cloudy lunar eclipse

I was disappointed the sky was so cloudy Tuesday morning. I checked at 1:15 AM, and again at 3:00, and the Moon was not visible thru the clouds.

Tim, a buddy who lives about 45 minutes north of us, had more fortune. He snapped these images of the last lunar eclipse of the year. Our next lunar eclipse is scheduled for December 10, 2011. It will be only partially visible at moonset from the east coast.

First Snow of Winter

Today we were suppose to get a light dusting of snow that would quickly melt because of the ground temperature.

It snowed for several hours this afternoon. At times the flakes were small, at others the flakes were big and fat.

We've got more than a light dusting.

Doonesbury Astronomy

I enjoy the tension in Garry Trudeau's work Doonesbury.

I also enjoy finding astronomical errors. I shared the comic strip of November 14, 2010

(to be found at:

http://www.doonesbury.com/strip/archive/2010/11/14

in its entirety)
with my students. They were able to find the mistake.

Assuming the time in the panel above is 3 AM, can you find the astronomical mistake?

Eastern Standard Time

Last weekend Barbara and I were at Myrtle Beach for the change back to Eastern Standard Time.

To remember how the change affects observing:

It gets light earlier in the morning.

It gets dark earlier in the evening.

Sharing the Moon

Greensboro has a nice new park downtown, and the site has become a magnet for folks and events. I took my 6 inch Celestron telescope to the park today for a couple of hours.

I was in the shadow of tall buildings for most of the hours I spent there. The Moon peeked above a building around 4 o'clock and other park patrons took turns looking thru the telescope. The Moon is currently just past 1st Quarter, and we could see the rugged southern area as well as the large mare on the western limb.

I got the usual questions about the size of the Moon and its distance from Earth, the relative distances to the Sun and the Stars, and so on. One guest was very knowledgeable and professed that he had done a good amount of research to support his belief that the world "as we know it" will end December 21, 2012.

I mentioned the 100% track record of such predictions being wrong, and he talked about the Federal Reserve Board and fascism. The Haitian earthquake, the increasing number of sunspots, and the Book of Revelations were all too much for him to dismiss, so he seemed firmly grounded in the "true believer" community.

Where do we learn?

Last week a tragedy happened. A young college student was recorded without his consent and the activity was broadcast on the Internet, to his embarrassment.

The young college student then committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington Bridge.

Where do our young people learn such outrageous behavior and why do they think it's OK to blindside and embarrass others?

Above is a still image from a current TV ad in which one person records a video of another doing something potentially embarrassing. The video gets posted to the Internet.

Galaxy

"Hurricane" by Chelsea Bredeson-Hayes was a gift from Barbara yesterday. When I first saw it, I thought of a galaxy.

Click on the image to enlarge.

The Tempest in the sky

Yesterday Barbara and I went to see a performance of the stage-play "The Tempest" by William Shakespeare. Barbara had encouraged her philosophy students to see this production of the NC Shakespeare Festival due to the connection with "Ship in a Bottle" from the Star Trek: Next Generation TV series. I just went along for the fun.

Then the names of some of the characters reminded me of astronomy:

Ariel, the air spirit and a major force in the story, is also the name of one of the smaller moons of Uranus. The solar system body is covered with impact craters and long rift valleys, Damaged not too unlike the character on stage.

Miranda is the name of Prospero's daughter in the play, a young woman easy to fall asleep and not very experienced when it comes to men. Miranda is also the name of another small moon of Uranus, the surface of which looks like a jumble of different features not carefully reconstructed.

Ceres and Juno are sprites in the Shakespeare comedy. They are also two of the four largest bodies in the main asteroid belt.

Isn't it wonderful that astronomy is almost everywhere?

Observing the Moon

Last night was International Observe the Moon night, and in celebration, I observed the Moon!

It was a grand evening with a guest list of about 50 folks, including movers and shakers of Greensboro (a former mayor was there!)

We looked at the waxing gibbous and talked about distance and American flags and a variety of other related and unrelated topics.

We took a peek at Albireo and spoke of color, temperature and mass.

Finally the giant of planets, Jupiter, rose above the trees and we spied the 4 Galilean moons.

Hope you got to look at the Moon last night. We saw 5.

If you missed it, tonight is not too late.

Three Planets plus at the Observatory

Last Friday the clouds played hide-and-seek, but the folks at Cline Observatory had some nice views of a globular cluster, the Bay of Rainbows on the Moon, and planets.

Venus was the first "star" to be found by a guest, a game we sometimes play. Venus is so bright and so high in the early evening sky, it is easily the evening star.

Mars was a rusty spot more difficult to discern. The clouds were not kind to us here.

Saturn's ring is slowly increasing it's tilt from our perspective. It was just last year that Saturn experienced "zero degrees inclination." We are now beginning to see more and more of the "northern" side of the rings as Saturn's north pole tilts toward us.

Senses

I grew up learning that we humans possessed five senses. Can you quickly name them?

touch

taste

smell

sound

sight

What is a sense? My handy dictionary says, among others,

"a specialized animal function or mechanism (as sight, hearing, smell, taste, or touch) basically involving a stimulus and a sense organ."

I just finished What If the Earth Had Two Moons? by Neil Comins, and he posits an interesting wrinkle to our understanding of senses. Comins writes that two other senses are usually left off the list taught to children, and they are "heat and gravity."

We can put our hand near a fire and feel the heat, but are we using the same sense organs (nerves) we use for touch? Does that make "feeling heat" a part of the sense of touch?

And what sense organs do we use for gravity? To sense when we are falling, do we use another sense organ other than our eyes (seeing the environment pass by) and nerves (feeling the wind, friction and impact)?

What do you think? Seven senses? Or five?

Lost in Space

This past Friday evening, Dr. Steve Danford (UUC-G) addressed the Greensboro Astronomy Club regarding the future of America's space program. Steve's always a good presenter, and he can even make sense out of the chaos we call NASA.

He shared a graphic from Dr. Harry Shipman (University of Deleware) that puts the major issues before us and guides us to logical conclusion.

If I read this correctly, if we find that some things are best made in space ("space industrialization") AND we find celestial resources to live independently of Earth ("Extraterrestrial Resources to Support Humans") we will see, sooner or later, full human settlement of outer space, with a thriving space station or two and some colonies on the Moon, Mars, and other locales.

If, on the extreme other hand, we find neither things to make in outer space, nor resources on which to live, we will have a future with robotic explorers and telescopes.

What do you think? Does this approach make sense?

Turtle in the Road

Coming home from shopping today we encountered a big and dirty Eastern Painted Turtle in our street.

We use to be able to walk to Hester Park from our house, but the addition of Painter Boulevard has cut off not only our path to the park, but the route for animals as well.

I've noticed that the Japanese Beetles have not been eating our Purple Leaf Plum trees like they use to. We're also seeing fewer raccoons and possums.

So where this big turtle was going, and how it was planning to get there, I am at a loss.

We loaded him in the car and drove him to the lake at Hester Park. Boy did he seem happy, although the geese seem to be a little disappointed.

Beauty of Saturn

One of the most popular sights at the Observatory is the sixth planet from the Sun, Saturn. Friday I had the opportunity to have dinner with a member of the Cassini Mission investigating this beautiful planet and her moons.

Dr. Anne Verbiscer from the University of Virginia shared this wonderful image taken by the space probe in September of 2006. This is the ringed planet back-lit by the Sun. Detected from this work were two new faint rings

You can see more by going to the Cassini Home Page at http://www.ciclops/org/index/php

Dr. Doolittle

I've been working at the Natural Science Center of Greensboro for almost six years, now. It's been a great experience, and I really enjoy working with the animals.

Many times I'll talk to the animals, as if they can understand what I'm saying. They may be able to pick up the tone of my voice, but I still say nice words to them.

