Cosmic Mike's^® Star Attractions Column

Check out Cosmic Mike's biweekly article in Saturday's Lancaster Newspapers' Intelligencer/New Era. 

Next article tentatively scheduled for... Saturday, September 11

Most recent article... 

Visualizing our place in space

Click on graphic for larger version

It is hard to wrap our head around distances in the universe. We quickly get overwhelmed and lose a sense of our place in space.

The numbers are so large we can’t even visualize them. As a result, we overlook the basics.

For example, how many stars do we have in our solar system?

Often I hear answers like “billions” or “too many to count.” We tend to think about all the stars we see at night.

In reality, not a single star we see at night is in our solar system. Our nighttime stars are in our galaxy, but they’re all beyond our solar system. Our night sky is the Milky Way Galaxy.

We have only ONE star in our solar system: the sun....

Click HERE for entire column

 

Past Columns: 

August 28, 2010	Visualizing our place in space	Graphic
August 7, 2010	Get ready for shooting stars: the Perseids return!	Graphic
July 31, 2010	Beware of the Mars hoax	Graphic
July 17, 2010	Setting the stage for a stellar show	Graphic
June 19, 2010	Big Bird, Elmo and Saturn star at North Museum Planetarium - wasn't published	n/a
June 5, 2010	A dream come true and farewell to Atlantis	Graphic
May 15, 2010	Star bright is not a star light	Graphic
May 1, 2010	How to train a celestial dragon	Graphic
April 17, 2010	All roads lead from the Big Dipper	Graphic
April 3, 2010	Learning the sky with the brightest stars	Graphic
March 20, 2010	Finding our place among constellations	Graphic
March 6, 2010	How polluted is your night sky?	Graphic
February 13, 2010	Close encounters of the planetary kind	Graphic
February 6, 2010	Mars shines at its brightest and dominates evening sky	Graphic
January 9, 2010	Eating onion with six wives	Graphic

 

Telescope Rental

Looking for a way to observe the wonders of the night sky, but don't have a telescope? Or are you wanting to test one out before investing in a telescope of your own? The North Museum offers an Orion SkyQuest XT4.5 reflecting telescope for rent. Observe planets and the moon, when visible, star clusters, the sun and more. Rental includes all of the following:

• EZ Finder II Reflex Sight Finderscope
• 25 mm and 10 mm eyepieces
• Moon Filter
• Solar Filter (for SAFE veiwing of sunspots, when visible, on the sun)
• Red Flashlight
• Resource Materials (Planisphere included)
• Training session from Cosmic Mike for the adult borrower
• 2 week rental (can be a little flexible dependant on percentage of nights with inclement weather conditions and availability of the telescope)

Total Rental Cost: $200 (includes a $100 Refundable Deposit Fee dependant on condition of returned telescope and accessories. (Entire rental package is valued at $500)

For more information or questions please contact Cosmic Mike at 717.291.4315 or cosmicmike@northmuseum.org

Cosmic Mike's^® North Stars astronomy club

Join the club that will take your young astronomy enthusiast from the current night sky to the far reaches of the universe! Guided by North Museum staff, participants in Cosmic Mike’s® North Stars Astronomy Club will take part in hands-on astronomy activities, stargazing opportunities, trips to the North Museum Planetarium, and more.

Club members also receive Cosmic Mike’s Astronomy Updates, a North Stars T-shirt and planisphere, plus access to the exclusive North Stars Web site.

Meetings take place the first Saturday of each month.  It's not too late to register as there are still four meetings left. For more information, contact Cosmic Mike at 291-4315 or cosmicmike@northmuseum.org.

Dates: Aug. 7, Sept. 4, Oct. 16, Nov. 6, and Dec. 4  
Time: 9–10:30 am
Ages: 8–12 years
Cost: $30 for Museum members, $40 for non-members

Click HERE to download registration form.