A look up at the sky with the right lens this week would reveal moon craters, Jupiter, Mars, Saturn or the rumbling of activity on the sun, which had been quiet for a few years.
National Astronomy Day is April 24 and some local observatories and planetariums will celebrate with special viewing nights and science talks. Still, everybody is teaching the same lesson: the sky is open for viewing every night.
"It doesn't matter if you can't remember the names," said David Dundee, the astronomy program manager at Tellus Science Museum in Cartersville. "You’re looking up and enjoying the best free show on the planet."
Tellus has three days of earth and sky events planned, including the debut of a 294-gram, 4.567 billion-year-old meteorite that blasted through a roof in Cartersville in March 2009, and was identified late last year. It's the 25th meteorite found in Georgia, and one of several on display at Tellus.
"That's pretty rare to see in any museum," Dundee said.
It's not hard to get in a night of skywatching in Georgia, where state parks often hold astronomy nights; and planetariums and observatories are located through the state, often at colleges and universities. Chris De Pree, a professor of physics and astronomy and Bradley Observatory director at Agnes Scott College, said they often have a crowd of about 100 for observatory open houses, like one planned for May 7.
Plenty of astronomy careers have started with a kid peering through a telescope, De Pree said. They go on to be students, like those at Agnes Scott, who research the sky by remotely looking through telescopes in Arizona, and a newly refurbished .6-meter telescope in Chile. From there, students have become research astrophysicists, science librarians, sky observers and teachers, De Pree said.
"You can see in the eyes of those kids when they’re up in the telescope," De Pree said. "You do something -- something like move the telescope or open the dome and they all gasp."
Atlanta area planetariums and observatories
Agnes Scott College observatory and planetarium, Bradley Observatory. Park in garage on East Dougherty Street, Decatur. www.agnesscott.edu/academics/bradleyobservatory. Observatory open house 8-10 p.m. May 7.
Camp Sunrise planetarium, 1427 Slate Mine Road S.E., Fairmount. 706-337-2775, www.campsunrise.com/planetarium.html.
Emory University observatory and planetarium, Department of Physics, Math & Science Center, Room N201, 400 Dowman Dr., Atlanta. 404-727-6584, www.physics.emory.edu/astronomy/planetarium.html.
Fernbank Science Center observatory and planetarium, 156 Heaton Park Dr., Atlanta. 678-874-7102, www.fernbank.edu. National Astronomy Day activities 10 a.m.-4 p.m. April 24.
Georgia State University's observatory at Hard Labor Creek State Park, 5 Hard Labor Creek Road, Rutledge. 404-413-6033, www.chara.gsu.edu/HLCO/openhouse.html. Open house 9-11 p.m. May 22.
Tellus Science Museum observatory and planetarium, 100 Tellus Dr., Cartersville. 770-606-5700, www.tellusmuseum.org. Family Science Night Earth Day activities, 4-8 p.m. April 22, Astronomy Night activities, 5 p.m.-10 p.m. April 23, Astronomy Day activities, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. April 24.
University of Georgia observatory, Physics Building, Room 204 A, Athens. 706-542-2485, www.physast.uga.edu/~star. Public observation to resume in the fall.
University of West Georgia observatory, Department of Physics, Carrollton. 678-839-4095, www.westga.edu/~physics/observatory.html. Public observation open, 9:30-10:30 p.m. May 10.
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