The parking lot outside the Hamburg Area Public Library housed several large telescopes the evening of April 13. The instruments were set up by members of the Berks County Amateur Astronomical Society in preparation for a free stargazing program sponsored by the library.
As visitors approached the telescopes, Dave Brown and other society members invited them to take a quick peek at the twilight sky before heading inside to a community meeting room in the adjacent municipal building. There, Brown offered a short program highlighting recent findings in astronomy: “Astronomy’s Search for Life, or are we ALONE?”
“Science fiction has a way of imitating science pretty well,” Brown said as he flashed up a picture of Yoda from the “Star Wars” movies. “Life can be a blade of grass, and there’s a very good chance of life being found beyond this rock. In the lifetime of some of you here [he nodded at children in the audience], I believe we could contact another civilization.”
Brown showed images of Jupiter and its four moons, which helped 17th century astronomer Galileo first theorize that the earth was not, actually, the center of the universe. For his efforts, Galileo spent the rest of his life under house arrest.
“Jupiter is massive,” Brown continued. “It’s difficult to even conceive the size. It’s a mini solar system in its own right,”
Scientist have found photographic evidence of a solid, frozen ocean on one of Jupiter’s moons. There are signs of volcanos on another, as well as a century-old active hurricane on the planet itself. The latter can been seen as a red spot on the surface of Jupiter.
Other areas in the solar system show potential signs of life. Pluto, photographed by the New Horizon last July, has an actual atmosphere and indications of Teutonic action, mountains, sand dunes and more.
“This, of course, was after Pluto was demoted to a minor planet,” Brown said. “But now they’re looking at changing that again. And if you’re getting concerned that we may have lost a planet, we may have found a new one to replace it.”
He played a clip from Cal Tech scientists to highlight the theory of Planet X. Scientists believe a massive planet may explain the distorted orbits of planets in our system. Theorizing the unknown planet is large and distant with a 20,000-year orbit around the sun, scientists worldwide are trying to find it with telescopes.
Brown’s presentation also included information on the search for planets that can support human life. There are 1,963 confirmed planets around other stars and, out of these, “there are eight or nine earth-sized planets, all within 500 light years, all possibilities,” he said. “But the speed of light is the limit. We can’t go any faster than that.”
In the 1950s, a signal was sent from earth to distant stars. It will take another 450 years to reach those potential planets, Brown said, and another 500 years to receive any reply. However, Brown said he believes recent scientific advances including the safe return landing of rocket on a barge (both unmanned) and the cooperative work between Stephen Hawking and Russian scientist Yuri Milner to create nanocrafts, may speed up efforts.
“If we are to explore space from this rock here,” Brown said as he closed his presentation, “we can’t do this as ‘Star Wars.’ We have to work together as one body. It should be one civilization searching for another civilization. We have to unify, or we don’t deserve to go.”
Back outside, people lined up to see Jupiter with its red spot on display. Several large telescopes, each controlled via a laptop computer, were trained on the planet. Basically, the astronomers working each explained, they type in the name of the planet or star they want to see and the computer angles the telescope appropriate.
An even larger telescope stood to one side, and viewers had to climb a small latter to see the moon through its lens. This telescope used basic reflection via mirrors to magnify night sky images up to 1400 times the light generated of the naked human eye.
“If I can’t find it with this,” Brown said of his telescope, “it’s probably not up there.”
Many lingered to view the stars in the clear sky overhead.
“It’s a very cold night, perfect for star gazing,” noted librarian Dan Larue.
The Hamburg Area Public Library offers free programs like this to the community on a regular basis. Upcoming program include a used book sale May 21 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Hamburg Area Middle School cafeteria, the popular Plant Swap May 21 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the library and a Schuylkill Canal program planned for June. On June 13, the library will launch its annual summer reading program. Readers may find out more information on library programs by visiting the library (35 N. 3rd St.t, Hamburg) or checking the website, berks.lib.pa.us/sha.
