Golden Opportunities To his surprise and delight, David Lustick has discovered that NASA loves to share its successes with curious correspondents.
was thirteen in the summer of 1976 and the proud
owner of a hand-me-down telescope from my older brother, Ian. It was not much more than a glorified spyglass. On many summer nights I would try in desperation to use this device, with very little luck. What kind of magic does it take, I wondered, to actually witness the marvels of the night sky? It seemed I would never get to participate firsthand in the great exploration of the cosmos. As it turned out, my cousin, Rick, would soon solve my problem. Rick was a year older than I and at 13 a year is an eternity. He always seemed to be one step ahead in everything. As I arrived at his house one Thanksgiving, Rick said, Dave, come up to my room. I got something in the mail yesterday that I think youll like. Once upstairs, he picked up a Golden Packet from his desk that had JPL printed in the upper-left corner. He opened the envelope and carefully withdrew several 8-by-10-inch lithographs. Holding them by the edge, he passed them to me for inspection. I knew exactly what they were: images from the surface of Mars from the Viking landers. The quality of the pictures I held was so amazing that I stared at them dumbfounded. Where did you get these? I asked. Rick explained that hed written to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and he received the envelope full of images in reply. The idea that photographs and information like this could be gotten free just by writing a letter was unbelievable to me. Upon returning home, I immediately sent a letter to the address Rick had given me. Finally, 212 months later, I received the same Golden Packet from JPL, stuffed full with the same prints and literature about Mars. I would study and restudy the images for hours, poring over the descriptions on their backs. Vicariously I was there with the Viking landers as they tested the soil and atmosphere. I saw dust storms and ancient riverbeds, sunrises and sunsets, frost forming in the morning, and fresh trenches dug in the afternoon. 10
September 1997 Sky & Telescope
I was hooked on astronomy, and my appetite for more data
became voracious. I wrote more letters asking for more pictures and information. In time I moved on from the plains of Mars to the Voyager encounters with Jupiter. Then came Saturn with its spectacular rings and, oh, the joy of discovery! Through NASA, I was actively exploring the solar system. With every new flyby, I wrote more letters and received more Golden Packets by mail. No matter if I was at college, my first job, graduate school, or on a South American adventure I have stayed my course of exploration for 20 years, crisscrossing the solar system from Uranus to Venus and back to Jupiter. Each letter has triggered a mountain of information and breathtaking images in response. Today, we have more than robotic probes to inspire awe. The Hubble Space Telescope allows us to explore the farthest reaches of the universe. Thanks to the World Wide Web, I can log on to any one of a hundred different sites and download virtually any picture ever taken in space! Young people today have so much data available at their fingertips, it amazes me that anyone can deal with it in a relatively coherent fashion. (Will Internet surfers ever have the same appreciation for their digital downloads that I had for my highly coveted envelopes? I wonder.) As any passionate explorer would do, I now share the joy of astronomy with everyone I know. I am a teacher, and I can always find a reason to have all my students write to NASA. From second graders to seniors, they have all received their Golden Packets. And if just one student gets turned on to astronomy from this exercise, then all the letter-writing will have been worth it. Who could have predicted that my cousin Ricks lithographs of the Martian surface would have had such an impact on my life? With more dazzling missions under way and planned for the future, any one of us can be onboard, vicariously exploring, learning, and dreaming. Come to think of it, with discoveries happening at such breakneck speed, Id better get busy Ive got letters to write! Founder of the American Astronomy Club in So Paulo, Brazil, David Lustick often conducts public star parties to showcase the southern skies. He can be reached by e-mail at dlustick@eagle.aegsp.br. Readers wishing to follow Lusticks lead should write to: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Public Services Office, Mail Stop 186-113, 4800 Oak Grove Dr., Pasadena, CA 91109 (e-mail: newsdesk@jpl.nasa.gov).