In a city where the flashing brilliance of Broadway lights and glittering dreams steals the speckled light from the night sky, it is difficult to imagine that the universe exists beyond the darkened void.
Astronomy fixates on those distant stars, galaxies, quasars, black holes—the cosmos—casting its gaze further back in time to search for history and truth.
Tonight, there will be a meteor shower visible from Manhattan --- visible, that is, if you have the right tools.
As a part of the Stargazing and Lecture Series, an event entitled “Living with the Stars” will be led by Helena Uthas from the astronomy department at Columbia. Her focus for the night is to dispel the myths of astronomical research and to answer the question, “What happens when you get the chance to spend a few years away from civilization, with only the dark night and stars as company?” Students will have the opportunity to observe the meteor shower through telescopes.
