Contest Entry: Personal Notes on Astronomy
[Here’s a contest entry from Brian Karczewski. Thanks Brian!]
It’s amazing what one show can do to a person. A few years ago I watched The Elegant Universe on Pbs Nova and immediately fell in love with astronomy and physics. The show, which was based on the book and hosted by its author Brian Greene, went into the basic concept of the string theory along with some of the other need to know theories and ideas of astrophysics. It was easy to understand with some nice graphics and animations to illustrate the effects of gravity and quantum mechanics. Every now and then I watch the show again, constantly refreshing on the wonders of the universe.
I am now an amateur astronomer with a simple 60mm scope in magnitude 3 skies…not much to see. I do astronomy as a hobby, dragging my scope out in my neighborhood, dodging motion sensor lights to find a dark spot. Then I have to contend with people thinking I’m spying on them or even worse…bible knockers who seem to think I’m looking at their god’s creation and begin quoting versus. I took a class on astronomy and physics in high school and still attend the astronomy labs whenever I can. I also got a few of my friends into astronomy, one of them has even decided to make it a career. We go out observing in the hills around here (Hemet, ca) and battle with coyotes over space. Sometimes we get good conditions and try some astrophotography. Some of my photos have been featured on Spaceweather.com and NASA.
Our sky has become less and less favorable over the last year. For some odd reason, people must constantly broadcast photons high into the sky. The Indian casino near us always has their damn search light going bright enough to blind pilots. And speaking of pilots, we also got those chem. trails that go on day and night leaving a haze that makes it hell to observe and photograph. I’ve written to the city about all the light pollution, and have yet to receive any response. Even with Palomar not too far away and the county ordinance about light pollution it’s all ignored and bright white photons fill the air. But still, we try to observe. And I try to learn more about astronomy. Hopefully the upcoming year of astronomy will let everyone know how awesome it is to be a geeky space-fan…thanks Tony.
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