Give the Universe

It Inspires Some Cool Gifts!

A few entries ago I talked about how astronomy is for everybody. It’s true, you know. The stars are humanity’s common heritage. They taught us to tell time, build calendars, and navigate the globe.

We came from the stars. I know I’ve talked about THAT before. All the elements in our bodies came from long-gone stars in a process that stretches back throughout the history of the cosmos.

So, if you’re looking around for something TRULY cosmic to give this holiday season (or anytime), consider a gift of astronomy. (Yes, I know it’s Black Friday (the big shopping day after Thanksgiving Day in the U.S.). I’m just offering an alternative to standing in long lines waiting to buy the latest “thing”.  The products below are mail order, downloadable, and eminently cool!)

Astronomy 101 on my bookshelf.
Astronomy 101 on my bookshelf.

Of course I’m going to tell you about some cool astronomy products that I, personally, have been involved in. The first is my latest book, called Astronomy 101: From the Sun and Moon to Wormholes and Warp Drive, Key Theories, Discoveries, and Facts about the Universe. It’s available in both hardbound and e-book formats, and you can find it in bookstories everywhere and online. It’s even in Urban Outfitters, which never fails to delight me.

So, for the cost of a pizza or two (or a couple of grande-type drinks at your local coffee shop), you can get the universe, divided into topics of a thousand words each, written at a beginning (and engaging) level. Check it out! Make your loved ones happy (or yourself). Make ME happy.  It’s the gift that keeps on giving!

A screenshot from
A screenshot from Starmap Media.

If you’re into astronomy apps, then you can’t go wrong with Starmap Media. That’s another one I’ve been working on, in cooperation with the developer (a delightful guy who turned a fascination with astronomy charting into a business). Starmap Media is an iPhone and iPad app that combines an elegant star chart function with pre-recorded multimedia “star talks” (like you hear in the planetarium) that you can enjoy in real time under the stars or in “couch mode” when the weather isn’t cooperating.

I wrote the scripts for more than 30 of these stories, the developer produced them with original artwork, music, and a narration by veteran voice actor Jon Mohr (Mark and I also used him as the American voice for a planetarium show called Into the Deep, produced by Ogrefish Filmproduktions of Austria).

The resulting story productions have been described by some users as having a personal planetarium in the palm of your hand.  They’re made for education, entertainment, and inspiration—all through your iDevice!  So, check it out and make a deserving developer happy!

Mark C. Petersen performing a live GEODESIUM concert at the Boston Hayden Planetarium. Courtesy Loch Ness Productions.
Mark C. Petersen performing a live GEODESIUM concert at the Boston Hayden Planetarium. Courtesy Loch Ness Productions.

Finally (for this round of astronomy-related gift suggestions), I am always pleased to present the wonderful space music of Mark C. Petersen, doing his thing as a premier space music composer since long before any of those OTHER guys under the nom-de-studio, GEODESIUM. You can sample his works and find many good places online for downloads and mail order from the main Geodesium.com page.

No matter what you end up purchasing, always consider the gift of time to teach others about your love of the universe. It  might be something as simple as teaching a friend about the constellations. Or taking your children to the planetarium for a show. Or, starting a blog about your observations of the night sky. The possibilities are endless, and you have an entire universe to explore!

I’ll have other gift suggestions as the holiday season progresses, so do check back!

 

Astronomy is for Everybody

It’s a Heritage Science

A few weeks ago I went to Poland for a meeting called “Communicating Astronomy with the Public.” It was a gathering of about 200 people who work daily in bringing astronomy to public audiences. I presented a video called Losing the Dark about light pollution, and was part of a discussion about dark skies heritage for our children. All of us attending know that astronomy is one of the oldest, and most-approachable of all sciences. It’s also a gateway science; if you study astronomy, you can’t help but end up studying physics, chemistry, life sciences, astrobiology, and geology.

Astronomy began when the first people had a chance to go outside, look up, and marvel at the sky. It wasn’t long before they figured out how to use the sky as a calendar, a timekeeper. Why would they do that?  To predict the seasons, which for hunter-gatherers as well as farmers is an important thing to do. If you know what season is coming up and when it begins, you know when to plant, to harvest, to hunt certain animals. Using the sky became a matter of survival. Later on, the use of the sky became more ritualized and incorporated into religious aspects of life, but the calendar and time-keeping functions remained as part of the observational practice of astronomy.

It really wasn’t until the Renaissance that astronomy came into its own as a science. And, from there, it evolved with each astronomer who put his or her telescope to work. Today, we stand on the shoulders of many giants in astronomy, beginning with the ancient Greeks, to Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Herschel, Hubble, and many others too numerous to name here. We get our star names from Arabic astronomers, our massive catalogs of galaxies and other deep sky objects from Herschel, Messier and others. Our perception of the universe was changed by Hubble, using Henrietta Leavitt’s discovery of the period-luminosity relationship of variable stars and their changing brightnesses. And, today, there are perhaps 10,000 trained astronomers using the world’s telescopes to learn more about the cosmos.

But, there are hundreds of thousands of amateur astronomers, too. Some are quite expert at observing and own very good equipment. Others are backyard-type astronomers using binoculars or small telescopes to explore the cosmos. And many people are content to go out each night, look at some constellations and planets and stars and take in the beauty of the night sky.

Astronomy IS for everybody. We should be encouraging more astronomy in our schools because it’s such an easy entry to other sciences. And science-literate children grow up to be savvier adults participating in society. It’s not a stretch; it’s true. And astronomy is a heritage we need to keep sharing.