James Mullaney
Spitz, Inc.
PO Box 198, Route 1
Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania 19317
There is a traditional but often-overlooked symbiotic relationship between
"skyshow" presentations in a planetarium and seeing the "real
thing" through an astronomical telescope of adequate aperture. This
involves the best of man's ingenious efforts to faithfully reproduce the
starry sky inside a theater, on the one hand, and confronting the original
masterworks of the heavens face to face on the other.
I have had the opportunity of introducing tens of thousands of people to
the stars using some of the largest planetarium instruments ever made, including
the huge Zeiss Mark II and the Spitz Space Voyager. I've also had the privilege
of showing like numbers the wonders of the heavens through some of the finest
telescopes in existence, among them Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrains up to
56 cm (22 inch) in aperture, a historic 33 cm (13 inch) Fitz-Clark refractor
and a 76 cm (30 inch) Brashear refractor (this last instrument being the
fifth largest in the world).
This experience in "star hustling" (to use Jack Horkheimer's famous
phrase) both the artificial sky and the real one leaves no doubt in my mind
that the wonder awakened in a planetarium presentation must be complimented
by firsthand viewing of celestial objects through a telescope for maximum
impact. By this I mean a transforming and elevating personal encounter with
astronomy that your students or visitors will carry with them for the rest
of their lives.
In the March, 1990, issue of Sky & Telescope magazine, I contributed
a one-page "Focal Point" opinion piece entitled "Metaphysical
Stargazing." In it, I pointed out the subtle but very real and significant
benefits to the individual of "communing" directly with the heavens
through naked-eye, binocular and (especially) telescopic observation of
its wonders. The enthusiastic response from amateur and professional astronomers,
planetarium educators, science teachers and students (of all age levels)
clearly showed that a resonant chord had been struck in these readers from
around the world.
Among the benefits of "stargazing" covered in this article are
the therapeutic relaxation, expansion of consciousness and spiritual contact
that come with contemplative viewing of the cosmic depths. Central to all
of this is what I like to call the "photon connection"-the incredible
fact that when we look at celestial objects (be they a few light minutes
away as in the case of the sun, or billions of light years distant for galaxies
and quasars) we are in direct physical contact with them as the photons
end their journey across space and time on the retinas of our eyes. A piece
of something that was once inside of them is now inside us!
Realization of this profound fact helps explain the strange fascination
we all seem to have with the stars, and how something so remote and beyond
our reach can have such a lasting impact upon us. It also shows why the
CCD/video imaging that's all the rage today-even given its attendant wondrous
capabilities-simply doesn't "cut it." Looking at celestial objects
on a TV monitor or projected onto a planetarium dome (even in real-time)
cannot fulfill the need of the human mind and soul for that direct personal
contact with the cosmos from which we sprang. As Eric Hoffer so well expressed
it, "It's a kind of homing impulse-we are drawn to where we came from."
My premise is that providing an opportunity for first-hand telescopic encounters
with the day or night sky as part of a planetarium visit is essential to
any truly meaningful and lasting educational astronomy experience. In other
words, every such institution-be it a large museum installation or small
school facility-should have one or more good telescopes available (and scheduled)
for regular use in its programming, weather permitting.
As to what size, type and make of instrument this should be, it really matters
little so long as the optics are good and the mounting stable. Nothing so
draws attention as an open observatory dome or a large telescope tube looming
against the sky in the parking lot of a planetarium. The latter is especially
true for the big Dobsonian reflectors that have become very popular with
stargazers in recent years, looking for all the world as they do like some
huge celestial cannon aimed heavenward!
My personal preference, from the standpoint of observer convenience, portability
(if required), light grasp, resolution, field of view, image scale, and
atmospheric and thermal considerations, is the compact Schmidt-Cassegrain
catadioptric that is in such widespread use today. An instrument in the
20 to 35 cm (8 to 14 inch) aperture range (whether portable or permanently
mounted) makes a superb teaching and entertaining tool for use at a planetarium.
Few realize that given good atmospheric seeing (steadiness), such an instrument
will show features on the moon's surface just a few hundred yards across
and detail in sunspots only several kilometers in size! Likewise, on nights
of good atmospheric transparency (clarity), scopes of this class are capable
of revealing the nearest quasars-even from the heart of a light-polluted
city!
I invite each one of you, as planetarians and fellow stargazers, to put
this premise to the test by giving your students or visitors (plus staff
and administrators as well!) a look through a telescope as the climax (its
traditional function at most major planetariums in the past) to their encounter
with the universe. Experience for yourself the wonder in their eyes, the
excitement in their voices and the astonishment on their faces as they peer
into space. You will then know beyond any doubt that they have indeed "connected"
with the cosmos. And you will realize once again why you have made it your
business and your mission to point the way skyward to all who will look
and listen.
This paper was originally presented at the MAPS Conference in Baltimore,
Maryland, in April 1993, and was first printed in the High Altitude Observer.
Reproduced from the Planetarian, Vol. 22, #3, September 1993. Copyright
1993 International Planetarium Society. For permission to reproduce please
contact Executive Editor, Sharon Shanks.
