Emily Levisk
[Editor's Note] There are 7.5 billion people on Earth, and less than 50,000 are professional astronomers. Astronomical research sounds both romantic and naive, such as Judy Foster in " Hypertime Contact ", listening to alien signals while wearing headphones; Ilya Wood in " Heaven and Earth Collision " observes an comet that is enough to destroy the earth through a powerful and obviously unrealistic home telescope. Astronomers in the movie become the object of people's imagination. Astronomers with the protagonist's aura seem to be able to hold a few small pieces of perfect data and rush to save the world by just staring at them for a minute or two.
At the same time, stargazing is a simple and primitive human activity. With the development of technology, the best telescopes in the world have captured countless exciting space scenes for us: the bright all-day scroll of stars, the spiral galaxy , the gorgeous gas clouds like rainbows... But the stories behind the photos are little known, such as where they come from, why do they take pictures, how do they take pictures, and what secrets of the universe are seen from them?
Astronomy professor Emily Levisk leads readers on an astronomical pilgrimage in The Last Stargazer: The Immortal Story of Astronomical Explorers, visiting observatories all over the world, from the Andes in Chile, to the cliffs of Arizona, to the Great Island of Hawaii. Behind those large telescopes standing at the top of the world, in addition to the breathtaking stars and deep darkness, there are also interesting, enthusiastic and brilliant stories of human beings staring at the starry sky.
Authorized by the publishing house, this article excerpts several of them, and follows the footsteps of scientists, heading to the most remote corner of the earth to learn about the unknown stories of the observatory.
"The Last Stargazer: The Immortal Story of Astronomical Explorers"; [US] Emily Levisk (written), Zhang Meigui (translated); Beijing United Publishing Company; Guangchen; July 1, 2022 The existence of
Observatory raises an interesting problem: they are high-tech scientific activity centers, with the largest facilities and the most advanced projects in the world, but they can only play their greatest role in deserted places, which inevitably puts certain telescopes and people who work on them in extremely harsh natural environments. Sarah Tuttle is an astronomer whose research includes the construction of telescope instruments. She once summarized it well: "We got these high-precision scientific instruments and then 'tortured' them in every way'." Most of the
observatory stations are built on remote and open mountain tops. Even when the weather is sunny, it is difficult for ordinary people to reach. If the extreme mountain weather is added, even a telescope can't stand it. Meyer-Womble Observatory in , Colorado, is located on Mount Evans in the Rocky Mountains, 14,148 feet (about 4,312 meters). In the winter of 2011, strong winds with wind speeds of up to 95 miles per hour hit the observatory. From October of that year to May of the following year, the road to the summit of Mount Evans was completely closed. During this period, no one had climbed the mountain, and no one knew what was going on. It was not until a webcam at the Observatory was blown by the wind that astronomers at the University of Denver realized something was wrong. That winter, a local mountaineer was training in Mount Evans to prepare for climbing Everest . The photos he took and later surveys showed that strong winds blew the 22-foot-high dome that covered the telescope (the University of Denver spent years discussing replacing the dome and dealing with the contractor. Later, due to lack of sufficient support, he had to remove the dome chamber and remove the telescope, and the story ended in a bleak ending).
The dome of the Meyer-Womble Observatory was cracked by strong winds in 2011.
Even mild winds can sometimes become a hidden danger. The Apache Observatory is located in the Sacramento Mountains in the plains of the southern plains of New Mexico, just 20 miles from the White Sands National Park, which is full of endless white sand dunes.The strong wind will blow beautiful white plaster into the dome, scratching the carefully grounded telescope mirror. Telescopes in the Canary Islands have encountered similar problems, namely, a smog weather called "Calima", which is a strong wind blowing from the east, which will blow sandstorms and dust from the Sahara Desert to the Canary Islands 100 miles from the coast of Morocco.
