Groups of Baton Rouge residents gather each week at the Highland Road Park Observatory to hear lectures that are out of this world.
Robert Hynes, assistant professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, spoke Friday about the Chandra X-ray Observatory, which was first launched into space in 1999.
Hynes explained Chandra’s discoveries are somewhat different from what the average person would expect.
“We all kind of dream of X-ray eyes and what we could do with them,” Hynes said. “But the reality is a little bit different.”
Hynes explained that the X-rays Chandra detects allow NASA to observe the remnants of exploded stars — something that wasn’t even believed possible until the observatory launched.
He said past observational techniques gave NASA fuzzy photos that were difficult to see. Chandra offers high resolution and sharp, clear details.
Hynes’ lecture included a PowerPoint presentation of a few of Chandra’s dazzling images, at which he said he never gets tired of looking.
“I’m an astronomer,” he said. “I like looking at pretty pictures.”
Christopher Kersey, manager of the observatory, said he enjoyed Hynes’ talk because Chandra has never been discussed at one of the observatory’s lectures.
Kersey said the lectures have been held every Friday for years.
He said he thinks it’s important for the observatory to offer the speeches because there isn’t much scientific education available to adults in Baton Rouge.
“We pride ourselves on having physics and astronomy lectures for an adult audience,” he said.
He said education is important for everyone, regardless of occupation, and he tries to offer audiences a broad range of topics from physics to math to astronomy.
“Scientific literacy is important for an advanced society,” Kersey said. “It lets you know why things are the way they are.”
Attendees are invited to use one of the observatory’s two large telescopes after each lecture.
Hynes said he enjoys speaking at the observatory because of the crowd’s fascination with astronomy.
“Astronomy is the one part of physics people really enjoy,” he said. “That’s the same reason I like teaching introduction classes.”
He said he thinks it’s important for people to learn about astronomy because the field is constantly changing.
“We don’t know the answers,” Hynes said. “Something that’s news today could be bogus in two years.”
But that’s what makes astronomy so intriguing, he said.
“I can remember when astronomy was different,” he said. “And that’s so exciting.”
 
 
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Contact Rachel Warren at [email protected]