Reach for the Stars in Gokseong

Written and photographed by Karina Prananto

 

Traveling makes one more open-minded, to paraphrase Mark Twain. While Gwangju in itself is interesting, there are endless opportunities to see what’s beyond Gwangju given its location in the center of Jeollanam-do, making it easy to access neighboring counties and towns. The Gwangju News is one of my main sources of information for Jeollanam-do tourist spots, and an article about Gokseong in a previous issue caught my eye last week.

Gokseong is a county about 60 kilometers northeast of Gwangju. It’s easily accessible by highway from Gwangju. The 200-kilometer Seomjin River also flows through it before passing to Gurye, a neighboring county to the south. Gokseong is most famous for its Train Village, where the annual Rose Festival is held each spring. This is probably what people first associate with Gokseong. Although I’m not exactly sure why Gokseong is famous for trains, I do know that the local people in the past boarded a steam engine train for their travels, and the still-running Gokseong Station is big, clean, and efficient. (Gokseong is on the Jeolla line, not the Honam line that services Gwangju.) The county also provides many attractions related to trains, such as rail biking along the Seomjin River and the steam engine riding experience for families and couples.

I went to the Train Village last year, which is strategically located near both the bus terminal and the train station. It’s a good place to learn about trains, and children love it, but I was soon left wondering what other places Gokseong had besides trains. An article in an old Gwangju News issue about the space center in Gokseong caught my interest, so I told my husband we should go there on a trip. We didn’t expect much because people didn’t seem to talk much about it. Apparently, if one wants to learn about space, Goheung Space Center is far more popular. It’s with this low expectation that we went to Gokseong on the second weekend of March to check it out.

The journey took us one hour and involved passing by the Train Village and through the Gokseong countryside. It was beautiful. On the way, we saw the Seomjin River Suspension Bridge. A small road down the path under the bridge led us to a small, yet very brightly colored building. I thought it was a daycare center at first because it was so colorful. The building was decorated with stars and constellations. I thought it would be up on a hill, but to my surprise it was in a low-lying area, which dampened my mood for a moment. However, as we entered, the friendly staff told us that we were right on time to watch a movie about space. We quickly paid our admission fees and entered the planetarium. It was small, probably only seating 30. The seats were fully reclined at about a 170-degree angle, and the dome was the screen. A 20-minute video about the moon and the sun captivated me; though it was in Korean, it wasn’t so hard to understand. There were only seven people in the room – us and another family of four. I was left wondering how many people they received on a regular weekday. Still, the atmosphere was relaxing.

After the movie, the staff asked us to proceed to the next room on the second floor: another dome-shaped room with a huge telescope in it. There were no chairs, only small mats for us to sit on and a TV screen. Honestly, it was freezing! There, we got more information about the sun, which we were told we were going to see that day (apparently tours about the sun are provided in daytime, and tours about stars and constellations are offered at nighttime). As the video came to an end, they clicked on a remote button and the dome opened up before us. The bright sunlight came in, and we were in awe. We were actually being shown the sun! Well, we see the sun every day, but never up close! The telescope, with a huge 600-millimeter lens, was manufactured by the Korean Astronomy and Space Science Institute. We were told not to touch the lens, for obvious reasons, and they had set it so that we could clearly see the sun by looking with one eye. It was a bright orange circle with tiny dots. I was amazed. I’m sure I will never look at the sun the same way as before.

Here, we thought the tour had come to an end, but they had another surprise for us. We were taken to the third floor, the rooftop, where they had set up four more telescopes in different directions. Two telescopes were reflection telescopes using mirrors, and the other two were regular telescopes, although less powerful than the one on the second floor. Still, we were able to see objects at very long distances. Each one of us was given a chance to use the telescopes before the staff gave us another chance to see the sun directly using a film card to protect our eyes. The sun shone brightly that day, as if wanting to show us its full power.

The tour was finally over, so we descended back to the first floor where a small exhibition of space-related items was presented (though, unfortunately, without English explanations). I realized that this place had given me a new impression about space. The staff told us that there are different periods when we can see the stars and planets, but that we could always observe the sun at any time during daylight hours.

I’m glad we decided to go. It’s not just for children, as adults can also learn a thing or two. It’s too bad we won’t be able to go at nighttime, but I hope the place will receive lots of interest in the future. We went home curious for more.

GOKSEONG SEOMJIN-GANG ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY 곡성 섬진강 천문대

Address: 1234 Seomjingang-ro, Gurye-eup, Gurye-gun, Jeollanam-do 전라남도 구례군 구례읍 섬진강로 1234
Admission: Adults 3,000 won, Youth (ages 13–18) 2,000 won, Children (ages 6–12) 1,000 won
Opening Hours: Daily 2–10 p.m. (closed every Monday, New Year’s Day, Seollal, and Chuseok)
Phone: 061-363-8528 (Advisable to call first if you’re coming at nighttime to see whether you can observe the stars on that day)
Website: http://star.gokseong.go.kr

The Author
Karina is from Jakarta, Indonesia and has been working with Gwangju News since 2007. She loves reading, traveling, and driving with her family. She also loves watching horror movies whenever she has the chance!