Download or read book Observatories of the Southwest written by Douglas Isbell and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2016-12-15 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With its clear skies and low humidity, the southwestern United States is an astronomer’s paradise where observatories like Kitt Peak have redefined the art of skywatching. The region is unique in its loose federation of like-minded research outposts and in the quantity and diversity of its observatories—places captured in this unique guidebook. Douglas Isbell and Stephen Strom, both intimately involved in southwestern astronomy, have written a practical guide to the major observatories of the region for those eager to learn what modern telescopes are doing, to understand the role each of these often quirky places has played in advancing our understanding of the cosmos, and hopefully to visit and see the tools of the astronomer up close. For each observatory, the authors describe its history, highlights of its contributions to astronomy—with an emphasis on recent results—and information for visitors. Also included are wide-ranging interviews with astronomers closely associated with each site. Observatories covered range from McDonald in Texas to Palomar in California, with significant outposts in between: Arizona’s Kitt Peak National Observatory southwest of Tucson, the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, and the Whipple Observatory outside Amado; and New Mexico’s Very Large Array near Socorro and Sacramento Peak close to Sunspot. In addition to describing these established institutions, they also take a look ahead to the most powerful ground-based telescope in the world just beginning to operate at full power on Mount Graham in Safford, Arizona. With more than three dozen illustrations, Observatories of the Southwest is accessible to amateur astronomers, tourists, students, and teachers—anyone fascinated with the contributions that astronomy has made to deepening our understanding of humanity’s place in the universe, whether exploring the solar system from Lowell Observatory or studying the birth of stars using the army of giant radio telescopes at the Very Large Array. This book aims to inspire visits to these sites by illuminating the major scientific questions being pursued every clear night beneath the dark skies of the Southwest and the amazing machinery that makes these pursuits possible.
Download or read book A Visitor s Guide to the Kitt Peak Observatories written by Leslie Sage and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2004-04-22 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A guide to the Kitt Peak telescopes.
Download or read book Science in the American Southwest written by George E. Webb and published by University of Arizona Press. This book was released on 2002-07-01 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a site of scientific activity, the Southwest may be best known for atomic research at Los Alamos and astronomical observations at Kitt Peak. But as George Webb shows, these twentieth-century endeavors follow a complex history of discovery that dates back to Spanish colonial times, and they point toward an exciting future. Ranging broadly over the natural and human sciences, Webb shows that the Southwest—specifically Arizona, New Mexico, and west Texas—began as a natural laboratory that attracted explorers interested in its flora, fauna, and mineral wealth. Benjamin Silliman's mining research in the nineteenth century, for example, marked the development of the region as a colonial outpost of American commerce, and A. E. Douglass's studies of climatic cycles through tree rings attest to the rise of institutional research. World War II and the years that followed brought more scientists to the region, seeking secluded outposts for atomic research and clear skies for astronomical observations. What began as a colony of the eastern scientific establishment soon became a self-sustaining scientific community. Webb shows that the rise of major institutions—state universities, observatories, government labs—proved essential to the growth of Southwest science, and that government support was an important factor not only in promoting scientific research at Los Alamos but also in establishing agricultural and forestry experiment stations. And in what had always been a land of opportunity, women scientists found they had greater opportunity in the Southwest than they would have had back east. All of these factors converged at the end of the last century, with the Southwest playing a major role in NASA's interplanetary probes. While regionalism is most often used in studying culture, Webb shows it to be equally applicable to understanding the development of science. The individuals and institutions that he discusses show how science was established and grew in the region and reflect the wide variety of research conducted. By joining Southwest history with the history of science in ways that illumine both fields, Webb shows that the understanding of regional science is essential to a complete understanding of the Southwest.
