Comments on: A Question of Design http://www.slackerastronomy.org/wordpress/2007/10/a-question-of-design/ If you aren't going to care about something, may as well not care about astronomy Thu, 04 Dec 2008 01:56:08 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: bethkatz17582 http://www.slackerastronomy.org/wordpress/2007/10/a-question-of-design/#comment-165625 bethkatz17582 Sun, 07 Oct 2007 13:14:36 +0000 http://www.slackerastronomy.org/wordpress/index.php/archive/a-question-of-design/#comment-165625 From the ground, I don't know how a casual observer would distinguish the artificial satellites from small, swift natural satellites such as Mars's Phobos that orbits in 7 hours. But they are generally not orbiting in the ecliptic plane, so they would betray themselves by being more wandering than the natural wanderers. When I see the space station going by, I'm awed by the thought that there are people living up there. When I see the satellites, I don't think of war - I think of exploration and science. From the ground, I don’t know how a casual observer would distinguish the artificial satellites from small, swift natural satellites such as Mars’s Phobos that orbits in 7 hours. But they are generally not orbiting in the ecliptic plane, so they would betray themselves by being more wandering than the natural wanderers.

When I see the space station going by, I’m awed by the thought that there are people living up there. When I see the satellites, I don’t think of war - I think of exploration and science.

]]> By: dougwelch http://www.slackerastronomy.org/wordpress/2007/10/a-question-of-design/#comment-165232 dougwelch Fri, 05 Oct 2007 00:49:17 +0000 http://www.slackerastronomy.org/wordpress/index.php/archive/a-question-of-design/#comment-165232 This post reminds me of an art piece I saw in Cambridge, Ontario not too many years ago. The artist was visiting Papua New Guinea and speaking with someone who lived away from the city. That person asked him "Why do some stars run?" The artist thought about how they should answer - the business about the Cold War, the space race, the development of ICBMs etc. He decided that no reasonable person unfamiliar with it would believe it, so he answered "I don't know." I wish that I remembered the artist's name! This post reminds me of an art piece I saw in Cambridge, Ontario not too many years ago. The artist was visiting Papua New Guinea and speaking with someone who lived away from the city. That person asked him "Why do some stars run?" The artist thought about how they should answer - the business about the Cold War, the space race, the development of ICBMs etc. He decided that no reasonable person unfamiliar with it would believe it, so he answered "I don’t know."

I wish that I remembered the artist’s name!

]]>