Astronomy.com blog : history

Correction to November “Observing Basics” column

Matt Quandt — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 19:55:00 GMT

Guest post from Contributing Editor Glenn Chaple

In the November edition of my “Observing Basics” column, I wrote that Galileo would be “relieved to know that the Roman Catholic Church, which excommunicated him for his heretical teachings, has since exonerated him.”

Three readers — Chris Cuoco (Grand Junction, Colorado), Ed Hahnenberg (Lake Leelanau, Michigan), and Fr. Ronald Gripshover (Fredericksburg, Virginia) — sent e-mails pointing out that Galileo had, in fact, not been excommunicated.

I apologize for the error. Some “facts” of astronomical history appear so often, we begin to take them as truth, much as we accept without question the concept of Earth being the “third rock from the Sun.”

Interestingly, I called a local parish priest for his perception of Galileo’s status after the Inquisition. He was under the impression that Galileo had been excommunicated. Apparently this astronomical urban legend is assumed to be true even by members of the Catholic clergy!

I have since consulted several reliable sources — all of which state that, while Galileo got into a lot of trouble with the Catholic Church, excommunication wasn’t part of his punishment. Now to check to be sure Earth really is the “third rock from the Sun!”

Are we boldly going places?

Bill Andrews — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:55:00 GMT

NASA’s done a good job getting us into space, but should it work harder on convincing people why that’s a good idea? NASA photo

Chances are you’ll recognize the phrase, “To boldly go,” as part of the monologue introducing each episode of Star Trek. I’ve heard it called the most famous split infinitive in the English language, and whatever a person’s science knowledge or familiarity with Star Trek, they’ll usually recognize “To boldly go — where no one has gone before.”

Jeremy McCarter argues in “Rocket Men,” a story in the November 9 issue of Newsweek, that we need more of Star Trek’s ilk. He says a big factor in NASA’s past successes was the public’s general fascination with space, thanks to TV shows and popular books. He quotes from the book Rocket Men (2009) that “all three of rocketry's founding fathers read From the Earth to the Moon, and it changed the course of their lives.” To really get the population excited about space, he says, we need to show space once again as a backdrop for excitement, drama, and adventure, and not just the place where killer asteroids, aliens, and lousy movies come from.

Now, half the fun of the article was renewing my geek cred as McCarter listed off popular depictions of space. I agreed with almost all his characterizations, especially his praise for the underappreciated TV show Firefly and its movie sequel, Serenity. And while I can’t lay claim to having seen The Empire Strikes Back “several hundred” times, as he does, I once performed in a musical adaptation of it.

But, more than simply agreeing about classic sci-fi, I agreed with everything else McCarter said too. If we really want to go out and conquer the stars — or even just the nearest planets and their moons — we need a public that thinks it’s a good idea. Science and a sense of adventure have historically gone hand in hand, and if that isn’t clear to us anymore, someone has messed up. NASA does a pretty good job of keeping folks amused with its videos and tweets, but amusing is a long way from astounding, mesmerizing, or even just super cool.

I’m probably not an expert on super cool (see Star Wars musical reference, above), but I know Star Trek, Isaac Asimov’s Foundation novels, and Contact helped get me interested in space, and I’m definitely not the only one. NASA’s been going into space for a few decades now, but perhaps it’s time it start boldly going.

Did any movies, books, or TV shows inspire you to get into space? Do you think NASA’s doing a fine enough job right now, thank you very much? Or do you (impossibly) think Firefly wasn’t that good?

Nicolaus Copernicus: “Old, old blue eyes”

Michael Bakich — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 21:26:00 GMT

Like Frank Sinatra (1915–1998), renowned Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543) had blue eyes, according to genetic tests that identified his remains. This paints a much different picture than the ones I grew up with. Researchers announced the findings last November and published them in July. They suggest that Copernicus most likely had blue eyes, fair skin, and light hair color.

In 2005, a team led by Polish archaeologist Jerzy Gassowski found an incomplete skeleton under the St. Cross altar of the Roman Catholic cathedral in Frombork, on Poland’s Baltic coast. Despite the lack of a lower jaw, the skull provided enough clues for identification.

