Monthly Archives: October 2015
2022 – A Space Odyssey
I had the good fortune to spend time as a kid at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. My father worked there and I later did undergraduate research projects in labs housed there. I’d often pass through a certain hallway where astronomer Jerry Nelson was advocating a new way of building large telescope mirrors without investing in one gigantic piece of glass. His approach: Lots of small pieces of glass, prestressed in jigs, polished, and released with each forming a part of the mirror surface. The trick was to stress the pieces so that they’d assume the required precise shape when the loads were removed. Tile these pieces together and go as large as needed. I never met Nelson but I read the posters by his labs carefully, wondering if and how it could work in practice. I also bumped into Dr. Richard Muller, my Modern Physics professor one day in that hall. A man of very eclectic tastes, he changed subfields often and he’d moved from radioisotope dating to observational astronomy. He showed me a device that could convert 80% of the visbile light falling onto it into electrons – one of the early CCDs that are now everywhere. At the time, CCDs were thought to be the next great thing in computer memory. Muller told me that it was in fact the future of astronomy. There were two revolutions in that one hallway and I had only the dimmest awareness of what either meant.
Today, there are many telescopes with unfathomably large collection areas thanks to Nelson’s innovation and persistence. CCDs and electronic detectors at other wavelengths are approaching perfection in their light detection ability, photographic plates are a thing of the past, and telescopes can now go into space because there’s a practical way to get information back to the ground.
Of course, not every modern telescope is made from segmented mirrors and any actual design is always subject to thorough, brutal trade studies that determine what’s best for the science. Prof. Roger Angel at the University of Arizona has perfected making mirrors as large as 8m in diameter. That’s a whopping 315 inches, 150% as large again as the 200 inch gem at Palomar. The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) currently under construction has selected one of these as its primary. A friend on the project says it is actually two mirrors of the three that will ultimately make up the telescope that will photograph a huge chunk of the sky routinely, generating 15 terabytes of data a night.
As if LSST were not enough, three 30-m class telescopes are being developed for looking at faint objects in a much smaller field-of-view. There isn’t a way to make a single aperture that size so these will require segmented or multiple 8m-class mirrors. The Giant Magellan Telescope and European Extremely Large Telescope will be built Chile, the Thirty Meter Telescope will be built in Hawaii next to the Kecks, built to Jerry Nelson’s concepts. All are set to see light in 2022. We’re looking at a Platinum Age for astronomy and our understanding of the Universe. I envy, in a positive sense, those who get to work on these eyes.
Here’s a concise, well-written article on all three of the massive new projects.
http://nautil.us/issue/11/light/the-billion_dollar-telescope-race
One for the Zipper – Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra Season Launch
[Updated 5 October 2015]
The season kickoff augurs well for the city’s newish conductorless ensemble. The Kaleidoscopes held a concert-cum-fundraiser of Prokofiev, Schoenberg (no, not that one), and Dvorak in the friendly and packed confines of the Colburn’s Zipper Hall. The Classical Symphony and the Cello Concerto showed that this experiment in democracy has a serious chance of success. The strings are very good and in synch, no mean feat since many of them can’t see one another. Most of the performers stand, the strong cello and bass unions negotiated chairs and stools respectively. The woodwinds and brass were terrific. The Phil’s Robert deMaine gave the group someone to focus on in the concerto but he didn’t assume the role of conductor without portfolio. Schoenberg’s (Adam, not Arnold) short Canto, winner of the group’s commission competition, brought Copland’s Quiet City to mind. It’s a heartfelt piece inspired by the composer’s sleeping infant unabashedly intent on evoking a specific response.
It’s not clear how the group handles dynamics and handoffs on its own but it does. There weren’t any obvious glances or nods in the first two pieces with some discreet glances among sections discernible in the Concerto’s rondo. It’s an impressive feat. A preconcert video showed the rehearsal philosophy with wry commentary from the participants – the democratic approach may make for talky rehearsals but there is payoff in the performance. The flute and woodwind work in the Prokofiev’s bravura final movement fired on all cylinders. Birds and fish flock and school, know where they’re going, and turn together in an instant. So do these mostly young folks many with current ties to the Colburn.
There’s talent up and down the roster and the leadership seems to know what it’s about. Four future performance weekends will take place at locations to be announced in Santa Monica and Glendale. Ives, Brahms, Weinberg, Mozart, Schoenberg (yes, that one), Messiaen, and Beethoven are on the schedule. So is John Adams but their taste will improve with age. On top of the concerts, they have outreach programs for youth and the underserved. It’s going to be fun watching them grow.
On the subject of bird behavior, Craig Reynolds’s ‘Boids’ computer models from the late 1980s mimic complex flocking patterns with some simple rules. Here are some latter-day examples set to a possibly recognizable tune.
Astronomy Deli – The Carnegie Observatories seminar series
They do this every spring in Pasadena, most recently at A Noise Within, and only now do I find out about it through random Youtube searches… It’s an outrage I tell you.
But the talks are so good, I’ll get over it.
Check out the Carnegie Observatories talks on everything from galaxies to planets to genes.
http://obs.carnegiescience.edu/news/huntington_online
I will also have to get to their Open House on 18 October 2015.
Perhaps the most surprising presentation was Dr. Linda Elkins-Tanton speaking on planet formation. I had no idea they formed so fast. Even more surprising, that water sufficient to create oceans can remain in the coalescing bodies despite the relentless bombardment and high heat.