Comments on SherWords: ... Cloudy Dreams, but Real

Roger! What a treat to hear from you again after ...

2008-05-06T13:58:00.000-07:00

Roger! What a treat to hear from you again after all these years! Yes, I remember your crutches... and your good humor. I'm not in a position to judge the quality of your work on that trip, but you must have at least enjoyed doing the "Miss Halley's Comet" shoot in Alice Springs. I've already gotten in touch with you on your offer to spiffy-up the snapshot, and thank you for that, too.

Adam, of course I meant "best one taken when I wasn't on a thrill ride." Without that disclaimer,
this one would be in the running, too. Couldn't find the one you mention, though, but I do remember you and your brother referring to it often. Especially the part about the 'fro.

Mike, the comet was slightly more impressive from the Southern Hemisphere because it was higher in the sky at its brightest there than here -- but my best memory of the night sky from that trip was the staggering spectacle of the Milky Way as seen from the way-outback. The center of the galaxy passed overhead, and, with the pitch-black-black background, the arch of the galaxy was breathtaking.

Brian... your comment deserves a full post rather than just a second-order comment from me. I'll just say here that the entire continent of Australia during that time was a larger-scale version of the gathering you describe at your old campus observatory -- we kept running into other astronomers-and-friends from the northern hemisphere just about everywhere we went. I even bumped into my undergraduate thesis advisor on a tour of the Mt. Stromlo Observatory administrative offices.

Woody, thanks for the compliment. One of the bene...

2008-05-06T01:07:00.000-07:00

Woody, thanks for the compliment. One of the benefits of having a rich "google" background is that a variety of old friends keep track of me. My first girlfriend (from age 13) forwarded and wrote to me this evening about your post: "this is ... neat!" A week ago I copied the picture down from your earlier post, and started enhancing it. But I work on 5 computers and I lost the file. Send me a full-rez copy (my email can handle 20MB) and I'll send you back "my" version of "my" snap ;-) Don't you just love PhotoShop!

I remember that trip with you with great affection; do you remember I had crutches from "early" arthroscopic surgery, only a week earlier? As a result, I've long considered that shoot, one of 1,000, to be my weakest ever. Except, perhaps, when I used your camera!

All best,

Roger Ressmeyer
CEO and founder, Science Faction Images
roger@sciencefaction.com
www.ressmeyer.com

Great news! I'd love to take a peek in your littl...

2008-05-05T22:42:00.000-07:00

Great news! I'd love to take a peek in your little brown time capsule.

One bone to pick though. You neglected to put the disclaimer "in my opinion" in front of "the best photo ever taken of me".

I seem to remember a shot of you at the apex of Willard's Wizzer, a roller coaster at Great America in Santa Clara, taken some time in the early eighties.

You had a look of pure, unmitigated joy as your considerable white man's 'fro flowed gracefully behind you.

IN MY OPINION, that is the best photo ever taken of you. Is it in the box? I'm sure my fellow SherFans would love to see it.

The other is quite nice as well.

Blows my mind to think you were just a few years older than I am now when it was taken.

Time marches on.

Adam Harrington-

Halley's '86 takes me back to one of my best night...

2008-05-05T09:10:00.000-07:00

Halley's '86 takes me back to one of my best nights ever.

I was a couple of years past college graduation by then, but still living near my college town. More importantly, I still had a set of keys to the small campus observatory (still do, in fact... I keep meaning to go back and see if they still work).

Probably right around the time you were on a boat off the coast of Australia, I decided to sneak up to the observatory and check out the comet. I arrived to find the door open and the dome already occupied by a few people, including the physics professor mentor I blogged about once (http://momscancer.blogspot.com/2007/04/mentors.html). Nobody seemed particularly surprised to see me, though I think the prof gave me a sly look like he knew I had a set of keys I shouldn't and as long as I kept quiet it was all right with him.

Over the course of the night more people showed up unbidden. I knew them all; some had graduated even before I did, some I hadn't seen in years. Maybe a dozen in all. Nothing had been organized, it just kind of happened--everyone seemed magically drawn to that spot on that night. We all took turns looking through the lens, two or three of us strapped cameras to the telescope and shot some time exposures, and otherwise we all enjoyed a spontaneous reunion. It was very, very cool.

A night like that just reinforced my sense that astronomical observatories feel like the most hallowed ground I've ever been on. You've got great gothic cathedrals like Lick or tiny roadside chapels like my college dome. They're all holy places.

Of course the comet itself was a near-total bust. But who cares?

So, if you were in Australia, could you read the n...

2008-05-05T02:23:00.000-07:00

So, if you were in Australia, could you read the newspaper at night by the light of Halley's Comet? I'd have flown down there for that, because it sure didn't come close enough up here.