Tour the universe. Drop in any week. The universe is a big place, but my class is ongoing, and I am up to the challenge. It takes 2-3 years for me to do a round trip. With live links to the Wide World Web as my in-class resource, I have an unlimited supply of mind expanding pictures and movies to discuss. Plus digital universe simulations that I run of the Earth's place in the galaxy, and the galaxy's place in the universe. For example, on the tour of the Universe, we started in close, zoomed out, orbited about for a while, added new things appropriate to that scale, and then zoomed out some more, orbited about some more, until we reached the edges of the Galaxy. It was pretty amazing. Like when the constellations changed their shapes as we zoomed out, and the constellations all ended up pointing at the Sun.

I have a Ph.D in Astronomy under Carl Sagan. I am also passionate about sharing the wonders of the universe. The audience is small, but passionate as well. And the questions are all over the place, displaying different levels of understanding. The best questions are often the least informed. But if you're well informed, you'll become even more well informed.

Sometimes there are spirited lectures and discussions about Life, the Universe and Everything (ref: Douglas Adams). I like to do that. The material is endless, and the lectures are weekly. You will be engaged an any level you want, and your remarks and questions are always considered to be important.

The lectures are held, weekly, at the Council Senior Center, on Tuesdays, at 12:45pm, at 241 W 72st. If you'd like to add your name to a list of people who would come in to an evening class, drop me an email. The director of the center has agreed to not charge for the first month. After that the fee is $72 for the year. I am 67, and generally well ahead of you on the curve towards dissolution. Don't you want to know the goings and comings of the universe before and after your blip in time. I do. That's why I became an astronomer.

Dr. Laird Whitehill, Ph.D. in Astrophysics, Cornell 1972.