It's breathtaking.
I would suggest anybody to come and view it.
You know, I'm a Harlem native, and we don't get to see the planets
up close very often much less to see stars so it's nice to have something like this here.
This out-of-world stuff like the moon and Saturn, a lot of people don't get
to see that as often as they should.
2009 is the International Year of Astronomy and we at Columbia just wanted to do our part
but really be enthusiastic about it and do something, you know, that was unique.
They just caught us off-guard and we were just walking by
and it's something that we've never experienced so it was really cool.
Every two weeks we offer public lectures that are totally free and open to the public
and they're followed by stargazing from the roof
of the Pupin building at Columbia University
from some pretty high-powered telescopes.
Telescope was awesome.
It was really fun.
It was good looking at it for the second time in a row.
We saw all of this activity captured by these amazing telescopes.
That's why I brought my kids here.
I think it's very important for universities like Columbia University to host
these types of events so that the public can have access to it,
that we have an idea of what's going on in the world with using the telescopes
in the world of technology and science and astrophysics.
A lot of people ask, well, what can you do with astronomy?
And saying that to people really gets - a lot of the time gets them really
enthusiastic about pursuing it themselves, particularly with children
because if they say, you know, what can I do with astronomy?
How can - if I were to pursue astronomy, what could I do?
And you're like, well, you could be an astronaut or you could be a professor
or something like that and, you know, you get some really - it really excites
young people to see their horizons broadened by the opportunities of doing science.
I would want to visit the moon or Saturn someday.
We're hoping to make this a regular event and continue to go out there
and take the telescopes out.
