Tag Archives: astronomy

in english

Astronomy

I’ve been interested in astronomy since I was a little kid. Became a member of the Planetary Society around the age of 9 and begged and cajoled my parents into getting a telescope (which wouldn’t have been very useful given the amount of light pollution in Mexico City). The interest remained as I attended observation nights in high school and university but life went on.  When I moved to Finland I found out there was an astronomical society, but unfortunately for me back then all its literature was in Finnish.

My parents remembered my interest, so when I graduated from my first degree I was given a Meade DS-2060AT telescope.  It is not one of the fanciest out there, but it gets the job done.  I’ve been able to watch the Moon, Mars, Jupiter and some deep space objects in the darkest nights Finland has to offer.  The pictures below don’t do justice to how things look with your own eyes, but hey, it can probably give you an idea.

Jupiter from my balcony
Jupiter from my balcony
Jupiter with Galilean moons
Jupiter with Galilean moons. The planet is currently the closest it has been to Earth in almost 50 years.
in english

Cosmos

Have been watching the classic series lately and am convinced that the world needs somebody like Carl Sagan more than ever.  Not to speak for us, but to remind us why we have to find our own voice. In science, in society, in business and in life free inquiry (“the only sacred truth is that there are no sacred truths”) shouldn’t be overlooked or mocked as often as it is.  We enjoy the fruits of science every day, but do not value its methods enough.

As a bonus in this blog post I share with you my favourite Sagan speech: Pale Blue Dot 😉

in english

The Planetary Society

One of the passions of my youth was space.  I still own a telescope that is occasionally used, and recently renewed my membership in the Planetary Society.  Founded by Carl Sagan, it is an organisation that tries to impulse space knowledge and exploration, with members in 125 countries around the world.

They are the guys behind different projects such as Seti at home, Red Rover, Red Rover and S.O.S. Save our Science. With them my name, together with that of the other members of the society at the time, landed on Mars with the Mars Pathfinder, and they have continued their activities for over 25 years.

As troubled as our world is, and as unrealistic as it may sound, I believe that the kickstart of a new age of exploration is what humanity needs.  Just by watching the news every day, I guess we're not that many who think that.

in english

Pale blue dot

2 Comments

I’ve talked about Carl Sagan before, and found this video about the Pale Blue Dot in YouTube (based on this book).  Highly recommended.

PALE BLUE DOT

The sad note is given by the comments in the video, in which religious fundamentalists fight with everybody else.  I don’t mind if you believe in Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha or the Flying Spaghetti Monster for all I care, as long as you respect everybody else’s beliefs (and everybody else yours).  And definitely science and religion just don’t go together.

in english

QotD: Extraterrestrial

I usually don't care very much about the QotD, but this is close to my heart so I will answer it.

Do you believe there is intelligent life on other planets?

Definitely.  I read this book when I was a small kid, and between that and other literature by Carl Sagan and Isaac Asimov I cannot help but be convinced by pure probability.

However, they may not be very close, as they seem to have not reached us just yet.  Or maybe they have, but are wiser than we are in their dealings with less advanced civilizations.

in english

The Space Elevator

1 Comment

We know that the world financial markets are still reeling from the China effect, but let’s think a little bit longer term.

The first time I read about the concept of space elevators was in Kim Stanley Robinson‘s excellent and highly recommended Mars trilogy. I found them again while playing Civilization IV. So the question is, what is a space elevator and why do I mention it in this blog along the rest of my musings and ruminations?

A space elevator, as this article from Space.com might make clearer, is exactly what its name denotes: a lift between the surface of our planet (or any planet) and outer space. The physics of it are rather simple, as they follow similar patters as such for geosynchronous satellites. Technologically speaking it doesn’t require the development of completely unknown technologies, but rather of areas currently on the works. Why does it matter? Simply because it makes the transport of payloads to space much more cost-effective (and furthermore, enjoys economies of scale), which basically means that once the huge initial invesment is made, space exploration (and potentially exploitation, such as asteroid mining) becomes cheap enough to be performed on a larger scale than currently.

Given that it can be argued that exploration ages spur economic growth, as was the case with the discovery of the Americas by European explorers in the 16th century, this project could be the key for humanity to regain theinitiative in its own development.

Daydreaming? Maybe. But so were the internet, automobiles and many, many other things that we now take for granted.