May program: Norm Sperling

What your astronomy textbook won't tell you

Looking at the night sky often inspires us to learn more about the universe in general, and astronomy in particular. Unfortunately, an Astronomy textbook can sometimes be more of a hindrance to learning than a useful resource. Norm Sperling has been teaching Astronomy for a long time, and he believes he has gotten to the root of this problem.

Norm aims wit and wisdom at popular textbook oxymorons such as "frozen gases." He points out that spiral galaxies are not typical, but "With galaxies, as with people, pictures show the most attractive, not the most typical." He also points out several areas of research in Astronomy that are mostly overlooked.