Re-boom!
Expecting this? Perhaps not! Why on Earth (or outside it) would yet another "bang" be heard? You may have noticed the metaphor behind the first of a series of posts in this blog.. The first post was the "Big Bang", understandably. But at the beginning of each burst of posts, other kaboom-ish sounds would be encoded in post titles as if stellar light were sound..
While to some this blogging effort could resemble an old engine's exhaust, thumping in need of maintenance and regular use, I prefer to see it as a Recurrent-type of Nova.. One with no discernible periodicity.. One that shines brighter when it decides to..
So, do expect new posts with possibly interesting stuff attached to them..
Meanwhile... Recurrent Novae are Cataclysmic-type Variables, formed by multiple-star systems, where one of the stellar members decides to pull a prank on its close-by neighbour stealing some matter, and unleashing some rather luminous fireworks display in the process. They can happen once in "some years", denoting the short distance between stars. The most recent recorded outburst of a Recurrent Nova was that of Tau Pyxids, earlier this year, in April. It is still rather bright at (V) 8~9 mag.
Tuesday, July 05, 2011
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Science beyond translation..
Have you ever wanted to learn a new language?
Why would you ever want to do that?
Could it be to gain access to new ways acquiring scientific knowledge, for instance?
Euronews, an European news TV channel, has a multi-language approach to news broadcasting. It provides news in many different languages! Specifically, it provides the SAME news in different languages.. Or at least one would expect them to be the same!..
Hmm, Who do they translate the science spots? Could they be automatically translated using any famed automatic translation tool available online?
If you can understand Portuguese, I invite you to take a look at the following science spot from Euronews, "Origins of our galaxy", in Portuguese, and compare it to the same one in English.
The first obvious difference is the title, which translates from "origins of our galaxy" to "técnica fotográfica ajuda a estudar estrelas". But that is acceptable; it's like changing from "origins of our galaxy" to "photographic technique helps studying stars".
The nonsense starts revealing it self on seconds 00:26 of the video when the Portuguese version talks about the "Milky Way constellation"!.. We know a constellation is sort of an "official" asterism, that presents an easy to find figure on the sky to facilitate searching for a given "place" up there. A constellation is not a galaxy.
The next piece of video nonsense comes at 2:24, where a scientific acronym gets translated. In the video, MAD, or Multi-conjugate Adaptive optics Demonstrator, is turned into "Multi-Conjugação Adaptativa e Demonstradora Adaptável do Sistema Óptico"! Which I can re-translate to english so you (might) understand: "Adaptive Multi-conjugation and Adaptable Demonstrator of the Optical system". I would love to see how this gets translated to Portuguese again!
Anyway, the most serious part is still to come. The Portuguese video mentions the VLT to "use an infra-red system"! Ooooo! It's almost like one of those mysterious black boxes that are stored next to the telescope mount, just 2 meters away from the instruments' power supply unit.. A special IR-system that changes light, making it a superb source of scientific information!... Well... The English video simply says that VLT is meant to "observe light in the Infra-Red", which is either a slightly, or just a totally different thing! It spoils all the magic that a super-secret I.R. System box could spell onto the observation data...
Oh well, I still wish I had one of those Multi-Optical Adaptational Conjugal Demonstrator Systems... Or was it a Multi-Adaptable Optics Adaptation System Demonstration Thing?...
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Find Wally.. or in this case, Rémi! :)
Today's APOD spawned an interesting challenge!
It seems Daniel López, whom I personally don't know, was at the access road to the VTT on the 23rd of January and took a picture at the sky, facing West, pointing just above the astronomer-red light-glowing dome of Gregor telescope (the other German Solar Telescope at Tenerife).
I am not sure how the photo was taken, It could have been a camera on a tripod doing several short exposures that were aligned and averaged together later. But it could be also a camera on some sort of equatorial mounting. I would bet on the first, more portable option, because the amount of "smear" in the image does not seem quite uniform, presumably arising from the combination of images with some distortion (very common on wide-angle lenses). The center appears ok because it is distortion free, and thus not influenced by afine transformations that align images in common image processing software packages.
