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One of my most bizarre but best-loved part-time jobs has been Astronomy Teaching Assistant as an undergraduate. The simple job of the Astronomy TA was to open the observatory each week, set the telescopes in the general direction of the obligatory planets, and to teach constellations.
Teaching constellations is an exercise in storytelling. You see, dots, these anonymous light encrusted patterns, must be memorized and categorized, and it’s only through stories that one can make sense of them. Starting with the north star, and systematically creating relationships in the winter sky among Hercules and Sagittarius, Libra and Polaris, we told tales. We’d trade stories on top of the old stone building in the middle of dark campus until late into the night.
I love planetariums/observatories.