Tests showed that it belonged to a man who died between the age of 60 and 70 (Copernicus died when he was 70). Furthermore, the man had suffered a broken nose (Copernicus had a crooked nose because of an accident he suffered as a child). The skull also featured a cut mark above the left eye (Copernicus’ self-portrait shows a scar above his left eye).

Of course, a DNA test would provide conclusive proof, but where do you get Copernicus’ DNA? Why, from a library, of course! The researchers found just what they were looking for in the astronomy reference book, Calendarium Romanum Magnum, by Johannes Stoeffler (1452–1531).

They found the book — which Copernicus owned for years — in the Museum Gustavianum at Uppsala University. And among the book’s pages they found 9 hairs. The researchers found usable DNA on four of them. And, guess what? Two were identical to each other and to the profile from the skeletal remains recovered from the St. Cross Altar tomb. The researchers concluded that the remains from the St. Cross Altar tomb are those of Copernicus.

Copernicus also was probably fair-skinned with light hair. How do I know that? Because the team’s genetic analysis also found a variation in a gene called HERC2, which mainly occurs in people with blue eyes. Recent studies have associated the HERC2 variant with lighter hair color and lighter skin.

So, although there’s another “blue eyes” in town, I think Sinatra would be OK with it. After all, who better than Copernicus, the man who replaced Earth as the center of the solar system with the Sun, could more appropriately boast, “I did it my way”?

University of Wisconsin-Madison reopens Washburn Observatory

Bill Andrews — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 15:17:00 GMT

I just got word that Washburn Observatory, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will soon reopen after 2 years of renovations. Finally!

Not that 2 years is a long time, but it is the entirety of my time in Madison. Now that my alma mater has reopened the observatory, originally opened in 1881, it’ll be available to the general public twice a month once again, so I finally get to check it out. That openness has been a tradition since the observatory’s completion, when the public would just knock on the door, curious about the unusual-looking building; the only time the open-nights ever stopped were during this renovation.

Done mostly to make the building more accessible to people with disabilities, the renovation also created office and classroom space for an honors program. Most important, however, was preserving the original look and materials of the observatory, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. Not only is the telescope the very same 15.6-inch refractor used for more than a hundred years, but many of the original cabinets and light fixtures remain as well.

Apparently, the reason it’s a 15.6-inch telescope a requirement from the main benefactor to the original observatory, Wisconsin Governor C. C. Washburn. The one requirement he had before donating more than $65,000 was that it be bigger than Harvard University’s 15-inch telescope. Even though Washburn’s is no longer the third-biggest telescope in the country, or the sky isn’t as dark or pollution-free as it was 128 years ago, Washburn Observatory remains a striking building and a great place for folks to see get their first glimpses of the sky up close.

I can’t wait to go sometime, even if I can’t make the open house from 2-4 p.m. this Friday. But you could go! Let me know what it was like if you do, or tell me about any other Washburn-related stories you might have.

Will we have another Galileo?

Bill Andrews — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 20:40:00 GMT

An interesting story on Slate.com takes this, the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei’s first telescope, to wonder why we call him by his first name. After all, its subhead points out, “We don’t go around saying ‘Albert’ discovered relativity.” (Briefly, it’s “because that's how he referred to himself.”)

But reading it, I wondered if we’d ever have another Galileo. Or, for that matter, if we’d ever see another Albert (Einstein) or even another Stephen (Hawking). As science becomes increasingly devoted to group work, with whole labs and teams making discoveries instead of individuals, is it likely a single scientist will ever be responsible for as much as these luminaries were?

It’s a question I remember asking just over 10 years ago, to the then-director of the Buehler Planetarium in Davie, Florida, when I was just a wee high school volunteer. Well, actually, I asked her who the next Einstein or Hawking might be, and she said it seemed pretty unlikely we’d see anyone of their caliber willing to go it alone again. Over the years, I’ve come to agree that that’s how things seem to be going.

