WEST MIDDLE SCHOOL students examine sun and moon with expert aid

"What is more beautiful? How the moon lets the sunshine throughout the day or the way the sun lets the moon glimmer at night? " 

On May 18, the Ford Motor Company Astronomy Club came to West Middle School to help students ponder this question. Members Gordon Hanson, John McGill and Sandra Macika spoke to our students about various aspects of astronomy.

Sandra Macika was a NASA employee for seven years. She brought several meteorites for the students to hold and closely examine. She discussed how the meteorites were formed. Many of the meteorites came from the cores of “planetismals.”

Crystal patterns in the meteorite tell how slowly or quickly they cooled before entering Earth's atmosphere. Ms. Macika has meteorites from several different countries including Sweden, Russia, Africa, and Peru.

She also had examples of “tektites.” Tektites come from giant meteorites. Meteorites hit the earth melting the affected dirt. This melted dirt flies up out of the atmosphere. As gravity pulls it back down to Earth, it cools and becomes tektites or dirty glass.

Mr. Hanson and Mr. McGill set up their very expensive telescopes in the school parking lot. One telescope was aimed directly at the sun. Through this telescope you could see the sun through a filtered lens. A “prominence” or magnetic field was visible. The other telescope was pointed toward the moon.  Amazingly, the moon craters could be seen. One crater even had a mountain in its center.

Mr. Gordon Hanson and Mr. John McGill cautioned us to never look directly at the sun.  Since our eyes have very few pain receptors we may permanently damage our eyes without even knowing it. The blindness may not be evident for 24 hours later.

These gentlemen gave us the exciting news that on August 21, 2017, there will be a total solar eclipse here in the United States. The sun's path will go from Oregon to South Carolina.  Depending on the sun's location along the path, the solar eclipse may only be seen for 30 seconds to two-and-a-half minutes.

They also suggested that the students investigate the Ford Motor Company Astronomy Club website to find dates of other astronomy events. Some events are held at Island Lake State Park. They also encouraged the students to visit Henry Ford College Planetarium on Wednesday evenings at 7:30.  There is no admission charge.

In addition, students and their parents may go to the Lincoln Park High School planetarium on Friday and Saturday nights when there is a clear sky.

We wish to sincerely thank these members of the Ford Motor Company Astronomy Club. Their presentation was a wonderful extension of our eighth grade science curriculum. Their visit may have sparked a lifelong hobby of looking at our universe. Hopefully, they motivated our students to pursue astronomy as a career.  Who knows, one of our West alums may one day become an astronaut!

Submitted by Sara Bochenek