Re: The Dumbing Down of Astronomers


RMOLLISE wrote:

Well, I commend you on your fine efforts, but I don't see what this has
to do with clubs or Sky and Telescope....

I do not know why we are at this point. However, let me clarify that I
am not involved into astrophysics anymore. As I wrote elsewhere I
happend to build a photometric solar telescope for my Master thesis in
astrophysics (the scope was meant to observe the solar chromosphere in
the Calcium line). I shifted a little bit the field since and have been
employed at the university the last couple of years for conducting a
PhD in physics, though, it is still the same astrophysics departement.
For this I made calculations of radiative transfer through the
atmosphere (aerosols and climate in the Earth its atmosphere). I am
somewhat happy now that it has been accepted. How funny, the PhD has
been approved by an old professor who was very high in the NASA
hirarchy in the 70's (he was in der directorial board). But I am still
faced with the problem to get it published in a peer-reviewed journal
since aerosols are a very hot topic now and if I had not another guy
from NASA with a good name in the field as co-author I would have been
long kicked out from the peer-review process. Climate change is now a
political debate and a lot of money goes into that field actually now.

That said: In the 80's when I was young there was a German astronomy
magazine called "Sterne und Weltraum" (similar to Sky&Telescopes)".
However, it had one serious problem: one of the editors was a refractor
fanatic. At this time it was even this: there was a solar observing
book written by amateurs (it is also vailable in Englisch) which
changed the Rayleigh criterion in so far that a 20 cm (8") mirror
telescope will have no better resolution than a 10 cm (4") refractor.

It took me one year to convince the editors of the book that in this
case scientific ethics are undermined and it is a fraud. The author of
this section in the book, though holding a degree in meachnical
engineering from a university, was not fit in reading Englisch texts
and couldn't read all the articles from Sky&Telescope.

At this time and in the 90's I also tried to introduce some concepts
(star testing from Suiter, MTF, etc.) into the magazine "Sterne und
Weltraum". However, it was always refused since the editors were
refractor fanatics. It was even this that some individuals wanted to
file suit me for calling them names.

That is the reason why I become upset quickly as one mentions
refractors. In the meantime a lot has changes due to the internet and
it is not important what magazines writes since more than one meaning
can quickly become available in google.

Schneewittchen

.

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