them about the stellar canopy they see. We’ve already seen these individuals add astronomy topics • Distances and scales (how big and how far) to the content they deliver to AMC guests. • Numbers of stars and galaxies (how many) We have a group of student interns from Carthage who are • The evolution of the Universe (how long) and the events well versed in astronomy. All of them are required to have that allow our kind of life to exist done research with myself or another member of our depart - • Extra-solar planets and life in the Universe ment – and all have had at least one observing experience • How our lives and the world around us connect to events with me at Kitt Peak or the Steward Observatory, so they in space, in the past, present, and future know what real observational research is like. Because they • Dark Skies Awareness and Preservation carry the major burden of providing astronomy experiences • And a final punch line aimed to change the attitude of to visitors to the AMC, they need to be experts – they can’t audience members, summarizing the scales, sizes, and link - be the typical college intern who is only a gopher or helper.

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