Sisters of the Sun

Today I learned that there is such a thing as a hypernova and let me tell you, it was a shock. I had never heard that word and it blew little 12 year old Chris’ mind. I’m sure to a well learned astronomer there are far cooler things out there, but I’m content to learn little new things all the time. That was just a bit of a bonus to this episode though, as the main purpose was to highlight the contributions made to astronomy by women like Annie Jump Cannon, Henrietta Swan Leavitt, and Cecelia Payne. It finally clicked when our dear narrator Neil deGrasse Tyson said the name of the episode in context and like the stargazers and storytellers of the ancient world imagining constellations, I too began to connect the dots (I’m very proud of that analogy). It was mentioned in the episode that “you’ve probably never heard of them” and that’s a real shame. It can be disappointing to hear about just how little we are taught about the women who have changed the way we see the stars. On this subject, I am reminded of the movie that I recall briefly discussing in class, “Hidden Figures” which I have yet to see, but after this episode I might just do that with my night. The final point I would like to touch on is how much this episode clarified information I already knew. Having written this post the night after homework and a quiz about the stars and their composition I had a lot of that information fresh on my mind and I knew a lot of what Neil was going to say before he finished his sentences, but the beautiful visuals and straightforward description of what causes novas in a binary star system really helped my brain! That’s one of the main things I’ve been enjoying about watching this show. Even when I already know the information it’s a good way to reinforce or add to that knowledge. Let’s see what’s next!