My 60th birthday just passed, and it made me think, oddly, of my daughter, a little-known constellation, an even more obscure astronomer and a tea tray. Canes Venatici may be an obscure constellation, but it produces in me (in a convoluted way, as you shall see) an intensely religious frame of mind. Every time I look at it, I think of a time two decades ago, when my then four-year-old daughter rescued me from a terrible fate.
May 13 2012 | Posted in
Tom Burns |
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In my misspent youth, I had an experience that profoundly changed me and, in fact, accounts for the fact that I have been doing public work in astronomy for almost half a century.
May 6 2012 | Posted in
Tom Burns |
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When the grade schoolers show up at Perkins Observatory, they invariably ask, “How far away is that.” Since 650 billion miles doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to them (or me, quite frankly), the temptation is to say, “Really, really far away.”
Apr 29 2012 | Posted in
Tom Burns |
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About 98 percent of the cosmos is composed of the two simplest elements, hydrogen and helium, mostly in the form of giant gas clouds and stars.
Apr 22 2012 | Posted in
Tom Burns |
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Saturn sits high in the south right now. The best time to look is around 11 p.m. when the planet is highest in the sky and less affected by the turbulent motion of Earth’s atmosphere. Look for a pale yellow point of light much brighter than any of the fainter stars that surround it.
Apr 15 2012 | Posted in
Tom Burns |
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Saturn has returned to our central Ohio sky at last. No astronomical sight is more breathtaking, even in a small telescope, than Saturn’s celestial hat brim. Around 10 p.m., look for the ringed planet low in the southeastern sky as a yellow point of light.
Apr 8 2012 | Posted in
Tom Burns |
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Astronomy rarely imposes its political beliefs on the stars. Most stars have alphanumerical designations, not names. The goal is to be objective. The universe is mute to human social problems and history.
Apr 1 2012 | Posted in
Tom Burns |
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This week, let’s dip into the email bag and see what we find.
Mar 26 2012 | Posted in
Tom Burns |
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