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Astronomy and Poetry

Henri — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 18:28:47 +0000

One aspect of the IAU Symposium 260 was to look at the intersection between astronomy and the arts. And the examples are numerous, whether in paintings, music, architecture, and so on. One session was devoted to literature and music.

Jocelyn Bell Burnell from the UK gave a talk on the Monday on the link between astronomy and poetry, a topic she got so much involved with that she co-edited on book on it (darkmatter – poems of space). She is mostly interested in English poems from the last 50 years where astronomy plays a main role (“astronomy shouldn’t be a wallpaper only”) and where the science is not too inaccurate. And the examples are plenty: Robert Frost, Thomas Hardy, Robinson Jeffers, Hilda Doolittle, Robert Lowell, Gwyneth Lewis, Diane Ackerman, Frederick Seidel, or Stanley Kunitz. Their poems deal with topics as diverse as radio telescopes, the scale of the universe, the Big Bang, comets, black holes or space explorations.

But there are also poets who are against astronomy for they feel the growing knowledge is dismissing the myth, an opinion shared by poet P. Dickinson. And then there are of course very few professional astronomers who write poetry, such as Rebecca Elson, who wrote poems about dark matter.

To wet your appetite, here a well known poem by Robert Frost, Fire and Ice:

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To know that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

Another example is Canis Major from the same author.

I should add that in other languages also there are many poets dealing with astronomy, or astronomers practicing poetry. Certainly in France, Jean-Pierre Luminet and Michel Cassé deserve mentioning.

This is an account of one of the topics presented at the Symposium 260 of the International Astronomical Union, which was held at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris. Its theme: The Rôle of Astronomy in Society and Culture. You can read more posts on this symposium.

Of paintings, telescopes, hobbits and astronomy

Henri — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 18:28:17 +0000

Thursday afternoon saw the second session at the IAU Symposium 260 on Astronomy and the Arts, with a series of most interesting contributions. Two were particularly interesting to me.

In the first one, Paolo Molaro (Italy) presented a very unique study of some paintings of Jan Brueghel the Elder, in which telescopes are present. Painted between 1608 and 1621, they may serve as useful historical pieces of evidence to study the first telescopes made, as well as its evolution. It serves thereby also at getting a glance at how scientific information travelled during this period, as well as the interaction of science and arts.
Molaro showed the presence of spyglasses or telescopes in at least four of Brueghel’s paintings: The allegory of the sight and smell, the allegory of the five senses, the allegory of sight, and a landscape with view of the castle of Mariemont. In the allegory of sight and that of the five senses, the telescopes shown presents a great level of details, but they are also strikingly dissimilar, although they may have the same maker. Molaro is also puzzled that the eyepieces of these telescopes seem more compatible with a Keplerian telescope, rather than with a Galileo or Dutch type. He also notes that in one of the paintings, it is a small monkey – usual symbol of foolishness – who holds the telescope, while in another painting - the allegory of the air – it is a flying cherub who is observing the distant sky through a hand-held telescope. Perhaps, it is time to go back to a museum?

In another most interesting presentation, Kristine Larsen (USA) showed how she is using the very popular works of fantasy and magic – books and movies – to interest people in astronomy. The Lord of the Rings, the World of Narnia, or Harry Potter, which have drawn millions of youngsters and olds alike, have all extensive references to astronomy. In Harry Potter for example, the Centaurs make a statement about planet Venus, or the students have to study Orion, the Galilean moons, and make a model of a galaxy. And this is without mentioning all the astronomical references to the names of Harry Potter’s characters: Sirius (Black), Draco (Malefoy), etc.
Moreover, Harry Potter and his friend clearly despise the course of astrology! It would be stupid not to make use of all this, says Larsen. And so did she: in planetarium shows, in themed star parties, or just when introducing an astronomical topics.
If you wish to follow this nice example, she has an extensive web site on this.
OK, where did my daughter hide her copies of the Harry Potter’s saga?

