“Fresh courage glimmers from planets” – by Steve Fentress

The title comes from a poem by Joy Harjo. Each of us receives some inheritance, tangible or intangible, and leaves some legacy. Along the way there may be sharp turns, intentional reversals, or tedious, drill-like progress. What is there to hold on to? We can count on the majestic vastness of nature, our sense of wonder, and our capacity to conceive ideals.

Steve Fentress is Director of the Rochester (NY) Museum & Science Center’s Strasenburgh Planetarium, where he led the Planetarium’s fiftieth-anniversary digital upgrade and renovation. Earlier influential experiences came from Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles Valley College Planetarium, JPL, studies in classical music at Cal State Northridge and Indiana University, and public radio at WFIU, Bloomington, Indiana. He has written articles for the Griffith Observer and space.com, as well as his own book, Sky to Space: Astronomy Beyond the Basics with Comparisons, Ratios, and Proportions.