Observatories and Instruments

14 meter millimeter-wave radio telescope at the Taeduk Radio Astronomy Observatory. Photo courtesy Korea Astronomy Observatory.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I was a contributing editor to a Korean-American cultural magazine. I’ve been meaning to dust off my language skills to do some research on the current state of observatories in South Korea, but every time I get started, I’m put off by how frequently academic and popular articles focus on Cheomsongdae observatory, built in 632-647 CE, rather than on contemporary developments. I suppose there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but it seems a bit Orientalist to me, implying astronomy in Korea somehow stopped progressing during the Silla Dynasty period.

When my twitter feed lit up last night with news of Kim Jong-il’s demise, I began contemplating the state of astronomy in Korea again. It’s true the discipline went through some tough times during the twentieth century. For instance, during the Japanese occupation (1905-1945), Koreans weren’t allowed to be astronomers.[1] Obviously, there’s not much I can say about astronomy in North Korea following the conclusion of WWII, other than it must be amazing to look up at the night sky there, since there’s so little light pollution. In South Korea, astronomy as an academic field was slow to grow. The first bachelor of science program was founded in 1958 at Seoul National University; the second began about ten years later at Yongsei University. The Korean Astronomical Society was founded in 1965 and joined the International Astronomical Union (IAU) in 1973.[2] The Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI), the national astronomy research institute of South Korea, was established in 1974.

Bohyunsan Optical Astronomy Observatory. Image courtesy BOAO.

I mention KASI for a reason. Although there are now other institutions and professional astronomical organizations in South Korea, KASI in particular turns the popular conception of Korean astronomy as an “ancient science” on its head. The research initiatives at KASI are numerous and diverse. KASI-supported observations started in 1978 with a 61-cm reflecting telescope at the Sobaeksan Optical Astronomy Observatory (SOAO). From there, it expanded into radio astronomy, founding the Taeduk Radio Astronomy Observatory (TRAO) in 1985. TRAO continues to operate with a 14 meter millimeter-wave radio telescope. In 1996, Bohyunsan Optical Astronomy Observatory (BOAO) was opened with the largest optical telescope in the country and in 2009, South Korea moved to join the Giant Magellan Telescope initiative.

KVN Radio Telescope, Ulsan, South Korea. Photo courtesy of KASI.

KASI opened the 21st century with one of my favorite projects, the Korean VLBI Network KVN Group. Return visitors to this site may remember my obsession with the NRAO Very Long Baseline Array. A comparable scheme, KVN is the first Very Long Baseline Interferometer facility in Korea, consisting of three 21 meter radio telescopes, erected in Seoul-Yonsei University, Ulsan-Ulsan University, and Jeju-Tamna University. The maximum baseline length of the KVN is considerably shorter than that of the VLBA (compare 5,000 miles with the 480 km line between Seoul and Jeju).[3] However, KVN can be used in conjunction with Japanese and Chinese VLBI networks to form the East Asian VLBI network (EAVN), which is expected to be comparable to the VLBA in spatial resolution, sensitivity, and imaging fidelity.

This post really doesn’t have much to do with North Korea, does it? It’s wrong to envy their dark skies, I know, but it would be nice to have a decent view of the Milky Way for a change.
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[1] I. S. Nha, “Astronomy in Korea,” The Third Pacific Rim Conference on Recent Development on Binary Star Research. Proceedings of a conference sponsored by Chiang Mai University, Thai Astronomical Society and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln held in Chiang Mai, Thailand, 26 October -1 November 1995. ASP Conference Series, Vol. 130, 1997, ed. Kam-Ching Leung, p. 313.

[2] Ibid., 313. North Korea joined the IAU separately in 1961 (see proceedings from the IAU XIth General Assembly, Berkeley, 1961). For the record, the IAU reported that North Korea “may be opening up to the rest of the world” in the 2008 Informational Bulletin no. 102 (see p. 75).