But can that really be true? No more super-famous, game-changing scientists? What about Neil deGrasse Tyson, the six-time guest on The Colbert Report? Or even Carl Sagan, arguably the most successful popularizer of science ever? Both are pretty super-famous dudes, and both legitimately advanced science and have made significant contributions to their fields.

Well, great as they are (and as much as I love them), their fame is more the result of their efforts to popularize science, and not so much the science itself. These guys, in addition to being scientists, are authors and public speakers, but Einstein pretty much just did physics and an occasional patent office clerkship. And sure, Galileo did more than just build his telescope and work out some physics, but it’s his science that makes him memorable.

So what do you think? Will no more groundbreaking work come from a single genius? Or will we see another of Einstein’s or Galileo’s ilk? If so, can you name any contemporary candidates?

Solar eclipse 2009 trips: Face to face with Xian’s Terra Cotta Warriors

David Eicher — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 13:32:00 GMT

One of the greatest historical sites in the world lies tucked outside the huge city of Xian, near an obscure “mountain.” The mountain is actually a vast burial mound where Qin Shi Huang, China’s first emperor, is entombed. But no one knew this until the accidental discovery of a vast chamber of terra cotta figures in 1974, which only happened because a local farmer was sinking a deep well.

See all the images from Dave's tour in our solar eclipse 2009 trip gallery.

Excavations in the pits containing clay figures unearthed a vast number of life-sized figures of warriors of all grades guarding the nearby mountain. On Saturday, July 18, Astronomy’s intrepid eclipse travelers were fortunate to visit the site of the famous Terra Cotta Warriors of Xian, and indeed we even met the man who discovered the site back in 1974!

Pit #1 (pictured above) holds the largest number of excavated figures and may contain some 6,000 altogether, including infantry, cavalry, and officers — some even have horses and bronze implements of war. Two other great pits are in lesser states of excavation, and there is certainly much work to be done to explore fully this unprecedented army that was intended to protect the emperor in the afterlife when he died in 210 b.c.e. Currently, in the three pits, some 8,000 figures have been found altogether, along with 130 chariots and nearly 700 horses. Astonishingly, every soldier bears a unique face, a testament to the craftsmanship of the effort.

Temperatures on this day were again blazing. SETI astronomer and Astronomy contributor Seth Shostak wondered if we would melt before seeing all the warriors. Melita Thorpe of MWT Associates, our tour partner, doted over guests and helped them through the logistics of seeing such a vast complex. Astronomy Senior Editor Rich Talcott and his wife Evelyn enjoyed the scene and we snapped each other’s images in front of the warriors to prove we had been there.

After a marvelous local lunch we moved on to the city of Xian, which is “small” compared to the biggest Chinese cities but still boasts 6 million people. It is more of a normal city than Beijing, with lots of new construction but without the overwhelming, almost unbelievable series of high-tech skyscrapers that seems to dwarf even New York.

We explored the famous City Wall of Xian (pictured at right), which dates from the Ming Dynasty in 1370. The walled city inside the original circumference is a charming place and now boasts many shops, restaurants, and hotels. After a long day of sightseeing, we settled in at the Tang Palace Dance Show, where we enjoyed a traditional Chinese dance and musical play, a real delight. There, the smallness of the world was once again on display as we ran into the renowned author Dava Sobel, who was with another group and on her way to see the eclipse. (We had already run into Astronomy contributor Tom Polakis in Beijing.)

It was a great day once again. Tomorrow we travel to Chongquing, so expect a more detailed report again in a couple days after we get settled there and begin operations once again.

Previous blog: We conquer the Great Wall of China

All photos by David J. Eicher

Journey to the Moon with Apollo 11, part 2

Karri Ferron — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:36:00 GMT

About a month ago, I wrote a blog about WeChooseTheMoon.org, a site by AOL, NASA, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, and the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation that invites users to experience a real-time visual and audio re-creation of the Apollo 11 mission. Well, the event starts in less than 24 hours, but there’s still time to sign up to get e-mail updates as the mission proceeds.