Download or read book Eye on the Sky written by Donald E. Osterbrock and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2010-04-12 with total page 325 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The world's first mountain-top observatory and America's first big-science research center, Lick Observatory exemplifies astronomy's dramatic development in the past century. A dedicated Confederate naval officer and his jack-of-all-trades foreman used the bequest of a miserly California eccentric to transform an isolated mountain peak into the world's premier research observatory. Its first staff included a director from West Point and three of the outstanding astronomers of their time. Since its dedication in 1888, Lick Observatory has been the site of many of the most important discoveries in astronomy. Eye on the Sky presents Lick Observatory from the point of view of the people who breathed life into its giant telescopes. Their community was both constant and constantly transformed, shaped by workers famous and unknown who made it their home. The authors also explain in terms anyone can understand the laboratory advances that were adapted to telescopes to make them more powerful, and the conceptual breakthroughs that discoveries at the telescope helped bring about. The men and women who went to the top of Mount Hamilton in search of greater knowledge of the skies helped to change our conception of the universe and our place in it . They were people with personal and political lives as well as scientific careers, and their story illuminates a time and a place where foundations were laid for the discoveries of the next century.
Download or read book Big and Bright written by David S. Evans and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2013-09-13 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By day, every year over 40,000 visitors pour in. Across the Rio Grande, a hundred miles away, Mexican mountaineers use the white domes as landmarks. By night, perched almost 7,000 feet above the sleeping, earthbound world, astronomers probe the secrets of the night sky. This is the University of Texas McDonald Observatory, one of the world's largest university-operated astronomical installations. Big and Bright: A History of the McDonald Observatory is the story of a remarkable collaboration between two major universities, one a prestigious private school, the other a growing southwestern state institution. The University of Chicago had astronomers, but its Yerkes Observatory was aging and underfunded; the University of Texas had money for an observatory but no working astronomer to staff it. Out of their mutual need, they formed a thirty-year compact for a joint venture. Unusual in its day, the Yerkes-McDonald connection presaged the future. In this arrangement, one can see some of the beginnings of today's consortium "big science." Now the McDonald Observatory's early history can be put in proper perspective. Blessed with a gifted and driving founding director, the world's (then) second-largest telescope, and an isolation that permitted it to be virtually the only major astronomical observatory that continued operations throughout World War II, the staff of McDonald Observatory helped lay the foundations of modern astrophysics during the 1940s. For over a decade after the war, a lonely mountaintop in West Texas was the mecca that drew nearly all the most important astronomers from all over the world. Based on personal reminiscences and archival material, as well as published historical sources, Big and Bright is one of the few histories of a major observatory, unique in its focus on the human side of the story.
Download or read book A Short History of Observatories written by Marian Card Donnelly and published by . This book was released on 1973 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The developing relationship between astronomical instruments and the structures that house them is discussed by an art historian who begins her narrative in Galileo's time and moves through the intervening centuries into our own day. "Early observatories were hardly more than observation platforms, built of wood and equipped with shutters or revolving roofs ..." writes Mrs. Donnelly. As telescopes increased in complexity and size, provision for a specially tailored physical setting became necessary. Mrs. Donnelly discusses the structural and artistic logic dictated by the maturing science and shows in textual descriptions and accompanying plates the results of this blending of science and architecture.
Download or read book The Heavens on Earth written by David Aubin and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2010-01-26 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Heavens on Earth explores the place of the observatory in nineteenth-century science and culture. Astronomy was a core pursuit for observatories, but usually not the only one. It belonged to a larger group of “observatory sciences” that also included geodesy, meteorology, geomagnetism, and even parts of physics and statistics. These pursuits coexisted in the nineteenth-century observatory; this collection surveys them as a coherent whole. Broadening the focus beyond the solitary astronomer at his telescope, it illuminates the observatory’s importance to technological, military, political, and colonial undertakings, as well as in advancing and popularizing the mathematical, physical, and cosmological sciences. The contributors examine “observatory techniques” developed and used not only in connection with observatories but also by instrument makers in their workshops, navy officers on ships, civil engineers in the field, and many others. These techniques included the calibration and coordination of precision instruments for making observations and taking measurements; methods of data acquisition and tabulation; and the production of maps, drawings, and photographs, as well as numerical, textual, and visual representations of the heavens and the earth. They also encompassed the social management of personnel within observatories, the coordination of international scientific collaborations, and interactions with dignitaries and the public. The state observatory occupied a particularly privileged place in the life of the city. With their imposing architecture and ancient traditions, state observatories served representative purposes for their patrons, whether as symbols of a monarch’s enlightened power, a nation’s industrial and scientific excellence, or republican progressive values. Focusing on observatory techniques in settings from Berlin, London, Paris, and Rome to Australia, Russia, Thailand, and the United States, The Heavens on Earth is a major contribution to the history of science. Contributors: David Aubin, Charlotte Bigg, Guy Boistel, Theresa Levitt, Massimo Mazzotti, Ole Molvig, Simon Schaffer, Martina Schiavon , H. Otto Sibum, Richard Staley, John Tresch, Simon Werrett, Sven Widmalm
