Working Papers Astronomy and Astrophysics Panel Reports (1991) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Benefits to the Nation from Astronomy and Astrophysics
Benefits to the Nation from Astronomy and Astrophysics
Pages 301-320
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From page 301... ...
It is not the intention to claim that these educational, cultural, and technological spin-offs are the sole, or even the major, justification for astronomical research, but only that they are a real part of the total picture of how science interacts with the rest of society. In addition, because astronomical objects and ideas are relatively appealing to non- scientists, it seems plausible that the subject may be able to play a significant role in the essential task of revitalizing American leadership in science and technology, both by encouraging young people to consider careers in these areas and by promoting scientific awareness among the general public.
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From page 302... ...
There is also considerable demand for astronomy at colleges with no separate department of the subject. Each year the American Astronomical Society receives more than 100 requests for visits by research astronomers to these institutions through its Shapley Program.
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From page 303... ...
have reached some five million school children (mostly in the earlier grades, and including many inner city and disadvantaged kids) At the Thacher School Summer Science Program, about 1000 students over the past 30 years have worked on an astronomical research project (determining asteroid orbits from photographs and mastering the necessary associated math and physics)
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From page 304... ...
The 1988 New York Times list of ten best non-fiction books included three on astronomy, and the subject is similarly over-represented among the winners of the American Institute of Physics science writing award. Sales of magazines in 1988 reveal 632,500 regular readers of Scientific American, 95,000 of Sky and Telescope, and 165,000 of Astronomy, indicating that 20-25 percent of the audience for science at this level is specifically an audience for astronomy.
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Amateur astronomers frequently share their interests and expertise with Scout troops, school classes, and other groups of young people.
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From page 306... ...
Astronomers, especially radio astronomers, led the way in solving this problem. Martin Ryle's Nobel Prize cited his development of aperture synthesis, and the solution to image reconstruction pioneered by Bracewell and Riddle (1967)
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From page 307... ...
which tests and evaluates antennas using holographic methods first reduced to practice by British radio astronomers. A holographic map of a dish surface takes a few hours (versus several days for a mechanical survey)
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From page 308... ...
· Acquisition of the patents for the first gravitational radiation detectors by Hughes Research Laboratory for use in modified form to sense gravity anomalies associated with underground oil pools. · Use of the IRAF image processing program at AT&T for solid state physics graphics and computer systems analysis.
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From page 309... ...
This must be done for navigational and other purposes and is accomplished by a network of radio and optical observing stations, maintained by USNO and observatories of many other nations. Very Long Baseline Interferometry between widely separated radio telescopes was the original driver to turn hydrogen maser clocks into rugged, off-the-shelf items, whose main users are now space communications and DoD.
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From page 310... ...
In September 1986, instruments developed by radio astronomers at SUNY, Stony Brook found a hundred times the normal concentration of chlorine oxide at an altitude of 15-20 km in the Antarctic ozone hole. The excess disappeared in October, verifying the role of manmade chlorine compounds in ozone depletion.
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From page 311... ...
And astronomers are pushing for cryogenic infrared array detectors with very low backgrounds and long integration times, so that they can be used at low light levels. These technologies are likely to prove useful for non-astronomical purposes.
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From page 312... ...
creation myths. Our modern Western myths have a long history, with input from Greek philosophy, from Judeo-Christian religious ideas, and, at several critical points, from astronomical research.
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From page 313... ...
Because the results of astronomical research receive a good deal of media attention, leadership in this field can contribute disproportionately to a positive American image abroad. The world is, however, entering an era in which international cooperation will replace competition, at least so we all devoutly hope and possibly even rationally expect.
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From page 314... ...
. Cosmic objects demonstrate the effects of stronger magnetic fields, emptier vacuums, and louder sonic booms (shock waves)
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From page 315... ...
Pulsar magnetic fields are a million times stronger, solar convection Reynolds numbers a million times larger, and intergalactic vacuums more than a million times emptier than the most extreme terrestrial conditions. But the underlying physics is the same.
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From page 316... ...
similarly incorporates astrophysical data. Microwave and infrared observations of astronomical objects have revealed molecules not previously known on earth, including HCnN (with n up to at least 11)
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From page 317... ...
Second are tantalizing hints of longer-term, more subtle effects on terrestrial weather and climate associated with small changes in the visible light output of the sun and other solar cycle effects. On the short term, the 11 year cycle of solar activity (spots, flares, and other surface manifestations of changing interior magnetic fields)
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The discovery of life elsewhere in the Universe could well be the most exciting scientific event of the millennium in which it occurs; and it has a good chance of being an astronomical discovery.
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From page 319... ...
"Digital Spectral Analysis Technique and its Application to Radio Astronomy" MIT Research Lab of Electronics, Tech. Report 412, 1963 Weinreb, S
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From page 320... ...
NORMAN, Space Telescope Science Institute PATRICK S OSMER, National Optical Astronomy Observatories JAY M
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