dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (12/14/85)
Large observatories are exciting places to be and to work. More -- right after this. December 14: Laboratories of the Stars Before this century, the word "astronomer" described someone who looked at the stars, recorded brightnesses, and catalogued positions on the dome of the sky. Astronomers also made discoveries. They used telescopes to see the variety of objects in space -- not only single stars and planets, but also star clusters, clouds of gas and galaxies external to our Milky Way. Today's astronomer also makes discoveries of new and increasingly exotic objects in space. But more -- astronomers study the physics of celestial objects, to learn how they behave. Unlike most objects of scientific study, the objects in outer space can't be touched, much less probed and analyzed in a laboratory. Instead, starlight is what bridges the gap between us and the stars. Modern astronomical observatories are like laboratories of the stars. They're usually located on mountaintops -- where starlight is funneled down the tubes of large telescopes -- to be analyzed later in every currently conceivable way. Modern astronomers use the information found in starlight to unfold a giant picture of our universe -- which is dynamic and evolving -- with a history and a future of its own. The work is sometimes routine as details are added one by one to the picture. Astronomers put in a "night's work" much as other people work at their jobs during the day. But the mystique of the heavens is strong. And the atmosphere at a large observatory is often one of exciting discovery. Script by Deborah Byrd. (c) Copyright 1984, 1985 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin