After a long interval !
Starry Night for Pongal Holidays ! A Call of the Cosmos !
Bitterly cold today 19*C by 11 pm, turned 17*C early sunday morning, at Vembakkam no man's land, a serene country field, one of our usual dark sites for astrophotography and observations. This is a factual report of my astronomy activities: a sort of daily event writing: a record: a diary, for myself, my family members, my immediate and extended relatives, friends, neighbours, and society at large.
To be continued... after reaching home. Stop.
It was the Saturday 17th of January 2026, the last of the Pongal Days. After a long hibernation I joined Dr Suresh and Govindarajan at Ramencheri dark site, that no longer is so dark as it used to be a decade ago. Stray lights at the local farm lands of private people and distant background horizon luminence to the north, west and south has severely limited visual delight of the once dark site and scientific benefit from observations. Nevertheless astrophotography could be carried out, due to its technological capabilities like using different filters for cutting light pollution and brightness enhancement for DSO imaging. However much the same being done from cities and suburbs with filters, a remote utterly dark site, does enhance the order of magnitudes of fainter stars and objects captured, with the advantage of increasing order of darkness of an utterly dark site lest a high altitude site like Leh-Ladakh. Light pollution for visual astronomy is catastrophic.
On the 16th of January our small team was at Ramencheri near Tirutanni. It turned out into a severely cold and misty / foggy night. In the evening after reaching the site and having settled the telescopes we found the sky hazy.
To do any hobby and self absorbing activity in life, first of all, requires interest, a persistent purpose, a learning mind, knowledge, skill, passion and a directed will, focus into details, a supporting family, and above all money and a convenient mode of transport. But, the main factor in all this is that non-ambiguous consciousness of man: that spirit of the individual. His being ! HIs presence !
"Devotion is the daughter of Astronomy; the undevout astronomer is mad."
- Prof N Thiruvenkatacharya (in Popular Astronomy, 1952).
Astronomy is the only science that can be said to be spiritual, if science can be. It elevates the mind. It makes us "look above" ! It raises our consciousness to a higher level of perception ! It opens up scientific and philosophical debates of what nature is, what consciousness is, what is the meaning of all existence. Like the late Professor Stephen Hawking said, astronomy opens up questions like, "why should the universe go to all the bother of existing ? If we understand that, then we shall understand the mind of God !"
Amateur Astronomers are not mere star watchers, though star gazing is fascinating. Amateur Astronomy is not mere looking, and time passing in a good way. Its not even the expertise and demanding skill of Astrophotography.
Amateur Astronomers are a brand of people who have self-educated themselves, ever gaining valuable experience through constant interaction with others, they are educators and citizen science activists who enjoy the benefit of knowing and are interested in sharing it with others. They love to study, research, learn, and adapt to new technologies and new paradigms of thinking in the field.
No one knows exactly what kind of spin-offs a new technology or mastering a new technique may lead to. It affects a wider field of science including technological medicine and the science of medical imaging (Radiology). Algorithms and software techniques originally developed for space telescopes and astronomical image processing have been directly adapted and widely used in medical imaging, especially in: CT, MRI, PET, Ultrasound, Digital radiography. An example of the confluence of basic sciences and medicine: the late Ernest J Sternglass, emeritus professor of radiological physics at the University of Pittsburgh, holds thirteen patents in the areas of electronic imaging systems for nuclear medicine and astronomy. Certainly, there would be many more awaiting to be known.
The Amateur Astronomer of today is a mini-astrophysicist helping the duly qualified professional astronomers throughout the world. They are citizen scientists. There are Amateur organisations in the world that periodically publish valuable data for the professional astronomers to utilise. The increase in technology at affordable costs have reduced the gap between the professional and amateur scientists in this internet world of today. What is required, is a persistent purpose, perseverance and directed action to observe, learn, record, interact and publish.
Amateurs join together and go to do their field work in small and large groups. New people may join at times. Some might retire. Many may cease to come. But only the passionate and devoted sky watchers will endure in this race for the quest of the cosmos !
The severe haze limited our observations gravely. The Auriga open clusters were not conspicuous through even a 10x50 binoculars. Hazy, misty, foggy and cold. It made us roost in our cars switching on the heaters. Only Dr Suresh was able to take some exposures of the Boogeyman nebula (Lynds' Dark Nebula 1622) using his ASIAIR from his car after having set-up his equipment.
Nevertheless all was good. We packed and returned home with an experience afterall. Hope for clear skies next time.
Dark sites: Ramencheri & Vembakkam.
Constellations visible: Pegasus, Andromeda, Perseus, Cassiopeia, Orion Auriga, Canis Major, Minor, Gemini, Taurus, Leo, Virgo. Early morning Scorpious and Ophiuchus.
Seeing: ok; Transparency: Hazy. Planets: Jupiter and its satellites, conspicuous. Hazy nights are good for the planets not for DSOs except perhaps the Orion Nebula.
A couple of faint satellites in polar orbit and para polar orbits ! A wild squirrel like animal in the morning ! The usual soul stirring cries of birds and their erratic movements !
Specific observation: "Algol"
A note on Algol :
John Goodricke is renowned for his work on the variable star Algol (Beta Persei). He was the first to accurately determine its period of variability and, more importantly, propose the correct physical explanation: it is an eclipsing binary star system.
