Martha Kiernan spends many evenings looking up at the night sky with her mother and father.
The Lake Forest parents said they enjoy teaching their 11-year-old daughter the names and location of stars after dinner.
On Saturday, the Kiernans took part in activities that taught them more about the galaxy’s wonders during Astronomy Day at the College of Lake County.
Aimed at promoting the study of the universe, the event provides a variety of booths each year where children and adults are can learn about the latest astronomical discoveries with hands-on experiments that explain the science.
Carmel High School teacher Marcella Linahan was one of the educators demonstrating how infrared wavelengths work.
Two years ago, the science teacher was part of a NASA educational program that trains educators to travel onboard the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy plane.
In 2014, Linahan accompanied a scientific crew that made a trip above earth’s stratosphere to photograph mid- and far-infrared wavelengths of star formations and planetary nebulae using the observatory’s airborne telescope.
Linahan said she was excited to see “how passionate scientist are about finding and getting their data.”
Sammy Dickmann, a junior at Carmel who assisted Linahan, is the founder and president of the school’s astronomy club. Dickmann said she is interested in showing children how infrared light waves are all around.
As a model for infrared light waves, Dickmann played a song from The Avett Brothers through a small speaker, a cell phone and a solar cell that picked up the infrared light waves.
“Infrared light is not visible light. Radio waves are similar to infrared in that they’re passing through us all the time,” Dickmann said.
Alexis Harvey, 10, and her 7-year-old sister Hailey, of Crystal Lake, said they learned a lot during their visit.
“It’s interesting how the planets orbit in the same direction in a neat row,” Alexis said.
Astronomy Day is sponsored by the Lake County Astronomical Society in partnership with the College of Lake County.
Society president Tony Yelk said the event gives the organization an opportunity to do outreach work in the community and teach about their programs, such as the LOANSTAR Library Telescope Program, in which telescopes are donated to libraries that can then check them out to their patrons.
“That’s been a really successful program,” Yelk said. “More and more libraries are asking us for the telescopes and we’re happy to help them.”
Source: Chicago Tribune
