THE REALM OF TELESCOPES
or
VISIONS OF THE OBSERVATORIO
DEL ROQUE DE LOS MUCHACHOS
AND MUCH MORE

“I think you could get quite a lot of interest in something that includes
poetry about visits to all the observatories.
And while each is unique, isn't the spirit and feeling
of visiting a giant observatory
something shared by all visitors wherever they go?”

-Mike Simmons (USA,
excerpt from private correspondence)-

*

-an international cosmopoetic essay about telescopes
around the SARM pilgrimage to GranTeCan and ORM-

*

ORM
-astro-photo-poem by Ovidiu Vaduvescu
(La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain;
double doctorate in astronomy in native Romania and Canada;
current astronomer at the Herschel Telescope,
part of the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes -
after a long astronomical career in more countries;
discoverer of asteroids and leader of the EURONEAR project;
the “motor” of the SARM expedition,
along with his wife Gabriela Vaduvescu)-

Stressed by our daily life,
we forget from where
we are really coming
and where
we’ll be going
in this amazing Universe.



On the Roque de los Muchachos in La Palma
we return for a moment
to the beauty of pure heavens.



*

STORIES OF THE GREAT OBSERVATORIES
-by Mike Simmons (USA,
founder/president of Astronomers Without Borders,
chair of Global Astronomy Month)-

The great observatories of the world have always been places
of pilgrimage for scientists and enthusiasts.
They are the temples of wisdom of the modern age,
where knowledge is captured in nothing less than the light of the Universe.
Those who visit them are always humbled,
sometimes by the technology and sheer mass of the huge instruments,
other times by being in the presence of the seekers of the truths
that the Universe hides.
Sometimes those seekers are the “ghosts” of our history -
long-gone predecessors who spent their lives building that knowledge
a few photons at a time.

I have been fortunate to be involved at Mount Wilson Observatory for 30 years.
It’s a place where these “ghosts” are much in evidence.
Standing in the dark of the century-old domes
of the 60-inch or 100-inch reflectors -
each the greatest in the world in their time -
one can sense the great spirits who worked within them.
The smell of the great steel structures and the oil that still lubricates them
hangs in the air, harking back to another time.
Stand by the 60-inch telescope and you sense Harlow Shapley,
who spent countless hours there mapping the structure
of the galaxy and Earth’s place within it by watching the tell-tale periodic variation
in the light of Cepheid variables in globular clusters.
Gazing up at the Hooker 100-inch telescope you see imagine Edwin Hubble,
who guided 100 tons of steel and glass to bring the faint light of distant galaxies
into his spectrograph,
focusing the few photons that remained in the faint smear of a spectrum on a tiny plate
of photographic glass to reveal the very motion of the Universe itself
in the galaxies’ outward rush.
The list of legendary astronomers and their accomplishments -
borne of countless hours in darkness over dozens of years each -
goes on.

But close by these historic instruments and those “ghosts” stands
one of the latest monuments of science.
The CHARA Array gathers light from telescopes more than 300 meters apart,
combining the light with technological legerdemain to distinguish details
as fine as a single mirror with a diameter equaling
the distance between the telescopes.
Cajoling information from stars that humanity has watched through the eons,
these stars - by now old friends to us - show their faces for the first time.
The awe I feel from this juxtaposition of old and new has never faded.

This is the cycle of our hunt for truth.
The great are surpassed, becoming historic, even legendary,
as our body of knowledge grows.
But the hunt is never finished, the search never completed.
There will always be more to discover,
and new questions found within each answer we uncover.

These great observatories continue to tell a story at every stage,
as a person gains new insights to impart to younger people as he ages.
And like people, each is different.
There is no “usual” telescope or observatory.

This project excites me for how it affords each visitor to these great observatories
the opportunity to share the stories the telescopes convey to them.
Each visitor comes away with a different feeling, a different sense of the place,
and a different transformation in their view of the Universe
and our never-ending quest to learn more.
Like that quest, this collection of personal contributions will add
to our collective knowledge and perception of these great observatories,
and no doubt spawn many similar efforts as yet unimagined.