Download or read book A brief account of the Lick Observatory of the University of California prep by Edward S Holden Dir of the Observ written by Edward S. Holden and published by . This book was released on 1895 with total page 42 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Discovery of Cosmic Voids written by Laird A. Thompson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-12-10 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The large-scale structure of the Universe is dominated by vast voids with galaxies clustered in knots, sheets, and filaments, forming a great 'cosmic web'. In this personal account of the major astronomical developments leading to this discovery, we learn from Laird A. Thompson, a key protagonist, how the first 3D maps of galaxies were created. Using non-mathematical language, he introduces the standard model of cosmology before explaining how and why ideas about cosmic voids evolved, referencing the original maps, reproduced here. His account tells of the competing teams of observers, racing to publish their results, the theorists trying to build or update their models to explain them, and the subsequent large-scale survey efforts that continue to the present day. This is a well-documented account of the birth of a major pillar of modern cosmology, and a useful case study of the trials surrounding how this scientific discovery became accepted.
Download or read book The Boundless Universe written by Sidney C. Wolff and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: WINNER OF THE 2016 IPPY AWARDS SILVER MEDAL IN SCIENCE! We live in an age of unparalleled discovery in astronomy, with breakthroughs coming at an astounding pace. The questions we are trying to answer are big: How old is the Universe? How do stars and planets form? Are there places beyond Earth where life might exist? The Boundless Universe explores these questions and more by taking a look at the search for life and new planets, the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy, and building bigger and better telescopes. This is your guide to the new astronomical frontier, latest discoveries, and most current research. Join the adventure!
Download or read book AURA and Its US National Observatories written by Frank K. Edmondson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1997-03-06 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new source of funding for astronomy stemmed from the creation of the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 1950. Astronomers were quick to take advantage of the opportunity to found new observatories. The science and politics of the establishment ,funding, construction and operation of the Kitt Peak National Observatory (KPNO) and the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) by the Association of Universities for research in Astronomy, (AURA), are here, seen from the unique perspective of Frank K. Edmondson, a former member of the AURA board of directors.
Download or read book World Atlas of Large Optical Telescopes written by Stephen Paul Meszaros and published by . This book was released on 1979 with total page 62 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Report of Committee on Southern and Solar Observatories written by Carnegie Institution of Washington and published by . This book was released on 1903 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Prehistoric Suns written by Steve Mulligan and published by SF Design, LLC / Frescobooks. This book was released on 2020 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Steve Mulligan has applied his large-format camera skills to his most recent fifteen-year-long project in locating and photographing these prehistoric observatories in the American Southwest.
Download or read book A Brief Account of the Lick Observatory of the University of California written by Lick Observatory and published by . This book was released on 1894 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book America s Scientific Treasures written by Stephen M. Cohen and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-12-01 with total page 545 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Whether you are planning a road trip or looking to engage with history from the comfort of your couch, the second edition of America's Scientific Treasures is sure to satisfy your craving for scientific and technologic history. Stephen M. Cohen and Brenda H. Cohen, a mother-son pair, take readers through countless museums, arboretums, zoos, national parks, planetariums, natural and technological sites, and the homes of a few scientists in this exciting volume. The two combine their expertise in chemistry and history, making this an educational travel guide for science and technology enthusiasts. The book is split into nine geographic regions and organized by state, and it includes how to get to each place, whom to contact, whether it is handicapped-accessible, and even where you can grab a bite to eat nearby. Cohen and Cohen provide the history and significance of each location, plus they offer images for notable locations like the African Savanna at the San Francisco Zoo & Gardens and the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center in the Anchorage Museum. The resulting book is a navigable travel guide perfect for any science or technology enthusiast. So, what are you waiting for? Let's take a journey through the history of American sciences and engineering.
Download or read book An Acre of Glass written by J. B. Zirker and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2005-10-18 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Provides an accessible yet detailed story of how telescopes are made, the science behind their function, and their promise for future astronomical discoveries." -- Science News
