"Seeing In The Dark"

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Premiers Sept. 19, 2007, at 8:00 p.m. on PBS (check local listings).

"Seeing In The Dark"

"The awe-inspiring sight of a sky full of stars can render us speechless—and understandably so. Two very different entities are involved, and they're both rather mysterious.

At one extreme stands the individual observer, peering through a telescope or simply staring up at the stars. To ask who is doing the observing is to raise one of the oldest questions of philosophy. "Know yourself," said Socrates, although he made the mistake of assuming that one had to accomplish this before trying to learn about the rest of the universe. (Rejecting a scientific account of the winds, Socrates said, "I can't as yet 'know myself' ... and so long as that ignorance remains it seems to me ridiculous to inquire into extraneous matters.")

Actually, we humans have since learned more about ourselves by studying the wider world—by investigating the processes that created life and shaped its evolution—than we ever did through introspection, and we see those processes written large in the depths of the sky."

            Be On The Lookout ---

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“Looks good. Thanks Tilt.”

“This thread has 35 views already....

( folks looking for cheap infrared goggles, no doubt,    < VBG > )”

“It is a lot of fun looking at the night sky...I need to move to a darker location.

I need to get the parts so I can attatch my camera to my SC telescope, would probably get the old telescope out more often if I did that :)

Thanks Tilt!”

“You and me both, WW.

Some of my favorite spots are at a lake about a half-hour from here.... er.... it Used to be a half hour.  The county to our northwest has had a small population explosion in the last dozen years or so, and now looking southeast from the lake there's a nasty (greenish?) glow where the Galaxy was once visible.

Quite a few people seem to enjoy putting floodlights in the bushes to dramatically light their McMansions.

Also.... I think all the billboards in this state are also lit from Below so they can illuminate the undersides of Clouds!

oy vey.

http://www.darksky.org/

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“Our local astronomy society, of which I was a member a few years ago, was fairly successful at working with the community to cut on light pollution. Takes time though.”

“Yep and for sure.


Now that was cool.  Be sure to catch it if you get the chance.”