Will Smith

As director of planetary sciences at NASA Headquarters in Washington D.C., Burlington native Jim Green has spent much of his adult life sending research vehicles into space.

But as Green put it, it took a gravity assist to get him there. In space, the term is used to describe a ship maneuver that uses the gravitational field of another planet to slingshot toward its destination.

In life, a gravity assist can be a teacher, or a telescope, or a particularly encouraging parent. When Green, a 1969 BHS graduate, was in high school, he was blessed by two gravity assists. One was his chemistry teacher and astronomy buff Don Vinson.

The other was the 12-inch Alvan Clark and Sons refractor telescope that sat atop the now defunct Apollo High School. Built in 1937, the telescope was moved from the school to John Witte Observatory 30 years ago the same year the observatory was built.

It (the influence of the telescope on Greens career) was enormous, he said. I could observe whatever I wanted to.

Green returned to Burlington for the first time in five years Wednesday morning to celebrate that 30th anniversary. He saw that fabled telescope again Wednesday night during a meet and greet with the Southeastern Iowa Astronomy Club.

Its a fabulous tool, he said.

Back in high school, the ever ambitious Green wasnt satisfied with peering through the telescope. He wanted to take 35mm pictures in color and black and white, and worked with Vinson to construct tools to help him do that.

He even constructed a work-around so the telescope could be used to view the sun. Technically, the roof of the Apollo School wasnt a very stable position for a telescope. But its ability to open young minds surpassed any technical limitations.

We got to the point where we just did the best we could. Its on top of an old building, cars would go by, the place would shake. It just never tracked well. After a few minutes, the tracking was off, Green said.

When he was informed by members of the astronomy club that it works fine at the observatory, Green was ecstatic.

I knew it was the school he said. We really messed with that so much.

Green will speak at at Aldo Leopold and Edward Stone Middle School this morning, capping off his tour with with a public presentation at 7 p.m. tonight titled "Search for Life Beyond Earth and Space and Time. The presentation will be at Edward Stone Middle School, and there is no admission fee. The doors open at 6 p.m.

Im going to be talking about what weve been finding out from our missions, scouring the solar system. And many of them (missions) are looking for life," he said.

Most recently, Green and his team of NASA scientists conducted a detailed analysis of the solar eclipse that took place Monday. The benefits of that research will be uncovered in the months to come.

We had the ability during the eclipse to look at the lower corona. Thats actually very hard to do with satellites, he said.

NASA spent a year-and-half planning for the eclipse, and that preparation included 56 high-altitude balloons equipped with cameras that documented the sun's shadow.

We watched the shadow of the sun racing across the country at 2,000 miles an hour," Green said.

Green said the research will be helpful, but it doesnt compare to the inspiration the eclipse sewed in the hearts of impressionable children.

"When you think about everybody who saw that, there might be several thousand kids for which this event was so impressive to them, they want to learn more about the moon. Then they want to learn more about the sun. And then they want to do well in school. And then they want to become scientists and engineers, he said.

The visit and presentations were made possible by the Southeastern Astronomy Club and the Rand Lecture Trust.

See the original post here:

From NASA to Burlington - Burlington Hawk Eye