tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25327006.post3877458308159700523..comments2024-01-02T10:55:10.607-06:00Comments on Angry Astronomer: Is the romance gone?Jon Voiseyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11550625188837528980noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25327006.post-26602947895789620252011-05-10T18:25:42.857-05:002011-05-10T18:25:42.857-05:00Out of Marcy's work is from at least a couple ...Out of Marcy's work is from at least a couple years ago, some hot Jupiter was found via wobble, and they wanted to look for a transit. The transit was expected to be much easier to spot, and so wouldn't need the mighty (expensive) Keck. They knew when and where to look. A 6 inch (150 mm) scope with a CCD camera would have been enough. So, my club's 12.5" scope with it's cameras could certainly find this sort of stuff, with a bit of effort. That would be really cool. Usually, the big scope is used for followup.Stephenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03934169832326108710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25327006.post-3133967167842557282011-05-10T18:25:42.111-05:002011-05-10T18:25:42.111-05:00I think you are missing the point. Romance has per...I think you are missing the point. Romance has perhaps little to do with efficiency and getting tons of data. There is difference in "Aha!" moment when you find faint blob of Andromeda by an hour of painful star hopping in cold night through 6" scope for the first time in your life verses you look at nice printouts from 6 floory scope. BTW, the photos in this post are false color beyond visual spectrum and so misleading to people.Shital Shahhttp://www.shitalshah.com/blognoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25327006.post-47217007810961035222007-06-01T14:41:00.000-05:002007-06-01T14:41:00.000-05:00Most big telescopes, actually, when you are observ...Most big telescopes, actually, when you are observing at them, you are in a little room in the same physical building as the telescope. You can walk out into the dome and realize, "oh, that image was crap because there is a big cloud right in front of the telescope." At Keck, however, you don't <I>want</I> to be up there at 14,000 ft and deprived of oxygen. (It'd be more hardcore, but not in a romantic sense to be sure.) Several new telescopes, partially because of location and partially because of the fact that a huge heat source where the silly humans are (which in turn disrupts the atmosphere and thus the image quality), are considering adopting this not-really-remote observing technique.<BR/><BR/>Also, perhaps the quote was taken out of context. Planet hunting is finally reaching the point where it takes a second thought to remember which dot is which planet on all of their favorite plots ... discoveries (e.g., of planets) are much more romantic when not many of them are known. While Earth-like planets are still frontier-quality and "romantic," hot Jupiters are rapidly becoming run-of-the-mill, oh-we-already-have-some-of-those type objects.mollishkahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16056975190057844089noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25327006.post-41968934582746353962007-06-01T10:04:00.000-05:002007-06-01T10:04:00.000-05:00Shital: I think you're missing the point. There ar...Shital: I think you're missing the point. There are many different types of romance. One can certainly be that "Aha!" moment after finding Andromeda (although I hardly think it should take an hour to find since it's visible to the naked eye from a half decent location).<BR/><BR/>But another is seeing something extraordinary. My point was that our eyes are limited since they cannot take long exposures and are only sensitive to a narrow range of wavelengths.<BR/><BR/>The idea I was trying to get across is that what's lost in the "Aha!" moment, is more than made up when technology allows us to comfortably view things that are far beyond the abilities of a simple eyepiece.Jon Voiseyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11550625188837528980noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25327006.post-66659414240570810852007-06-01T04:38:00.000-05:002007-06-01T04:38:00.000-05:00I think you are missing the point. Romance has per...I think you are missing the point. Romance has perhaps little to do with efficiency and getting tons of data. There is difference in "Aha!" moment when you find faint blob of Andromeda by an hour of painful star hopping in cold night through 6" scope for the first time in your life verses you look at nice printouts from 6 floory scope. BTW, the photos in this post are false color beyond visual spectrum and so misleading to people.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25327006.post-51300301416961504512007-05-31T07:28:00.000-05:002007-05-31T07:28:00.000-05:00Out of Marcy's work is from at least a couple year...Out of Marcy's work is from at least a couple years ago, some hot Jupiter was found via wobble, and they wanted to look for a transit. The transit was expected to be much easier to spot, and so wouldn't need the mighty (expensive) Keck. They knew when and where to look. A 6 inch (150 mm) scope with a CCD camera would have been enough. So, my club's 12.5" scope with it's cameras could certainly find this sort of stuff, with a bit of effort. That would be really cool. Usually, the big scope is used for followup.Stephenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03934169832326108710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25327006.post-18183105488630654542007-05-30T16:17:00.000-05:002007-05-30T16:17:00.000-05:00I agree. Surely Marcy knows that pro astronomers ...I agree. Surely Marcy knows that pro astronomers haven't relied on eyepieces in years/decades (just being poetic for the interview I suppose). This shouldn't be surprising to anyone since pros need to collect serious data, not just subjective, personal views. Of course, there's still plenty of "romance" for amateur astronomers. Long live the eyepiece.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com