Post by Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe on Jul 5, 2005 22:53:43 GMT -6
Lighting up the Worlds Fair via Arcturus
From Jack Horkheimer - The Star Gazer:
Arcturus is such a bright star and shines almost overhead in early evening much of Summer, back in 1933 it was used to open the World's Fair in Chicago. You see, 40 years prior to 1933, in 1893, there had been another World's Fair in Chicago and since astronomers had determined that Arcturus was 40 light years away, it meant that the light of Arcturus seen in 1933 was the light that left it forty years earlier when the previous World's Fair opened.
So it was decided to open up the '33 Fair by training the light from Arcturus through a telescope onto a photoelectric cell which would turn on all the lights of '33 Chicago Fair. And it worked! With much hoopla and applause. But there was one hitch in the switch. It seems that where the telescope was located, the one that focused the light from Arcturus onto the photo cell was clouded out. But since the telescope was many miles away from the fair site, the officials just kept quiet about it and flipped the switch by hand. In other words, they faked it!
And to add insult to injury a few years later astronomers found out that Arcturus wasn't 40 light years away but only 35 light years instead. At any rate, may Arcturus shine brightly overhead on this and every 4th of July, because World's Fair or not it's always fun to see if you Keep Looking Up!
-------------
My uncle attended the Chicago Worlds Fair...I wonder what he thought.