JAMESTOWN, NY -- Most Western New Yorkers have strong feelings about our winters; they either love 'em or hate 'em. But no matter which side you're on, who doesn't eagerly await the return of longer days and sunshine at this time of year?
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| "Here Comes The Sun," RTPI's newest natural history exhibition featuring the astro-images of Alan Friedman and Ted Wolfe, along with a rare collection of space rocks courtesy of Mercyhurst College, is on exhibit now through April 7, 2012. |
Luckily the sun is just what the Roger Tory Peterson Institute is offering now through April 7, 2012. "Here Comes The Sun": Our newest natural history exhibition featuring the astro-images of Alan Friedman and Ted Wolfe, along with a rare collection of space rocks courtesy of our friends at Mercyhurst College.
It's an out of this world experience with a place-based twist: Friedman and Wolfe both live in Western New York (Wolfe lives in Florida part of the year.) Both are amateur astronomers. And both have compiled a rich assortment of high quality solar images captured through the lenses of telescopes right here in WNY, in Buffalo and at Chautauqua Institution.
Friedman and Wolfe take us on a natural history tour starring the most important object in planet earth's environment - the sun. Without it, of course, earth would not even exist; much less, have life.
Planet Earth, for billions of years gripped in the sun's gravitational pull, teems with life made possible by sunlight. We are so affected by the sun each day its presence fades into the background and we often fail even to acknowledge it.
Yet consider these facts: The sun is titanic; if it were hollow a million earths would be needed to fill it. It is distant; a pea held at arm's length will cover its disc at sunset. Its light, traveling at, well, the speed of light, takes, on average, eight minutes and 20 seconds to reach us, so during a "real-time" sunset you're seeing the sun as it appeared over eight minutes ago. The sun is inconceivably massive and dynamic with special features known as active regions, sunspots, coronal mass ejections, prominences, flares and others.
The sun emits far too much radiation to view it with unprotected eyes, but Friedman and Wolfe capture moments in the sun's life using sophisticated electronics, filters and telescopes.
Attention! - Docent Training Tour for this exhibit on Sat., Jan. 21, 2012 at 10:00 a.m.This is an in depth tour for potential docents of the current exhibit's meteorite display and solar images conducted by Scott McKenzie, Mercyhurst geologist, and amateur astronomer Tom Bemus. No registration necessary. Help RTPI's education staff lead tours for school groups; it's a rewarding and fun experience... give it a try! |
And there's more - images of earth's moon and other objects that populate our solar system plus some of the most wondrous natural objects we've ever exhibited - actual meteorites and meteorite impact materials, on loan from the natural history collections of Mercyhurst College.
Come visit the Institute between January 10 and April 7 and leave better informed about our local universe, questions to ponder, and your sense of wonder renewed; just the antidote for the midwinter and "mud season" blahs.
The exhibit can be viewed at 311 Curtis Street, Jamestown, NY, 14701. Museum hours are from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1:00 to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday. RTPI is closed on Mondays. Admission is $6 for adults, $4 for children and members of the Institute are free. Call (716) 665-2473 or go to www.rtpi.org for more information about this and other exhibits.
