Look up!

Natural History, Feb, 2005 by Kate Scholberg, Carolyn Porco

I greatly enjoyed Neil deGrasse Tyson's delightful article, "Ringside Seat" (10/04), which mentions my work on the Supernova Early Warning System (SNEWS) project. I have just two trivial corrections: first, I am now at Duke University, not at M.I.T., as mentioned in the article, and second, among the nine detectors mentioned, some are still in planning stages.

I would also like to add one important point: amateur astronomers (who are probably well represented among readers of Natural History) are an integral part of SNEWS. Because a neutrino burst can point only vaguely to a core collapse event, amateurs, with their worldwide viewing capabilities, may well be the first to pinpoint a supernova's location following a SNEWS alert. Information on how to sign up for a prompt neutrino-based alert can be found at the SNEWS Web site (snews.bnl.gov). I hope that some fortunate readers get the opportunity for ringside seats indeed!

Kate Scholberg

Duke University

Durham, North Carolina

The lessons in Neil deGrasse Tyson's article are best demonstrated in the exploration of the planets by robotic spacecrafts such as Voyager and Cassini.

Understanding the natural world often involves a detailed examination of a phenomenon, as well as the environment in which it resides--in other words, seeing the trees and the forest. Planetary explorers have done both for years. When photographing the moons in the outer solar system, Voyager carried both a narrow and a wide-angle camera, which enabled us to place high resolution images into wider geological contexts. Cassini carries two cameras for the same reason.

In 1989, when Voyager made close flybys of Neptune and Neptune's largest moon, Triton, the answers to our initial questions begot more questions. No longer were we asking how big Triton was, or how reflective its surface. Those questions were answered the minute we had the first resolved images of the moon. Instead, we could proceed to the next stage, and ask about the thermodynamic processes responsible for Triton's strange surface. Such is the nature of scientific progress. As long as the next level of detail brings patterns and not randomness, there will always be knowledge to gain by stepping in close for the magnified view and stepping back for the big picture.

Carolyn Porco

Cassini Imaging Team Leader

Boulder, Colorado

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