WHAT,' you might ask, 'is the end product of all this reading, observation, note-taking and reflection'' The answer, of course, is 'none.' There is no end product, but rather, an emergent awareness that grows exponentially and magnifies your powers of thought and reason.As humans, our physical growth stops between late-teens and twenties, whereas the capacity for intellectual growth terminates only with senility and/or death. That's because intellectual activity is a critically important survival asset, both for the individual and the group.I am reminded, in this regard, of the British intellectual (I think it was the novelist, Evelyn Waugh), who refused to take painkillers or sedatives as he was expiring. Death, he explained, was his last intellectual experience and he wanted to be fully conscious of it.Waugh (if indeed it was him) knew very well that anything he learned while dying would be of no 'practical benefit.' But he was not thinking of himself. His gesture was symbolic'an affirmation, to the living, of the value of intellectual activity, of learning for learning sake.Learning, therefore, has its own rewards. The brain, like your muscles, need exercise and the more it gets, the better it functions. Conversely, the more you cater to your emotional needs, through overdoses or religion, television and sport, the less effectively it functions.In the introductory chapters to many astronomy texts, the student is cautioned that he or she cannot bluff their way through the course, any more than they can meet the challenge by relying on rote memory. Astronomy requires and promotes mental agility.There are, to be sure, emotional rewards. Among them, are the sheer beauty of red, blue and white stars dazzling against the black velvet background of the night sky and the excitement of seeing a comet or fireball arching over the horizon.Your approach to visual astronomy will, in the final analysis, depend on the gratification you are seeking. Ideally though, the amateur astronomer should have a healthy and well balanced diet of both intellectual and emotional nourishments.As I have noted earlier, these mental nutrients can be obtained from many sources'not least among them, the firmament itself. But as I have also advised, the amateur no longer needs to limit his recreational and learning activity to the celestial sphere.There is, at his disposal, a visual cornucopia, an enormous bounty of alternative viewing opportunities. I will start with astronomical blogs, because it was my visit to one of these sites that provided the inspiration for this serial.Specifically, the idea crystallised during my happenstance navigation to the website of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics'a famous astronomical observatory in Manchester England, United Kingdom.British astronomer, Ian Morison, whose name you may recognise from BBC science broadcasts'posts an excellent blog, which he updates monthly. It consists of extensively annotated astronomical images (35 this month), plus graphic illustrations.'This page...,' Morison explains, in his introduction, 'will let you know some of the things that you can look out for in the night sky. It lists the phases of the Moon, where you will see the naked-eye planets and describes some of the prominent constellations in the night sky during the month.''To be continued
Click here to read full news..
