Mental Distortion

On August 25, 1609, Galileo Galilei showed a gathering of Venetian lawmakers his latest invention, the telescope. It was the beginning of a revolution that over a period of 400 years would lead humankind to see deep into the heavens culminating with the Hubble Space Telescope and the twin Keck observatories. The discovery also helped herald the advent of deep space probes such as Cassini, Pioneer, Voyager , the slew of satellites currently orbiting Mars and even one named for Galileo himself. Many more such devices are in the planning stages that will dwarf the level of observation attained thus far in the history of astronomy. On the drawing board, and in some cases the building stages, are Hubble’s replacement, the James Webb Space Telescope, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, the planet-hunting Kepler Mission and many more.

I have always been an astronomy enthusiast. While not delving into the mathematical side of astronomy, I have been fascinated by it ever since I was a little kid.  I must admit that even today, I find it relaxing to spend a day up at Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton and taking in the telescope tour for the upteenth time, not to mention the nice little hiking trails in the area. With one-fifth of the world’s population unable to view much of the heavens at all, it’s nice to find places where the heavens can be very much visible. While it may not be the view one gets in the middle of nowhere, it’s certainly the best one can get close to home. Hopefully the International Year of Astronomy for 2009 will help make people more aware of what they are missing.

International Year of Astronomy 2009 Trailer