*

LARGE CONCENTRATION OF NORTH-AMERICAN TELESCOPES
(Yerkes, Hooker, Large Binocular, Kitt Peak, Very Large Array…)
IN MY DREAM
-artwork by Alexandru Sebastian Grigore,
dedicated to Mike Simmons,
the American lover of telescopes who suggested the expansion of this project-



*

THE EUROPEAN NORTHERN OBSERVATORY
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-

It is placed in the Canary Islands
and composed of
the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias
and two astronomical cities,
the Teide Observatory
in Tenerife
and the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory
in La Palma.

The inhabitants
of these high altitude communities
are not extraterrestrials
who make fantastic things,
but just people
with great souls and large minds
who study the Universe
and are simply called
professional astronomers.


Sequence from the Teide Observatory, Tenerife
Photo: Alex Tudorica


Valentin Grigore, Andrei Dorian Gheorghe,
Gabriela Vaduvescu and Ovidiu Vaduvescu
at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, La Palma
Photo: Valentin Grigore

*

ASTRO-JOKE
-by Victor Chifelea;
photo: Ovidiu Vaduvescu-

If the European Northern Observatory
is placed far south of continental Europe,
in the Canary Islands,
then where is the North?



*

ROCK OF THE LADS
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-

Since Roque de los Muchachos
means Rock of the Lads,
it seems that those lads
were the followers of the goddess Urania,
and they transformed themselves into brave telescopes
that do not support the sky like Atlas,
but advance through the Cosmos.

*

ROQUE DE LOS MUCHACHOS
(ROCK OF THE LADS),
A SYMBOL OF CONTEMPORARY ASTRONOMY
-photo by Valentin Grigore-



*

EXPEDITION TO THE ORM
-by Radu Gherase-

A planned recreation
with thoughts and looks
to cosmic altitudes

*

VISION OF THE ORM
OCTOBER 2010
-photographic poem by Valentin Grigore-































*

AT 28 DEGREES NORTH LATITUDE
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-

Roque de los Muchachos Observatory in La Palma…

The largest international concentration of telescopes
in the northern hemisphere,
each of them with an important role
for researching the world of stars
(each of them with an important role
in organizing the Cosmos)…

This makes me want
one of the few constructive inflations
in our world:

the inflation of telescopes!

*

VISION ABOUT THE ORM,
MARCH 2010
-photographic poem by Casper ter Kuile (Holland,
a leading member of the Dutch Meteor Society,
honorary member of SARM)-







ORM Guesthouse :



Flags inside the ORM Guesthouse :



The MAGIC Telescope :



Nice ice sculptures close to the Isaac Newton Group of Telescopes :



Carlsberg Meridian Telescope :



Control room of the Dutch Open Telescope :



The 2.5 meter Isaac Newton Telescope :



Inside the Swedish Solar Telescope :



The 4.2 meter William Herschel Telescope :



Astral Lights over the ORM :







*

A HOMAGE AT
THE ITALIAN GALILEO NATIONAL TELESCOPE
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe;
photos: Ovidiu Vaduvescu (1) and Alex Tudorica (2)-

you’re the pioneer
of the telescopic world
dear Galileo



so we’re happy to
meet your spirit and your name
anywhere on Earth



*

TELESCOPE
-by Victor Lupu-

For me,
the telescope is something both
peaceful and moving.

It is the utensil
that carries me beyond the place
where I can carry myself.

It is the spy of the Universe…
from myself.

*

ISAAC NEWTON GROUP OF TELESCOPES
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe;
photo: Valentin Grigore-

An “English telescopic coast”
on a Spanish island
(in an archipelago where in 1797
even Admiral Nelson was defeated!)
in the memory of
he who invented the optical reflecting telescope,
Isaac Newton,
the corsair of gravity.



*

HUMANITY WITHOUT A TELESCOPE
-by Dimitrie Olenici (Suceava Planetarium)-

What is the telescope to people?

It is hard to answer.
The telescope is indispensable
for the man of current days.

