Everyone has seen the moment the pink in the horizon shifts to a deep navy, before scattered glittering diamonds shine through the night sky. For thousands of years, humans have observed the stars: marking constellations, associating them with divinity and trying to understand the distant speckles. After generations of study, astronomers have discovered that beyond our planet lies a vast universe, full of hundreds of billions of galaxies and many unsolved mysteries.
Despite astronomy being so impactful on our everyday lives, it is not given the amount of credit that it deserves. Menlo should take its astronomy club a step further by creating an astronomy elective to help educate students on its impact and applications.
Students are aware of how astronomical inventions such as satellites benefit us, being the technology behind GPS signaling, weather apps and more. However, many students are not aware that technology initially designed for space exploration inspired many inventions that benefit our daily lives.
Students should have the opportunity to learn about how astronomy blends engineering with other fields, allowing for many new technological innovations. According to a NASA article titled “Benefits Stemming from Space Exploration,” some technological innovations initially designed for astronomical use include cordless tools, cell-phone cameras and light‐based anti‐cancer therapy.
Astronomy is one of the oldest sciences, and although it has captivated generations of humans, due to the horrible light pollution in Silicon Valley, few students at Menlo have observed the night sky illuminated. That’s where Menlo’s Astronomy Club steps in: it gives students the opportunity to look through a telescope at the top of Stent Hall.
“I’ve always just had a really deep love for looking at the night sky,” science teacher and Astronomy Club faculty advisor James Formato said. With a background in astronomy, students often approach him curiously about different astronomical topics.
“I get a lot of astronomy questions, [from] what happens in the vicinity of a black hole to the nature of time, [and even about] possibilities of interstellar travel,” Formato said. “There’s a curiosity, but maybe a lack of depth [in their education], which is what high school is for,” he added.
High school is where students narrow down their interests before studying their field in college, and without understanding what astronomy covers, students are unable to learn more about the field.
While Menlo offers a large variety of electives, astronomy is unique enough to require its own class of study, and the lack of opportunity leads to a lack of appreciation.
“I do think there is a culture around astronomy education that doesn’t exist here at Menlo,” Formato said. And I agree. From what I’ve seen, when asked about their interests, very few students reply by saying they enjoy astronomy. Because it is an observational science, people assume they have to stay up late at night in order to learn about it, which is inaccurate.
While seeing stars at night is a marvelous experience, studying astronomy requires no more than passion and effort. An astronomy elective could cover the life and death cycles of stars, types of galaxies and their formations, universe expansion and many more topics I really think students at Menlo would be interested in.
According to Formato, if Menlo students approached him asking for an astronomy elective, he said it would be very hard to reject them. So, I strongly encourage students to consider the possibility of learning about our universe and its properties.
But even though Menlo does not offer an elective, students can still witness several awe-inspiring celestial events this year. Here are some things that you can pay attention to as the year progresses!
Meteor Showers
This year, there will be many notable meteor showers, and there are many opportunities to see them. A half hour from Menlo is the Monte Bello Open Space Preserve, which has hiking trails, beautiful wildlife and an amazing spot for camping and stargazing. This August, the Perseids meteor shower will come, which, according to NASA, is considered the best meteor shower of the year. You can view the shower as early as 10 p.m., and the Perseids are known for leaving long streaks of color behind them, with around 50 to 100 meteors per hour! The warm summer night timing also means students can comfortably view them, and it is an amazing experience to go on with friends or family. If you want to learn more about what meteor showers are or how we track them, an astronomy elective may be the right fit for you.
Saturn’s Rings
Saturn, the second largest planet in the solar system, is famous for its large rings made of ice and minerals. However, for the first time in 2009, Saturn’s rings will become nearly invisible. On March 23, Earth will be passing along the plane of Saturn’s rings, making the rings especially hard to see this year, with a similar event happening in November. The rings will gradually become more visible, reaching full visibility again in 2032. Despite the vast size of our solar system, astrophysicists have been able to predict the exact dates of these events using complex calculations and advanced technology.
By introducing an astronomy elective, Menlo would be giving students the chance to explore an engaging subject not many are educated on. Astronomy takes physics and puts it on a scale with celestial objects, sometimes hundreds or even thousands of times more massive than our sun. Giving Menlo students an astronomy elective would allow them to better understand the foundations of our universe and discover if they are passionate about astronomy and willing to study it in the future.
