Arroyo August 2018

HEAVEN AND EARTH
Can astronomers help save our planet? Pasadena’s Marja Seidel travels to Earth’s most
remote spots, explaining our unique place in the universe to underserved children.
PHOTOS: Courtesy of Marja Seidel
now, we are spinning at around 800,000 kilometers per hour around
the center of our galaxy, and at around 100,000 kilometers per hour around
“Right
the sun. And every day we follow our routines and forget how lucky we really
are to be living on this unique planet.” That’s astronomer Marja Seidel introducing a short
film about one of her recent expeditions to very remote areas of the globe, helping others to
understand the uniqueness of our planet, its place in the universe and the need to preserve it.
Seidel, 29, has reached thousands of people on five continents with her unusual outreach
missions, bringing knowledge of the universe to those who otherwise have no access to such information.
A newly minted resident of Pasadena, she was born in Waltrop, Germany, received
her bachelor’s degree in physics and earth and space sciences at Jacobs University in Bremen and
in October, 2015, received her Ph.D. in astrophysics at Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias
on Spain’s Canary Islands. Earlier this year she finished a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at
Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, where her research focused on the formation of galaxies
and the influence of dark matter. Seidel has just signed on as a scientist with Caltech’s IPAC
division, which partners with NASA, JPL and the worldwide research community to advance
exploration of the universe and provide information-outreach programs for the public.
We spoke with Seidel for this family and education issue not because of her career per se,
but because of her distinctive extracurricular accomplishments, spreading what she has called
“visions of the cosmos” near and far. Last summer, while pursuing her postdoctoral research, she
organized a project for underserved schoolchildren here in Pasadena, so they could learn about
BY BETTIJANE LEVINE
the Great American Eclipse and then observe it through glasses and telescopes she had donated
for the occasion. “Even in a place like California, resources can be scarce,” she said. “Some
schools might not even have funds for a science teacher in certain grades. Cooperating with
the Pasadena United Schools District [PUSD], we identified five schools that had a focus on
STEM [science, technology, engineering and mathematics), but were located in underprivileged
areas. The idea was to provide them with telescopes, education material and workshops
to fully take advantage of the eclipse with their students and to possibly continue astronomy
education at their schools.”
On one recent global expedition, Seidel and an ecologist friend traveled for two months
by horseback and paraglider to remote villages in Colombia’s Andes. In their backpacks they
carried telescopes, binoculars, inflatable models of the solar system, Play-Doh and other crafts
items to help inspire villagers, particularly children, with the joy of discovery. Joy seems to be a
key component in her outreach missions, which combine a love of nature and adventure sports
with a passion for science. The aim of the Colombia project, titled “Cielo y Tierra (Heaven
and Earth),” was not to hold formal classes in astronomy or ecology, she says, but simply to lead
entertaining experiments and exchanges that open people’s minds to all the wonders out there
for them to discover. Seidel’s own joie de vivre is evidenced in the short film of this odyssey
at cieloytierra-project.com, which shows the two women gliding above the clouds, trekking
on horses through spectacular terrain and connecting with villagers who may have no access
to technology, may never have seen a telescope or binoculars before and have certainly never
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