Astronomy and Political Theory

Henri — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 18:22:51 +0000

Although we all know how astronomy has led to several scientific revolutions, it is perhaps much less known that there is a dialogue between astronomy and the organisation of society, i.e. politics, which have mutually influenced them. This was the topic of a very interesting talk by Nicholas Campion from the Centre for the Study of Cosmology in Culture at the University of Wales, UK.
He showed how astronomical theories have been influential in defining the political systems at their time. His starting point was ‘the cosmos as a state’, a state in which human society is understood to be an integral part of, or a reflection of, or governed by the same laws as, the Cosmos. This was in effect in Mesopotamia, in 2100 BC, and then in Egypt and, later, in Rome. Plato, on the other hand, stated that all the cosmos was interconnected, both psychically and physically, and subject to a same mathematical order. In “Republic and Laws”, he outlined a system of education and government which should bind human society and government into the cosmic order. The consequences of this political Platonism is either the fair and just rule of the philosopher in the interests of all, or the authoritarian rule of those who think they know best. With Copernicus, we enter into the realm of political Heliocentrism: in the midst of all assuredly dwells the Sun. There is of course no better example of this as absolute monarchy of Louis XIV, the Sun King.

A different path is taken in 1651 by the English political philosopher Thomas Hobbes, who, following Galileo, claimed that because the universe operates mechanically, so must the state; the task of governments is to construct law in order to maintain order amongst its citizens. This was further expanded following Newton’s theory: if the entire universe is governed by one set of laws, then human society is governed by one set of laws and so, kings must be subject to the same law as people. This led to the ‘Natural Rights’ philosophy (human rights are naturally embedded in the cosmos), paving the way for the US constitution. The French philosopher Voltaire, did not say anything different when he affirmed in the ‘The Ignorant Philosopher’: “It would be very singular that all nature, all planets, should obey eternal laws, and that there should be a little animal, five feet high, who, in contempt of those laws, could act as he pleased, solely according to his caprice”.
According to Campion, this political newtonianism can again lead to a system that is either democratic – all subject to the rule of law – or authoritarian – taking from Plato the ideas of order and authority.

After Einstein, Campion then noted, there has been a political appropriation of cosmology. For example, cosmological relativity was used to justify cultural relativity: if there is no centre in the universe, but only observers, then no single culture can be superior to any other. And of course, Hubble’s discovery of the expansion of the Universe, as well as the uncertainty principle in quantum mechanism, have all played a role in defining political theories. While, after the Apollo missions, and the unique, breathtaking images of fragile planet Earth lost in the immensity of space, have led to the notion of the global village.

All in all, Campion declares, it seems obvious that historians of political theories ought to study astronomy.

Astronomy and technology

Henri — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 18:21:03 +0000

In a session devoted to astronomy as a tool for development and technologies, Laurent Vigroux from the Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, France, considered the relation between astronomy and technology. Astronomy, he said, has now become a big science, using big machines, requiring big budgets and a big organisation. And as all big sciences, astronomy has developed complex relationship with the industry for their mutual benefits. Astronomical observatories require many industrial contracts for construction and operations, such as site infrastructure (road, buildings, power supply, …), mechanical structures of telescopes and domes, mirror manufacturing and polishing, and control equipments and software, while some developments require more specialised companies (cryogenic systems, space instrumentation, and high accuracy metrology system). Usually, these activities require a collaborative effort between astronomers and industry or can be performed by industry alone after a first step of technology transfer. On the other hand, for the most challenging parts, for example very low noise electronics or very low temperature experiments, the developments remain inside laboratories with strong technical groups.

Laurent Vigroux showed that the annual budget for European astronomy is about 2 billion euros (half of which allocated to national scientific staff and laboratories) of which a quarter, or 500 million euros, returns to the industry. This is comparable to the price of about two Airbus A-380.

