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James Randi Educational Foundation

June 5, 2000

WOW

Last week I promised you an article on Peter Hurkos. I'll postpone that and offer you some observations that have taken my attention in the past few weeks. Nothing sensational here, just the need to share these thoughts with you.

I guess I was just about ten years old when a favorite uncle drove me north of my home in Toronto, Canada, to Richmond Hill - where the Dunlap Observatory sat in all its glory. The main telescope, a 74-inch-diameter giant, had just been put into operation a couple of years before, and I was being taken there to see the instrument. To this day, the Dunlap telescope is the largest in the Dominion of Canada.

I have no recollection of how this visit came about - my parents looked upon such activities as a waste of my time - but I certainly do remember the consequences. My uncle and I arrived there just after dark, and since I had prepared myself by reading the weekend column that told amateur astronomers what was occurring in the night sky, I was able to spot the planet Saturn immediately, glowing brightly well above the horizon.

We were first shown a number of minor instruments, any one of which I would have killed to obtain, then we were finally escorted into the main dome that housed the most magnificent machine I could have imagined. The huge framework of the reflecting telescope loomed before me, the two-ton Pyrex glass mirror at the bottom, the tube pointing up and out through the aperture in the dome.

After explaining to me that the main activity at this observatory was taking the spectra of stars, and not catering to the needs of little boys who wanted to see the "tourist" stuff, the astronomer in charge rather grumpily maneuvered the telescope into position to see Saturn, set up a small step-ladder so that I could reach the eyepiece, and stepped back. I peered in.

Nothing, absolutely nothing, sticks in my memory more vividly than what I saw at that moment. There was a huge yellow-orange ball suspended before me, surrounded by a bright flat ring, and the whole thing shimmered and pulsed gently. "Look to the right and you'll see Titan. That's the largest moon," said the astronomer. "Do you see it?" he asked, after a moment of my silence.

I guess I probably whispered, "yes," but I'm not sure. I was well aware that I was looking out at a massive object some one billion miles away, and I was not even seeing it as actually was. I was seeing it as it had been more than an hour previously. I was exhilarated and awed at this fantastic sight, something I had only seen in textbooks - and then only in black-and-white, and indistinct. There it was, hanging before me, captured by a wonderful instrument that at that moment seem to have been designed and manufactured solely for my use.

I've no idea how long I stood there transfixed. I only remember the long drive home and the fact that my uncle allowed me to remain silent while I thought about what I'd witnessed.


Fast forward to the year 2000. Plantation, Florida. Starry night. My little Questar telescope on a tripod in front of my home. I'm showing a couple of friends the planets that are currently visible. Two bicycles approach and stop a few feet away. One kid, more courageous than the other, asks me what I'm doing. I explain it to him, and he asks if he can take a peek through the eyepiece. Bicycle set aside, he looks in.

The kid looks up at me in astonishment. "What IS that?" he asks. "The planet Saturn," I reply. "That's it?" he asks, pointing into the sky. I nod, yes. He looks back into the telescope. His buddy gently nudges him aside and looks in. "Wow" is all he says.

Suddenly, I'm taken back six decades to the moment when I first looked into a telescope and saw this wonderful sight. I grab the advantage of the moment. "And you're not looking at it as it actually is at this moment," I tell the kids. "The light you're seeing left Saturn at least an hour and a half ago."

Wow.

Is there anything that compares with the satisfaction of showing something that exciting to a young person? I doubt it. One of those young guys brought his girlfriend to my door a week after that, and asked if he could look through the telescope again. Of course. The two of them were astonished at the details they saw on the surface of the Moon, and for the first time they saw a "double" star, one of them green and the other yellow. Something was happening that no teacher had managed to do for them.

I tell you this so that you will get some idea of what the JREF is all about. We don't always get to look into a telescope, but there are so many other aspects of the world around us that need to be looked at and understood. To stimulate curiosity in young minds is rewarding, and I'm happy to say that we have had this experience many times in the few years that we have been in existence.

There are many ways that you can be part of this operation. By joining the JREF as a member - on any one of many different levels - by volunteering your time and talents to assist us, by giving us financial assistance, or simply by contacting us to inquire about your participation, we can offer you the opportunity of sharing in the giddy experience of hearing some young person softly exclaim, "Wow!"

That's the best three-letter word I know of.


It's puzzle time again. Take a hard look at this UFO photo.

All the evidence you need is here. Is this a real UFO? If not, what is it?


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