http://noisyastronomer.com/2009/06/23/dr-seti-and-cosmic-carl/ Sun, 20 May 2012 14:55:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 http://noisyastronomer.com/2009/06/23/dr-seti-and-cosmic-carl/#comment-364 James C. Wallace II Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:00:51 +0000 http://astronoise.wordpress.com/?p=461#comment-364 I had the distinction of working by Carl Sagan's side during the Voyager Fly-by of Neptune/Triton/Nereid in August of 1989. I had been invited by Gene Shoemaker to Cal-Tech for the Conference on Solar System Exploration which coincided with the Voyager event. I had been involved with the TAU (Thousand Astronimcal Units) program which has sinced morphed into the Far Horizon's Spacecraft/program and now finds itself enroute to Pluto. As a result, I found myself with a blue tag, standing next to Ed Stone and Carl Sagan as a guest during the fly-by. It was 48 hours of WOW!!!! And I even asked Dan Quayle a question at his press conference that his answer to is still quoted today as one of the silliest answers ever to an astronomical question. Carl Sagan was, shall we say, somewhat arrogant and self-centered, but quite brilliant at public astronomy and getting "da common folk" (as he put it) to understand stuff. My one annoyance was that when he passed away, it was front page, stop-the-presses kind of event, yet when Clyde Tombaugh passed away months later, 1 paragraph on the back of section B of our crappy little paper. I thought Clyde did more than Carl (who NEVER discovered a planet; That's right, I said PLANET!) and I had the honor of working with him as well. I even looked at Pluto one night with him. What a hoot! Anyway, Carl Sagan had his moments, but I did try to emulate, with some success, his style of public astronomy and outreach. I had the distinction of working by Carl Sagan’s side during the Voyager Fly-by of Neptune/Triton/Nereid in August of 1989. I had been invited by Gene Shoemaker to Cal-Tech for the Conference on Solar System Exploration which coincided with the Voyager event. I had been involved with the TAU (Thousand Astronimcal Units) program which has sinced morphed into the Far Horizon’s Spacecraft/program and now finds itself enroute to Pluto. As a result, I found myself with a blue tag, standing next to Ed Stone and Carl Sagan as a guest during the fly-by. It was 48 hours of WOW!!!! And I even asked Dan Quayle a question at his press conference that his answer to is still quoted today as one of the silliest answers ever to an astronomical question.
Carl Sagan was, shall we say, somewhat arrogant and self-centered, but quite brilliant at public astronomy and getting “da common folk” (as he put it) to understand stuff.
My one annoyance was that when he passed away, it was front page, stop-the-presses kind of event, yet when Clyde Tombaugh passed away months later, 1 paragraph on the back of section B of our crappy little paper. I thought Clyde did more than Carl (who NEVER discovered a planet; That’s right, I said PLANET!) and I had the honor of working with him as well. I even looked at Pluto one night with him. What a hoot!
Anyway, Carl Sagan had his moments, but I did try to emulate, with some success, his style of public astronomy and outreach.

]]> http://noisyastronomer.com/2009/06/23/dr-seti-and-cosmic-carl/#comment-363 KE Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:45:16 +0000 http://astronoise.wordpress.com/?p=461#comment-363 I had Astronomy 102 with Carl Sagan at Cornell in the spring of 1975. It was a tremendous experience. He was a regular on the Tonight show, Cosmos was about to begin, and he was a rock star professor. I remember him telling us that in all of human history, now was the most exciting time to be alive, because it was during our lifetime that we would learn whether life existed elsewhere in the universe. It is a tragedy that he did not live to see is prophesy fulfilled. I had Astronomy 102 with Carl Sagan at Cornell in the spring of 1975. It was a tremendous experience. He was a regular on the Tonight show, Cosmos was about to begin, and he was a rock star professor. I remember him telling us that in all of human history, now was the most exciting time to be alive, because it was during our lifetime that we would learn whether life existed elsewhere in the universe. It is a tragedy that he did not live to see is prophesy fulfilled.

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