Kids intrigued by astronomy lecture

Kids intrigued by astronomy lecture
Dr. Louise Edwards, assistant professor of physics at Mount Allison University, gives a presentation aimed at kids about galaxy filaments at the Free Meeting House as part of the Moncton Museum's current exhibit, Conquest of Space in Images and Canada's Stellar Space Achievements.

From Times & Transcript: Mt. A prof shows how cool space study can be
Do you know why Pluto was demoted of its planet status in 2006?

What's the name of the closest galaxy to our Milky Way?

These are some of the questions that Dr. Louise Edwards posed to a couple dozen kids and their families Saturday during her lecture on galactic astronomy, geared for both children and adults, at the Moncton Museum.

Some of kids were keeners in the subject, knowing a few of the answers that Dr. Edwards posed. When one young boy stated that Pluto was demoted because of "something to do with its orbit," which was in part correct, the adults were pretty surprised.

Edwards explained that the International Astronomical Union got together to decided what were the criteria for the definition of a planet.

"They say that it must be a round shape, it must orbit the sun, and must be strong enough to pull its little moons surrounding out of their orbit of the sun," she said. "It was discovered that Pluto didn't meet that last point."

Edwards, an assistant physics professor at Mount Allison University, based her hour-long talk the way humans observe outer space. She emphasized the use of telescopes, from small hand-held binoculars, to some of the largest telescopes in the world, used by scientists and astronauts.

She really wowed the audience with the next big project that astronomers from all over want to accomplish.

"We want to build a ground telescope with the lense measuring 30 meters across in about 10 years or so," she said. "It would need about 100 pieces of mirror put together and would be the world's largest ever."

She showed them photos of the ground Gemini telescope in Chile, and drawings of the James Webb telescope, which will be launched into space in about six years.

"The most important advantage of telescopes is to see really far into the universe and give us information that would be impossible to know otherwise," Edwards explained.

Near the end of her presentation, she invited everyone to come out to Sackville in a few weeks to use the Mount Allison telescopes for an evening.

"If it's a clear night, you'll be able to see things you couldn't see with the naked eye."

The kids seemed to be pretty excited about this and a few hands shot up to ask questions.

The last came from Jacob Jones, belonging to a group of about seven Beavers at the presentation with a few of their leaders.

"What's a naked eye?" he said, which was followed by chuckles from the crowd.

Jones asked a few great questions about space during the presentation. He said that he liked how Edwards could answer all of them.

Nancy Garner, known to the Beavers as Sunshine, said that while they don't earn merit badges until they reach Cubs and Scouts, the lecture was a great experience for the kids.

"They can tell the rest of the group all about this at our next meeting," she said.

Beaver Gracie Agnew enjoyed the talk about astronomy and says it's one of her favourite subjects.

"I love the planet Saturn because of its rings," she said.

Edwards, who studied in California and received her PhD at Laval University in Quebec, enjoys speaking to children because it may foster future scientists.

"If these lectures capture an interest in science at all for the kids then I've done my job," she said. "We need engineers, astronomers, all types of scientists so maybe they'll want to know how I know of these things and will go on to study in those fields."

Saturday's lecture was part of the Moncton Museum's current space exhibit, open every Monday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Sunday from 1 p.m. until 5 p.m.