Anyway, apart from the beautiful picture, you see a wonderful sky.. And, us MONSters, immediately ask the question "where is MONS?", or "Where is(are) our observer(s)?", "Who was there at the time?"
Right after this, you spot Casa Solar, with light inside! You see the OGS dome open, the blinking (not in the picture) green led of the wireless internal communication emitter at the scope behind MONS..
With so much light poring out of Casa Solar, clearly our Observer is inside! "What is he doing inside Casa Solar, instead of taking advantage of a nice sky like this??"
Well, There is a very bright red light on the left of the picture, that I immediately recognize as the water-permeable window on top of the stairs that lead to the dome at MONS!, and you can also spot the MONS dome open!
It is very likely that our observer, Rémi, was caught on camera while going to Casa Solar to fetch something to eat, while the MONS telescope was acquiring data!!!
The Casa Solar has some blinds that should be kept down to prevent excessive light to come out! I cannot tell from this picture if the blinds were down or not, because the green led on the telescope behind MONS is not very bright and also overexposed in the picture. So it is very possible the blinds at Casa Solar were correctly lowered during the night, but still put out that light display (look at the light that creeps up the Gregor's tower).
The night of 23rd was one when José Gallego was there as well. If so, probably he was at the scope making sure guiding was going nicely!
The height at which Venus and the surrounding stars suggest the picture to have been taken around 22:00. This is a good time for observing the high B Star targets of Gemini, and kind of matches how the MONS dome is oriented (North) because the target is way up.. On the other hand, the FITs header in the files at Montreal ftp server suggest there was a gap of roughly15 minutes between targets HD14134 and HD42087, where Rémi could really have gone to fetch something to eat at the house!
If this is the case, The APOD picture should have been taken (not exclusively) between 21:54 and 22:10 !! :-)
As such, I want to congratulate all MONS observers in the field of view of the picture on having appeared indirectly in an APOD picture!!
:-)
It seems Daniel López, whom I personally don't know, was at the access road to the VTT on the 23rd of January and took a picture at the sky, facing West, pointing just above the astronomer-red light-glowing dome of Gregor telescope (the other German Solar Telescope at Tenerife).
I am not sure how the photo was taken, It could have been a camera on a tripod doing several short exposures that were aligned and averaged together later. But it could be also a camera on some sort of equatorial mounting. I would bet on the first, more portable option, because the amount of "smear" in the image does not seem quite uniform, presumably arising from the combination of images with some distortion (very common on wide-angle lenses). The center appears ok because it is distortion free, and thus not influenced by afine transformations that align images in common image processing software packages.
Anyway, apart from the beautiful picture, you see a wonderful sky.. And, us MONSters, immediately ask the question "where is MONS?", or "Where is(are) our observer(s)?", "Who was there at the time?"
Right after this, you spot Casa Solar, with light inside! You see the OGS dome open, the blinking (not in the picture) green led of the wireless internal communication emitter at the scope behind MONS..
With so much light poring out of Casa Solar, clearly our Observer is inside! "What is he doing inside Casa Solar, instead of taking advantage of a nice sky like this??"
Well, There is a very bright red light on the left of the picture, that I immediately recognize as the water-permeable window on top of the stairs that lead to the dome at MONS!, and you can also spot the MONS dome open!
It is very likely that our observer, Rémi, was caught on camera while going to Casa Solar to fetch something to eat, while the MONS telescope was acquiring data!!!
The Casa Solar has some blinds that should be kept down to prevent excessive light to come out! I cannot tell from this picture if the blinds were down or not, because the green led on the telescope behind MONS is not very bright and also overexposed in the picture. So it is very possible the blinds at Casa Solar were correctly lowered during the night, but still put out that light display (look at the light that creeps up the Gregor's tower).
The night of 23rd was one when José Gallego was there as well. If so, probably he was at the scope making sure guiding was going nicely!
