Why are people not so interested in Astronomy?

[Cosmobrain]

Hello guys. Well, I'd like to share an article I wrote about that. I really felt like I had to write this

 

https://medium.com/astronomy-cosmology-space-exploration/cd70cb8cb68f

 

Feel free to tell me what you think, if you agree or not and why. advertising link removed

 

It kinda saddens me that most people are too ignorant about the big stuff out there

[ajb]

Really you should post part of your article here, just the main conclusions maybe. Simply linking to documents and other websites in the way you have is not how we like to do things here. So, give us a little more to go on here.

[Cosmobrain]

Ok, I'll sum it up.

 

1- Space isn't accessible

2- Big Numbers

3- It usually doesn't benefit us

4- Astronomy education could be better

5- light pollution in big cities.

 

If you can think of something else, keep listing.

[Spyman]

Hello guys. Well, I'd like to share an article I wrote about that. I really felt like I had to write this

When I click on the link it says:

 

There is a problem with this website's security certificate.

 

The security certificate presented by this website was not issued by a trusted certificate authority.

 

Security certificate problems may indicate an attempt to fool you or intercept any data you send to the server.

 

I am NOT going to continue to your article, sorry.

[ajb]

1- Space isn't accessible

This depends on what you mean. Today we have lots of access to images and data from space probes, telescopes and so on. The web has made all this much more open.

 

And of course you can use your naked eye, binoculars or telescope...but this links into your number 5.

 

2- Big Numbers

Sure there are lots of big numbers in astronomy,eg. the radius of the observable Universe, the number stars in the Milkyway and so on. But does this really put people off? I know that such numbers can be hard to really appreciate, but I think this adds to the fascination.

 

3- It usually doesn't benefit us

At a personal level any education benefits the individual. Wider than that we have many spin-off technologies from fundamental science and astronomy.

 

4- Astronomy education could be better

Agreed.

 

5- light pollution in big cities.

This can be a problem, however if you restrict yourself to the major planets, the Moon and the Sun then you have less problems. Finding faint smudges in your telescope in a bright city is nearly impossible, but some things are still visible.

[Cosmobrain]

When I click on the link it says:

 

There is a problem with this website's security certificate.

 

The security certificate presented by this website was not issued by a trusted certificate authority.

 

Security certificate problems may indicate an attempt to fool you or intercept any data you send to the server.

 

I am NOT going to continue to your article, sorry.

Web browsers do that all the time. You can see that it is a link to Medium.com . It is just a website where you can write and publish your stuff

[Spyman]

Web browsers do that all the time...

And sometimes when you go further you will hit a mine. I don't want to disrupt this thread with a discussion about internet security, but I am simply not desperate enough to read your article to take the chance as it is right now, your bait is far to weak.

(Also if medium.com is a good and safe site then they should really fix such issues for their costumers.)

 

If you want a good discussion and not only draw traffic to your article and other stuff, then I think ajb's advise is to be followed. If it's your own work then I don't see any problem with you sharing an interesting part of it here, maybe a short chapter or the introduction.

 

IMHO your current summation is not telling us much at all.

[imatfaal]

!

Moderator Note

 

Bonefart

 

Our rules state inter alia that:

Links, pictures and videos in posts should be relevant to the discussion, and members should be able to participate in the discussion without clicking any links or watching any videos.

 

So a bit more of a clue about your ideas - ie more than a brief list - will be required before this thread can progress

 

[Ophiolite]

I'd like to challenge the premise. On what basis do you say people are not interested in astronomy? How interested do you think they should be? Judging by the space devoted to subjects in the second hand book shops I frequent, astronomy is the most popular of science subjects, narrowly beating out evolution.

 

We might lament the fact that more people are interested in football, or basketball, or who Paris Hilton is sleeping with, but that may be because we are interested in science. So, I can agree that people are not so interested in science, but not that this is especially true of astronomy.

[swansont]

Ophiolite beat me to it. Of the physical sciences, it seems to me that astronomy is the most accessible to people. All they have to do is look up at night to make a connection, and there is so much out there to talk about. There are astronomy and cosmology blogs and twitter feeds that are insanely popular.

 

Not being able to go to space isn't an impediment, IMO, nor is being an astronomer a requirement to be an astronaut. Astronomy is often discussed as a gateway science, because it IS accessible and leads into many interesting aspects of physics. Done right it can hook them into a lifelong interest in science.

[ajb]

Of the physical sciences, it seems to me that astronomy is the most accessible to people.

I am always a bit jealous of astronomers as they have a much easier time popularising their work with talks aimed at the general public. First, people are interested and we all have some idea of what a star is...

[swansont]

I am always a bit jealous of astronomers as they have a much easier time popularising their work with talks aimed at the general public. First, people are interested and we all have some idea of what a star is...

 

Same with me. The amount of information coming from observatories both on the ground and in orbit is staggering. Tons of raw material from which to choose.

[Dekan]

Perhaps we should make a distinction, between an interest in Astronomy in a kind of general sense, and actually going out to look at the stars in the night sky. In big cities, the night sky these days gets washed out by light-pollution. (This is point 5 in Bonefarts #3). Nowadays, more and more people are city-dwellers. This denies them the opportunity to see the patterns of the constellations.

 

It was easier in the past. I grew up in a small English country town, where the street-lights got turned off at midnight! Then you could see the stars in their full glory.. This made it possible to trace out the outlines of the constellations, even down to their faintest stars. So you could see all the outlying stars in Ursa Major, not just the obvious ones in the Plough. And make out such obscure patterns as the Lynx. I got great pleasure from learning the constellations, with the aid of a trusty childhood guide - Patrick Moore's "The Boy's Book of Astronomy" which even today has a fond place on my bookshelves.

