Podcaster: Dr. Al Grauer
Title: Travelers in the Night Eps. 799 & 800: Nature’s Gateways & Telescope Reborn
Organization: Travelers in The Night
Link : Travelers in the Night ; @Nmcanopus
Description: Today’s two stories:
- The Cosmic Campground International Dark Sky Sanctuary and the Aldo Leopold Gila Wilderness in New Mexico are gateways to nature where man is only a visitor.These New Mexico neighbors give us a sense of wonder, glimpses of history, new knowledge to mitigate the effects of man’s excesses, and many other opportunities we are yet to fully appreciate.
- In an astonishing rebirth, the Mayall 4-m telescope has jumped to the forefront of astronomy once again because it is sturdy and precise enough to carry the massive Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument which routinely obtains the spectra of 5,000 galaxies simultaneously.
Bio: Dr. Al Grauer is currently an observing member of the Catalina Sky Survey Team at the University of Arizona. This group has discovered nearly half of the Earth approaching objects known to exist. He received a PhD in Physics in 1971 and has been an observational Astronomer for 43 years. He retired as a University Professor after 39 years of interacting with students. He has conducted research projects using telescopes in Arizona, Chile, Australia, Hawaii, Louisiana, and Georgia with funding from NSF and NASA.
He is noted as Co-discoverer of comet P/2010 TO20 Linear-Grauer, Discoverer of comet C/2009 U5 Grauer and has asteroid 18871 Grauer named for him.
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Transcript:
EP. 799 – Nature’s Gateways
The cosmic campground International Dark Sky Sanctuary and the Aldo Leopold Gila wilderness in New Mexico are gateways to nature where man is only a visitor These New Mexico neighbors give us a sense of wonder glimpses of history new knowledge to mitigate the effects of man’s successes and many other Opportunities we are yet to fully appreciate who can see the Milky Way Rising over the Gila wilderness and not contemplate the existence and nature of fellow living creatures elsewhere in the cosmos The first human in outer space was in 1961 however, there is limited evidence that humans visited the Gila wilderness Perhaps as long as 8,000 years ago Although much of the evidence of human presence has likely been lost the Gila cliff dwellings gives us a glimpse of human life approximately 750 years ago At the cosmic campground the light from the bright star Deneb in the summer triangle is some 1,600 years old when it enters your eye Whereas the light from the great galaxy in Andromeda the furthest object that can be seen without a telescope Left our galactic next-door neighbor some 2.5 million years ago Currently humans have changed the very nature of life on our planet by carelessly polluting the air land water and night sky In fact human activity is causing the extinction of more species on planet Earth than did the asteroid impact Which eliminated the dinosaurs the Gila wilderness and the cosmic campground are yielding scientific research data Which could lessen our impact on nature will anyone pay attention
Ep. 800 – Telescope Reborn
In 1973 the male 4 meter telescope on Kitt Peak was the second largest and Arguably the best equipped telescope in the world the male 4 meter telescope is credited with the discovery of methane ice on Pluto However, personally I had the privilege of being in the control room when Vera Rubin was using it to study stars in M31 the great galaxy in Andromeda She was one of the first astronomers to find evidence of dark matter over the years the Kitt Peak male 4-meter telescope has become a small telescope since now there are some 26 telescopes larger than its 158 inch diameter light collecting mirror in an astonishing rebirth the male 4 meter telescope has jumped to the forefront of Astronomy once again because it is sturdy and precise enough to carry the massive dark energy Spectroscopic instrument which routinely obtains the spectra of 5,000 galaxies Simultaneously these data are being used to create a three-dimensional map of the position and velocity of millions of galaxies covering some 11 billion years in the history of the universe The data from the first 6 million of the final surveys goal of 40 million galaxies are now analyzed and published Previous to this research dark energy has been presumed to be constant in nature and that it is pushing matter further and further apart yielding a universe eventually devoid of stars light and energy the initial data indicates statistically the odds are 399 out of 400 that dark energy is not a constant and that it can become stronger or weaker and Perhaps even reverse itself as the universe continues to evolve what next?
For Travelers in the Night, this is Dr. Al Grauer. Stay tuned.
End of podcast:
365 Days of Astronomy
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