Jillian Hansell

PHYS 1040
Astronomy Conversation

On March 5th, 2021, I set this date with my husband for this paper to figure out what he

knows about astronomy. We ordered some dinner and got settled before we talked about the

topics I had laid out. I chose to have this conversation with my husband because I like to say he

knows the most random facts, so I thought that he would probably surprise me with all he did

know. Especially since before taking this class, I knew next to nothing. I also knew that he would

enjoy the conversation because he likes to learn as much as he can, especially if it’s a good

conversation topic. He asked what this assignment was about and what I had to do. After

explaining the details, he had a better idea of what exactly I was looking for. I did write some

notes so that I wouldn’t forget the things that he said. The entire conversation went on for

about an hour and 15 minutes. I created a list of things that I have learned which I thought

were extremely interesting that I wanted to share with him.

I started off asking him to talk about some things that he knows, or he thinks he knows

about. We talked about how he had a telescope as a kid and loved looking at the stars, but

never really knew what he was looking at. Then we got a little bit off topic and started talking

about when we went to Great Basin National park and star gazed and how we regrated not

even thinking of bringing a telescope. Once we got back on track we talked about

constellations, he knew we could only see some of them some of the time. He knew a little bit

about black holes and that it ‘sucks everything in’. We talked about the planets and I asked if he

could name them in order from closest to the sun and he could not. He did do a pretty good job
remember the names, he included Pluto which I told him is now just a dwarf planet. It was

difficult to continue the conversation when I allowed him to just talk about what he knew, I

think that he started to realize there was so much about space that he didn’t know.

I started to take the lead in the conversation, and I talked about one thing I think he

would know about, Halley’s comet. He said that he has heard of it but didn’t know much about

comets in general. So, I started off by telling him it’s one of the most well-known comets and it

comes around every 75 years. It was last here on 1986 (he was 3 years old) and is predicted to

come again 2061. He asked, ‘what exactly is a comet?’ I told him that a comet is a ball of ice,

gas and dust that gets close to the sun and heats up which creates that cool glow that everyone

loves to see. So, overall, we are hoping to be able to see Halley’s comet in 2061!

Next, I wanted to talk to him about the moon and the cycle. I asked him what he knew

about the moon and if he knows the different stages of the moon cycle. Since he didn’t know

much, I explained to him that we see different shapes of the moon based off of where earth

and the moon is compared to the sun. I explained to him that we know when there is going to

be a full moon because is moves in the same cycle, because the earth moves around the sun

the same way. I showed him an example of the cycle that I had printed off ahead of time. He

was shocked and never knew about any of that. I was surprised because I knew about the

waning and waxing crescent and gibbous, but he said he never really gave it much thought. I

asked him if he knew about any of the moons that the other planets had. He didn’t so I went off

the list of moons on each planet. I told him Mercury and Venus had no moons, obviously earth

only had one, Mars has 2, Jupiter 79, Saturn 62, Uranus 27 and Neptune has 14. His jaw almost
hit the floor when I told him that Jupiter has 79. He thought multiple moons would look so cool

at night. Which I agreed and said sadly we will probably never get to see something like that!

Lastly, we talked about black holes, which I think is what he was so fascinated by, which

I figured he would be. I explained to him that they are black holes because gravity is pulling so

strongly that it sucks in the light, which is why it looks like a big black hole. I said that they can

be pretty massive or super small but all the same idea. We technically can’t see black holes, but

we can see how everything around them is acting which gives us a pretty good idea on where

they are. I did tell him that there aren’t black holes sucking up planets all over the universe, in

which he was very disappointed to hear.

Overall, I think that the conversation went really well. It went exactly how I thought It

would go and not much surprised me. I was extremely pleased that he actually wanted to talk

about astronomy and seemed really interested the entire time. I didn’t want to overload him

with never ending facts, but I wanted him to know some things about astronomy that he had

already found interesting. I think me knowing him so well and keeping him interested in the

topic made him enjoy the conversation. I knew when I originally asked him, he was a little

skeptical. We stayed on track for most of the conversation. I think what I would do differently

would be to ask him ahead of time things he wanted to learn about or questions he had. He

was happy and enjoyed what we did talk about, but I think I could go into a little bit more detail

and not of overwhelmed him as much as I was worried I would. I think this class has been great

and I will be continuing my research and conversations with him in the future.
Sources-

Dunbar, B. (2015, May 21). What Is a Black Hole? NASA.

https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/k-4/stories/nasa-knows/what-is-a-black-hole-
k4.html. 

Howell, E. (2017, September 20). Halley's Comet: Facts About the Most Famous Comet.
Space.com. https://www.space.com/19878-halleys-comet.html. 

NASA. (2020, June 23). Comets. NASA. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/asteroids-comets-and-

meteors/comets/overview/?page=0&per_page=40&order=name
%2Basc&search=&condition_1=102%3Aparent_id&condition_2=comet%3Abody_type
%3Ailike. 

NASA. (2020, June 26). In Depth. NASA. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/moons/in-depth/.