Comments on: Stargazing

Stargazing

Shane — Sun, 09 May 2004 11:17:52 -0800

The National Optical Astronomy Observatory gallery of images. 'Cuz sometimes you just need to see dozens of pictures of Spiral Galaxies. Or maybe planetary nebulae. Or even telescopes and observatories. From the website of the NOAO, the national center for ground-based nighttime astronomy in the United States.

By: andrew cooke

andrew cooke — Sun, 09 May 2004 14:23:58 -0800

my kind employers. at least here in chile you can visit the telescopes and have tours, if anyone is interested (checks page). yep, us too - follow "tourist information" from the front page. the latest telescopes (gemini, for example) are big. very so - doesn't come across so clearly in some of the photos.

By: taz

taz — Sun, 09 May 2004 23:16:34 -0800

Very nice. And, andrew, I have occasionally wondered about the circumstances surrounding your employment in Chile - now I know; you officially have a cool job (whatever it is). I am a bit disappointed, though, after reading this "conditions of use" clause: In all categories, electronic products may not be used in an inappropriate manner. Inappropriate use includes but is not limited to: religious materials, gang related materials, ethnic background materials, and political information. Inappropriate use also includes derogatory use of reproductions, authorship of derivative works and other transformations of the original work. The use of images must not imply endorsement by NOAO/AURA of organizations, products, or services using the images. There goes my brilliant idea to start a new gang called the "Dumbbells" and use this image on all our superbad gangwear.

By: TedW

TedW — Mon, 10 May 2004 06:37:13 -0800

If visible wavelengths don't excite you, you can always visit the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Green Bank, WV. I was just there in March, and they have an excellent visitors center and tour. The massive Byrd telescope is amazing.

By: andrew cooke

andrew cooke — Mon, 10 May 2004 07:08:27 -0800

their telescopes (radio ones) are even bigger... :o) taz - thanks. i work in a little office in a seaside resort about an hour's drive from the telescope, writing software all day. so it's not that cool. (i used to be an astronomer, years ago, and having to stay up night after night, staring at computer screens showing fuzzy data that might one day be processed into something interesting gets boring real quick).