The height at which Venus and the surrounding stars suggest the picture to have been taken around 22:00. This is a good time for observing the high B Star targets of Gemini, and kind of matches how the MONS dome is oriented (North) because the target is way up.. On the other hand, the FITs header in the files at Montreal ftp server suggest there was a gap of roughly15 minutes between targets HD14134 and HD42087, where Rémi could really have gone to fetch something to eat at the house!
If this is the case, The APOD picture should have been taken (not exclusively) between 21:54 and 22:10 !! :-)
As such, I want to congratulate all MONS observers in the field of view of the picture on having appeared indirectly in an APOD picture!!
:-)
Thursday, January 15, 2009
The MONS, as an experience: a retrospective
The MONS was one unique experience to me. It taught me a lot!
The telescope is exactly the classical German Equatorial type that allows you to do everything. You point it, you move it, you care for it, all this so that you can use it! It is the most part of the dream any amateur who started with modestly frugal equipment has. However, there was an unexpected taste in this experience.
On one hand, the MONS belongs to a professional observatory, on the other it is an "educational" telescope. Usually, people who go there do not know very well how to really care and take care. There are people who don't always know how to treat a telescope and sometimes people-injuring accidents happen. They have happened in the past. This leads the institute in-charge of the observatory to take preventive fool-proof measures, which somewhat limits what any visitor can do.
Though I have cared for the scope as if it were mine, I never actually felt it was my scope. And I think this ruled atmosphere was to blame.. Not being part of the staff, I am not allowed to try to collimate the telescope; I am also not allowed to hang extra-weight on the telescope.. These are two examples of perfectly understandable rules.. But..
The scope was carefully balanced if you left the cover on, which is not of a specific interest to the common observer. I still don't know if this is done on purpose or not. But no one, independent of it's knowledge, is allowed to do anything about it. Only the maintenance people can do certain things. Any engineer knows the math to estimate how much weight can be placed, and where, to balance the scope, but only maintenance personnel can touch it.
It's curious to note that a 1972 instrument that was almost neglected, on one hand, no longer is a state-of-the-art instrument -- so nobody seems to really want it; on the other hand, no one wants to let go of it.. Do this in a insular Spanish observatory, isolated by Atlantic waters, with a strict organization, and you get the MONS.
The MONS telescope is like this historical caliper with exchangeable tips. You can use the caliper and move it around, but if you want to change tips, you need to call the experts, who work on their own timetable. The caliper is not the most modern one, so it is not considered prioritary for current science, however, no one wants to let go its historical value.
So, an observatory does not seem to me like the dream location that would replace your own telescope. It is a place like any other where you find an unrelated interaction between people of different abilities and people playing different roles. I learned that going to an observatory to "play" with the telescope, is not the same as going to your father's tooling shop to "play" with the lathe machine, mostly because you lack your father as the authority. But it ends up being a work place where each person has its own undocumented value in the cumulative process.
I lacked the knowledge to adequately process the data I was acquiring. I also did not know how to look at our data and check if it was looking good. However, there were people who were supposed to know this, but which did not know how to "use" such an un-automated telescope. Definitively, there is more than enough room for amateurs to cooperate with professional researchers.
However, it was far from being a disappointing experience! Despite the six-and-a-half consecutive nights with bad weather, it was the best vacation I ever had, and I would gladly repeat such endeavor!
The people and policies behind the MONS observatory are only doing what they know how to do. That is the way the equipment is maintained. That is the way safety is kept. That is the way science is made. The MONS is not a playground for scientific astronomy, as the amateur may dream.. The MONS is the science's door that allows almost anyone with a science project to go there and make their science! All the joy that is lived there is a pure extra!
The telescope is exactly the classical German Equatorial type that allows you to do everything. You point it, you move it, you care for it, all this so that you can use it! It is the most part of the dream any amateur who started with modestly frugal equipment has. However, there was an unexpected taste in this experience.
On one hand, the MONS belongs to a professional observatory, on the other it is an "educational" telescope. Usually, people who go there do not know very well how to really care and take care. There are people who don't always know how to treat a telescope and sometimes people-injuring accidents happen. They have happened in the past. This leads the institute in-charge of the observatory to take preventive fool-proof measures, which somewhat limits what any visitor can do.