AOL offered Astronomy a chance to preview the mission before it goes live at 8:02 a.m. EDT and launches at 9:32 a.m. July 16 (the exact minute 40 years ago that Apollo 11 launched). The site divides the journey into 11 stages, with the first six occurring less than 5 hours after launch. As each stage becomes available on the Mission Tracker, visitors have the opportunity to browse new images and videos related to that point in the mission (including looks back at previous Apollo missions, drawings of equipment, and pictures from preflight testing). Intricate animations provide a visual of what’s happening during each phase of the journey, and live audio transmissions add to the authenticity.

After the first six stages, there’s a break until July 19, when Apollo 11 reaches lunar orbit in stage seven. The final stage occurs exactly 40 years after Apollo 11 touched down on the surface of the Moon at 4:17 p.m. EDT July 20. You can explore the lunar surface through videos and images and then return to Earth with a slideshow of photos from the post-Apollo 11 mission celebrations.

In total, the site offers 400 NASA photographs, 44 archival videos, and more than 109 hours of streaming audio transmissions. You could spend hours exploring all the information, but you don’t have to worry about getting through everything within the mission period. After the 4-day real-time journey, the site will become a self-guided tour that visitors can explore at their leisure.

Related:

Blog: Journey to the Moon with Apollo 11, by Karri Ferron, Copy Editor
Blog: Apollo 11 documentary records cultural perspective of the historic launch, by Karri Ferron, Copy Editor
Blog: Countdown to Apollo 11 anniversary, by Karri Ferron, Copy Editor
Astronomy's August 2009 special "Return to the Moon" issue
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter page

Apollo 11 documentary records cultural perspective of the historic launch

Karri Ferron — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 15:53:00 GMT

As some of you may have noticed based on a few of my recent blogs, I’m very excited about the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11 landing on the lunar surface. A large part of my enthusiasm is because, for me, all the events associated with the anniversary are like being part of the original historical event (I was –17 years old July 20, 1969). So, I thoroughly enjoyed spending a recent afternoon watching Moonwalk One — The Director’s Cut with some of my colleagues.

NASA originally commissioned director Theo Kamecke to detail Apollo 11’s journey to the Moon only 6 weeks before launch. But NASA didn’t receive just a straight documentary of the events that transpired leading up to, during, and after this historic mission. Kamecke also captured the global culture of 1969, and he used snapshots of plant, animal, and human life to make the audience stop and think about the wonders of life on Earth as humans first stepped foot on another world.

Moonwalk One — The Director’s Cut combines Kamecke’s remastered film with recently restored NASA flight film shot by the Apollo 11 astronauts themselves to transport you back in time to witness this monumental moment in the history of the human race. During the moments with Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins in space, this high-definition DVD can give you goose bumps. And even though some of Kamecke’s complementary footage to create a poetic record of this event might seem a little long-winded, he nonetheless leave you amazed at the achievements humans have made in their short existence — and wondering what we will able to do next.

The DVD is currently available through Amazon.com.

Related:

Blog: Journey to the Moon with Apollo 11, by Karri Ferron, Copy Editor
Blog: Apollo 11 documentary records cultural perspective of the historic launch, by Karri Ferron, Copy Editor
Blog: Countdown to Apollo 11 anniversary, by Karri Ferron, Copy Editor
Astronomy's August 2009 special "Return to the Moon" issue
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter page

Countdown to Apollo 11 anniversary

Karri Ferron — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:56:00 GMT

As we get closer and closer to July 20, the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11 and celebrating man’s first steps on the Moon, more cool ways to commemorate the Apollo program are popping up. NASA has a bunch of events planned already, and I’m sure they’ll announce more in the weeks ahead. Here are a few highlights:

July 2: Take a virtual tour of the Apollo Lunar Sample Processing Lab and Storage Vaults at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. You can also ask lunar sample scientists Gary Lofgren and Andrea Mosie questions via Ustream and Twitter between 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. EDT. Submit questions to the Johnson Space Center’s Twitter account, @NASA_Johnson, ahead of time or via Ustream live during the event. The tour and the question-and-answer session will be broadcast live on NASA TV in addition to Ustream.

