Learning with granny Science for Cyberkids

Learning with Granny!
Looking out at New Horizons

Last month Granny left the group to fly off to Johannesburg to the World Space Week. Everyone was enjoying hunting for treasures in the area alongside the Great Kei River. Little Tion was becoming more familiar with the great ocean.

World Space Week was celebrated all over the globe and wonderful events were organized to introduce space and its wonders to the public. Click on www.space.gov.za to find out more.
Granny made a poster depicting the World Spaceweek theme. "Space: Horizons Beyond Earth" . Enter the image to the right to see the poster.

This year World Space Week in Johannesburg was held at the 100 year old observatory, which was one of the first observatories in the southern hemisphere. The Johannesburg Observatory can claim that it allowed visitors to its majestic telescope to see more observations of the planets in our Solar system than any other observatory in the history of astronomy.

In its centenary year, (yes it really is 100 years old), it can proudly boast that from its beautiful situation on top of a rocky hillside, astronomers over the years were able to discover more than 6,000 double stars in deep space and to actually catalogue and share with others on the globe over 200,000. The observatory also gave its name to the surrounding suburb in the north of Johannesburg. Click to Take a trip back to Granny's early star charts and Zodiac signs.

We are very privileged here in the southern hemisphere to see the beautiful little constellation of the Southern Cross all year through. This is made easy to locate by the 'pointers' - alpha and beta Centauri - the biggest and second biggest stars in the constellation of Centauri which surrounds the Cross in the South.

It was at the Johannesburg Observatory that the discovery of a faint star accompanying Alpha Centauri was found - a tiny companion - perhaps adding to the guiding light and indicating the beauty of our Southern Cross.

This little star is called Proxima Centauri and is the closest of all the stars in the Universe to Earth -( with exception of our own Sun - which is within our Solar System).

Every day, during World Space Week, groups of school children were taken on guided tours of the observatory - to see its viewing deck and to learn more about its important history.

From there they proceeded to enjoy a visit to Star Lab Find out more about the Starlab by clicking here.

After confirming their own birth sign and learning what their constallation really looked like in our southern skies, they entered the tunnel that let to the dome.

Once inside, they took a little while for their eyes to adjust to the dark before acknowledging with delight the wonderful spectacle of the southern skies in the portable planetarium. Everyone was able to identify their own birth sign as Granny pointed them out with her laser beam.

As the stars of the southern skies swung into view on the ceiling of the dome none could contain their excitement. Everybody wanted to see their own Zodiac constellation projected on to the 'sky'.
Many of the learners were familiar with other well known constellations like Orion, the Southern Cross and the 'Seven Sisters'.

They all watched in delight as the moon crosses the dome - much faster than in real life - as the Star Lab completes the full view of the stars in a very short time. Enter the picture to the right to see Granny in action.

The learners enjoyed the workshop where they had their very own telescope to use at night to observe the skies. They were also given the chance to win some great prizes in 'The Southern Skies Challenge' a wonderful space competition open to all South Africans from 5 - 23 years old. For more details see here or www.saasta.ac.za about the competition.

There were shrieks of delight as learners were entertained by a scientist who showed them how to do all sorts of interesting experiments, like removing the air from a bottle filled with marshmallows. The lovely pink and white sweets compacted into a small sticky blob. When the air was replaced, the marshmallows returned to their original size and flew out of the container and across the hall. The delighted spectators jumped out of their seats and rushed to grab the - once more - large round spongy sweets.

Young music fans were fascinated to watch a home-made laser show and to see the movement of the laser light as it twisted and swayed in time to the music.

'Space Granny' was advised to duck by the presenter before he shot a half a dozen bread rolls out of an home-made air gun. They landed at the back of the hall at a terrific speed but were as solid as a rock and not fit to eat at all.

The strains of the old nursery song 'Twinkle, twinkle little star' came from each session in the Star Lab and Granny was delighted one late afternoon, when a family group included a little girl who sang the song in Hebrew.

Music of a different sort reminded Granny of the group of "Cybertrekkers" and their quest to learn more about the peoples of Africa. This was the sound of the drums filling the night at the function to welcome the guests to the centenary celebrations at the Observatory. Ann did a picture from Granny's description of the event. Enter the picture on the right to see the whole image.

The importance of space and the future was emphasized and guests were reminded of the many astronomers, amateur astronomers and interested members of the public who have observed our Southern skies from this important historical building - before it was partially closed down due to light pollution in the early 70's.

Each visitor to World Space Week went home not only with their own self made telescope, but with masses of glossy information on space and wonderful Solar System rulers. But best of all they took home some stars in their eyes and the knowledge - that with hard work and enthusiasm - they too stood the chance of one day becoming an astronaut.

We hope to hear more about the observatory now that it has made a mark on 'Space education' and been introduced to so many interested young 'stargazers'

If you missed the event this year - do remember to look out for it next year.