Launa, one of our newer birds, has not been used in any of my programs yet. She's a nice little bird, and I not only talk to her, but I sing. Sometimes Launa talks back and sings with me. She'll often sit on my hand and nibble on my watch.

65 is sick

About 16 years ago, Barbara brought home a little kitten found at the pound. I really wasn't interested in having a cat, but she was a beautiful kitten.

The flea collar she was wearing had the number 65 handwritten on it, and I thought that maybe that indicated her place in line for a trip to the door at the end of the hall. I 'd never had a pet with a number as a name, so the kitten was named 65.

Our dalmatians thought she was a toy for them to play with. Some rather traumatic incidents made 65 shy and reserved. Until out last dog died, 65 was more or less invisible around the house.

Last November she had a polyp removed from her right ear, and when she came home she acted like a different cat. She followed us around, she meowed at us, she sat on our laps, she was very different. (The picture above is with a soft collar to keep her from scratching at her stitches.)

Last Wednesday she had a seizure in the living room. The earliest vet appointment was for Saturday morning. On Thursday she had another seizure, scratching and biting Barbara's foot.

Yesterday morning the vet took some blood and did some tests. We'll have to wait until Monday or Tuesday for the results. 65 does not appear to be in any pain. Barbara and I are probably more uncomfortable during the seizures than the cat is.

Sixteen years with an animal can help a bond develop.

Universal Truths

UNIVERSAL TRUTHS

1. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

4. There is great need for a sarcasm font.

5. How in the world are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

6. Was learning cursive really necessary?

7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on #5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.

9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.

10. Bad decisions make good stories.

11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.

12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection...again.

13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page research paper that I swear I did not make any changes to.

14. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means I will never wash this - ever.

15. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello?), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voice mail. What did you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

16. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

17. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

18. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.

19. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Lite than Kay.

20. I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option.

21. Sometimes, I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger and suddenly realize I had no idea what the heck was going on when I first saw it.

22. I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

23. The only time I look forward to a red light is when I'm trying to finish a text.

24. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.

25. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said?

26. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent an idiot from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters!

27. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever.

28. Is it just me or do high school kids get dumber & dumber every year?

29. There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

30. As a driver I hate pedestrians, and as a pedestrian I hate drivers, but no matter what the mode of transportation, I always hate cyclists.

31. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is.

32. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, finding their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey, but I'd bet my behind everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time!

Archeology in South Africa

From the top:

Fossils and finds from the site arranged in the work house at the Cradle of Humankind in South Africa.

Barbara on the catwalk over the dig.

Entrance to one of the recent digs at the site.

One of the on-site archeologists (can anyone help me discover his name?) explains the important work being done in South Africa. Our visit was for the Transit of Venus in 2004.

The Cradle of Humankind

During our 2004 visit, the work area at the archeological dig in South Africa was full of workers and fossils. Workers were carefully cleaning the finds and the organizing them for further study.

If Sediba, the newest find there, is almost 2 million years old, that may eliminate any connection with the crew of Battlestar Gallactica.

Astralopithecus sediba

This evening I saw a news story on TV about one if the newest discoveries in human history, the remains of Astralopithecus sediba at the Cradle of Humankind in South Africa.

Barbara and I had visited that archeological site in the winter of 2004. We climbed down into a cave and saw what the scientists had done, then toured the nearby work shed and saw the fossils and bones they were cleaning and organizing..

The recent discovery there of 1.9 million year old bones of a 9 year old male primate have been in science news. Professor Lee Berger's find is named "Sediba" which means "source."

Planets at the Observatory

Friday night at Cline Observatory can be a very fun evening. That's when we host a free public observing session, and the guests can view some really nice celestial objects.

This first Friday of April Angela and I opened the Observatory a little early to pick up Mercury and Venus in the western sky. Later in the session we spotted both Mars near our zenith and Saturn in the east. Four planets in one session is something to write home about.

We also got to see the Orion Nebula, binary stars (Sirius and Castor) and some clusters; a couple globular clusters and the Beehive Cluster. The guests were so into the observing we stayed open about an hour later than usual.

