Ken Tapping, December 09, 2009

During 2009, the International Year of Astronomy, I have had the fun of participating in a number of community initiatives. The latest was working with the local museum in Penticton to set up an exhibit to explore the changing ways in which we perceive our universe. There are three main threads to the story: the evolution of the optical telescope, developments in radio telescope technology, and the changing human involvement in astronomy.

The most important optical telescope in the exhibit is a replica of the instrument used by Galileo to make his earthshaking observations. Considering the crudity of Galileo's telescope, it is amazing what he achieved with it. To show how this important astronomical tool evolved since Galileo, there is one dating from Victorian days, one used by the US Navy in World War 2, and the sort of telescope used by modern amateur astronomers. However the one that really captures the eye is a masterpiece of polished and lacquered brass and varnished wood. Somehow the hand of the craftsman in making a telescope or other precision instrument adds a special spice to using it.

Even though radio astronomy started in the 1930's, the real impetus developed in the years following WW II. It was driven by wartime developments in radio and radar, and the huge availability of surplus equipment when the war was over. This was certainly how radio astronomy began in Canada. One of Canada's very first radio astronomical observations, made in November 1946 is included in the exhibit. It was well into the 1950's before radio astronomers reached the limits of what could be achieved with wartime electronics and antennas. Just as stunning is the technical progress made since. For example, there is a WW II radar amplifier that was used later as part of a radio telescope. With it is a modern amplifier. The WW II amplifier would fit into a shoe box; the modern amplifier would fit in a matchbox.

Then of course there is the human fascination with the sky, which involves astronomy, religion, art, culture and just plain curiosity. Almost certainly our ancestors, sitting around their fires, must have looked up and wondered. Civilizations used astronomy to drive calendars. The Mayan calendar is demonstrated at the exhibit, together with the explanation that the calendar does not end on the winter solstice, 2012, and the world probably won't either.

The exhibit includes three desks: the desk Galileo might have worked at, with parchments and sketches, the desk of a radio astronomer as it would have been in the 1950's, when the analysis was done by hand, using paper charts, slide rules and planimeters, and a modern astronomer's desk, with a computer and data analysis software. Things have changed a lot. That exhibit is still open and well worth a visit.