I want to buy…
…a telescope!
We of course have a decent amount of light pollution in the city, but we can still see a good number of stars on a clear night. Makes me want to try out a nice telescope.
My mom used to have a telescope when I was a kid (was that on Borah? I can’t remember, haha), but I don’t think I ever got the hang of using it.
My biggest problem is that I’m actually exercising self-control over a purchase for once and I don’t feel like I know enough of the technical stuff to get the right telescope for what I want. It’s a big purchase and I’d want to make sure I’m getting what I need, so I’ll have to do more research on it.
Edit: Ooooh, nice site!
This Week’s Science Blog: It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s those guys at NASA being dorks!
So what does NASA do with an old airplane? For once, this week’s science blog doesn’t involve lasers, but it DOES involve a big ass telescope.
That’s right, an old jumbo 747 jet is being used to house a telescope called the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) which is used to make observations at altitudes lower than space-based telescopes (obviously) but above the range of many of the atmospheric effects that impact ground-based telescopes.
Ground level telescopes are affected by the absorption of infrared wavelengths by water in the atmosphere. The SOFIA jet gets around this by finding the middle ground between dealing with this IR wavelength issue and the problems of getting a giant telescope into space (and then adjusting it).
Apparently they’ve been working on this project for over 14 years. They installed the telescope by cutting an 8-foot hole into the side of the jet and essentially fastening some sort of garage door covering over the lens that, when opened, doesn’t appear to affect the performance of the jet.
The scope also weighs 17 tons. Pretty snazzy.
Today’s song: Don’t Ask Me by OK Go
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