Daily Archives: August 18, 2008

david dunlap observatory, General

Astronomy’s Loss

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Is Apparently a Developer’s Gain in Toronto

The historic David Dunlap Observatory in Toronto, Ontario (Canada), has been sold to Metrus Development, Inc., which has already started drilling holes in the dome to affix huge padlocks to the doors and windows. It’s not clear what Metrus plans to do with the facility, but it’s likely the telescope (which I’ve been told is still working), is headed for the dustheaps of history, prematurely. Or, perhaps it’ll end up in a museum somewhere. The land is probably headed for development.

How did this happen? It seems that the University of Toronto decided that the observatory, which has been quite productive, was to be sold and the proceeds used to buy new equipment for the university’s department of astronomy. The last employees were let go in July and astronomer Tom Bolton (the first astronomer to discover a black hole) told to get his research materials out. It’s a sad end for a famous site. I first heard of it when I wrote to an astronomer there (Helen Sawyer Hogg) for permission to use an image of a star cluster that she had taken using DDO. It had a fascinating history and a wonderful telescope.

From what I could tell in my reading about DDO, the observatory was being used to do long-term surveys and, due to Bolton’s efforts, light pollution from nearby subdivisions had been mitigated quite a bit. Yet, the university claimed that the observatory couldn’t do “world-class” research due to light pollution.  I find that assertion a little bit hard to believe, given the advances in technology that many observatories around the world use to increase their sensitivity. Perhaps some of the University’s decision-makers could have talked to observatories in California and elsewhere that are doing good work despite far worse light pollution than what was threatening DDO.

But, perhaps somebody in the department had their eye on something new and shiny, and selling off DDO was the only way to get it. These things do happen, particularly in the name of “progress.” Still, it seems to me that a heritage site such as the David Dunlap Observatory, which educated generations of astronomers and made huge contributions to astronomy, deserved better treatment than it got. (You can read more about the DDO’s plight at SavetheDDO.)

astronomy, star names

The Star Name Game

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Mid-August Star Musings

I’m a sucker for cool names of astronomy objects. The monickers for stars have come down to us through the ages or from data catalogs that list distant and dimmer stars. On any given night you can look up at the sky and see a bright star with a name like Gomeisa or a dimmer one that may simply have a few letters and a number that denote its name — like HIP80001.  Open up just about any stargazing book and you’ll find lists of the brighter stars, and all of them have “word” names like Alnath or some such. There are also more than a few web sites with those lists, like Skyeye (which not only gives you the  name of the star, but a star chart showing how to find it).

So, I was idly scrolling through the list at SkyEye and got to thinking that these make some dandy first names for characters in science fiction (or even a newborn baby, if you’re daring enough). For writers, it’s kind of fun to make a game of it. For example, say you are REALLY stuck for a name for the hero of your new science fiction adventure. Simply go to the list and for the first name of the person, pick one star name.  You need a last name, so select the name of something like your favorite sports team*, or your favorite make of automobile and append the term “-walker” or “-fighter” or “-gazer” to the end of it.  Thus, you get names like Baiten Kaitos Bronco-walker or Nunki Pirate-fighter or Regulus Eclipse-gazer.

Now, for babies, you probably need to be a little more circumspect (not the least because you DO have to explain this one to your in-laws at some point).  So, I wouldn’t suggest saddling your kid with Rukbat or Scheat or Sualocin (which kind of sounds like the name of a new drug for for skin rashes).  But, Maia is rather nice, as is Vega or Shaula or Mira, or Caroli.

If you do that for your kid, then you’ll (of course) have to take them out when they get big enough so you can show them the star they’re named after.  It’s far better (and much more sensible, not to mention cost-effective) than paying to name a star and then finding out that the name you paid for isn’t official…

(*This probably won’t work too well with Manchester United, although Arsenal could squeak through… just sayin’… )