July 16: Celebrate the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11’s launch at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex with astronauts Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11, pictured at right), Charlie Duke (Apollo 16), Al Worden (Apollo 15), Edgar Mitchell (Apollo 14), and Walt Cunningham (Apollo 7). You can also be the first to view a new exhibit at the Apollo/Saturn V Center, the Apollo Treasures Gallery.

July 16: Attend the NASA History Panel’s Apollo 40th Anniversary Symposium, which will take place at NASA Headquarters Auditorium in Washington, D.C. at 1 p.m. EDT. The discussion will also be broadcast live on NASA TV.

July 18: Catch a free concert at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts. “Salute to Apollo: The Kennedy Legacy” will feature Denyce Graves, Chaka Kahn, Jamia Nash, narrators Buzz Aldrin and Scott Altman, and the Soldiers Chorus of the U.S. Army Field Band.

July 19: Join the festivities of Moonfest 2009, hosted by NASA Ames Research Center just outside of Mountain View, California. The day includes a variety of exhibitors, speakers, music, and kids’ activities.

July 19: Catch up with the Apollo 11 crew members as they host the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum’s Annual John H. Glenn Lecture. The event is sold out, but the event will still air live at 8 p.m. EDT on NASA TV.

July 20: Watch as NASA and the Newseum of Washington, D.C., broadcast a special panel event commemorating the first human landing on the Moon. The panel will include Apollo astronauts Buzz Aldrin and CHARLIE Duke, among others. You can watch the 2 p.m. EDT panel discussion on NASA TV or from one of six museums and science centers (Boston Museum of Science; California Science Center, Los Angeles; Denver Museum of Nature and Science; Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago; St. Louis Science Center; and American Museum of Natural History, New York).

Photo courtesy of NASA

Related:

Blog: Journey to the Moon with Apollo 11, by Karri Ferron, Copy Editor
Blog: Apollo 11 documentary records cultural perspective of the historic launch, by Karri Ferron, Copy Editor
Blog: Countdown to Apollo 11 anniversary, by Karri Ferron, Copy Editor
Astronomy's August 2009 special "Return to the Moon" issue
Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter page

Book review: Painting Apollo: First Artist on Another World

Matt Quandt — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:48:00 GMT

Special contribution from Astronomy magazine illustrator, Roen Kelly

Very seldom do I get a request to write for the magazine. Smart move on management’s part. However, it just so happened a book of paintings arrived at the Astronomy offices. The book, Painting Apollo: First Artist on Another World, showcases the paintings of Alan Bean. Who better to review the book but one of the staff artists?

The book is unique in that, as many of you know, Alan Bean was an astronaut. He is famous for piloting the lunar module on Apollo 12 and is the fourth man to have set foot on the Moon. At the age of 49, during the time he was training for a space shuttle mission, Bean decided to leave the space program. Why? Because he wanted to pursue his artistic talents full time. Twenty-eight years later, a body of glorious paintings fills the pages of this book.

It is fascinating to me because I illustrate pictures for Astronomy magazine all day but must rely on my imagination and references to depict scenes. Here is a person who went to space, walked on the Moon and has the ability to paint about the experience.

The book is divided in sections. Essays on Bean’s art from art critic Donald Kuspit, writer William L. Fox and museum director Louis A. Zona appear at the beginning. The book chronologically depicts Bean’s paintings from the Apollo missions from the time they were painted, 1982 to 2008. Quotes by famous writers, scientists, and visionaries appear in juxtaposition to Bean’s paintings. Afterward, Gene Kranz, Apollo flight director, describes what it was like to be a part of the space program during the time of the Apollo missions. At the end of the book are Bean’s indexed notes on his featured paintings.

Some of the paintings are didactic in nature, recording astronauts using tools and equipment. Other works are romantic and somewhat conceptual. For example, an astronaut is shown, with one foot on Earth, reaching out to grasp an object in space. The book’s reproductions pick up the expressive use of brush strokes. Large transparent footprints and craters appear on some of the paintings, as if the scenes were painted right on the surface of the Moon.

You can view a sampling of Alan Bean’s paintings online by going to www.alanbeangallery.com.