Bad Astronomy: Misconceptions and Misuses Revealed, from ...

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TWINKLE, TWINKLE, LITTLE STAR 95 (a) (b) (c) A close binary star pair may look like a blob of light when seen without adaptive optics (a), but is separated easily once the adaptive optics of the CFH telescope is switched on (b). Further image processing using computers can make the observation even better (c). The stars are separated by only about 0.3 arcseconds, or the apparent size of a quarter seen from a distance of almost 15 kilometers. (Image courtesy Canada France Hawaii Telescope Corporation, © 1996.) can adapt to changes in the seeing. It’s done by small pistons attached to rods, called actuators, located behind the telescope mirror. In some cases the rods push on the mirror, changing its shape, distorting the mirror just enough to correct for seeing changes. Another way is to use a collection of hexagonal mirrors that fit together like kitchen tiles, each with its own actuator. Little mirrors are much easier and less expensive to make than big ones, so many of the world’s largest telescopes are designed this way. The results are nothing less than incredible. The pictures above are from the Canada-France-Hawaii 3.6-meter telescope outfitted with AO. The image on the left is a picture of a binary star taken with the AO turned off. All we see is an elongated blur. But in the image on the right the AO is turned on, correcting for the seeing, and the two individual stars snap into focus. The European Southern Observatory has several telescopes in Chile outfitted with adaptive optics. One is the Very Large Telescope, or VLT for short. The name isn’t exactly poetic, but it does describe the huge, 8-meter, hexagonally segmented mirror pretty accurately. There are actually four such ’scopes, and with adaptive optics their images rival Hubble’s. One of the only disadvantages of adaptive optics is the narrow field of view; only a small area of
96 SKIES AT NIGHT ARE BIG AND BRIGHT the sky can be seen in each exposure. As the technology improves, though, so will the area, and eventually these telescopes will routinely use AO for much larger chunks of the sky. PPP The next time you’re out on a clear night and the stars dance their dance, you can remember how even the simplest things like the twinkle of a star can have complicated origins, and how difficult it can sometimes be to work around them. Or, you could just watch the stars twinkle. That’s okay, too.
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Bad Astronomy PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
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Bad Astronomy PPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP
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CONTENTS Introduction 1 PART I Bad
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CONTENTS vii Recommended Reading 25
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2 BAD ASTRONOMY luminous, against a
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4 BAD ASTRONOMY who fully well knew
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6 BAD ASTRONOMY But if they cannot
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PART I PPPPPP Bad Astronomy Begins
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1 PPPPPP The Yolk’s on You: Egg B
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THE YOLK’S ON YOU 13 and they mak
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THE YOLK’S ON YOU 15 ished announ
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THE YOLK’S ON YOU 17 Of course it
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THE YOLK’S ON YOU 19 with the wea
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2 PPPPPP Flushed with Embarrassment
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FLUSHED WITH EMBARRASSMENT 23 much
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FLUSHED WITH EMBARRASSMENT 25 Equat
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FLUSHED WITH EMBARRASSMENT 27 still
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IDIOM’S DELIGHT 29 press my heigh
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IDIOM’S DELIGHT 31 friend about w
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IDIOM’S DELIGHT 33 Incidentally,
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IDIOM’S DELIGHT 35 So you might c
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38 FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON and t
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40 FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON body
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42 FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON red l
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Page 57 and 58: 46 FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON photo
Page 59 and 60: 5 PPPPPP A Dash of Seasons: Why Sum
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Page 63 and 64: 52 FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON Equat
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Page 69 and 70: 58 FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON These
Page 71 and 72: 60 FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON the d
Page 73 and 74: 62 FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON That
Page 75 and 76: 7 PPPPPP The Gravity of the Situati
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Page 83 and 84: 72 FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON Moon,
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Page 91 and 92: 80 FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON exact
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Page 95 and 96: 84 FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON But n
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Page 99 and 100: 88 SKIES AT NIGHT ARE BIG AND BRIGH
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Page 111 and 112: 100 SKIES AT NIGHT ARE BIG AND BRIG
Page 127 and 128: 13 PPPPPP Shadows in the Sky: Eclip
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146 SKIES AT NIGHT ARE BIG AND BRIG
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PART IV PPPPPPP Artificial Intellig
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17 PPPPPP Appalled at Apollo: Uncov
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APPALLED AT APOLLO 157 My question
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APPALLED AT APOLLO 159 Admittedly,
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APPALLED AT APOLLO 161 These belts
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APPALLED AT APOLLO 163 solid-state
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APPALLED AT APOLLO 165 However, you
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APPALLED AT APOLLO 167 flow well be
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APPALLED AT APOLLO 169 One of the m
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APPALLED AT APOLLO 171 The shadows
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APPALLED AT APOLLO 173 they put tog
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WORLDS IN DERISION 175 Many people
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WORLDS IN DERISION 177 Today, we wo
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WORLDS IN DERISION 179 do now for t
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WORLDS IN DERISION 181 This premise
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WORLDS IN DERISION 183 Venus’ orb
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WORLDS IN DERISION 185 or mainstrea
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19 PPPPPP In the Beginning: Creatio
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IN THE BEGINNING 189 want to believ
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IN THE BEGINNING 191 squarely at th
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IN THE BEGINNING 193 tem started ou
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IN THE BEGINNING 195 it’s natural
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( a.) ( b.) ( c.) IN THE BEGINNING
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IN THE BEGINNING 199 their lives, e
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IN THE BEGINNING 201 ence isn’t l
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MISIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS 203 la
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MISIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS 205 In
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MISIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS 207 an
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MISIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS 209 Ne
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MISIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECTS 211 ni
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MARS IS IN THE SEVENTH HOUSE 213 Th
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MARS IS IN THE SEVENTH HOUSE 215 as
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MARS IS IN THE SEVENTH HOUSE 217 Mi
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MARS IS IN THE SEVENTH HOUSE 219 of
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PART V PPPPPP Beam Me Up We’ve tr
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22 PPPPPP Hubble Trouble: Hubble Sp
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HUBBLE TROUBLE 225 The Hubble Space
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HUBBLE TROUBLE 227 A DROP IN THE BU
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HUBBLE TROUBLE 229 for space telesc
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HUBBLE TROUBLE 231 staking your sci
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HUBBLE TROUBLE 233 also used to say
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HUBBLE TROUBLE 235 can assure you t
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STAR HUSTLERS 237 That’s a tall o
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STAR HUSTLERS 239 the names aren’
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STAR HUSTLERS 241 I’ll note that
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STAR HUSTLERS 243 The star “Phili
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24 PPPPPP Bad Astronomy Goes Hollyw
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BAD ASTRONOMY GOES HOLLYWOOD 247 ar
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BAD ASTRONOMY GOES HOLLYWOOD 249 si
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BAD ASTRONOMY GOES HOLLYWOOD 251 it
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BAD ASTRONOMY GOES HOLLYWOOD 253 Tr
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BAD ASTRONOMY GOES HOLLYWOOD 255 In
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BAD ASTRONOMY GOES HOLLYWOOD 257 Si
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260 RECOMMENDED READING with the ma
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262 RECOMMENDED READING One of the
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264 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Vergano, for gi
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266 INDEX “Astrology: Science or
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268 INDEX earthquakes, 130, 182 pla
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270 INDEX Islam, 58-59 “It’s Sp
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272 INDEX neutrons, 34 in stars, 98
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274 INDEX Sirius, 100, 107 size con
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276 INDEX triangles, 148 true scien
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