Mystic Planetarium: An Accessible Tour of the Universe

On February 9, nine Center Members braved the single digits for a brisk walk along the Mystic River in search of the stars. We were greeted by Brian and his team of interplanetary travelers from Mystic Seaport Planetarium. We spent some time among the stars from our own night sky to the north pole and then the exact other side of the equator from us. We pondered the life cycle of stars and were amazed at the historical connotations of looking at the same sky that the United States founders gazed upon when they forged the nation.

We learned about Wanda Díaz-Merced, a Puerto Rican astronomer, who fell in love with the stars and science in a small town in Puerto Rico. When Wanda was in her early twenties, she lost her sight, but her love for discovery pushed her to persevere. She became a trailblazer and forged a new way to study the stars, with sound. Center members listened to the sounds the stars make and then bundled up to defrost in our orbits, until we travel again.