Date: November 21, 2010
Title: Astronomical Pictures of Science
Podcaster: Ben Lillie
Organization: The Story Collider
Description: We asked people to send in the image they think of when they imaging science. Here are some of the astronomy-oriented submissions.
Bio: Ben Lillie is a physicist who left the ivory tower for the wilds of New York’s theater district. How now writes and produces shows about science. He is a Moth StorySLAM winner, and hosts the monthly science storytelling show, The Story Collider, where guest are invited to share true, personal stories of the times in their lives when science has been important, inspiring, or simply absurd. He likes to say that life is different now, largely because it is. He has also earned 27 badges as a member of the Order of the Science Scouts of Exemplary Repute and Above Average Physique, which is 24 more than than the number of badges he earned as a Cub Scout.
Today’s sponsor: This episode of “365 Days of Astronomy” is sponsored anonymously and dedicated to the memory of Annie Cameron, at the time of NASA EPOXI flyby of Comet 103P/Hartley 0.0.155 AU above Tryphena, Great Barrier Island, New Zealand, located between Betelgeuse and Procyon on the edge of Canis Minor 4 November 2010
Transcript:
Hi, This is Ben Lillie from The Story Collider. We’re a place where people tell true, personal stories about science, and how it’s affected them.
A few months ago we started a gallery, called The Pictures of Science, where people can send in the picture that they think of when they think of science, along with a story about why that particular image is important.
We’ve gotten a number of astronomy based submissions, and I thought today I’d share those with you. You can go to our website, storycollider.org, to see the pictures, but I suspect that the listeners of this podcast will be familiar with all of these.
Barry Haworth, for example, sent in “Earthrise”, this is the picture the Apollo 8 astronoauts took of the Earth coming up over the moon as they orbited. He wrote:
I was six when the first moonwalks happened, and grew up with the expectation that spaceflight would become commonplace and affordable – that I would be able to see these things with my own eyes.
An anonymous person sent in an image of the Cone Nebula, it’s a bright red and black Hubble Photo, he wrote:
While I think that crystalizing all of the various disciplines of “science” (i.e. biology; astronomy; geology, etc.) into one term is artificial, I think I understand your drift, and I’m willing to play along by your rules, especially because I am *not* a scientist, but a lawyer, who deals with man-made rules in the fact of circumstances which are not always man-made. One image that has always affected me is the Hubble’s image of the Cone Nebula. The image is, similar to the Eagle Nebula’s “pillars of life” an area of star formation, but with a ‘flat top’ which is roughly the dimensions of the entire solar system. The great void of space and the enormous distances between objects make finding a perspective which is accessible very challening. The great photo Carl Sagan commented upon with earth seen distant through Saturn’s rings is easier, I think, to dismiss, since we all see stars in the sky every night. But seeing a giant gas pillar more than 7 light years long with simpler numbers (2700 light years away; 7 light years long) and an easier reference (size of the solar system) somehow helps me get a sense of the massive size of space….and this is a nebula within our own galaxy.
Scott Northcutt Sent in a picture of the Pleiades, and said:
In my younger days when I decorated the walls with more than just spousally-approved pictures and fixtures. I was a geek from my early days and astronomy has always a love of mine. During a family visit to Vanderbilt University’s Dyer Observatory on one of their public observing nights, I got a small poster of the Pleiades open star cluster. It adorned the walls of my room and, ultimately, the ceiling over my bed for many years. It was often the last thing I saw before falling asleep and the first thing I saw on waking up. It spawned many mental wanderings of science fantasy and just as many wonderings of science fact. Did it push me towards my career as an engineer? Honestly, probably not. Many times when I see the Seven Sisters in the sky now, however, I remember that poster on the ceiling. I understand a lot more about what I’m looking at now, but I still have that sense of wonder…and I think that that’s a good thing.
One thing that was interesting to me was that a lot of the images were of starships, and other science fiction archetypes. Brian Wecht wrote:
Buckaroo Banzai does it all. He’s a world-class neurosurgeon, physicist, rock star, and comic book hero. When I was growing up, I wanted to be Buckaroo Banzai, travelling between dimensions and fighting crime, and all the while fronting a sweet rock band on the side.
Now I do research in string theory and dress up like a ninja while I play the piano. And that’s not too far off from where I was hoping I’d be.
And Johanna Clearfield sent a picture of the original Enterprise with:
Space. The final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship enterprise, its twelve year mission…. Science = Science Fiction = Captain James T Kirk = “I can’t do it Captain!” (Scotty) = Beam me up Scotty. All of this made perfect sense. For me, this was the only science I ever wrapped my head around.
It’s not astronomy related, but I wanted to finish with my favorite submission, from my friend Carter Edwards. He sent in a picture of the brain, and wrote:
Ever made it to the Bodies exhibit my favorite part was at the end where there was a girl behind a kisok asking everyone who passes by if they want to hold a brain. They are surprisingly
Heavy. Also after we went through the exhibit I was STARVING. is that weird?
Thanks, Carter.
And thanks to everyone who sent in a picture. You can, of course, go to our website, storycollider.org, and see the whole gallery, and send in your own.
Thanks for listening.
End of podcast:
365 Days of Astronomy
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