On the high mountains, the harsh winter weather and strong snowstorms are also very dangerous. When a sudden snowstorm roars, astronomers will be trapped on the top of the mountain if they do not go down in time. If ice and snow accumulate above the dome, the dome will not be opened, and it may even pose a hidden danger, because once the frozen dome is opened, the broken ice cube may fall into the room and hit the mirror of the telescope. Candace Gray, an operator at the Apache Observatory, recalled that he had rotated the dome of the 3.5-meter telescope in a blizzard and slowly blew the snow down with the wind generated by the rotation. Ann Bosgard's snow removal method is more down-to-earth. She told me that she had ridden an all-terrain vehicle with several colleagues to the location of the 88-inch (about 2.2 meters) telescope on the top of Mount Monakea, climbed up the dome with a shovel and an ice axe to clean up the snow on it.
Apache Observatory is located on the top of Mount Sacramento in southern New Mexico, USA. This observatory is owned by the Astrophysical Research Alliance (ARC) and is managed by New Mexico State University (NMSU). Wikipedia Picture
Since it is built on the top of the world, it is inevitable to bear a major risk of storms: lightning strike. Building tall buildings on the mountain is basically an initiative to invite lightning to strike it. Several colleagues of me have seen lightning strike the observatory dormitory or other auxiliary buildings with their own eyes, and even the famous Wilson Mountain Monastery was attacked by lightning. Elizabeth Griffin recalled that on a stormy night, she was having supper in the monastery, and a lightning flash suddenly fell from the sky, splitting a nearby fir tree in half, and then turned into an arc of light, entering the hall, running through the canteen, shattering all the window glass.
One night, lightning was thunder and lightning on Kitt Peak. Dave Silva was observing at a 2.4-meter telescope. A lightning hit the dome with a "snapping" and scared him to death (it's not new to the dome being hit by lightning, but everyone who has experienced it personally says that lightning will make a deafening sound when it hits the dome). What's more, the dome chamber has also been powered off. Dave ran to the electrical cabinet in the dome room and opened the cabinet door hard. A ball of smoke gushed out, swallowing him in an instant. Bewitched by the thick smoke, he was determined to be on fire, so he ran to bring rescue soldiers in a hurry. When several night shift staff sitting near the top of the mountain were drinking coffee, they all stood up happily to put out the fire and pass the boring night. Later I discovered that the dome chamber did not catch a fire, but all the 18-inch wires in the electrical cabinet were burned out, and only a few wisps of black smoke remained in the world.
Kitt Peak National Observatory (Kitt Peak National Observatory) is located at the top of Kitt Peak, 90 kilometers southwest of Tucson, Arizona, USA. It is an altitude of 2096 meters. It is part of the National Optical Observatory (NOAO). Wikipedia Picture
On an evening in 1976, Rudy Schard observed on Mount Hopkins, Arizona. A storm was about to hit, and only two people were left behind on the mountain. A colleague called and asked Rudy if he could do a favor and disconnect a building from the main grid, otherwise if it was hit by lightning, it would cause the entire power system to be overloaded. It's always good to plan ahead, and Rudy is certainly willing to help. When he thought that the storm was still 3 miles away and could not arrive for a while, he walked to the isolation cabinet with confidence. However, the lightning that night visited Hopkins Hill did not hit any building or any power equipment connected to the main grid, but instead hit him.
Rudy's colleague waited for a long time but didn't hear from him. An ominous premonition surged into his heart and called another person on the mountain.After some search, he found a pair of lost glasses and a flashlight in the isolation cabinet, while Rudy lay unconsciously on the floor, her boots falling three meters away.
Fortunately, an observer who was once an American Air Police came to the mountain at that time and knew first aid knowledge. He touched Rudy's wrist and found that his pulse was beating weakly and irregularly. He quickly brought him the oxygen bottle stored on the mountain to provide him with oxygen. Forestry Bureau sent a helicopter over, traveling against the wind and rain, breaking through the heavy fog, and landing on the only open flat ground that can be found on the top of the mountain, with less than two meters of gap between the rotor and the mountain wall. After Rudy was taken to a nearby hospital, the doctors dealt with the burns on his legs and feet, and let him go back to work a few days later. He recorded this deed on his website and wrote mischievously: "The observatory staff have been paying close attention to me in the next few days, but no one noticed any decline in my IQ, although I sometimes pretend to be stupid."
