Saturday, October 8, was the second and final day of the Discover the Universe (DtU) public event held at Florida State College at Jacksonville (FSCJ) in Florida. Lots of people and organizations participated in making this a grand event. I want to give special recognition to Mike Reynolds, Dean of Liberal Arts at FSCJ. Reynolds also serves the Astronomy Foundation as the chairman of its Star Party committee, and he is passionate about outreach.
In addition to the hall used for today’s lectures, the event also featured a children’s activity center in an adjoining building. In the four hours it was open, 240 kids made Styrofoam-and-compact-disk models of Saturn. They and their parents also enjoyed sky programs presented in a StarLab portable planetarium. Solar observing was in the initial plans, but thick clouds overhead with occasional heavy rain said, “No.”
Sponsors of DtU included Astronomy magazine, the Astronomy Foundation, Explore Scientific, Meade Instruments, Hospitality Inn of Jacksonville, the Upsilon Eta chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, the STEM Club, Starbucks Coffee on Roosevelt Boulevard in Jacksonville, the Brian Gooding Planetarium, OpticsPlanet.com, and the Northeast Florida Astronomical Society (NEFAS).
I began the evening’s entertainment at 7:30 with the talk “Our Amazing Universe (by the numbers).” Starting with 1 and continuing through the trillions, I explained the significance of various numbers in the cosmos. Did you know that the Moon only reflects 7 percent of the sunlight that falls on it? Or that 125 meteors strike Earth each hour? Or that the Moon’s surface contains 500,000 craters with diameters greater than 1 kilometer? Judging by the reactions and the questions that followed the talk, the audience found the facts I shared intriguing.
Actor Robert Dawson reprised his role as the great Italian astronomer in Galileo — Quest for Truth. His show is a personal look at the triumphs and setbacks of Galileo. Dawson, who has researched several other historical astronomers for similar performances, has constructed many props that helped the audience understand some occasionally difficult concepts. I greatly enjoyed his Galileo presentation because it showed careful attention to even the smallest details.
As the evening drew to a close, Reynolds conducted as long a door-prize session as the one last night. He awarded several thousand dollars of prizes. Unfortunately, a storm front prevented all of us from enjoying the starry sky.
Still, everyone involved with DtU thought it was a great success all around. I hope to return for a future version. If I do, you’ll read about it here.
Related blog: Discover the Universe: Jacksonville, Florida, Day 1