Yearly Archives: 2003

housekeeping, musings

Everything Changes

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If you’re a regular visitor to my website at TheSpaceWriter.com you’ve probably noticed some changes in the pages lately. I’ve been busily re-coding them using style sheets, revamping backgrounds, editing text, adding new stuff, and re-evaluating how I want to communicate about science.

The web site got started way back in the mid 1990s when I was in grad school and wanted to do a web page. The first incarnation was pretty small, but I learned a lot about encoding HTML from that experience. Then I just kept adding to the pages and getting more hits. When blogging became available — especially thanks to Blogger — I seized on it as a way to link it to my site and update it more frequently.

So, I have an online planetarium show in the Henrietta Leavitt Flat Screen Space Theater — a way for you to step through a little tale about the cosmos. And, there’s an ‘art gallery’ of space shots with plain-English explanations of the science behind them. And links to other cool sites. And stuff about me and my philosophies about science and media.

I get feedback about the site from folks who are moved to write about their own experiences with astronomy. One of the most touching messages I got was from the sister of Al Hibbs, who I wrote about earlier this year. She had run across my blog and read about my experience with her brother. She wrote me a snailmail letter and I was really surprised to get it. (To her I say, “Thank YOU for writing.”)

One of the things that keeps cropping up in the emails I get from people is the question: “What book should I buy for my son/daughter/wife/husband/significant other /brother/sister/friend who’s interested in astronomy?” Great question and you’ve come to the right place. I am surrounded by books. And star charts. And several telescopes. And several pairs of binoculars. And battery-operated socks. And red flashlights. You name it, I’ve probably got it, or I’ve read it or about it or I want to buy it.

In the earliest days of the site, I had a few book suggestions, but when I went into revamp mode, I noticed those references were getting a little outdated, so this past week I decided to update them, add in some new books — in a nod to the folks who want to know about telescopes, binoculars, star charts, and all the other goodies that stargazers like to buy — I’m adding in some reviews of those products as well. And, to help folks buy them, I’ve put links to product pages at Amazon.com — where it appears you could pretty much buy anything you want. With the upcoming holidays looming on the horizon, lots of astronomers will be on people’s gift lists…

I’m also open to suggestions for astronomy-related topics to discuss on this blog or in the gallery pages on the web site. So, feel free to write me at ccpblog at hotmail dot com and share your thoughts about astronomy and space science, the web pages, books you’ve read, stuff you’ve used to help YOU enjoy the sky.

Note: I’m not open to requests from advertisers and spammers and pr0nmeisters and people who write suggestive emails, but I know there’s little I can do about you other than ignore your rudeness.

galaxies, Observatories, optics

Magnify the View and What do You Get?

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Details!!

The Sombrero Galaxy, from the National Optical Astronomy Observatories web site.
The Sombrero Galaxy, from the National Optical Astronomy Observatories web site.

One of my favorite pastimes is web surfing for astronomy pictures. As a writer, it’s sort of an occupational hazard as well — since I have to populate my stories with great illustrations. Hubble Space Telescope regularly trolls some good ones out for all of us to see. This week the release was a great picture of the Sombrero Galaxy. It lurks in the constellation Virgo and lies about 28 million light-years away. That’s far enough away that until HST and some of our better ground-based observatories took at look at it, we had a hard time seeing details. For example, here’s The Sombrero (M104) taken in 1974 by the 4-meter Mayall Telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Tucson, Arizona.

Sombrero as seen by ESO
Sombrero as seen by ESO

Okay, fast forward a few decades to the year 2000, and the European Southern Observatory’s ANTU installation. This observatory (part of a new wave of adaptive optics-equipped facilities) took this astonishingly beautiful picture.

Pretty darned snazzy, if I do so say so. Well, just this week, the HST released this puppy:

Sombrero from HST
Sombrero from HST

Now compare and contrast the ESO and HST image. One of the arguments for HST being above the atmosphere was that it would free astronomers from the tyranny of Earth’s meddling blanket of air. And it has. But, the ground-based facilities haven’t been content to sit still and let Hubble grab all the good stuff. Advances in adaptive optics are to the point where ground-based observatories are pushing the close behind and in some cases equalling HST’s performance. And this is great because it means that we have more capability for high-resolution, detailed views of the universe. And, Hubble is still up there, giving us a peek at the infrared and ultraviolet universe that is so difficult (if not impossible) for ground-based instruments to observe. (It’s that pesky atmosphere and in the UV case and some “flavors” of case, it can’t be overcome without leaving the ground.)
So, three pictures of the Sombrero pretty well illustrate the advances we’ve made in optical astronomy over the years. It’s a grand time to be an astronomer!