Wind, snow and lightning will damage the telescope, but wildfires are the observatory's biggest nightmare. Many telescopes are set up in dry mountainous areas, which are almost a hotbed of wildfires. Observatory is usually built on the top of a mountain or near the top of a mountain, where there are still many trees and bushes, which are very prone to fire. wildfires in southern California and Arizona once endangered many observatories on the mountain, including the Paloma Observatory (the mountain astronomers once squeezed into the dome of the 200-inch telescope, and they would evacuate by helicopter as soon as the wildfire approached), and the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope (VATT).
Palomar Observatory is located in San Diego County, 145 kilometers southeast of Los Angeles, California, USA. It is located in an astronomical observatory at an altitude of 1,706 meters from the Palomar Mountains. Wikipedia Picture
The losses caused by wildfires to Australian astronomy are particularly heavy. Mount Stromlo Observatory (MSO) is a prolific observatory with many historic telescopes. Some have served the astronomy since the 19th century and many advanced modern facilities, but were destroyed by the Canberra forest fire in 2003. During that fire, the Stronglo Mountain Observatory lost five telescopes, as well as studios, administrative buildings, and dormitory buildings. Later, Australian artist Tim Wetherell was entrusted to create the sculpture "The Astronomer" using the wreckage of a telescope, which now stands outside the Australian National Science and Technology Museum. In 2013, Warrenbeng National Park in New South Wales was hit by a forest fire. All personnel from the Siding Spring Observatory (SSO) were forced to evacuate, and more than a dozen telescopes were stranded on the mountain. The fire destroyed the buildings on the mountain, but the telescope survived and was soon put back into use.
Australian artist Tim Weatherrell created the sculpture "Astronomy" using the wreckage of a telescope. Wikipedia Picture
In addition to the threat of storms and fire in desert mountains, most telescopes are set up on fault lines with frequent earthquakes, such as California, Hawaii, Chile, etc. They are all located on Pacific Rim earthquake zone . For the observatory there, earthquakes are already commonplace.
Every observer who has been to Chile will experience one or two small earthquakes. There is a small quirk of the telescope, that is, it is extremely sensitive to earthquakes: observers need to adjust and carefully to finally fix the telescope's direction, and then they must remain as still as possible. Even the slightest vibration will be reflected in the telescope's field of view, causing obvious image shaking. Once, I remember sitting in front of the telescope, but suddenly I heard the operator exclaim: "Oh! The earthquake is coming." A second or two later, the entire building trembled a few times, briefly but obvious. Then, the bright star used to guide the telescope had slipped away from under his nose and disappeared outside the surveillance window on the computer screen.The telescope is incredibly sensitive. Whenever there is a turbulence, the target object will run out of view, which is the first sign of its interference from outside. However, the telescope is extremely robust and is enough to resist the effects of such interference. As soon as the ground stopped trembling, the bright star returned to the center of the camera's field of view, and everyone resumed observation as if nothing had happened. Having said that, in the era when observers needed to climb into the main focal cage for observation, several California astronomers recalled that they had encountered an earthquake during the observation process and were trapped in the main focal cage for several hours. George Wallerstein told me that the fire brigade is the closest earthquake relief crew to California and, based on scientific principles, they are usually sent first to rescue the largest telescope on the mountain.
In some places, volcanoes will also come and get involved. The telescope on Mount Monaqueya is occasionally hit by a thick fog called "vog", which is composed of two words "volcano" and "smog". The volcanic cracks in in Hawaii Volcano National Park sometimes erupt large amounts of sulfur dioxide , combining with water vapor in the air to form a weak acidic mist, resulting in a reduced tolerance of the telescope to environmental humidity. In May 2018, a massive eruption occurred in Hawaii's most active Kilauea Volcano , which happened to be captured by a webcam on Mount Monakea. Fortunately, the strong wind blew the volcanic ash produced by this volcanic eruption away from Mount Monakya. Although the volcanic smoke will somewhat affect the telescope's humidity tolerance, the observation activities can basically be carried out as planned.
Mona Kea Observatory is located on the top of Mount Mona Kea on the large island of the Hawaiian Islands in the United States. It is a world-famous astronomy research site. The picture shows the "Suburs" telescope, Keck I, II and NASA's infrared telescope. Wikipedia Picture
Mount Mona Kea is less than 30 miles from Hawaii Volcano National Park. You will definitely take it for granted that the astronomers there must have had the most thrilling astronomical observation stories in history, after all, they are next to them. In fact, if you really want to praise the "Best Volcano Observation Story", this honor must be Doug Geisler.
