Tuesday, January 21, 2002:
the day the Boston Globe banished amateur astronomy
from its Health/Science section.

This note appeared in today’s Boston Globe as part of Alan MacRobert’s Star Watch column:

“This is the last Star Watch column that will appear in the Globe. The Health-Science section is going in new directions, and a skywatching guide is not part of the plan.”

(For more, go to the Globe’s website and click on their Health/Science section.)

Well folks, I suppose it’s a little thing in the larger scheme of events that shape our lives, but I often wonder why it is that newspaper editors so easily discard astronomy columns like Alan’s? Astronomy isn’t one of those arcane sciences that NO one thinks they can approach (like, say, nuclear physics or quantum mechanics or bio-engineering). As I and every other planetarium lecturer and amateur astronomer keeps telling anyone who will listen, astronomy is the easiest science in the world to do — you simply go out and look up. Unless you’re a mindless clod (or it’s cloudy), you can’t fail to be moved by what you see.

Well, I salute Alan for his graceful writing and dedication to spreading the good word about stargazing. We were colleagues at Sky & Telescope magazine for several years. His work will continue at SkyAndTelescope.com and you can get your astronomy fix online whenever you want — not just when a newspaper decides it’s good for you to have astronomy.

After the bad news of Alan’s column departing the Globe, it was refreshing to click on CNN.com and read a positive story about the Morgan County Observatory. For now, you can read the story here or visit the Science/Space or Travel links on their main site.

To answer the question I posed about interest in amateur astronomy up at the top of my entry — I don’t think there’s a vanishing interest in stargazing — except possibly among newspaper editors. Do a Google search on “amateur astronomy” sometime and you’ll be amazed at what comes up. Or try “stargazing.” Or better yet, the next time you have a clear night, get your buns out there and start observing! All you have to do is look up.

Well, here I am again.

It was pointed out to me that Blogging is “In”. Sure, I saw the link to Time Magazine here. And, now PC Magazine has made it official with their article on Blogging in the new issue. Life on the cutting edge, eh?

So, I’m working on this script about Hubble Space Telescope science and I keep wondering how much people really know about this magnificent telescope and the things it is revealing to all of us. In January I was attending the American Astronomical Society meeting in Washington, D.C. and had a chance to visit a new exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum. The exhibition, titled Explore the Universe, features the Kodak-built back-up mirror for the HST. I found it really impressive. For the first time I could measure my height against a mirror the one that is capturing the photons from so many interesting things in the cosmos! I mean, I always knew I could comfortably stand inside the telescope tube, but seeing a mirror built to fit in that tube finally made the connection. If you’re in Washington, D.C., you should check it out — admission is free!

Of course there ARE bigger ground-based mirrors. I remember visiting the 100-inch on Palomar Mountain a few years back. And many of the installations on Kitt Peak in Arizona. And the twin eyes of the Keck telescopes at Mauna Kea, Hawaii. They look incredibly huge and somehow delicate during a daytime visit, but at night, these (along with the orbiting telescopes like HST, Chandra, etc.) that we use to focus on “stuff” of the universe, are the heavy lifters of Big Astronomy.

Well, it’s time to get back to the script. Anything you wanna know about? Write me at: CC dot petersen at hot mail dot com