He then gave two examples of how project are managed. For the soon-to-be-launched Herschel/Planck satellite, ESA responsibilities cover the mission, the launch, the flight and the operations, while the industry is responsible for hardware and integration, and astronomical institutes take care of the instruments. For the future European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT), the splitting is similar: ESO is in charge of the overall project management, the system design, the integration and operations, the industry is responsible for most of the hardware subsystems (building, mechanical structure, mirrors, dome, …), and the astronomical European institutes deal with the instruments and the adaptive optics.

Vigroux also stated that even if the main justification for astronomy is the increase of humankind knowledge, one should not forget that astronomy has a large return for public life and for industry. He quoted several examples of transfer of new technologies and development of new industrial capabilities.

One example are the imaging scheme and data processing software developed by radio-astronomers for their interferometers which are at the base of all the tomography imaging techniques, in particular in medical imaging. Artificial laser guide star, which have become a common feature on all major optical telescopes, have now application in ophthalmology. Similarly, the drastic requirements of astronomers on CCD detectors, have led to an improvement of the manufacturing process, making it possible to make very small pixels, used nowadays on most numerical cameras.

Light pollution

Henri — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 18:19:17 +0000

An important aspect of interaction between astronomy and society is the problem of light pollution. As many speakers of the conference have mentioned, humanity is loosing a very large cultural asset because of light pollution: people do not have anymore the chance to admire the night sky in its full glory or even to simply see the constellations. Only in very few places on Earth are we still able to see the sky in the same way as our ancestors. But these places are also starting to be in danger of being light polluted, including the professional astronomical observatories and their very sensitive large instruments. As the aim of the International Year of Astronomy is to connect the people with the skies, light population is a crucial problem. A session at the conference was dedicated to this.

But perhaps what is most important to realise is that light population does not affect only astronomers or sky gazing. It has huge societal and economical impacts. Apart from the cultural dimension mentioned above, there is an educational aspect: if younger people do not see the sky anymore, they won’t want to become astronomers! And we shouldn’t forget that astronomy is a major driver for attracting youngsters into the other physical sciences. Looking more practically, every year, more than 1.7 billion euros are wasted due to light pollution in Europe alone, says Martin Morgan-Taylor, who also mentions that in the UK alone, streetlight produce the equivalent of one million tons of carbon dioxide per year. Cities which have implemented intelligent lighting have won on both sides: they saved a lot of money, while the lighting was also more efficient. Moreover, we all agree that some landscapes are more romantic with the moonshine than with artificial lights. There again, countries could attract more tourists by keeping the light low. And we shouldn’t forget that light also damages our monuments.

Nature also needs night and light pollution can have detrimental effects on plants and animals. For birds, night lighting leads to disorientation, higher mortality due to collisions with buildings or early breeding. This is without talking about nocturnal animals such as bats or moths. As the latter population decreases, there is also less food for birds. There are also possibly effects on humans: studies are undergoing to see if there is a link between reducing melatonin production and sleep disorders. And a decrease of melatonin could increase some risks of cancers.

In Flanders, Belgium, as Friedel Pas explained, they have since 14 years introduced the night of darkness, in which municipalities, companies, and so on, are switching off or reducing lighting for one night. This is the occasion to host many activities, both astronomical but also environmental. The night of darkness draws typically 20,000 participants and has large media coverage. This year, the edition will be extended to all of Belgium on 28 March. And on 20-26 April, is the National Dark-Sky Week taking place.

Finally, speaker Andrej Mohar explained that Slovenia is the first state with an effective light pollution law, which was adopted on 31 August 2007. Perhaps this could be a model for other European and worldwide countries?

The problem of light pollution is also affecting radio astronomers as Wim van Driel explained. And because of the large financial aspects, due for example of the mobile phone sector or the satellites, the situation is much more problematic and astronomers have to make their point against huge economic pressure. But as radio observatories (e.g. SKA) also become huge economical projects, some countries are willing to take appropriate regulations to protect the precious wavelengths necessary to study the universe.