astronomy revisited

I was recently sitting at the waiting room of the doctor's office, unwillingly resigned to get some antibiotics to fight off a nasty case of what turned out to be bronchitis. While I was there I began reading the typical six month old magazine, and came across an article discussing the "known" universe and how some of the planets which we grew up reading about are now being challenged by modern scientists. For example, Pluto, apparently is not a planet at all, but has been temporarily downgraded to the status of "dwarf planet" so as not to upset too many people. The debate rages on. Another small "dwarf" planet has been discovered, known as "Xena" (no relation to the testosterone-infused television cave-heroine).

This got me thinking about grade school science class, and how the education that we received about the planets may (and most likely will) differ from the education that our children are receiving. The real scary thought is...they're learning it more "right" than we did, or at least in more current correct terms. So where do we, as "grownups" re-learn these things? From six month old magazines sitting in doctor's offices, I suppose. Or...from our kids?

I used to have a slight interest in astronomy. In fact, my uncle once took me to an astronomy meet at a farm in Mississippi when I was about twelve years old. Everything was very dark, but you could see the moonlight bouncing off of the parked cars. Anytime someone would turn on a flashlight or open a cardoor (thereby emitting a bit of light), someone would yell angrily. After all, it takes a while for ones eyes to become fully adjusted to the dark.

My favorite part of the night was watching satellites buzz across the sky through some of the veteran members' massive telescopes. At least, that's what my uncle said we were watching. They moved too fast and orderly to be anything else (aliens?). At the end of the evening, as the sun was starting to blush the sky, they had a raffle contest. My mother had given me a dollar, which I had bought a ticket with. I was astounded when they called my number and I was called onto the platform. They offered me a choice between a VCR and a pair of binoculars. Like any twelve year old, I came close to blurting out "VCR!" but happened to glance at my uncle who was mouthing "binoculars" to me, and holding his hands up, about two feet apart.

Against my own "know-it-all" pre-teen better judgement, I chose the binoculars. To my surprise, the guy on stage presented me with a large black case with a shoulder strap. Inside, I found a pair of Celestron Astronomical Binoculars. They were so large that they had to be tripod-mounted. I found out later that they cost about $750 new. It was a shock. I'll never forget the look on my uncle's face while I was on stage contemplating my gift. I'll also never forget the look on the faces of the club members when they saw me, a kid who didn't even belong to their astronomy club, walking away with these super-expensive binoculars for a $1 raffle ticket.

I had the binoculars mounted on a tripod in my room for some time, and used to enjoy looking for satellites, hurting my eyes by staring at the moon, and catching an occasional glimpse of unsuspecting neighbors. Eventually, I traded them to my uncle for some photography gear, which I used throughout high school and college. Of course, these were the days before the internet. I knew nothing of telescope dealers, and there was no astronomy classified website like AstroAds that I could hop onto to find out how much to sell them for. And even if I had placed an ad in a newspaper, it wouldn't have been a free listing like I could have gotten at a site like AstroAds.

Looking back at that decision, I'm happy that I traded the binoculars. I'm sure that my uncle gave me a good deal on the photo gear, and the binoculars would have ended up collecting dust over the years if I had kept them. Then again, with all of the new understandings that we have of the universe and our planetary surroundings, a nice telescope or pair of astronomical binoculars might be a fun way to pass the time with my kids. Maybe one of these days, I'll happen to see my old Celestron binoculars back up for sale on a site like AstroAds. Then the kids can show me all I need to know about the universe around us.