About 55 guests came to Friday's observing session. Tom and Steve set up a telescope out on the nearby pad to relieve congestion under the dome.

True Story

This afternoon as I contemplated the universe on the back porch, a flock of blackbirds came to visit in nearby trees, At first they were noisy, talking to one another, and just minutes later, they were quiet. I could still see them in the trees, they were just silent. They eventually flew off without a sound, so I got the chance to count seven birds.

That reminded me of an interesting lesson a couple years ago. I was spending time at the Mars Analog Research Station (M.A.R.S.) in the Utah dessert. One day I saw a flock of about a dozen blackbirds, the only birds I saw for two weeks. The wonderful sight of these birds noisily flying thru the desert sky made an impression on me.

At the end of our mission, we visited nearby Goblin Valley State Park and an interesting ranger was on duty. Turns out she's from Asheboro, NC and working a season at that park. I described the flock of birds I had seen a couple days before and asked her if there was a way to distinguish between blackbirds and ravens.

The young lady said it was their calls that helps her distinguish between the two. If the bird is a blackbird it will go "caw-caw." If it's raven it will go "Nevermore."

True story.

Do you believe in scientific evidence?

The importance of the meanings of words, and understanding of the shades of meanings of words is a theme in my reading lately. What is “science”? What do scientists mean by “knowledge”? What are good “models”? How do “theories” help us understand the physical world around us? (174)

One word I think is an important word for scientists to keep in mind is “belief.” I recently read a paper on science education, and the authors use the word in their introduction, and then hint at it later in the chapter. How do our students “come to understand …‘why we believe’ scientific evidence.”

Should scientists and science teachers use the word “belief”? Is there a better, more accurate word to use that can help avoid misunderstandings?

I tend to use the words “belief” and “believe” in spiritual and religious contexts. These words seem to me to be about an opinion, leading to a conclusion that may not have convincing supporting evidence. Of course, an extreme skeptic may never find enough convincing evidence, but a healthy skepticism can be addressed, I believe, with satisfactory observations and reasoning to reach conclusion.

I may not be able to share enough evidence to convince a skeptic of the existence (or non-existence) of God, but the evidence supporting a geocentric model of our solar system appears conclusive.

Does use of the word “belief” in a science context make understanding science more difficult? When the authors write “why we believe scientific evidence” are we shortchanging the scientific basis of our models and maybe even doing religious beliefs a disservice? I think so.

So what can we do? What should we do?

Even though they are only words, and different shades of meaning can be compounded by context, I think we can use a more accurate word than “belief” and I encourage my astronomy students to consider using this other word in scientific context.

I “think” the Earth is spherical. Biologists “think” evolution best describes the changes seen over time. Geologists “think” plate tectonics have been shaping the surface of our Earth.

I try to use the word “think” in my classroom and in scientific discussions. Sure, I backslide and use the “b” word every now and then, but when I use “think” in class, I think my students understand the important difference in meaning.

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The beginning of Spring

The image above is rainy Roger Dean Stadium, Jupiter, Florida, March 12, 2010.


Astronomically, Spring usually begins around March 21.

The Earth is tilted on its axis, relative to the plane of its orbit around the Sun. Sometimes our northern hemisphere is tilted toward the Sun (that's our summer) and sometimes we're leaning away from the Sun (our winter.)

In between, we find Spring and Fall.

So around March 21, the Sun reaches the celestial equator on it's slow slide higher in the sky. That's the official beginning of Spring, the Vernal Equinox.

But this week I got to attend my first Spring Training games of the baseball season. While we focused on the Cardinals and Mets, we got to see other teams, too.

Monday: Mets 11, Marlins 2
Tuesday: Astros 8, Mets 4
Wednesday: Nationals 4, Cards 6
Friday: Red Sox v. Cards Rainout

The image at the top is rainy Roger Dean Stadium, Jupiter, Florida, March 12, 2010.

("Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains. Think about that for a while." Ebby Calvin "Nuke" LaLoosh in the movie "Bull Durham")

So for me and Barbara, experiencing game-time temperatures in the 70's, our Spring began this week.

Friendly Stargazing

A couple nights ago I gathered with some friends in the country and put my new little telescope thru it's paces. I've got a Celestron NexStar 5 inch telescope with wonderful go-to capabilities. We had a great time and saw many beautiful celestial objects.

The go-to is so decadent. I use to have to know where I wanted to look in the sky as well as what I wanted to look at. Now, with go-to, I only need to know what I want to observe. A friend with binoculars was tenacious about find the same objects. Of course she used my 'scope as a clue, but she sometimes had to really search the sky. Is that a skill that will be lost with go-to-capability? Will it matter?

My scope also tells a little information about the selected celestial objects. At the beginning of the evening I would read and paraphrase what the computer said for my friends standing around. Would you tell them that you're reading from the computer or let them continue to think think you're that knowledgeable? When does it become deception?

We had a great time with a near-first-quarter moon, M42, Mars and Saturn, lots of questions, lots of friends plus much more.

Some of my favorite questions at this star party:
1. Do I believe in aliens?
2. Can stars change over time?
3. Why did NASA secretly crash a probe onto the far side of the Moon to look for water?

Making a Comet in Class

Thursday in astronomy class we made a "comet" using dry ice, water, sand, cola and glass cleaner.

Unbeknownst to me one of my students made a video of the experience and put it on YouTube at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1veYdeDxdJE

If I'd known, I would have had the photographer closer with his camera and microphone.

It Really Is a Small World, After all

When we retired from teaching high school, Barbara and I briefly talked about moving. We've lived in the Greensboro area since the day President Nixon resigned, and have enjoyed it here, but still we talked about moving.

We could move closer or further from the many different branches of our family trees. It would be an adventure.

We decided that one of the great things about living in the same community for a long time, is you get to run into people you know. So we stayed.

Yesterday at the Science Center where I teach all manner of science to elementary school kids, I ran into two former students from the early 90's. One is now a teacher, and the other was chaperoning with her son's class. It was wonderful catching up with our stories, and that I really enjoy. Leia is a teacher of special education. Both the teacher and the mom were students in my 9th grade economics class.

That was great. Along with sharing science with the kids, I was seeing two of my former students in their roles as mom and teacher.

Then in the grocery store that afternoon, there was a former colleague and her mother shopping. Angie is now a grandmother and is being a great help to her aging mother. That was great, too.

We get to run into people we know.

Sceintific Inquiry and Nature of Science in my classroom

If Nature of Science (NOS) and Scientific Inquiry were systematically integrated into curricula and taught explicitly in my classroom...

Goals might be:
1. To improve scientific literacy of students
2. Help students discover the value in using scientific inquiry to construct their own knowledge
3. Create opportunities for students to develop positive attitudes toward science
4. Improve the students’ views of the scientific endeavor
5. Improve the learners’ views of NOS
6. Lead students to value the importance of learning about NOS
7. Students understand the source and limits of scientific knowledge

Overall:
1. I would cover fewer concept topics and plan for more discussions about NOS and Scientific Inquiry .
2. I would be explicit in our class expectations of student understandings of NOS and Scientific Inquiry.
3. I would communicate to students the importance of learning about NOS by assessing it after instruction.
4. I would strive to be flexible and not distort these guides into a fixed set of sequences and steps to follow each and every situation.

In class I would:
1. Have students complete a lab or activity first
2. Lead students in reflection on what they did procedurally, why they did it, and what implications this has
a. Discuss the distinction between observation and inference,
b. Discuss the difference between scientific laws and theories,
c. Consider how imagination and creativity were important,
d. Note examples of the tentative nature of scientific knowledge,
e. Be aware of cultural and societal influences on science and scientists,
f. Consider the credibility of several explanations,
g. Remember that scientific knowledge is never absolute.
3. Remind students that the completed activity, while not exactly “real world” science, it’s a reasonable facsimile.