[3] Kiyoaki Wajima, Hyun-Goo Kim, Seog-Tae Han, Duk-Gyoo Roh, Do-Heung Je, Se-Jin Oh, Seog-Oh Wi, and Korean VLBI Network Group, “Korean VLBI Network: the First Dedicated Mm-Wavelength VLBI Network in East Asia,” XXVIIIth General Assembly, International Union of Radio Science (URSI), New Delhi, October 2005.

Apollo 11 on the launch pad (LC-39A)

Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39 includes two pads, A & B. Although today they’re associated most frequently with the Space Shuttle program, they were designed originally for the massive Saturn V rockets used during the Apollo program. On November 9, 1967, Apollo 4 became the first rocket to launch from LC-39A. A total of twelve Saturn V rockets were sent up from that pad. In contrast, LC-39B saw only one Saturn V, the one used to launch Apollo 10 on  May 18, 1969. The Apollo 10 mission was a test drive of sorts, the last test mission before NASA made the final leap to the moon with Apollo 11.

Today’s wallpaper marks the launch of Apollo 11 on July 16, 1969. As with most big news events, everyone has a story to tell about the launch and lunar landing. My story is quite short, as I was only two years old at the time. I remember my father reaching out from where he was sitting in front of the television, lifting me onto his lap, and saying, “Watch this, Susie, this is important.” There are many other things he did and said that affected the way I live(d) my life, but I suspect that one moment determined more than either of us could have guessed at the time (especially me—what does a toddler know?).

Mars, Fourth Planet from the Sun. Image Credit: NASA

Today’s wallpaper image is probably an obvious choice.[1] We arrived in Florida yesterday for the Mars Science Laboratory launch, still scheduled for this Saturday. We spent today sorting out our credentials (two separate trips to Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex) and walking on the beach (two separate trips to Cocoa Beach). Tomorrow, we’re going back to KSCVC for the day (lunch with an astronaut, ice skating in the Rocket Garden?). Official NASATweetup events start at Kennedy Space Center Friday morning and run until 6:00 in the evening. There’s a lot on the agenda, including a tour of the Vehicle Assembly Building, so hopefully I’ll have some up-close-and-personal photos on my flickr site next week. If the launch goes as scheduled, I’ll be arriving at the NASATweetup viewing area sometime before 6:45 a.m. Wish me luck with that.

This seems like a good time to make a confession:  I don’t actually care about Curiosity’s official mission. The search for environments capable of sustaining life—in the past or future—isn’t what drives my interest in planetary exploration. I’m much more intrigued by the details of geological processes: what are the specificities of volcanic activity on Mars? How has Mars’ environment changed the nature of sedimentary rock formation? It would be interesting if there was (carbon based?) life on Mars at some point in the past, but “is there life out there?” doesn’t even make my top one hundred list of Questions To Which I Want To Know The Answer.

Click on the linked image to download the photo of Mars. It’s not quite wallpaper proportions, but if you fill in the rest of your desktop with a solid black background, it will look sweet!

[1] As an aside, every time I look at this image, I remember the night I made the mistake of studying Mars through our Meade DS-10 telescope. The retinal burn was tremendous; I saw an after-image of the planet with the polar ice cap for days afterward.

So, yes, I’m in the process of slowly acquiring the remainder of Frank K. Edmondson’s library, or at least the parts of that library that are relevant to my work in the history of astronomy and instruments. Many of the books are dated, of course, but still serve as good reminders of the extensive intellectual network required to support a global discipline like astronomy. Really, all you need is the name of a single individual working as an institutional astronomer or academic—an observatory, a university—and you have an entry point into the entire history of astronomy, not just in the United States, but in the world.

