Stars and Veterans

Poppies for Armistice Day

My dad is a military veteran. He fought in the U.S. Army in the Korean War and was one of the lucky ones to come back alive. He was also the person who first got me started in astronomy, taking me out to look at the stars when I was probably just barely old enough to know what those lights in the sky were. He’s always been fascinated with space and astronomy and has a couple of telescopes and I don’t know how many books about the subjects. I can proudly say that if it wasn’t for him, as well as my mom’s push for me to get good grades (which I didn’t always do) and be a reader (which I DID do), my own interest in astronomy might never have bloomed.

Stars for Veterans Day

So, this one’s for you, Daddy, on Veteran’s Day—for coming home and making sure that I got bit by the star bug, and for being such a star-hopper yourself!

Veteran’s Day is the U.S. variant on celebrations like Armistice Day or Remembrance Day in other countries. It’s a time to thank the men and women who are in the armed services who have served their countries in times of peace AND war. Regardless of how you feel about war, soldiers (whether your own country’s or those of other countries), the day is there to remember their service and sacrifices. It’s a very human holiday and I can’t think of any country in the world that doesn’t owe at least some measure of thanks to those who served.

There’s an interesting connection between war and astronomy. In the really olden days, war planners consulted the stars for propitious times to do battle. Why, they even had Mars—their very own god of war. Later on, the development of the telescope (while not strictly a military invention) allowed ship captains to spy out their adversaries at sea, and land-bound armies to see their enemies coming long before battle.

Today’s astronomers (vet and non-vet alike) benefit from instruments that were developed for military use. These days, such things as adaptive optics and remote sensing are giving us unprecedented views of the cosmos. Those technologies were largely developed for military use (either during wartime or for “intelligence” purposes).

I kind of like to think that these technologies are transcending their warlike roots. At first they’re used by people who are awarded stars for bravery and valor. Now, they’re delivering the stars to everyone, a graceful and wonderful Veteran’s Day/Remembrance Day gift.

Wasting Money?

Depends on Which Side of the Pork Barrel You’re On

Arecibo

For the past several years, the radio astronomy facilities at Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico has been threatened with closure. It’s gotten so bad that many staffers have been laid off and the observatory is preparing to shut down a facility that only recently was refurbished at a cost of tens of millions of dollars. The reasons for the shutdown are diverse, but many of us think that they’re mostly political and not based on completely scientific grounds. Yes, Arecibo is getting old, but so are many very useful radio telescopes on this planet. Yet, it alone is threatened with extinction. The refurbishment costs will, essentially, have been wasted, while good science will be left undone.

Today the Planetary Society submitted a statement to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, asking Congress to stem the loss of Earth’s largest (and still scientifically useful) radio telescope.

There are a variety of scientific reasons why this facility should be kept open. It is making real contributions to the study of distant galaxies, pulsars in our own galaxy, the dynamics and chemistry of our own planet’s atmosphere, and—quite importantly— scanning (constantly) for incoming meteorites that might pose a danger to our planet. They’re out there and they’re real.

In addition to the Planetary Society, a number of scientists from Cornell and other institutions planned to testify as to the usefulness of Arecibo to the community. Given the ongoing onslaught of irrationalism in the U.S. and the continuing unwarranted attacks on science among politicos who seem to be more interested in bringing home the bacon to build bridges to nowhere and funding questionable pork barrels, it’s about time our country stepped back up to the scientific plate and started hitting some homers.

Arecibo is still useful. It should be kept alive.

Watching the Comet?

The big buzz in skywatching circles these nights is Comet Holmes (officially known as 17P/Holmes). Sky & Telescope online has a story that calls this late-bloomer comet “the weirdest new object to appear in the sky in memory.” I think that’s a bit overstated; what do they mean by “weird”?  Weird would be something like sporting eyeballs or something, not the fact that it’s brightening up. Comets brighten up during parts of their orbits. However, this one is brightening up after it has rounded the Sun, but I don’t think that makes it weird. I think it makes it interesting.

However, I digress.There’s more history here, including some nice images showing recent behavior of this oddball comet, if you want to follow some of the thought about this unusual periodic cometary visitor.<br /><p>Holmes is sporting some tail activity, although since we’re looking along the long axis of its tail, we don’t see it as well as if the tail was streaming across our field of view. (That would require a different viewing geometry.)

So, what’s causing this thing to brighten up?  Lots of speculation out there, mostly around the idea that this thing is losing dust in great quantities for some reason. It may have suffered an impact with solar system debris, causing a huge chunk of the surface to flare away and release massive amounts of dust. Remember that comet nuclei are chunks of ice and dust, so whenever the hard surface blows away (for whatever reason) a release of dust will cause the comet to appear to brighten (because the increased amount of dust is reflecting sunlight, for one thing).

While folks who study such things discuss what’s causing Holmes to brighten, check it out from your own backyard (or other safe place for observing). Just head out sometime an hour or so after dinner in the evening and look for the constellation Perseus. Need a starchart? Go here.