 

It seems obvious to me, that a knowledge of, and familiarity, with the night-sky, is a lifelong benefit. Both to the mind, and the emotions. Especially as the seasons progress - how good it is to see earnest Orion rising above the horizon as Winter approaches! To contemplate proud Leo in the Spring, To see lovely blue,Lyrical Vega, high overhead in Summer skies. And, even in more barren Autumn, the Square of Pegasus, and use 7 X 50 bins to glimpse and ponder on M.31, on the corner of Andromeda where two constellations jostle in anomaly.

 

Yet all this doesn't seem to appeal to most people. Some may take, as I said, a general interest. But how many people have a real fascination with the stars?

 

I remember when I got my first astronomical telescope. It was a poor crude job - 47mm non-achromatic OG, with single-element "Kepler" eyepiece, giving narrow field, and magnification about 20X. Yet the view it gave of the Pleiades star-cluster, blew my mind. "Look at this!" I said excitedly to my friend, who squinted briefly through the scope, but was unimpressed and uninterested. That puzzled and disturbed me, and still does.

[BearOfNH]

Nowadays you can see all the interesting stuff right on the internet. But isn't it more fascinating to see stuff thru a telescope instead? Regrettable in a way, since I got so many trees all around my night sky view is quite limited.

[Cosmobrain]

This depends on what you mean. Today we have lots of access to images and data from space probes, telescopes and so on. The web has made all this much more open.

I was talking about going to space. If you at least read my article on medium you'd know what I was talking about

[swansont]

I was talking about going to space. If you at least read my article on medium you'd know what I was talking about

 

Like I said, those are astronauts, not astronomers. Your article is mis-titled.

[Cosmobrain]

 

Like I said, those are astronauts, not astronomers. Your article is mis-titled.

If more people were able to go to space, then there would be more astronauts. If there were more astronauts there would be more people interested in space. Or in Astronomy.

[ajb]

If more people were able to go to space, then there would be more astronauts. If there were more astronauts there would be more people interested in space. Or in Astronomy.

Is that really the case? I mean lots of people fly in airplanes, but how many of them are interested in atmospheric physics? Lots of people use boats to cross the seas, how many of them are interested in oceanography?

[Ophiolite]

Nailed it. Nothing more need be said.

 

(Oops! I just said something more.)

Edited March 6, 2014 by Ophiolite

[Cosmobrain]

Nailed it. Nothing more need be said.

 

(Oops! I just said something more.)

Well, thank you.

 

@ajb

Haha, i get your point. But the Universe is different. I believe people HAVE to know the Big Bang theory, to know our place in the Universe...

All these examples you mentioned are secondary stuff.

[ajb]

But the Universe is different. I believe people HAVE to know the Big Bang theory, to know our place in the Universe...

You are right, but you have presupposed that people are interested in knowing our place in the Universe, which brings us back to your opening comments.

[Ophiolite]

Well, thank you.

 

@ajb

Haha, i get your point. But the Universe is different. I believe people HAVE to know the Big Bang theory, to know our place in the Universe...

All these examples you mentioned are secondary stuff.

My nailed it comment was directed at the immediately preceding post by ajb. My position on the matter remains unchanged from my post #9.

[orogenicman]

I am a newbie to the science forum, so hi everyone. I would like to add to this discussion by mentioning that I am a board member of the Louisville astronomical Society (LAS), in Louisville, Kentucky. Recently, our society was honored with Astronomy Magazine's "Out Of This World" Award for 2013. We were given this award for our public outreach efforts in our community and region. I mention this because I disagree that people are not interested in Astronomy. The LAS hosted 96 events last year that attracted 6,053 astronomy enthusiasts, many of which were first-timers. So the interest is certainly there at least in my community. It just takes the efforts of volunteers like our members to get people involved. The effort has been very rewarding for all involved. People don't need to have physical access to space to become interested in astronomy. They just need to have access to dark skies, access to good scopes, and informed members to answer their questions. And that's what we try to give them.

[imatfaal]

Hi Orogenicman - nice to hear concrete evidence that astronomy is alive and well! and welcome. They have just started turning the street lights off at midnight in my neighbourhood and although London still fills half the sky with orange the views of the star-scape are vastly improved. I am still willing to wager that the skies over Louisville (is that as in slugger? ) are much darker and less polluted by light and other stuff than London suburbs.

[Dekan]

Let's face it - only a minority of Intelligent people is interested in astronomy. Sadly, the majority of the population isn't. No amount of well-meaning "access to dark skies, access to good scopes, and informed members to answer their questions", can ever enlighten them. They'd rather sit in front of their TV's and watch mindless stuff like the "X-Factor" or "American Idol".

 

Such people are a lost cause, and it's sheer waste of time trying to make them interested in Astronomy. Or Science in general. They really don't want to know. All they're interested in is beer and copulation.

 

This is a hard fact to accept. But it's been known throughout history. Which is why the Ancient Greeks invented the term "Philosopher", ie "lover of wisdom". They did that to distinguish elite "scientists", from the masses, who couldn't care less. And that still holds true today. Just try having an intelligent conversation about astronomy, or science, with most people you meet in everyday life. The dumb hicks don't know what you're talking about.

 

Thank goodness for an elite refuge like SFN!