As an astronomer, I’ve seen and done a lot of weird stuff. I got eye-to-eye with a copperhead snake outside an observatory. I’ve poured liquid nitrogen all over the floor of the dome to clean it. I once saw a pair of floating red eyes off in the distance while peering out the dome slit (scared the bejeesus outta me). While observing for my Masters degree I watched as the door to the dome turned into the mouth of hell while reading The Exorcist (that’s true).
But I’ve never actually seen strong potassium emission lines in a spectrum that turned out to be from something somewhat more local.
I love astronomy. I was made for it. But sometimes, just sometimes, it seems like a weird match.
Tip o’ the smoking jacket to Bernie Kalp.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:38 am
May I be the first to request details on your dome/Exorcist hallucination?
October 21st, 2009 at 11:42 am
Speaking of Astronomy related stuff, I just got out of a meeting at the facility where they built the “Ralph” for the New Horizons. Quite a pride and joy for those folks there, and I was all “Squeee” for their work as well. Fun meeting!
October 21st, 2009 at 11:43 am
Why in the world would someone strike a match inside a dome? Surely not for smoking – the smoke particles would play hell with the mirrors and electronics. And don’t call me Shirley.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:44 am
Just called Home Depot and asked for some liquid nitrogen. They were fresh out. My kitchen floor is very grungy and needs a good cleaning. Is this available on the internet somewhere?
October 21st, 2009 at 11:57 am
Back when I was observing at Kitt Peak, there was a lovely photo of a match emission line specturm posted next to the No Smoking sign.
October 21st, 2009 at 12:03 pm
This sounds like Ignoble material. A great article!
October 21st, 2009 at 12:10 pm
FortWorthGuy (#4): Is this available on the internet somewhere?
Maybe. But the bottle deposit of teh Vacuum (Dewar) flasks is pricey as hell!
October 21st, 2009 at 12:15 pm
In one of the most prevalent film footage of Edwin Hubble, he peers into the eyepiece of a large telescope searching for whatever he was searching for while the film was rolling. But more importantly, and on topic, he’s seen sporting a fashionable piece of mouth ware at the time: a smoking pipe.
My question is if a “No Smoking” policy was in place at the observatory in the article at the time the emission lines were observed.
As I recall, “No Smoking” signs did not become common place until around the 1970s, when you could still smoke a stogie at a bar or [adult-oriented exotic dancing establishment]. But I could be wrong.
If there was a “No Smoking” policy at the observatory, might not an astronomer not accustomed to having to smoke outside disregard that policy? And if that person had been caught by a supervisor, might not that supervisor have turned a blind eye being unaccustomed to enforcing such a now-common place policy? Those were different times and they had a different attitude, after all.
October 21st, 2009 at 12:30 pm
Of course, Hubble’s publicity photo was taken in the daytime, no plates were in the telescope’s camera. I’m sure he didn’t smoke when he was actually working. Not that stoking the publicity engine isn’t work.
Now we have yet another reason to not smoke.
I’m guessing the door at Fan Mountain Observatory showed the unexpected red light of dawn to complete the “Gates of Hell” illusion. Or it was Halloween and the other grad students were having fun with you, knowing what you were reading in the dome room…
So, with Halloween rapidly approaching, this looks like a fertile area for a blog post, no?
October 21st, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Smoking… “floating red eyes”
uhhuh
October 21st, 2009 at 12:35 pm
“May I be the first to request details on your dome/Exorcist hallucination?”
And what were you smoking at the time?
October 21st, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Don’t feel bad Phill when I saw the movie Alien on tv it scared the hell out of me I was 14 at the time and unnerved for days (you should of seen me jump at the end when it showed it was in the shutle with Ripley ) about the red eyes are you sure it was’nt a cat ? A cats eyes at night look like they glow but they don’t the cat has a part of its eye that reflects light back out thus looking like it eyes are glowing this helps them see at night
October 21st, 2009 at 1:08 pm
one more thing stop reading horor if it scares you read sci-fi
October 21st, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Sounds like HG Wells’ creepy short story “In The Avu Observatory”
http://www.americanliterature.com/Wells/SS/IntheAvuObservatory.html
October 21st, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Okay, I also request to hear the “mouth of hell” story!
So this is before they realized that smoking is bad for telescope seeing? Awesome, I love it.
October 21st, 2009 at 2:03 pm
Yes, but have you seen attack ships on fire?
October 21st, 2009 at 2:51 pm
I remember when this happened and every time I visit an observatory I tell the astronomers about it. They are usually too young to remember it and probably just think I am crazy. Great to have the original reference.
October 21st, 2009 at 3:12 pm
@Nicole: It might be – The paper in question was from 1967.
@Phil: Re: Fun with liquid N2: At one US Government lab I worked at, if the humidity in the room was high enough you could make it rain in there if you vented the liquid nitrogen from the vaccuum pump fast enough. Good times.
