Rick Peterson and students join star-gazing party on night of Jupiter Triple Shadow Transit
Rick Peterson, Ph.D., associate professor and assistant chair in the Department of Environmental Studies, and fifteen students from his ENV 104 class braved the cold on the night of January 23, 2015, to join members of the Astronomical Society of Northern New England (ASNNE) for a star-gazing party at the organization’s Starfield Observatory in Kennebunk.
The stars, the moon and even the planets did not disappoint. Jupiter and its four moons, lined up perfectly, with Calisto, Io, and Europa situated in a tight group close in and Ganymede further out.
Later that night the moons cast shadows on Jupiter’s banded surface in a Jupiter Triple Shadow Transit. However, given the moon shadow show’s start time of 11:46 p.m. and the students’ frozen fingers and toes, the 91Ö±²¥ÊÓƵgroup opted for the comfort of their warm beds.
Peterson noted that the moons, themselves, alone, though, were stunning, as were Jupiter’s clearly visible bands, the Comet Lovejoy blazing away near the Pleiades, six stars visible in the Orion Nebula’s Trapezium, Capella’s binary structure and Sirius’ blinding brilliance as seen through the 8-inch Zeiss telescope that the star-gazers used.
This was the third star-gazing trip for ENV 104 students, thanks to Peterson’s partnership with ASNNE, which began in fall of 2012. The trips offer students a chance to see first-hand the wonder of the universe about which they have been studying using the text The Journey of the Universe, co-authored by cosmologist Brian Swimme and Yale religious scholar Mary Evelyn Tucker.
Peterson says that his Introduction to Environmental Issues courses are based on the premise that we are inspired to act in concert with nature more through apprehending nature’s wonder, beauty, and beneficence than through learning a litany of our negative impacts on nature, as important as these might be.
Peterson considers ASNNE a wonderful resource for the community, whose members have enthusiastically welcomed 91Ö±²¥ÊÓƵstudents and who are eager to share with them their joy, wonder and in-depth knowledge of the night skies.
posts regular star-gazing parties, open to the general public, on the calendar on their website.
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