Though I have cared for the scope as if it were mine, I never actually felt it was my scope. And I think this ruled atmosphere was to blame.. Not being part of the staff, I am not allowed to try to collimate the telescope; I am also not allowed to hang extra-weight on the telescope.. These are two examples of perfectly understandable rules.. But..
The scope was carefully balanced if you left the cover on, which is not of a specific interest to the common observer. I still don't know if this is done on purpose or not. But no one, independent of it's knowledge, is allowed to do anything about it. Only the maintenance people can do certain things. Any engineer knows the math to estimate how much weight can be placed, and where, to balance the scope, but only maintenance personnel can touch it.
It's curious to note that a 1972 instrument that was almost neglected, on one hand, no longer is a state-of-the-art instrument -- so nobody seems to really want it; on the other hand, no one wants to let go of it.. Do this in a insular Spanish observatory, isolated by Atlantic waters, with a strict organization, and you get the MONS.
The MONS telescope is like this historical caliper with exchangeable tips. You can use the caliper and move it around, but if you want to change tips, you need to call the experts, who work on their own timetable. The caliper is not the most modern one, so it is not considered prioritary for current science, however, no one wants to let go its historical value.
So, an observatory does not seem to me like the dream location that would replace your own telescope. It is a place like any other where you find an unrelated interaction between people of different abilities and people playing different roles. I learned that going to an observatory to "play" with the telescope, is not the same as going to your father's tooling shop to "play" with the lathe machine, mostly because you lack your father as the authority. But it ends up being a work place where each person has its own undocumented value in the cumulative process.
I lacked the knowledge to adequately process the data I was acquiring. I also did not know how to look at our data and check if it was looking good. However, there were people who were supposed to know this, but which did not know how to "use" such an un-automated telescope. Definitively, there is more than enough room for amateurs to cooperate with professional researchers.
However, it was far from being a disappointing experience! Despite the six-and-a-half consecutive nights with bad weather, it was the best vacation I ever had, and I would gladly repeat such endeavor!
The people and policies behind the MONS observatory are only doing what they know how to do. That is the way the equipment is maintained. That is the way safety is kept. That is the way science is made. The MONS is not a playground for scientific astronomy, as the amateur may dream.. The MONS is the science's door that allows almost anyone with a science project to go there and make their science! All the joy that is lived there is a pure extra!
Day #30 (2009/01/13) Back to Lisbon
We woke up around 9:20 and left one hour and-a-half later. We said goodbye to people at the residency and drove down to La Laguna to find something to eat before going to the airport.
Now, while writing this on the flight from Tenerife to Barcelona, I wonder how will Rémi get along for the next month?
Rémi is a French student, with his university and supervisor in Canada. He came from music's "do, re, mi" before deciding to make his PhD in astrophysics :) -- Not everything is impossible! He has already been in an observatory in Chile, yet from my interaction with him, I believe he has had no physical personal telescope and did not yet know very well how to point such a telescope by hand up to now. Also he very little experience in looking through an eyepiece and matching what is visible with a chart, and in astronomy's visual observation, "seeing" faint stars is not just "looking" at them...
We only had time to practice all this for two targets, and on the first one (WR140) I did not allow him much practice as it was important to get the spectra. So with such short practice time, how will Rémi get along?
Now, while writing this on the flight from Tenerife to Barcelona, I wonder how will Rémi get along for the next month?
Rémi is a French student, with his university and supervisor in Canada. He came from music's "do, re, mi" before deciding to make his PhD in astrophysics :) -- Not everything is impossible! He has already been in an observatory in Chile, yet from my interaction with him, I believe he has had no physical personal telescope and did not yet know very well how to point such a telescope by hand up to now. Also he very little experience in looking through an eyepiece and matching what is visible with a chart, and in astronomy's visual observation, "seeing" faint stars is not just "looking" at them...
We only had time to practice all this for two targets, and on the first one (WR140) I did not allow him much practice as it was important to get the spectra. So with such short practice time, how will Rémi get along?
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