89、真正的天文学

我已经很有一段时间没有写班上郊游了。其实我不仅不想写，也没法写，所以只好硬着头皮写了一堆文字呈给大家看。后来我才觉到，郊游本身固然很乏味，但游人却有很多趣事。这次郊游去了一趟天文博物馆，一连看了两个小时星星，出来都眼花缭乱了。

我们正在学天文——恒星、行星、太阳系、银河系、星座，等等——飘浮在太空的一堆岩石的故事。我对这些知识很久以前就知道了，我要的只是学会这些词如何用英文讲出来：白矮星叫white dwarf（也是狄龙的外号，因为他是矮个子白人），太阳系叫solar system，等等。而现在我们则要实地观测这些星星了。

这就是为什么我们要去天穹（Stardome）天文博物馆。

我一直以为所谓“天穹”就是普通的观测台：一个大圆穹加上一台巨型望远镜。我一直以为所谓“天穹”应该看起来是十分具有高科技的建筑：科学家与天文学家走来走去，观测星星，分析月石，等等。到了那边才知道所谓“天穹”比我想的差远了。

进门一眼看到的是一间礼品店——马上这个科学气氛就消失了。那里有自动售货机，也卖T恤衫和小杯子，一点没有那种星空的感觉。幸好再走进去一点才觉得有些不同了——灯光很暗，开始有了一种太空的感觉。那里也有一些科学展览，当然都与星星有关。

有人把我们引进了一间穹室（dome room），我以为真的有一台巨型望远镜呢！不幸的是那里什么也没有，除了一排一排的躺椅。坐起来很舒服，可我们到这儿是干什么来了？忽然，我看见星星在闪耀，很美丽。有这个躺椅，很轻松，看星星有一种浪漫的感觉……

突然一声巨响，随后就听见解说员：几百亿年前，大爆炸创造了宇宙……之后的二十分钟不再轻松，不再浪漫，而只有爆炸和解说，但由于躺椅的关系，还是挺舒服的。我终于在躺椅上感受到了大爆炸的那种震撼。

看完电影之后，我们把展览厅全部看了一遍。随后进了另外一个房间，好象是专门放幻灯片的。这次放的是凤凰号登陆火星。幻灯片本身蛮有趣的，我尤其喜欢火星表面的照片，但解说实在无聊透顶，通俗不够，知识太多。最后他讲的那么多知识都在我大脑外头腐烂掉了！不少人都被折磨的昏昏欲睡——这包括科学老师Mrs. Quiggly。连她也受不了。

返程途中我好好迷糊了一觉……如何应付明天的考试……今晚，我有可能睡在后院的草坪上……看星星，让大自然清洗我的大脑……把那些陈腐的知识全部清洗掉……

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Truly Astronomical

(In terms of boringness)

It’s been a while since I wrote about a class trip, and now that I wanted to write one, I must write about a boring trip! Good thing is, though, that because the trip itself is boring doesn’t mean the people who go there are. In this case, it’s about how we reacted to looking at stars for almost two hours.

My science class is currently doing astrology- that to do with stars and various other elements of the universe. We learnt about supernovas. We learnt about white dwarves (Dillon!). And when learnt about the solar system and the planet we live on. And now? We have to look the star ourselves.

This is why we are going to Stardome.

I have always supposed that Stardome is basically a round dome with a telescope sticking out of it- I have supposed it is an ‘academic’ building, filled with scientists and astrologists who analyze moon rocks and scan the night sky to discover new stars. Of course, when we arrived there on a bus (with the good people from 10 R), I somehow discovered it was a lot different than I supposed it would look like.

First of all, there is a souvenir shop, which I think already ruined the ‘scientific’ feel to the museum. There are vending machines, mugs and T-shirts, and none of these remind me of stars. Fortunately further into the ‘dome’ I saw a couple of interesting exhibits lit dimly to add a mysterious feel to it, and surely the exhibits are about stars, planets, recent rocket launches and facts in general.

We were lead into the ‘dome’ room- finally, some real, huge telescope we could look through! Unfortunately when we entered it I discovered some else. The dome had no telescope sticking through it. Instead, there were lines of comfortable, cushioned couches and we were given places to sit. It was dark inside; except they projected stars onto the rounded ceiling. The stars were twinkling, and it was very comfortable as I relaxed my tired muscles and thought of the morrow (I am listening to Every Rose Has Its Thorn as I wrote this). For a moment I felt very romantic and in love…what a lovely moment…

And suddenly a supernova, a gigantic ‘cyber’ explosion that completely took me out of my mood. The narrator began speaking: Hundreds of billions of years ago, the Big Bang created the universe… For the next twenty minutes I was treated to constant explosions and non-stop narration, but somehow this was rather enjoyable and I learnt a lot- about how big the explosions were! (That was a retarded comment)

We were given a few minutes to check out the exhibition, but it was not long before we were lead into another room, this time with a projector in the middle that accompanied the narrator. The topic was interesting at first: The Landing of Phoenix on Mars, though instead of interesting videos and photos about what Mars really looked like, we were bombarded with knowledge about orbits and the mechanisms on the landing craft itself, so much knowledge that ended rotting outside my brain and was never quite absorbed! I looked around. Most people were subconsciously asleep, but a few managed to concentrate- which does not include our science teacher, Mrs. Quiggly. Even she could not bare the dullness and she was half-asleep.

I had a nap on my return trip. I thought of tomorrow, and how would I deal with my exam tomorrow…perhaps tonight, I could sleep in my backyard, looking at the stars and let nature cleanse my mind…of rotten knowledge…