Seeing Stars (Planets, Actually)

Last Saturday evening (May 19, 2012), as a reward for all of our hard work for the Library's 100th anniversary bigbash, Boss Lady and the BigBoard hosted a field trip to the Goethe Link Observatory, which is just south of Mooresville, Indiana.  Thanks to Programma Mama for making the necessary arrangements for this exciting adventure.

There are lots of historical factoids that will undoubtedly fill Scowl-Face's blog later on, so I won't repeat them here.  Instead, we'll look at pictures, which is more fun anyway.  Click the images to bigify.

N'yum n'yums already in progress

(Where's MY sandwich?  Just asking)

Yep, yep.  Must be the right place.

MPL Staff, Volunteers, and Families chow-down

"Flat" Cauli I (or Flat First for short) accompanies
the Lady With the Red Hair

Observatory's backside

Boss Lady gives Flat First a bite of din-dins

Nice old wood inside

(Smelled like it was from the mid- to late-1930s)

Yes, I can actually tell the age of finished wood from its odor.   I am that good.  (The observatory was completed in 1939, the brochure said.  But I didn't see that until later.)

Really cool stairway leading to the big telescope

The big fellow himself

(Or is it a girl telescope?  Where do you look

to tell the difference?)

One of the places you look through to see the stars, planets,

asteroids, galaxies, and other celestial stuff

Broadway Gal sees Saturn's rings and larger moons

I.U.-Columbus astronomy professor John Shepherd

(whom I call Stargazerman) shows us how it all works

Flat First and the Lady With the Red Hair

move the telescope around

Flat First is stunned by Saturn's rings!

Those moving doors (to open the roof)

weigh a couple of tons

 Big drop from the observatory open roof, Flat First!

Hey, Flat First!  Out of that tree!  This isn't play-time

In my next posting, we'll see more photos of Goethe Link Observatory and the surrounding estate.

Still Waiting on My Sandwich, Boss Lady,

Cauli Le Chat

MPL Roving Reporter

Staff Field Trip News Beat

P.S.  Speaking of space always makes moi think of "Space Oddity," by David Bowie (1969).