It's finally the weekend, during which we will all have a bit of time to relax. However, for me and the rest of the Physics of Stars class, that time had to wait. We met up at the early (for the weekend) hour of 9:30, and soon set off on a trip to the Adler Planetarium just outside of downtown Chicago. As I have mentioned previously, it seems like the buses that go along the north side of campus only appear once every thirty or so minutes, so we decided to just walk a few blocks to the express bus to downtown. After thirty-five or so minutes, we arrived just outside of Soldier Field. From there, it was only a short walk across a lovely park to the museum-infested plaza out on the lake.
Adler Planetarium looked magnificent, an elegant stone dome jutting out from the end of the peninsula. The interior was nice as well, but the creators clearly intended to cater to children, and while I know I'm still a child, I would like to think that I know more about the universe than your average seven-year-old (the jury's still out on this, however). Gourav had planned accordingly, though, and we went to a more private section of the building to hear a lecture from one of the researchers who works there, Maria. Maria's main area of focus is the Sun, so she explained to us its magnetic field, corona, rotation, sunspots, solar flares, and the like. After she had finished and answered a few questions about interactions between the Sun and the Earth, Gourav took over her spot and fancy simulations to explain what he is studying for his Phd. Using images of nearby galaxy clusters and animations of galaxies' orbits around each other, he demonstrated how he studies the way galaxy clusters bend the light of other galaxies behind them.
At about 12:15, we broke for lunch and headed to the cafeteria, where we ate the sandwiches that UChicago had bought from a local cafe for us. They were actually quite good, and so was the hot chocolate from the Galileo Cafe. Sadly, a mistake had been made with our reservations and the tickets did not grant us entrance to the theater showings. As I mentioned earlier, all of the exhibits were rather basic and boring, so I and a few others decided to check out the gift shop. I'm not sure how management there convinced themselves that Minecraft guides or bottles of gold foil are related to space, but they were there nevertheless. After wandering around for a couple more minutes, and it was time to go. After three different bus rides and about an hour and a half, we were finally back.
I was tired, so for an hour or two I just chilled and read in the Thangaraj house commons. As the dining hall food had started to taste repetitive, I decided to go out with a few others and find a restaurant to eat at for a change. Just a couple blocks north of our dorm we found a wings/burger/gyro place (yes, I know, odd combination). On our way back, we passed through a park, and I must say, despite Hyde Park not being the safest of neighborhoods, parts of it are really beautiful.
It was a very relaxing day, just as I had hoped, and I look forward to another one before the start of another intense week. Good night!
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