By Natalie De La Garza
Staff Writer
LIMESTONE, Maine — Astronomy teacher at the Maine School of Science and Mathematics Larry Berz teaches some lessons that are really out there — like a half billion miles away.
But Berz brought that lesson, among others, right to the school’s dormitory on the morning of Feb. 15 when he converted his cranium into the celestial king that is Jupiter. The eighth annual Planet Head Day was held at the University of Maine at Presque Isle on the same day, where community members gather to celebrate space by having their heads painted in a very astronomically aesthetic way — all the while raising funds for the local nonprofit C-A-N-C-E-R, (Caring Area Neighbors for Cancer Education and Recovery).
Berz decided to bring the Planet Head Day excitement to the Limestone school in part because it’s fun, but also because it aligned the students with a particular need in the community while raising awareness.
“We do things because we care — that’s the whole point,” Berz said. “And for those that really now experience the ordeal of this disease and its treatment — including my mom and many people I’ve known over the year.”
The Planet Head Day’s satellite event started with a pretty significant haircut, as Berz was donning a head of thick, curly locks.
Residential Life Instructor at the school Matt Bartlett took the electric clippers to Berz’s head, and he admitted he was a little nervous about cutting Berz’s hair in front of the nearly 100 students who’d gathered in support of their teacher.
“But I couldn’t say ‘no,’” he said.
Those students donated around $150 in bills, and a half-a-bucket’s worth of change to C-A-N-C-E-R.
At least, the bucket was said to be filled with change; upon being handed the weighty donation, Berz asserted that it must be filled with lead. As Berz bantered with students from the makeshift barber’s chair, Art Teacher at the Limestone Community School Jessica Goodwin thoughtfully transformed his buzz-cut scalp into the biggest planet of our solar system.
“It’s for a good cause and I’ve had a lot of family that was touched by cancer, so anything I can do to help is fine by me,” she said.
As far as Berz was concerned, the more paint, the better.
“Put it on really thick,” he jokingly requested, “I need the insulation.”
Of all the planets in all the solar systems in all the galaxies, Berz had lots of reasons for picking Jupiter to wear on his head.
“He’s the king, he’s mighty, and above all, he’s visible in the sky of 2014,” the educator explained. “He is the evening star sight right now, and has been all winter long.”
There’s no missing Jupiter in the night sky, and there was no missing Berz as he walked the halls on Feb. 15 — which happened to coincide with parents weekend. But wherever Jupiter went, smiles followed and most guessed right.
And at the end of the day, having painting Jupiter on his head gave Berz something many educators say they need — an eye on the back of their head.
Jupiter’s red eye as well as its gaseous bands made the planet pretty identifiable, but many of the MSSMers are more familiar observing the planet through the lens of a telescope.
Currently, Berz’s students are doing lab work that focuses on observing Jupiter telescopically, “and it’s a beautiful thing to see at night,” he said. “It’s very prominent, and why not bring Jupiter down to Earth?”
One of Berz’s astronomy students, Anas Beshir from Gorham, has seen some pretty interesting and memorable things through the school’s telescopes — but with Jupiter, it depends on which day you observe it.
“The moons orbit around Jupiter, so sometimes you see none and sometimes you see one because they have different intervals at which they orbit,” Beshir explained. “On the day we saw the supernova explode in Galaxy 482 — well, three days after it exploded — we saw Jupiter with two moons.”
Of course the Supernova didn’t explode three days ago, Berz described. The supernova in the M82 galaxy exploded 1.1 million years ago and the light just reached our planet a month ago.
Beshir has a pretty nice head of hair that has recently grown back after shaving it over the summer — but he contemplated possibly shaving his head sometime for an event like Planet Head Day.
“For a planet, I might,” he said thoughtfully.
