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Ashley Cox
Physics 1040
Trina Van Ausdal
November 18 2014
Astronomy Conversation Paper
I didnt realize Id learned so much about Astronomy in such a short time. As I met with
my husband, my mom, and two of my friends I realized science isnt just a thing of the past.
Instead it has a modern impact and scientific discoveries are still constantly being made. Of
course Im getting ahead of myself, so lets back track a little bit. I had my astronomy
conversation two days before the paper was due at my moms house because, that was the most
convenient time for everyone in my group to meet. I picked my friend Hyrum and my husband
because theyve already taken and astronomy course and might have different insight. I picked
my friend Kristen because she was curious about dark matter. I picked my mom because she was
curious to know what Id learned in this class. Our conversation lasted a little over an hour and
turned out to be much more engaging than Id suspected it would be.
I found it relatively easy to come up with a plan for how the conversation would go. I
first looked through the textbook for the topics that had surprised me as I learned about them.
These included the fact that our sun will not turn into a black hole, why Pluto isnt a planet, and
just how much gravity affects the birth of stars. These were all subjects that I missed learning
about in grade school, either because I didnt understand them, or because science hadnt made
that discovery yet. For example I grew up learning that Pluto was a planet, and it was nice to
understand the reasoning behind why its no longer considered a planet.

I then made a list of all the topics that I found fascinating which included the following;
black holes, dark matter and dark energy, binary systems, the electromagnetic spectrum, and the
Jovian planets. These are the topics that I have found most fascinating as Ive delved deeper into
astronomy. The funny thing is though as I picked out my topics I unconsciously picked out the
ones that matched the way I see the universe. Like I stated earlier, I have often viewed science as
something that happened in the past. I picked out topics that for the most part are pretty well
understood or at least deeply studied and theorized about. And while this wasnt a bad thing it
does ignore current scientific thinking.
My plan was to see if my family and friends knew about the truth about common
misconceptions in space i.e. that black holes dont suck, and that Pluto was misidentified. I then
planned to discuss the topics that I found fascinating to see if my family also thought they were
interesting in order to compare and contrast out interests about space. Naturally though, the
conversation didnt quite follow my plans.
While my family and friends were interested in learning a couple things about the Jovian
planets and a little bit about gravity, they were mostly curious about dark matter and dark energy
as well as comets. My friend Kristen was most fascinated by the idea that dark matter might be
built out of something other than atoms. I read the first two pages from chapter 18 on dark matter
and energy and we discussed what else it might be made out of. My husband suggested were
probably misinterpreting what were seeing. I jokingly suggested we were making it too difficult
and said it was aliens whod set up cloaking devices. While none of us had any sort of
background to know what we were guessing about, it was fun to speculate and look things up on
Google.

My mom then brought up the subject of the European Space Agency and their rover,
Philae. I hadnt planned on discussing comets at all, but I listened as my mom noted that shed
read an article that stated the rover Philae had cost about $1.6 billion dollars, and now it was in
shut down because the battery life had died (Jordans, 2014). My mom wondered why they would
waste all that money to send the rover to a comet, just so it could take a nap. My friend Hyrum
pointed out that the rover, Philae, was solar powered, so they just needed to wait until it faced the
sun, and gained enough energy to reawaken and complete its assigned tests. He also noted that
solar energy is probably the most efficient in space because you dont have to worry about using
up all the fuel.
After learning about comets from this astronomy class, I realized there might be a flaw
with this plan. I pointed out that depending whether the comet was from the Kuiper belt or the
Oort cloud, it could determine how long the comet took to return to the sun. Some comets only
come around once every hundred years, so it might be a long time before the rover would
awaken. My husband pointed out though that they probably wouldnt have picked a comet that
had a long orbit because it would be too much to study all at once, especially since were just
starting to study comets in more depth.
We debated for some time about whether this rover mission was a success or not. Both
my mom and I felt it was a failure due to its inactivity, and the chance that it might never face the
sun to start moving the rover again. However my friends Hyrum and Kristen and my husband
disagreed. They said wed actually landed something on a comet and that it had returned pictures
back to Earth, so we had actually accomplished a great deal to further our understanding of the
universe.

I think everyone involved with the conversation enjoyed it quite a bit. I know we enjoyed
the debate back and forth about whether the mission of the rover on the comet was a failure or
not. My friend Kristen said afterword that space was much more fascinating then shed originally
thought. My mom was also interested in understanding the concepts behind why discoveries are
made the way they are, or in other words, the science behind some of the discoveries. I dont
think any of us expected to spend the bulk of our time on current space events and problems but
they were the most interesting to us.
When reviewing the astronomy talk I was surprised that the conversation had included
recent events that had only happened within the last week. While I know that science is still
making constant discoveries about space it still surprised me to find we were talking about
modern day astronomy facts. We talked equally about ancient astronomy discoveries as well as
modern astronomy discoveries. This realization made me wonder why I found it fascinating that
scientific knowledge is still unfolding. This led to an interesting discovery on my part. Science
isnt just device of the past. While science has had a powerful impact on the course of the world,
it is also having a current impact.
I approached the astronomy conversation ready to teach my family and friends the truth
about common space myths but in the end, they ended up helping me realize that science is a
current field. The rover on the comet is a current example of how modern science is learning by
trial and error right now; the same way astronomers and scientists have learned in the past. Not
to mention our own conversation had elements of the scientific method within it.
Just like scientists we were hypothesizing about something that had been noticed in
nature. We may not have the ability to find evidence in support of or against alien cloaking

devices causing dark matter, and well have to wait to determine how effective the rover Philae
is; but we were still using the scientific method to try and explain the world around us. When I
realized this, it made me recognize that science is still having a big impact on our lives.
Knowing this would change the way I would prepare for this assignment if I needed to do
it again. I would first ask my friends and family what they knew about space and ask them what
they wanted to know or were interested in. I would then study those topics and try to link them to
current space events. I know I would spend more time studying current astronomical discoveries
because for most people current news and discoveries are what they are most familiar with when
it comes to the subject of astronomy. I would make sure that the bulk of what I prepared with
reflected the ideas that science is still learning and experimenting. And I would pay more
attention to the fact that talking about science is a form of science itself. All in all I would enjoy
the great wealth of knowledge provided by scientific pursuits.

References
Jordans, F. (2014, November 17). Scientists 'Confident' Comet Lander Will Wake UP.
Retrieved November 18, 2014, from http://news.yahoo.com/results-comet-landers-experimentsexpected-072322857.html