ENHS Nature Trails October 2001 Article 2

Natural History and You - The President's Forum
by David Wagner

A Memorial for Bill Eaton

This past summer, on June 8, the Eugene Natural History Society lost one of its most notable members, William E. Eaton. Bill had been a member of our society since the 1940's. He was on the Board of Directors for much of that time and served as president (according to memory of at least one longtime board member). Bill's irrepressible curiosity about the world of nature and his congeniality made him an exemplar of what a member of a natural history society should be. He rarely missed a meeting and always enjoyed encouraging first-time visitors to join up.

After discussion over the summer about possible ways to give respect to his memory, the Board decided to commission the building of a portable display case to be used at events where the Eugene Natural History Society presents an educational exhibit. We propose to have Bill's name inscribed on a small plate indicating the dedication of this item. This way his memorial will stay with us for years to come.

Members who would like to make a contribution to the memorial for Bill Eaton should give or send a check to the treasurer, Herb Wisner, with a memo indicating its special purpose.

and, a Tour of the Solar System

On June 16, Connie and I joined a flock of other bicyclists for a fundraising bike ride dedicated to the care of the solar system model located along the bike path by the Willamette River in Eugene. As a fund-raiser the trip was a huge success; kudos to Paul's Bike Shop for sponsoring the event. As a natural history educational tour, it was less successful because everybody was so keen on just cycling away in the glorious sunshine that our guide--model maker Jack Van Dusen--had little chance to talk about the object of our attention. One highlight of the day was learning a great mnemonic sentence for remembering the planets in order, invented by a young girl the night before: "My very energetic mother just showed us nine planets."

I asked Jack if he wouldn't offer to lead a trip for the Eugene Natural History Society later in the year. He agreed, and this astronomical bicycle tour was accomplished on September 29. This is a report for those who wanted to but couldn't come along.

Our solar system model is built to a scale of one to one billion. There are very few cities with similar models, two in Europe and a smaller one in Denver known to Jack. Eugene's is centered in Alton Baker Park where a large, yellow sphere, about four and a half feet in diameter, is located next to the pond at the north end of the DeFazio Bike Bridge. The outermost planet, Pluto, is located 3.67 miles away in the shadow of the Beltline bridge. Jack considered putting the closest star into this model but the earth isn't big enough. Alpha Centauri would have to be 37 thousand miles away, and it's only about 25 thousand miles around the earth.

The innermost planets of the solar system model are located in the general vicinity of the Alton Baker Park pond. Mercury is to the east, barely far enough away to make it worth mounting your bicycle to ride to it. In the scale of the model it is smaller than a pea; it looks like a red BB mounted on a slender pyramid. And at this scale it would take nine minutes to move one inch.

The Earth and the moon are another hundred yards in the same direction. Standing next to Earth and looking back at the sun, it is easy to understand why Mercury and Venus are seen at certain times of the year, and only in the morning or evening at that. Both having an orbit inside of Earth's, most of the time they are either behind the sun or in front of the sun and invisible. They are seen only when they are off to the side of the sun, but never far off, so they can be seen only in morning or evening. Having this explained to you isn't always easy to grasp, but walking around the model makes this kind of celestial phenomenon understandable through direct experience.

Venus and Mars are on the far side of the pond from the sun to emphasize that the solar system really is spread out in space. From here on out the planets are abnormally lined up, but that was the only way Jack could keep the model along a reasonable bike path in the city parks. As we traversed outward, we were given reminders of this by comments such as, "Saturn could have been placed among the science buildings on the U. of Oregon campus; Uranus could have been on the LCC campus; Neptune could be in Island Park in Springfield."

Jupiter is missing, as is Neptune. A fund-raiser in June was intended to help with replacement of Neptune, the only one missing at that time. Jupiter has been ripped off since that time. There are funds for the replacement. The challenge is to find a way to anchor the planets more securely so that they are harder to remove. The funny story is how many times Pluto has been reported stolen. The truth is that it is so small that its site appears to have just the pedestal without any planet on it at all.

We can be very grateful to Jack Van Dusen and his son (who had the original inspiration to create the model). The solar system model provided for us through volunteer work, is a special feature of the Eugene-Springfield area that all naturalists can be pleased with and proud to show off to visitors. Carl Sagan was one who believed that a view from space was what it took to develop a suitable perspective of our importance on this planet. With our solar system model, we can get a direct experience of this perspective.

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