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Astronomers Find the Calmest Place On Earth
The Narrative Fallacy writes "Live Science reports that astronomers in search of the perfect site to take pictures of the heavens have combined data from satellites, ground stations and climate models in a study to assess the many factors that affect image quality — cloud cover, temperature, sky-brightness, water vapor, wind speeds and atmospheric turbulence. They have pinpointed the coldest, driest, calmest place on earth, known simply as Ridge A, 13,297 feet high on the Antarctic Plateau. 'It's so calm that there's almost no wind or weather there at all,' says study leader Will Saunders, of the Anglo-Australian Observatory. 'The astronomical images taken at Ridge A should be at least three times sharper than at the best sites currently used by astronomers.' Located within the Australian Antarctic Territory, the site is 89 miles from the PLATO (PLATeau Observatory) international robotic observatory. The new site would be superior to the best existing observatories on high mountain tops in Hawaii and Chile, Saunders says. 'Because the sky there is so much darker and drier, it means that a modestly-sized telescope would be as powerful as the largest telescopes anywhere else on earth.'"
It's also in the Middle of Nowhere. So getting to it is going to be very expensive.
Anyhow, we're on to you, Mr. I'm-extraordinarily-antisocial Astronomer. We are not going to support your social avoidance issues with a multimillion dollar playpen. Just take your meds!
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Isn't that where the second Stargate resides?
Hey..I can see my house from here.
Quick, before anyone else can, let's raise some venture capital and build a few resorts there.
The commercial practically writes itself!
Ridge A villas, your ticket to paradise on earth!*
*Ridge A Villas is not responsible for hypothermia, loss of limbs due to gangrene, or Abominable Snowman attacks. Any lawsuit filed against Ridge A Villas must be filed in Antarctica county district court jurisdiction within 90 hours of the incident.
Could someone convert that into a number the rest of the world understands?
Except for the fact that it's in fucking Antarctica? I think the researchers currently in Hawaii would be pretty annoyed to have to move. :-)
It's rare that you're presented with a knob whose only two positions are Make History and Flee Your Glorious Destiny.
...the danger of fire is very low - take note, Mount Wilson Observatory!
1331461 is only semiprime *sigh* Alas - I am just short of 1337.
But what about Vatican City and Liechtenstein?
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Oh, so that's where they're hiding...
Waltz, nymph, for quick jigs vex Bud.
Oh, give me a home where the penguins roam
And the frigid astronomers play
Where seldom is heard a single word
And the skies are not cloudy all day
How often at night when the heavens are bright
With the light from the glittering stars
Have I stood there amazed and asked as I gazed
If their glory exceeds that of ours
Home, home on Ridge A
And the frigid astronomers play
Where seldom is heard a single word
And the skies are not cloudy all day
Where the air is so pure, the zephyrs so free
The breezes so calm and light
That I would not exchange my home on Ridge A
For all of the cities so bright
Aw, the solitude's not so bad. The guy you really gotta feel sorry for is the midget they crammed inside the Hubble to draw everything he saw and drop the pictures back to Earth, message-in-a-bottle style.
I just love it when people pronounce as impossible something that's been happening for two years...
So there are cows on the moon now?
No weather at all? Wonder what those people will talk about:
- God it's so nothing out there!
- You tell me, I've been out there the whole morning! I can't stand this nothingness anymore...
- Hey, have you seen the snow today? It's kind of yellower today isn't it?
Funny you mention "love" because there's no women on the moon, or on that ridge in Antarctica, which is a major drawback of accepting either of those jobs. Oh wait. It's just like my current job.
Don't worry - either place will be so cold that you'll need your ID to tell which sex you are.
The absence of women will just mean not to have to contend with PMS on a regular basis.
We're all born with nothing.
If you die in debt, you're ahead.
...because now that it's set a record, it will be full of tourists.
Doesn't that just suggest that polar bears love to eat penguins?