Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “When the heavens and MIT align”.
[ CHATTER ] RICHARD BINZEL. We are here in MIT’s, Infinite Corridor and we’re on the third floor. And what makes the third floor special. Is this long axis that happens to point towards the setting sun two times a year once in November and once in January.? And what’s fascinating is to see the length of the setting sun come all the way down from the far end of the corridor and see that special alignment of sunset that we call MIThenge.. I’M Richard Binzel., I’m a professor of planetary science here at MIT, and my job here is to build and fly spacecraft to explore our solar system., But I’m also quite fascinated by alignments of the sun and the moon, and that makes this Infinite Corridor even more special..
Mithenge gets its name from its more famous location in England, of course, Stonehenge. And Stonehenge is famous because the alignment of the stones is oriented towards. Where is the sunrise and sunset on the summer solstice and the winter solstice.. Keeping track of the seasons has always been incredibly important to us for knowing when to plant our crops when to reap the harvest., And so I think, just keeping track of sunrise and sunset and those changing locations over the seasons is an innate property of our human Nature., When MIThenge happens, it’s a major cultural event on campus, with literally hundreds and hundreds of students cramming for space to catch a glimpse of this special moment in time and try to get into a space where they can see it, but not getting each other’s way.
And then the weather has to cooperate as well.. What makes the corridor so special is its length.. It’S 825 feet long., And so you really need a very precise alignment of the setting sun. And it’s kind of fitting for a place like MIT that prides itself.
In precise science and precise engineering that we can calculate the exact moment of when this kind of event can be observed, where the heavens and MIT seem to align. [, MUSIC PLAYING ] .