Shouldn’t we consider NOS and Scientific Inquiry important in both domains, cognitive and affective? Will the improved scientific literacy of our students make a difference if the students only receive them, but do not incorporate them as part of their characterization of themselves as students of science?

For example, it's been pointed out that the “arguments against the validity of evolution” include the challenge of testing. Scientific testing seems to be a very cognitive activity. Perhaps those anti-evolution arguments are more in the affective domain?

In the British periodical “Philosophy Now” there is a regular article called “Dear Socrates” in which a modern day writer responds to a question speaking as Socrates. In the September/October 2009 issue, “Socrates” writes that

"it is not so much our being related to animals that so riles the religionists as that this relation infringes on our presumed prerogative to use them [animals] as we will. The former “insults” us as being “mere” animals but the latter inconveniences us which is even more intolerable!"

To me, “Socrates’s” view of the anti-evolution argument is based more in the affective domain rather than in the cognitive. Could much of the anti-evolution, anti-science movement be based in the affective domain?

Helping students hold “positive views” of science means much more than having students parrot back the reasons science is right. Do we want students to act consistently according to NOS values they have internalized?

Is Experience the best teacher?

I've heard it said that "Experience is the best teacher" but maybe not. Maybe there's a better way to learn science. A classmate called for the adoption of a sexy new catchphrase for this different approach to teaching known as Scientific Inquiry. I agree, we ought to consider a ”cool slogan” that can be used to encompass the philosophy of Inquiry. Let’s look for a slogan that reflects the mystery of science but is broad enough to include the many facets of Scientific Inquiry.

Among other failures, it appears that we are not encouraging students to address their preconceptions nor are we nurturing the habit of thinking about thinking. My astronomy students just finished the “Reason for the Seasons” lab in which they first gave voice to their preconceptions, used measurements and reasoning to analyze the observations, and then revisited possible misconceptions.

Surprisingly, a significant number of my students accurately measured the apparent size of the Sun, organized the data, drew a graphic representation of the Earth’s orbit and still insisted that the Earth is closer to the Sun in the summer. We’ll need a slogan that embraces this reluctance to see the obvious.

Some of my students also wanted to know if their written descriptions of the observations were “right or wrong.” It appears that even in a university introductory astronomy course, we need to consider the pacing of student development of ideas about scientific knowledge. Let’s look for a slogan that reflects this experimental nature of science that’s so difficult for students to comprehend.

In TV shows such as CSI and MythBusters we see forensic experts and scientists solve mysteries using their qualitative understanding of nature. But not all of us are trying to solve mysteries. Many are just trying to survive day-to-day. Do members of the public really need a “qualitative understanding” of every concept? Maybe just knowing the right answers, the facts, the “quantitative relation” of scientific concepts, is enough for some people. Let’s find a slogan that embodies the mystery while acknowledging the mundane.

Students tend to think the purpose of controlled science experiments is to look for evidence that is consistent with their prior beliefs. While I’m not sure that’s a universally bad thing to do, we don’t really need to look far to find that same weakness in the practicing scientific community. Practicing scientists are also human too, and have all the strengths and weaknesses of that condition. We need a slogan that encapsulates this human tendency to see what we want to see.

Scientific Inquiry helps learners develop skills in collecting and analyzing evidence. It also encourages learners to address preconceptions. In addition, Scientific Inquiry guides the learners in think about thinking. A catchy slogan we might want to consider should probably address this multifaceted nature of Scientific Inquiry.

There are many ways to design a science course. Some teachers will need time and encouragement to learn more about Scientific Inquiry and think about science using this different approach.

Many children and adults assume that things are the way they appear and “science is about questioning the obvious.” Maybe we can get our slogan from a modern day version of a 19th century CSI. For Scientific Inquiry’s slogan I propose this phrase from the 2009 film “Sherlock Holmes” with Robert Downy Jr.:

“There’s nothing more elusive than an obvious fact.”

