Constellations are hard

Only in the beginning. It’s just a matter of pattern recognition. I guess that when learning to read Chinese you’ll also face some difficulties in the beginning. But there are no patterns in the digits of pi, so I don’t see how that can be easier.

So how common is it for professional astronomers to not looooove astronomy like the amateurs do?

And: is it really true that lots of professional astronomers don’t know their constellations very well?

Even if your job is fascinating, it’s a rare person who can looooove a job like one loooooves a hobby or pastime. For professionals (of any type) the job comes with the usual accoutrements, like office politics, writing proposals, or knowing that when clouds come in at 3:30 am or the telescope power goes out, you still have to stay up the rest of the night in case things magically improve for the last hour – you don’t have the freedom to pack it in.

Constellations are hard. I respect people who really know the sky to the point of being able to navigate it from memory. It is much harder than memorizing pi. You also have to live in a place where you can actually go out many nights, and see a fair number of stars. The first time I can remember seeing the Milky Way clearly, I was already 15 years old.

Nowadays, “broadband over powerlines” is the Ham radio demon, and yes, it looks like for astronomers as well. My hope is that we can lay enough fiber that it will never take off — I mean, there can’t be that much bandwidth hiding in the electrical grid?

Many of us started as physicists. I grew up in cities all my life, and actually saw the Milky Way in 21 cm before I saw it in the optical. Also, I think many of us got into physics because we have terrible memories and like being able to derive from first principles — meaning that memorizing constellations has little appeal.

Speaking of radio, my “amateur” astronomer friend (who runs the observatory at my old high school) tells me that radio telescope kits are now becoming available. MIT’s Haystack observatory has developed one that is running $7k for the base model — http://www.haystack.mit.edu/edu/undergrad/srt/index.html

Now that is cool. You can do 21 cm from a city. When I move in to my retirement penthouse on 59th and Park (http://www.disco-disco.com/images/continental-platos.jpg), I am totally going to bribe the city to put a dish up. Or N — I could have my own VLA!

This is a very interesting hobby. I only listen to shortwave stations, trying to pick up exotic radio stations from the noise, listening to air traffic communications on the other side of the world etc.

Thanks,

David Oesper
Moderator, DarkSkyCommunities
Dodgeville, Wisconsin

And: is it really true that lots of professional astronomers don’t know their constellations very well? That seems weird to me – almost like a mathematician who never wanted to learn the first 10 or 20 digits of pi. We grow out of that phase, but it’s a good phase to have had.

Well if you knew the magic of pulling your signal all the way to South Africa, or getting hundreds of cards in the mail, or talking to an astronaut from the International Space Station, you’d be hooked too.

-KB3HTS