Re: OT - Barcroft Observatory

"L.A. Purple" <zen@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
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VicXnews <news@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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"L.A. Purple" <zen@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
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Barcroft Observatory - White Mountain Research Station
http://www.wmrs.edu/facilities/BAR/OBSERVATORY/default.htm
http://www.wmrs.edu/projects/astro-UCSB/BarcroftObservatorydome.jpg
http://www.rivastro.org/images/history_1997_dsa_08.jpg
http://www.wmrs.edu/projects/astro-UCSB/millim1.jpg
http://www.wmrs.edu/travel/area%20map.htm

I thought I was reading sci.astro.amateur for a second ;-)

I figured Alson might see it and share a memory or two. He's
already visited every observatory on earth, hasn't he? ;-)



The Doc has covered some ground...

What is your connection with Barcroft Observatory?

Nothing official. Just a favorite place to visit to get away
from it all in days of yore -- mostly for the Bristlecone Pines.
Although I'm not much of an astronomer, I'm sorta drawn to check-
ing out old observatories, even if it's only to vibe the history.

Griffith Observatory and Mt. Wilson were just such places in my
youth. Nothing like literally walking in the footsteps of Ein-
stein and Hubble (or Dr. Wong). Mt. Wilson was also somewhat of
a party destination for young people -- at least back in the day.

Haven't had much occasion to revisit some of those places recent-
ly, although I'm sure those things will happen in due time. As-
tronomy is a fascinating subject, albeit I'm certainly no expert.



nothing like dark skies to see the light ;-)...fascinating may be an
understatement if that is possible.


__
Everyone knows that the universe is big--so big,in fact, that many people
find it difficult to comprehend. But this "bigness" comes in different
varieties. There is indeed a large amount of space between the stars of our
Galaxy. But there's relatively little space between the galaxies
themselves.
Suppose you shrank the Sun so that it was the size of a quater. Then on the
same scale, the nearest star system--Alpha Centauri-- would lie 400 miles
away, and the disk of our Milky Way Galaxy would be 12 million miles
across. In other words,there's a LOT of space between the stars of the
Galaxy.
But there is NOT a lot of space between the galaxies themselves. If you
shrank the Milky Way's disk to the size of a quater, then the nearest
galaxy would be just an INCH away, and the entire observable universe--
which contains many billions of galaxies-- would be only three miles
across. That's right--just three miles.
These different spacings have important consequences. Because stars in our
part of the Galaxy are so spread out, they never collide with one another.
In fact, the only places where stars collide in the Milky Way are the
center of the Galaxy and the centers of star clusters.
The story is different for galaxies, which are much more crowded. They DO
collide. In fact, the Milky Way will someday swallow the nearest
galaxies,making our Galaxy a slightly heftier city of stars.
StarDate October 13, 1995 The Vastness of Space
Written by Ken Croswell
Copyright 1995 The University of Texas McDonald Observatory
Star Date is produced and distributed in part with a grant from NASA
.

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  • Re: OT - Barcroft Observatory
    ... Griffith Observatory and Mt. ... There is indeed a large amount of space between the stars of our ... and the disk of our Milky Way Galaxy would be 12 million miles ... shrank the Milky Way's disk to the size of a quater, ...
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