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Luis Salas
Professor Jonathan Barnes
PHYS 1040-006
November 10, 2014
Astronomical Conversation
Five friends, a few boxes of pizza, a pool table and a whole lot of astronomy. My astronomy
conversation assignment for PHYS 1040 went about as well as I could have hoped for. There were
aspects of the night that I both expected and surprised me. This paper will introduce the people
involved and why they were chosen for this specific role. It will narrate my experience with the planning
process and overall outcome of the conversation. Finally, I will end with a conclusion to how the
participants felt about the discussion, what surprised me, and whether or not I would change anything if
I were to redo the assignment.
One step after the other; like every other morning, I am out walking my pet dog. The late
October air is still too warm for this time of the season. My expectation of years gone by have led me to
believe that snow will fall in the last week of October, yet my phones weather report insists that there
is no snow in the forecast. As I round the corner I realize that my mind had been wondering from my
initial thought. My main intentions had been to begin planning the assignment. Where should it take
place? Who is best suited for my papers conversation and how will I go about organizing it? To be
honest, the planning process did not take much thought. I knew exactly who I would be inviting and
where it would take place from the moment it was assigned.
Jeremy Mayers would be the first of four members of the conversation. He is a well-mannered
but extremely opinionated military brat that had oddly grown up just north of the Equator in Panama.
David Fruk would be the second member of the group. He can be described as a nonathletic but highly
intelligent person that enjoys anime, technology, and most importantly, science and science fiction. Last

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of the invitees would be Scott Swanson, the average Joe in the group. He has by no means shown any
interest to issues regarding space, aliens or the upcoming movie Interstellar. I chose these individuals
because of their very different personalities; conservative, liberal, and other, respectfully.
The event would be staged over a game of billiards and pizza at eight-o-clock on the evening of
Saturday the 26th. The location was Fruks home; it is located in South Jordan near the Real soccer
stadium. The plan was simple, members of the party were not aware of my basic underlying intentions.
That should really not be an issued since it trust these individuals to carry a conversation just as long as
there are conflicting opinions and ideas. Therefore, my intentions were to introduce the subject early in
the game and promote it throughout the night.
That night upon arriving, I was surprised to find Pierre Hill opens the door for me. He is a rather
quite individual and now the fifth addition to our discussion. Within moments I find that everyone else
has made it, allowing us to quickly start setting the table. At about 8:30 the table is set and the series of
games begin. David is on my team and Jeremy, without his regular sidekick, bestows his trust on Scott
to occupy the void. This is perfect since Jeremy and David are constant debate about something. Of
course, no one is aware that they are here to discuss the heavens. Nevertheless, these guys are good at
continuing a conversation, insuring that the night will go on comfortably.
The first game is well under way and I throw out the first astronomical topic. Note that the
quotes are not verbatim, but rather the way I recall them to be. Fruk, what do you suppose happens if
some poor soul where to fall into a black hole. It is his move and he is deep in concentration. A light
tap sends the cue ball towards the three and the three about one inch from his intended corner pocket.
Not that, says Jeremy. Actually, replies Fruk, that is completely within the possibilities of what may
happen. And here we go; the two begin to discuss their beliefs and ideas regarding the nature of black
holes. Jeremy insist that a black hole would pull in material that strays too close and send it to a remote

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location in our universe. Fruk on the other hand insists that unless we are within the gravitational pull
of the black hole, nothing at all may happen. The black hole topic stays in play for a few minutes.
The next major topic that would be discussed would be the possibility of alien life. The
beginning of this topic began quite well. As I previously noted, Fruk is well education in the realm of
science, both fiction and non-fiction. The poor kid spend way too much time on documentaries, but at
least it allowed him to have the upper hand on most of the discussions. He insisted that there are
millions, if not, billions of possible planets out there. And no matter how slim the odds, one cannot
logically put aside the possibility of life beyond our own planet. Jeremy understood that life should be
possible but that religion may be contributing to his doubt. Jeremy brought up some good points; it is
true that religion and misunderstandings can sometimes lead people a stray and can even hinder
scientific progress. Of all of the subjects that night, this is the only one that allowed religion to present
itself.
The remainder of the conversations can be described as miscellaneous. They included; the
planets and their moons, the planned space mission to Mars by Space X, whether or not Pluto is a
planet, Europa, etc. For some reason everyone knows a little bit about Europa. The possibility of life
beneath the surface even got Hill involved. Other things that came up was the temperature of the sun,
and the absolute zero, and that in turn lead to global warming.
Ultimately, the conversation went fairly well, although not completely as I had predicted. Hill,
the wildcard that evening did not have much to say, but he maintained a close ear to the conversation.
There was no hiding the fact that the things being said were peaking his interest. Scott, played the roll I
thought I would have. He made his contribution by initiating an array of what ifs. One of which was,
What if two planets were joined in a binary system and both the planets had intelligent life? I am not
sure if that is even possible, but the idea is interesting. The true highlight of the night was undoubtedly

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Jeremy and Fruk. Their polar-opposite personalities really allows them to carry the conversation and
brought about ideas that I would not have been able to conjure up myself.
It is not unusual for these types of conversations to go on for hours. During our games, we find
ourselves talking about all sorts of things. That being said, no one seemed to find the astronomy theme
unusual in any way. To be honest, we did not stay on task throughout the duration of the night. Some
other things popped in and out as one would expect, but there is no doubt we covered the one hour
requirement.
What surprised me the most that night was not the many areas of astronomy we covered, but
the fact that everyone seemed to be honestly interested. It seemed as if much of the information being
talked about was common knowledge. For almost every topic, everyone had something to contribute.
Unfortunately, some of that common knowledge was incorrect. Science-fiction has really buried itself
deep into our culture.
To conclude, the night of the 25th was a gathering of a few friends for a game of pool and a
discussion of astronomy. Every member had something to say, allowing the conversation to carry far
past the one hour directed time frame. As a result, I would have to say that this assignment was a
success. That being said, if this event where to repeat itself, I do not believe I would make any changes.