Science as Story Telling

“Knowledge is an island in a sea of mystery.”
from "Skeptics and True Believers" (1998) by Chet Raymo

This week I was reminded of Chet Raymo’s description of scientific knowledge as an island that we “dike and fill.” But occasionally that island is overwhelmed by a tidal wave of a new paradigm, and then we begin rebuilding.

As a student of history, I appreciate the changes and evolution that many of our mental models and scientific models have gone through. Changing mental models is what some of my astronomy students do in a lab called “The Checkerboard Universe.”

Students begin by writing a paragraph about their understanding of how scientists develop hypotheses, test them and come up with theories. Then they take turns determining specific rules about different patterns of the checkers on the board. After using their checkerboards, students reread their first paragraphs and then write another about their new or confirmed perspective of the role of the scientists.

Here are a couple of student comments from just this week:
• “I learned that you may not even have a question when you begin an experiment, but then you may stumble upon a question once an experiment has begun.”
• “When scientists fail they actually come closer to the answer.”

Our changing view of the universe is one reason I enjoy reading science writers such as Raymo, Sagan and Ferris. I think they give us science arguments in exciting, wondrous story forms.

Barbara, a professor of logic and philosophy, teaches that an argument is a group of propositions one of which is allegedly proven true by the others. I think this is what interesting science writers, these storytellers do. They describe the technological developments and the paradigm shifts. They describe our changing view of the universe around us. Maybe we should all think about becoming better “story tellers” of science.

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How do we know the Earth’s axis is tilted 23.5 degrees?

This is a question one of my astronomy students asked last week. That’s a perfectly good question, and I want to answer it using a different style than the one I’m use to.

Imagine you have observed that on one particular day the sun at its highest point in the sky (local noon) is actually low above the southern horizon. Some days later, you notice that the noon-sun is higher, 23.5 degrees higher in the sky than it was for your first observation. Again, days pass and you notice at noon that the sun is even higher than before, another 23.5 degrees higher!

What is making this happen? Why is the sun changing its position in our sky?

Some ideas might be mystical: maybe angels and demons are fighting over the sun, holding their own celestial rugby match.

Some ideas might be more material: maybe the Earth is wildly wobbling on its axis.

A radical idea may be that the Earth is tilted: maybe our rotational axis is not exactly perpendicular to the orbital plane of the earth around the sun.

Is there a test we can conduct to see if the Earth may be wildly wobbling on its axis? Since we’re studying celestial objects oft times we must wait for the universe to do the testing for us and we just observe. Over time we notice that the changes in the position of the sun in our sky happen slowly and consistently.

Around December 21, the noon-sun is the lowest that it’s going to get. Just 3 months later, around March 21, the noon-sun position is 23.5 degrees higher than it was in December. Another 3 months (June 21) and the noon-sun is another 23.5 degrees higher. Again, another 3 months and the noon-sun has returned to it’s mid-position. And then it repeats, over and over.

Researching astronomical records you find the same pattern described far into recorded history. Would these observations rule-out the hypothesis that the Earth is wildly wobbling? The regularity of year after year, century after century, would seem to tell us the movement is not wild.

You start noticing other aspects of the sky, both during the days and the nights. You may notice that the star called Polaris stays pretty much in the same spot of the sky, night after night, year after year. If you travel to the North Pole you may find that on June 21, the noon-sun stays 23.5 degrees above the horizon all day. Another 3 months later and the noon-Sun barely brightens the horizon. Then the North Pole sky is dark for 6 months, but eventually, on March 21, the sun begins to reappear.

Would those observations lead the discerning observer to the conclusion that the Earth’s axis is tilted 23.5 degrees? We didn’t disprove the angelic rugby match!

I’m reading Scientific Inquiry and Nature of Science, edited by L. B. Flick and N. G. Lederman, and I’m exploring this way of thinking about astronomy.

School Has Begun

The new semester at High Point University has begun, and I'm returning to teach a couple introductory courses in astronomy. I enjoy teaching there, and it affords me the opportunity to continue spreading the good news about astronomy.