The most recent bit of proof of this assertion is Prof. Edmondson’s copy of A. I. Eremeeva’s Herschel’s Universe: Cosmological and Cosmogonic Ideas and Discoveries [Вселенная Гершеля: космологические и космогонические идеи и открытия] (Moscow: Science [Наук] Press, 1966). Inside the front cover of the book is a short, handwritten note from the author:

Inscription

Reading between the (few) lines, it would appear that Drs. Eremeeva and Edmondson met in Washington, D.C., sometime after the breakup of the Soviet Union. As a token of collegiality and possibly friendship, Dr. Eremeeva offered a copy of what must have been her first book, probably based on her doctoral work.[1]

Title page from A. I. Eremeeva, Herschel's Universe: Cosmological and Cosmogonic Ideas and Discoveries, 1966

It took a little more work than this kind of thing usually does, but I finally tracked down a few other examples of Dr. Eremeeva’s historical research. Most of it seems akin to what I’m doing here, although much more professional and thoroughly researched: writing the history of astronomy through a series of biographical essays. Her publications cover a long list of astronomers and their discoveries, many not well known to the average American (thanks, Cold War). It seems that many of her subjects had ties to Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory outside Saint Petersburg.[2] I’ve appended to the end of this post a few examples of her essays. One of them is English, so there’s something for everyone, particularly if everyone is in the mood to read about political purges of scientific communities. I should stress, this is only a partial list. If you run “Eremeeva, A. I.” or “Eremeeva, Alina Iosifovna” through the search query at the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Database, you’ll get at least 61 hits related to her work.

I haven’t been able to figure out Dr. Eremeeva’s precise connection to Pulkovo Astronomical Observatory. It’s her research interest, certainly, but her institutional affiliations all seem to be associated with Moscow, so I’m not sure how she connects up with the history of the St. Petersburg institution. I mention this because tucked inside the book she gave Prof. Edmondson was a souvenir card from Pulkovo.

Cover: "150 Years of the Main Astronomical Observatory of the Soviet Academy of Science in Pulkovo"

Inside: Image of Pulkovo Observatory, St. Petersburg, Russia

Clearly, I have more research to do. Look for another post on the topic one day soon.

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Works by A. I. Eremeeva, Ph.D. in Physics and Mathematics, Shternberg State Astronomical Institute, Moscow (А. И. Еремеева, кандидат физико-математических наук, Государственный астрономический институт им. П.К. Штернберга, Москва), listed in chronological order:

[Russian] “The Life and Work of Boris Petrovich Gerasimovich, on his 100th Birthday.” In Historical and Astronomical Research (Историко-астрономические исследования), Vol. 21 (1989): 253-301.

[English] “Political Repression and Personality: The History of Political Repression Against Soviet Astronomers.” Journal for the History of Astronomy. Vol. 26 (1995): 297-324.

[Russian] Astronomy at the Turn of the Twentieth Century. Pulkovo-Dubna: Phoenix Publishing Center, 1997.

[Russian] “Meteors, ‘Thunder Stones’ and the Paris Academy of Sciences before ‘The Court of History.’” Nature, No. 8 (2000).

[Russian] “Pioneer of National Physics, on the 150th birthday of academician A. A. Belopol’sky.” Bulletin of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Vol. 74, No. 6 (2004): 534-543.

[Russian] “175 years of the State Astronomical Institute of P. K. Shternberg, Moscow.” Nature, N0. 10 (2006).

[Russian] “The Troubled Genius of Ernst Chladni.” Nature, N0. 12 (2006).

[Russian] Giovanni Schiaparelli (1835-1910), On the his 175th Birthday and 100th Anniversary of his Death. Astronet (online) (2010).

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[1] This assumption might not be true, since she published a second book that same year, Outstanding Astronomers of the World [Выдающиеся астрономы мира], also with Science Press. These are the earliest volumes I could find, so possibly both grew from her doctoral work.

[2] Did you know that at one time, Pulkovo had the largest refracting telescope (30″) in the world? It was built by Alvan Clark & Sons, who also built the telescope at Lick Observatory that displaced Pulkovo as “world’s largest” in the 1880s.