Till the Sun Falls From the Sky

3/26/06 –4/1/06

By C. Zaitz

Recently some first graders came to the planetarium to learn about the Earth, Sun and Moon. I asked the little ones to show me where the Sun would go during the day. They pointed first to the east, tracked their tiny fingers across the sky and ended up pointing to the west. I turned on the planetarium Sun and they saw for themselves what they had just predicted. Then as the Sun went down, they began to see the stars and planets. One little girl pointed to the dot that represented Saturn and said, “There’s the Sun!” I am usually not surprised by the things I hear students say when the stars come out; in fact I usually let them talk out loud so I can hear any misconceptions they may be harboring. But I hadn’t come across anyone thinking that the Sun was back in the sky disguised as a planet. My planetarium Sun may not be as bright as the real Sun, but it is pretty accurate in size. I had to ask my young guest why she thought the Sun had returned after she watched it go down. She said that sometimes the Sun falls out of the sky and then it switches and comes back up in the sky. I was momentarily speechless, but I decided to go over the spinning of the Earth once more.

In the absence of science, human imaginations can come up with very poetic explanations of every day phenomenon. I’ve always wondered what those crazy Greeks were thinking with their stories of Helios carrying the Sun across the sky in a chariot pulled by winged horses. But sitting face to face with a six year old trying to make her understand that the Sun wasn’t moving, that the Earth was actually spinning at 800 mph under her very feet made me feel like I was the crazy storyteller. Her explanation of the Sun falling down and magically coming back up made more sense than my ardent testimonial that the Earth was moving. Luckily first graders will remember what I said and generally regurgitate it accurately though it may be a few more years before developmentally they will be able to understand it.

On Wednesday, March 29th, the motion of the moon will be seen, if not felt. Lucky folks in parts of S. America, Africa and Asia will experience a rare and beautiful total solar eclipse. The Moon will pass directly in front of the Sun, blotting it out for a few minutes. Some might think that the Sun has fallen from the sky or that the event portends evil or upcoming joy. That evening you can come to the Ensign Planetarium and eat, drink and be merry with us. We will have internet footage of the eclipse from Turkey. Telescopes will view Saturn and Mars and we’ll have activities for the whole family. Admission is $3 adults and $2 students and seniors. Doors open at 6pm for open house and the show is at 7pm. I welcome everyone to come and see for yourselves if the Sun will fall from the sky. I predict it won’t. And we have something the Greeks didn’t have- pictures from space to prove it.

Until next week, my friends, enjoy the view!