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But what about his proposal?
Early in the 1990’s,
Dr. Querci, his wife (an
astronomer too!) and a
certain Moroccan
astronomer proposed a
network of telescopes the
purpose of which was to
study the variability of
stars. His proposal
stemmed from the fact
that stars vary over many
timescales ranging from
minutes to years and a
proper understanding of
the complex behaviour of
stars requires a long-term
study covering all these
timescales. Unfortunately,
this cannot be achieved
with existing observatories
for many reasons. You
cannot expect to get two
years of exclusive time on
an 8-m telescope. The
most you can obtain is
four nights, and even
then only if you have an
extremely good proposal.
And then, the observatory
of your choice will be
located on a mountain
where night lasts for just a
few hours. So what would
you be doing during the
day while watching for
the variation of your star?
Now here comes the trick.
Set up for yourself a number
of different telescopes
at different longitudes
such that, when the Sun
rises on one of them,
another has already started
observing! Now this
explains the “N” in
NORT. What about the
Oriental part? A study
shown to the audience
during his conference
demonstrates that our
dear part of the map has
excellent observing conditions.
Water Vapor is low
= less clouds = more clear
nights. We have high
mountains, from the Atlas
range to the mountains of
Lebanon and on to the
Himalayas. All these fall
very close to the Tropic of
Cancer, in a region rich
with an old Islamic tradition
of astronomy! So far
so good for the Oriental.
In some of these places
you may well have more
than 300 clear nights a
year. Now compare this to
about 160 nights for observatories
located on the
continent of Europe and
you get the picture. To be
able to make full use of all
clear nights a robotic telescope
is the obvious
choice. It will be equipped
to detect bad weather
conditions and it will
know what to do each
and every night.
One other interesting
argument presented by
Dr. François Querci has to
do with a less well-known
form of pollution, namely
light pollution. The audience
was presented with
satellite images showing
Europe and North Africa
at night. The contrast is
impressive. Whereas
Europe is covered with
lights, North Africa is
essentially dark! A boon
for astronomers! It was
also impressive to see projections
for Italy based on
past satellite images and
to notice that basically
within twenty-five years
Europe will have no place
left where you will be able
to enjoy a starry night.
The other part of the talk
was about the benefits
that would be derived
from the advancement of
Astronomy and Space
Science in developing
countries. From transfer
of technology to science
education and formation
of scientists and other
qualified personnel, this
would provide a basis
enabling us to contribute
to international space
exploration and to international
research. Putting
us back on the science
map of the world is the
key idea. The speaker
therefore presented an
overview of current projects,
ongoing or under
study. Libya for example
is currently commencing
studies for a 2.3-m telescope
(size is given for the
main mirror.) Gulf countries
for their part are considering
the possibility of
a regional observatory.
Iran has joined the NORT
and plans a 2-m class
observatory, while
Lebanese astronomers
have proposed a 1-m class
observatory to be installed
on one of the higher
peaks of our mountain
range.
After Dr. Querci’s talk, we
all met for lunch at the
NDU Cafeteria. Three
Lebanese universities
were represented around
the table, namely NDU,
the Lebanese University
and USJ. This all goes to
show that astronomy is
now a popular subject in
Lebanon and that its
development can, and
should be, a national
inter-university project. N
26 NNU SPIRIT