October 21st, 2009 at 4:11 pm
I too request more info on the Exorcist Hallucination! I also would like to know the quality of what you were smoking! LOL
#12, Mike Burkhart:
Alien freaked me out as well, but before Alien, there was Close Encounters of the Third Kind! Watching that as a kid scared the living crap out of me!
October 21st, 2009 at 4:12 pm
@Bahdum: Note that the incident happened in France circa 1967. So if the observatory had a smoking policy in place, it would’ve been that smoking was mandatory at all times.
It could’ve been worse, though. Imagine if the researchers had been studying planetary atmospheres, and the perp was using a butane lighter. The problem wouldn’t have been quite so obvious in that case.
October 21st, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Coincidentally I’ve been watching liquid nitrogen and swimming pool tricks on Youtube. Good stuff.
October 21st, 2009 at 5:00 pm
That’s not about astronomy! This is supposed to be an astronomy blog! How dare you!
– Oh, wait.
Never mind. Carry on.
October 21st, 2009 at 5:10 pm
The mouth of hell? Was it sleep deprivation ? That does such things to me from time to time.
October 21st, 2009 at 6:16 pm
I remember reading about these strange ‘potassium flare’ stars in Sky & Telescope back in the day that also detailed the possibility of contamination by matchlight. I liked the authors mention that apparently French and US matches don’t vary in composition! Also, of three suspect spectra, one was taken by a nonsmoking researcher. Thanks for the memories.
October 21st, 2009 at 10:09 pm
I remember having Dr. Spinrad as a guest lecturer when I was at Berkeley. He was a great guy. Funny paper!
October 21st, 2009 at 10:31 pm
While observing for my Masters degree I watched as the door to the dome turned into the mouth of hell while reading The Exorcist (that’s true).
Heh. And I see that some fellow BABloggees have already commented on this.
And maybe I’m reading too much between the lines here, but I’m seeing: hallucinations and college . . . and my mind is jumping to conclusions.
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:15 am
Astronomers often do/experience strange things because of the altitude they are working at and lower oxygen thereof. I had an astronomy professor that told us he was always turning the light on in the dark room before plates had developed (am I showing my age here?) or light up a cig (seems silly when you’re already have a lack of oxygen) at an observatory in the Andes until his system got use to the lower oxygen level.
As for the copper head. My grandfather use to operate a small ‘kiddie’ type amusement park that had a creek that ran through it. I’ve killed my fair share of copperheads and cotton mouths, and always carried a machete in case one surprised me. (venomous snakes and kids don’t usually mix). Although a shovel actually works better, longer handle
October 22nd, 2009 at 3:46 am
I thought hell was when conditions turned bad; rain and hail are coming in and the shutter jams or there is a power failure. I recall the shutter on one dome I’d seen had a hand crank so a human operator could close the shutter even if there were no electricity – the only catch was that with the gearing ratio it would probably take 20 minutes to close the shutter.
Copperheads are a rather pretty snake, but the rattle of a young rattlesnake is music to my ears.
October 22nd, 2009 at 6:18 am
The door to your dome was reading a horror book? That is crazy.
(And “The Exorcist” is true? Wow.)
Red eyes, uh… could there have been a piece of equipment nearby with two intense green lights, on it, LEDs say, that you had been staring at?
Or a couple of colleagues with red laser pointers (and uncanny coordination… no, you wouldn’t have to do that.)
October 22nd, 2009 at 7:04 am
@mike burkhart,
Science Fiction can be scary as well. I remember reading the Nightfall novel by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg when I was a kid. We were in the car at the time. My parents were driving and I, as usual, was 100% absorbed in the book. I glanced up and noticed that dusk was here. For a brief moment, I was gripped with terror thinking that the eclipse was happening, the stars would come out and civilization would end! Then I realized that that was all in the book and I was just reading it too intently (again). If you’ve never read Nightfall, I highly recommend it – both the original short story and full length novel.
October 22nd, 2009 at 11:40 am
TechyDad:
Your story reminded me of a time I had mild food poisoning (regurgitation, mild hallucination). I had just been reading R.A.Heinlein’s I Will Fear No Evil. (For those not familiar with it, it involves transplantation of a man’s brain into a woman’s body.. read link for more information).
At one point, when I staggered into the bathroom to bring up meals from about a week before (or so it felt), I hallucinated that I had undergone the surgery. I did a quick peek into my pajamas and discovered that was not the case.
J/P=?
October 23rd, 2009 at 7:12 pm
Phil,
I’ve been telling you for years to share that Exorcist story. I guess I’ve been one of the fortunate few who have heard it from Phil and it’s hilarious.
I’ve managed to spook myself a few times while observing, though I heeded Phil’s advice and never brought along spooky books to read during observing runs. And I’ve also seen rattlesnakes, black widow spiders, and a mountain lion (though that was during the day and I was in a car).