FROM THE EDITOR -- OPENING UP THE SKIES
Welcome to the fourth issue of _The Armchair Astronomer_, a monthly e-zine
devoted to the study and application of astronomy and its impact on the
average layperson.
I wish to take the time to talk about _this_ average layperson--to relate
to you a story that has "haunted" my life since it happened. The details
are quite vague now, as I've tried my darndest to block out the memories.
I'm in Third Grade, a Cub Scout, and my Pack Leader is taking a group of
us to the planetarium ... _a_ planetarium. It was somewhere in the
Detroit
area. That's all I recall of the place, except for the statue of an
astronaut somewhere inside, and the story that was told to me about that
particular astronaut.
This statue, I was so kindly informed, was in fact not a "statue" at all,
but the petrified remains of the astronaut, who was so careless as to gaze
too long at a particular star: the Medusa star to be exact.
Yes, this heavenly basilisk was a beautiful and strangely attractive
star somewhere in the eastern sky. It has a hypnotic effect, and once you
start watching, this celestial harpy lures you closer and closer, slowly
petrifying your body as it works its magical spell.
Needless to say, this story, which perhaps got lots of laughs from the
planetarium staff, had a profound impact on my scientific inquisitiveness.
Indeed, it was years until I could focus my attention properly on the
eastern sky. My thoughts would always return to that poor, unfortunate
soul who was now and forever relegated to pointing at one particular
ceiling tile in a Planetarium that will always hold a special cold
place in my heart--as cold as stone on a clear winter's night.
- Todd
29 March 1995
P.S.: Remember that individual articles from this e-zine can be
retrieved via the World-Wide Web at URL:
http://lalaland.cl.msu.edu/~vanhoose/astro.html.
ERRATUM: Last Month's "This Month in Astronomy" Column, in my haste to
get the newsletter out, was overlooked and not updated from February.
But, since it was 19 days late anyway, it wouldn't have made much of a
difference, but I apologize anyway. :)
DID YOU KNOW? There was no new Moon in the entire month of February,
and that won't happen again until the year 2014.
(From SKY & TELESCOPE NEWS BULLETIN.)
sel.e.nog.ra.phy \.sel-*-'na:g-r*-fe-\ n 1: the science of the physical
features of the moon 2: the physical geography of the moon. From
Selene, the goddess of the moon in Greek mythology.
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- T o d d E. V a n H o o s e a r -
``'''vanhoose@lalaland.cl.msu.edu - vanhoose@msu.edu - vanhoose@lalaland.cl.msu.edu
(._.) Michigan State University - East Lansing, MI USA
(_) Computer Laboratory - Department of Communication
`---' <A HREF="http://lalaland.cl.msu.edu/~vanhoose/">My Home Page</A>
"I.R.S.: We've got what it takes to take what you've got!"
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