Monday, July 16, 2007
Truth is Stranger Than Fiction, continuing...
Small story in Saturday's NYT, a humongous new telescope opens for business, Noteworthy only to astronomy nerds like me, if not for this:
Among those in La Palma for the opening was Brian May, the lead guitarist of Queen, the pop group. He did part of his doctoral studies in astrophysics at the Canary Islands Astrophysics Institute.
[...]
Mr. May, who recently published “Bang! The Complete History of the Universe” with two astronomers, Patrick Moore and Chris Lintott, said that he was adding the finishing touches to a musical score for the telescope’s inauguration next year.
Very impressive. All he needs to master now is Nascar and neurosurgery to be like this guy.
Of course, a Texas telescope is still bigger:
The Great Canary Telescope [34-foot mirror] is among the world’s largest telescopes. [...] The Hobby-Eberly Telescope, which has a 36-foot mirror, is located at the McDonald Observatory in West Texas.
