I don't want to give the impression that UCF is a bad place to study Astronomy, by the way. They do not offer a major for it, only a minor, but by all indications the faculty is working hard to make a fine planetary astronomy program. The school does offer a Physics major, and those interested in Astronomy probably take the Physics major and fill that out with the Astronomy minor (and hence why the school generally doesn't bother with the AST lab mentioned in the previous post - most of their students are already taking Physics II and it's lab, so few students were signing up for the AST lab).
In fact, UCF researchers have applied for and gotten themselves rather a large share of time on the Spitzer Space Telescope as referenced here on the UCF News & Information Page. The school also has its own observatory, the Robinson Observatory, with "a 20" Ritchie Chretien Telescope" which was just installed within the last year to replace an older, smaller telescope.
They are currently running several very interesting research projects with the Space Research Initiative, JPL, the National Science Foundation, and of course NASA, as it is practically next door. I'm looking forward to getting into the more serious classes (and, admittedly, a little terrified). Hope they don't mind an English major mucking about and getting in the way. At this rate I'd be happy to sweep the floors and run for coffee if I could just be close to the research looking at or for extrasolar planets!
I'm pretty close to being able to get into the Astronomy class that I want in the Fall semester - at a different college. Maybe I've mentioned before the oddity that UCF offers Intro to Astronomy (AST 2002, at least at UCF) but they don't offer the lab... ever... or at least not anytime in the past or next couple of years. But the lab is kinda sorta required for my Astronomy minor - I could get around this requirement by taking the Physics II lab, of course, but that, you see, would mean that I was taking Physics II. (Do. Not. Want.) Yes, I understand that my whining permits were all revoked when I got that B in Physics I, but it was extremely painful and required a huge amount of help from my beloved, and is an experience that I do not wish to repeat, much less amplify.
So, I am attempting to take Intro and the lab at the other local community college (Seminole Community College) because they are the only place that offers the lab. They also have a cute little planetarium where they do shows on the weekend and for student field trips. Anyway, my transient student form has been approved by the hundred or so (by which I mean three) people through whom it had to pass by at UCF. Now I am waiting on a single approval from the registrar at SCC. Come on dude, or dudette... don't leave me hanging!
That's right, I'm here with the funny... or not.
Here, have a link to a nifty blog article I rather enjoyed by Greta Christina. There's some sex stuff on the page, so be aware of where you are if you go take a peek... I haven't spoken overmuch about being an atheist here so far, but I think this piece sums up nicely something I've tried to articulate in my head from time to time. There doesn't have to be a plan or a purpose or an end game for this life for it to be a joyous experience, at least for some of us. Just the mere existence of the universe is amazing enough.
I think my first moment of "atheist transcendence" came while listening to the audio book of Richard Dawkin's God Delusion. It's in the section "Why there almost certainly is no god" regarding the anthropic principle. (From Wikipedia: "In other words, the only universe we can see is one that supports life. If it were a different type of universe, we would not exist to see it.") Page 138, here's the bit that struck and filled me with a sense of joy and awe that we, that anyone, that the entire universe exists... (emphasis mine).
"If the odds of life originating spontaneously on a planet were a billion to one against, nevertheless that stupefyingly improbable event would still happen on a billion planets. The chance of finding any one of those billion life-bearing planets recalls the proverbial needle in a haystack. But we don't have to go out of our way to find a needle because (back to the anthropic principle) any beings capable of looking must necessarily be sitting on one of those prodigiously rare needles before they even start the search."
And here we are. :)
The Discovery launch was fantastic! I've watched launches from my yard and workplaces for almost 20 years now but nothing compares to being seven miles away, just across the water and seeing it lift off. I was awestruck. It made me cry... Here's a very nice image of the lift off from NASA. Once we get the video off of the camera I will post it here. The day couldn't have turned out better for a launch. The skies were clear, only wisps of clouds. It was bloody hot, but we brought chairs and sunscreen and lots of water.
The observation site isn't as bad as I had feared. Porto-potties are never great, but at least there was something and they did have hand washing stations, which I didn't expect. They had also set up some tents with seating underneath, but obviously not enough for everyone. Then they had several drink carts and tents with hamburgers, hotdogs, drinks and snacks. We weren't interested in braving the food, though. The hamburgers we got from one of the carts back at the visitor's center was so revolting that I'll never be able to eat one again.
The new IMAX movie they're showing at the visitor's center is very good as well, though, you know, it's a little disconcerting to listen to Tom Cruise narrate about the joys of three men crammed into a small cockpit together... ah, nevermind. Anyway, the new movie is about the building of the International Space Station, filmed largely by the astronauts aboard the station and out on their spacewalks. It was just beautiful. We just had a really great day.