On the first day of class I have the students pair off and interview one another. One question they consider is what they want to learn about astronomy during our time together.

Most of my students are second semester non-science-major freshmen. Some take the class just to earn a lab credit or a science credit. Very few have any background experience in astronomy.

Here's the breakdown of responses in my Tuesday class:
want to learn about stars: 6 responses
want to learn constellations: 4 responses
want to learn about planets: 2 responses
want to learn about the universe: 1 response
want to learn about black holes: 1 response
want to learn about astrology: 1 response
want to learn about 2012 and the end of the world: 1 response

Several responses were very general interest in science or astronomy, and some did not address this question at all.

The request to learn about 2012 actually spurred one other student into a recount of her research and her conclusion that the whole "end of the world" hype is just "stupid."

My path

A couple years ago, friends at our church gave me a book by Chet Raymo titled "The Path." I enjoy Raymo's approach to looking at the universe. This book is about his spirituality along the footpath from his house to his work.

Today at Church our minister and a dear friend shared the pulpit to speak of their paths to inner peace. One word my friend used struck a chord with me. That word is responsibility or "response-ability." We do have the ability to be in charge of our responses to others and the world around us. "Response-ability."

The minister shared a message about creating a beautiful quilt out of the many scraps life sometimes hands us. How do we make that quilt, travel that path, and be more in touch with the intimate (to learn how to communicate from the heart) and the ultimate (to touch that which is bigger than ourselves)? The answer is simple: with practice. Some practices are meditation, prayer, cooking, gardening, and there are many more.

That led me to think of my practices, how I'm responsible for traveling down the path to spiritual growth (intimacy and ultimacy.) Riding the motorcycle, painting the house, teaching, these to me are almost Zen-like activities. During these activities, I go into a different state of mind, (most of the time) to focus on doing that activity well and not getting distracted by the worries and burdens of everyday life.

I feel these practices have been somewhat successful in helping me sometimes achieve inner peace. I've rarely given them much thought, so now I am aware of them and their possible meaning for me spiritually. I wonder if knowing them in this way, being a little more observant about their place in my life, will change their effect?

The planet formerly known as Red

Mostly I think Mars takes on a butterscotch hue, a touch of orangish rust floating on a background of ebony satin.

The fourth rock from the Sun has been rising earlier and earlier, making it a wonderful sight early at night.T here is was, rising in the East a couple nights ago them setting in the West when I went out early to get the paper the next morning.

Will humans ever get to Mars? Will I live long enough to see it happen?

There are so many obstacles to human presence on Mars. From political and economic here at home, to a lethal environment in the deep reaches of interplanetary space, we humans have quite a challenge facing us.

I rather hoped and believed we would have permanent outposts on the Moon by 2001, just the way Stanley Kubrick presented it back in the 60's. We haven't done too bad, though.

Our robotic explorers have visited many corners of our solar system and peered into far distances of the universe. We are receiving great pictures and wonderful clues from Mars from the rovers Spirit and Opportunity.

But the human presence is missing and that saddens me.

2010

I was born in 1951. I say that year as reading the words "nineteen fifty-one." Barbara and I got married in 1972 ("nineteen seventy-two.")

I don't say those dates as "one thousand nine hundred fifty-one" or "one thousand nine hundred seventy-two."

So consistency seems to lead me to call this year "twenty-ten" instead of "two thousand-ten."

At the same time, I'm trying to develop more of a scientific attitude, one that does not embrace tradition merely for the sake of comfort. Maybe we'll talk about the status of the dwarf planet Pluto one day, but today I'm interested in the consistency and tradition of saying the date as "nineteen something" instead of "one thousand nine hundred something."

I'm also interested in doing the work I want to do while expending the least amount of energy. So I counted syllables.

"Twenty-ten" has three syllables and "two thousand ten" has four syllables.

In the interest of efficiency and the knowledge that I'll be somewhat consistent, I'll be calling this year "twenty-ten."

Now, I wonder, all the energy I am going to save by being so efficient, was that just used up with all this rationalization?