About Cosmic Mike

  Check out Cosmic Mike's biweekly article normally on the back page of the sport section in Saturday's Lancaster Newspapers' Intelligencer/New Era. 

   For more astronomical news and events check out and like Cosmic Mike on Facebook 

  Listen to WJTL 90.3 FM's KIds Cookie Break every Saturday morning for Cosmic Mike's Astronomy Update.

  Most recent article...  Seeing through the illusion of constellations -  February 18, 2012 

No matter how often we observe the constellations, they still require us to play connect-the-stars and use our imagination. In many cases, such as Monoceros the Unicorn, trying to visualize what they supposedly represent is nearly impossible.

From our perspective, stars within a constellation appear to be close to each other in space. We tend to think that the stars are all at the same distance from us.

It’s an illusion.

The pattern we see in the sky is simply the result of our place in space. In most cases all the stars of a certain constellation are located at different distances.

Let’s take a closer look at Orion the Hunter, currently standing tall in the southern sky after sunset...

For entire column click HERE .

 Past Columns: 

 About Cosmic Mike^®

Mike Smith
Senior Astronomy Educator, North Museum Planetarium
North Museum of Natural History and Science
Lancaster, Pennsylvania

717.291.4315 (office)
cosmicmike@northmuseum.org

Mike Smith (a.k.a. Cosmic Mike) is the Senior Astronomy Educator at the North Museum of Natural History and Science.  He manages the planetarium while continuing the North Museum’s tradition of being a resource to the community for astronomy.  Mike earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Astronomy and Physics from Lycoming College, Williamsport, Pennsylvania. 

He has taught children and adults of all ages in planetariums for the past tweleve years and in the museum field for the past eleven years.  Prior to arriving at the North Museum of Natural History and Science and returning to his home state of Pennsylvania in 2005, Mike worked for the Evansville Museum of Arts, History and Science, Evansville, Indiana.

The community knows Mike as “Cosmic Mike” through his biweekly astronomy columns that appear in Lancaster's Intelligencer/New Era Saturday newspaper.  In the past Mike had also provided monthly astronomy updates via email with over 1,200 subscribers which ran from 2007 through 2010. In September ’08, Mike created an astronomy club, Cosmic Mike’s® North Stars, for our young astronomy enthusiasts, ages 8-12, which was placed on hold in 2011.

Mike is currently involved in a National Science Foundation grant called STEPS (Science Theater Education Programming System).  STEPS is a collaboration of eight different museums and the Space Science Institute.  The three-year grant has provided an interactive museum theater product that combines high-end science visualization and presentation technology for innovative communication of science to the public.  The project includes a set of theatrical presentations on astrobiology which made its debut at the North Museum at the start of 2011. The third performance Extreme-O-What will run from November 26, 2011 to January 29, 2012. 

Mike’s enthusiasm for astronomy goes beyond the walls of the museum.  Mike was the president for the Astronomy Enthusiasts of Lancaster County (AELC), a local astronomy club, from January 2006 through May 2011.  He is also involved in his regional planetarium society, Middle Atlantic Planetarium Society (MAPS), by serving on their Board and as thier Proceedings Editor.  Mike is also a member of the Great Lakes Planetarium Association (GLPA), the International Planetarium Society (IPS), and the Astronomical League.

Mike is a dedicated and experienced professional with a passion for sharing astronomy throughout the community.