Wednesday I had the time to attend most of the big talks (in addition to two press conferences). The first presentation of the morning was about astronomy education, public outreach, and Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. I was planning on going to the observatory Wednesday night anyhow, so it definitely made me look forward to the visit.
Mike Brown, professor of planetary astronomy at the California Institute of Technology, gave the second talk of the day. He spoke about the outer solar system and a few minor planets (Sedna, “Snow White,” and Haumea). He also shared his thoughts on the Pluto debate — he believes Pluto is not a major planet. He was a dynamic speaker, and I really enjoyed the talk. Considering I’m usually not a solar-system astronomy person, that’s saying a lot! I learned quite a bit about the outermost objects in our solar system.
The last talk of the day focused on an exhibit at the Huntington Library just outside of Pasadena. After the presentation, I wished I had another day in California to visit the exhibit. It’s called “Beautiful Science: Ideas that Changed the World" and mostly showcases historical science books and manuscripts about astronomy, medicine, natural history, and light. It’s a permanent exhibit, so consider visiting it if you’re in the Los Angeles area.
After the conference ended for the day, I went out to Griffith Observatory. Recently the facility underwent a 4-year, $93 million renovation. It reopened in late 2006, so this was the first time I had seen it since the renovation. The exhibit halls have some great displays. Considering my interest in jewelry and beads, I especially enjoyed the timeline of the universe made with 2,200 pieces of celestial jewelry (image at right).
The planetarium show was great also. The night sky from a dark location is something that I rarely had the opportunity to see while growing up in Chicago, but the sight always makes me smile. There’s just something about seeing the Milky Way band stretching across the sky.
Griffith Observatory boasts many other interesting exhibits, from explaining Earth’s tides and different types of eclipses, to a fabulous display of the periodic table of elements, to a giant (the table showing the classification scheme of stars). In the picture to the right I’m pointing toward the Sun. Arcturus is the large yellow star above me. Betelgeuse is the red star in the upper right; however, Betelgeuse should have actually been 1.5 times the size of the room (as noted on the HR diagram). Exhibits such as this one really make you appreciate the scale of objects in the universe.
And so my trip to the 214th meeting of the American Astronomical Society has ended. I head back to Wisconsin Thursday, and I have to leave the hotel more than 4 hours before my flight in order to fight with Los Angeles traffic! Yes, the traffic is that bad.
Headlines from 214th meeting of the American Astronomical Society
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