Citizen Science gives a scope of freedom and free thinking. The regular scientists in research laboratories and teaching institutions, who are great, but are nevertheless being held up with routine academic duties and therefore more stressed, tired, and beaten out. Fundamental discoveries in the sciences are born from elementary questionings of everyday events. Example: Newton and gravity. Einstein and relativity. Fundamental insights can occur to common people in all walks of life. But mostly they go unnoticed. Commonsense prevails where deductive reasoning fails. Simple observation and careful attention to details lead to discoveries and new inventions. An example:
John Goodricke's Contributions Regarding Algol:
Discovery of Periodicity: In 1782, at only 18 years old and working in collaboration with his neighbor Edward Pigott, Goodricke observed the regular dimming and brightening of Algol. He calculated its period to be just under 3 days (modern value is about 2.87 days), establishing that some variable stars are periodic in nature, a significant advance over previous observations.
The Eclipsing Binary Theory: Goodricke suggested that the star's changes in brightness were caused by a "dark body," potentially a planet, passing in front of it and causing a partial eclipse. This was a revolutionary idea at the time, as the existence of other binary stars was unconfirmed. The prevailing theory among other astronomers was that the variations were due to starspots.
Scientific Recognition: Goodricke presented his findings to the Royal Society, earning him the prestigious Copley Medal in 1783.
Confirmation: Goodricke's eclipsing binary theory was eventually confirmed through spectroscopic analysis a century later by astronomer Hermann Carl Vogel in 1889.
The Legacy
Goodricke, who was profoundly deaf from a young age, died at the age of 21, just a few days after being elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. His work on Algol and other variable stars (such as Delta Cephei, the prototype of Cepheid variables) laid the foundation for the study of stellar evolution and distance measurement in modern astronomy.
Will report next time ! Till then, good bye.
Anand.
PS: Here’s a curated list of medical doctors (and medically trained people) who made serious contributions to physics, astronomy, geology, or Earth sciences, in the spirit of Henry Draper, Donald Parker, James Parkinson, Velikovsky, and others.
🌌 Astronomy & Astrophysics:-
🌌 Dr. Henry Draper (1837–1882)
Profession: Medical doctor (MD), physiologist.
Contribution: Pioneer of astrophotography.
First photograph of a stellar spectrum (Vega).
The Henry Draper Catalogue is foundational to stellar spectroscopy.
🌌 Dr. Donald H. Parker (1905–1993)
Profession: Medical doctor (MD), radiologist.
Contribution: World-famous planetary astrophotographer.
Produced some of the best Mars images before spacecraft era.
Discovered Mars surface features later confirmed by probes.
🌌 Dr. William Huggins (1824–1910) (medical training background).
Profession: Trained in medicine, did not practice.
Contribution: Founder of astronomical spectroscopy.
First to measure radial velocities of stars.
Proved nebulae could be gaseous.
🌌 Dr. John William Draper (1811–1882) (Henry Draper’s father).
Profession: Physician, chemist.
Contribution: Early astrophotography (Moon).
Discovered Draper’s law in photochemistry.
Important bridge between chemistry, physics, and astronomy.
🌍 Earth Sciences, Geology & Paleontology:-
🌍 Dr. James Parkinson (1755–1824).
Profession: Physician, surgeon.
Contribution: Founder of modern paleontology.
Founder member: Royal Society of Geology.
Wrote “Organic Remains of a Former World”
Also described Parkinson’s disease.
🌍 Dr. Gideon Mantell (1790–1852).
Profession: Physician.
Contribution: Discovered Iguanodon.
Early dinosaur paleontologist.
Major contributor to stratigraphy and fossil studies.
🌍 Dr. William Buckland (1784–1856) (theology + medical-style natural philosophy training).
Profession: Clergyman with medical-naturalist training.
Contribution: First scientific description of a dinosaur (Megalosaurus).
Major work in geology and paleontology.
🌋 Geophysics, Earth History & Controversial Thinkers:-
🌋 Dr. Immanuel Velikovsky (1895–1979).
Profession: Medical doctor (MD), psychiatrist.
Contribution: Proposed catastrophic planetary encounters.
Works: Worlds in Collision, Earth in Upheaval,
Ages in Chaos, Mankind in Amnesia, etc.,
Highly controversial, but influential in catastrophism debates.
Stimulated interdisciplinary thinking between astronomy, geology, and history.
🌋 Dr. Alfred Wegener (1880–1930) (not a physician, but worth mentioning).
Profession: Meteorologist (included for comparison).
Contribution: Continental drift theory.
Later confirmed by plate tectonics.
⚛️ Physics, Biophysics & Instrumentation:-
Dr. Hermann von Helmholtz (1821–1894).
Profession: Medical doctor, physiologist.
Contribution: Laws of conservation of energy,
Optics, acoustics, electrodynamics.
Designed instruments used in physics & astronomy.
⚛️ Dr. Thomas Young (1773–1829).
Profession: Physician.
Contribution: Wave theory of light.
Young’s double-slit experiment.
Elasticity (Young’s modulus).
Also worked on Egyptology (!)
⚛️ Dr. Jean Bernard Léon Foucault (1819–1868) (medical training exposure).
Profession: Began medical studies.
Contribution: Measured speed of light.
Foucault pendulum (Earth’s rotation).
Innovations in telescope mirrors.
🔭 Medical Professionals as Amateur–Professional Astronomers:-
🔭 Dr. Williamina Fleming (not a doctor, but medical assistant background).
Important for classification of stellar spectra (Harvard).
🔭 Dr. Brian May (modern example).
Profession: PhD in astrophysics, but trained originally in science.
Contribution: Zodiacal dust and radial velocities.
And many more international, national citizen science activists, from all walks of life, who have contributed and involved much more profoundly in this cause of Universe Awareness in our daily lives.
Thank-you once again.
Dr V Anand.