Doug is a graduate student at the University of Washington. On May 17, 1980, he spent a wonderful night at the Manastash Ridge Observatory in central Washington State . It was the first night he collected data for his doctoral thesis, when he stayed alone on the mountain, observing the stars that had existed in the Milky Way , which had been around for billions of years. At dawn the next day, he finished his observation, closed the telescope as usual, closed the lid, and then returned to the nearby dormitory, had a good sleep, and had another fruitful observation night at night.
Manastash Ridge Observatory is located in central Washington. Wikipedia Picture
At about 8:30 in the morning, a low roar or rumble came from the distance, awakening Doug, who had just fallen asleep for a few hours. He looked around and found that there was nothing unusual, so he fell asleep again. In his dream, he dreamed of the end of the world.
A few hours later, he woke up again, ready to welcome the astronomers' "morning" of the day - having breakfast leisurely at noon, and then spend a quiet afternoon on the clear mountain. However, when he woke up this time, he immediately noticed something was wrong around: the room was pitch black and there was no trace of light coming into the room through the gaps in the curtains. This surprised him. I don’t know if he accidentally slept until night or if it was suddenly cloudy outside. He looked down at his watch, pointing at noon, so he decided to get up and go outside to take a look. The door of the dormitory was pushed open, revealing the scene outside - the boundless darkness covered the sky that should have been shining brightly, and the air was filled with a pungent and strong smell of sulfur . Even with the light of the flashlight, you can't see clearly where you are 3 meters away. As usual, this is a warm, quiet, windless day... but the sunlight is not seen. The first thought that came to Doug's mind was that it would be an epic disaster like a nuclear attack, right? He guessed half of it.
That morning, Mount St. Helens, 90 miles west of the Manastasse ridge, suddenly erupted, sending columns of ash more than 15 miles high into the air, becoming the most destructive volcanic eruption in American history. The dull sound Doug heard earlier probably came from the initial explosion with a power of 26 megatons of TNT explosives, or the secondary explosion caused by the hot magma causing nearby water bodies to instantly vaporize. In the hours after the eruption, prevailing winds blew most of the volcanic ash to the east, covering the sky above Doug's observatory.
That day, as an observer with extremely high professional quality, Dougre remained silently filling out the night observation log to record the use of the telescope that night, including the observation time lost due to weather or technical reasons, as well as details such as temperature, clouds, sky conditions. Normally, astronomers will read the logs from time to time to help themselves recall the details of a night, and the observatory staff will also read these records from time to time to track any potential problems. That night, the logs left by Doug on the mountain became a legend:
Loss time: 6 hours
Reason: Volcanic eruption (Is this reason cool?)
Sky conditions: black and smelly
I am the only survivor of this nuclear war . I still remember hearing a loud "boom" sound, and then I quickly ran to turn on the radio, and most radio stations were still playing music. I thought to myself, it’s the end of the world, why are these people still in vain? Finally, I heard the KATS Rock Radio in Yakima County say that Mount St. Helens sounded its "horn", which gave me a great sigh of relief. At around 2 noon, the sky above the observatory was still pitch black. By the evening, the visibility was only 0.5 miles. I covered the telescope and other optical instruments. Some tiny ashes drilled in through the gaps in the skylight, and I think they should not pose a threat. Every time we observe, everyone wishes that the sky is dark. Today is completely dark, but I can’t observe it. How can I make a fortune make people!
On May 18, 1980, a major eruption occurred in Mount St. Helens in Scamenia County, Washington, USA. This is the volcanic eruption with the largest number of casualties and the largest economic losses in the history of the United States. Wikipedia Figure
Volcanoes and lightning are some of the more extreme means used by the Earth, reminding us that we are working on an extremely unstable active planet. In the process of observing celestial bodies, astronomers are easily immersed in cosmic science, and therefore forget that the earth is actually constantly moving in the universe like the objects we observe. Volcanic eruptions and lightning and thunder are just some of its ordinary geology and weather, and even forget that it is our home shared with many other creatures.
Editor in charge: Wang Yu
Proofreading: Zhang Liangliang