It is one of the greatest achievements,
comparable with the taming of animals,
or the discovery of fire, paper, the wheel,
printing, various machines, electricity, etc.

It has become the utensil
which extends the eye.
It is the only instrument
that shows us our origin and our destination.

How generally would humanity
have developed without the telescope?
But particularly geodesy, cartography,
marine and aerial activities?

How would astronautics
have been without the telescope?
How would the human conceptions about the Universe
have evolved without using the telescope?

Certainly, without a telescope
we would have got only to
an advanced Middle Age.

If people would take a monument
for any major invention,
one of the greatest of them should be dedicated
to the telescope.

*

ISAAC NEWTON TELESCOPE
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe;
photo: Ovidiu Vaduvescu-

“Nothing is lost, nothing in created, everything is transformed.”
said the French scientist Antoine Laurent Lavoisier
something unforgettable, connected to Mother Nature.

The Isaac Newton Telescope
was originally built in 1967 in England,
on a site of the Royal Greenwich Observatory,
and due to light pollution
was shipped to La Palma in 1979.

This is an unforgettable sample
that some of the most valuable things
made by people
can be
not only transformed,
but removed and entirely kept up.



*

TELESCOPE
-by Danut Ionescu (New Zealand,
member of Auckland Astronomical Society,
former counsellor of SARM; born in Romania)-

For an Astronomer,
the telescope is
the eye of the eye:

the eye of the soul
and the soul of the eye.

*

WILLIAM HERSCHEL TELESCOPE
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe;
photo: Ovidiu Vaduvescu-

It seems to be an impulse
from the musician who discovered a planet:
“Let’s play a stellar symphony
in Uranus flat major.”



*

ME
-by Tit Tihon-

From clusters of stars
I think I am
just some dust
from a transient comet,
and close to my hot Sun,
I become
a tridimensional Euclidean.

*

SWEDISH SOLAR TELESCOPE
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe;
photo: Ovidiu Vaduvescu-

The creators of the SST
wanted to built a tower toward the Sun,
but it was too hard
so they stopped,
covering the remained distance
with the largest optical refracting telescope
in use in Europe.



*

TELESCOPES
-by Marge Simon (USA,
Editor of Star*Line - the Journal of the Science Fiction Poetry Association,
laureate of the Rhysling Award)-

Mohammed’s mountains:
lest we fail to reach the stars
we call them to us

*

NORDIC OPTICAL TELESCOPE
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe;
photo: Valentin Grigore-

It seems like a 2.5 meter cosmic alliance
of the peaceful North-European countries:

“Why so many conflicts in the world
when we may live
inspired by stellar grace?”



*

TELESCOPES
-by Dominic Diamant-

Curious snails
with fantastic antennas
thirstily scan the Universe…

*

THE MAGIC TWIN TELESCOPES
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe;
photo: Valentin Grigore-

With a diameter of 17 meters
for the refracting surface,
the Major Atmospheric Gamma-ray Imaging Cherenkov Telescope
is the largest gamma-ray telescope in the world.

In fact,
it is a system of two twin telescopes,
which first make my more or less photonic mind
think
not of gamma-ray bursts,
accretion of black holes,
supernova remnants,
X-ray binaries
or pulsar wind nebulae,
but of the constellation Gemini
with the stars Castor and Pollux,
the most famous twin brothers
on Earth and in the sky
for their photonic deeds.



*

TELE-SCOPE
(paradoxist quatrain)
-by Florentin Smarandache (USA,
professor of mathematics at New Mexico University,
founder of Paradoxist Literary Movement,
multiple international laureate for literature)-

Bringing closer
The distance
For knowing
The unknown

*

MERCATOR TELESCOPE
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
photo: Ovidiu Vaduvescu-

It was an interesting decision
to name an important telescope
not after the name of an astronomer,
but after the name of a Belgian cartographer
from the 16th century,
Gerardus Mercator,
who helped astronomy
just through his projection world map!



*

TELESCOPE
-by Razvan Ciomartan-

Known as
the cyclops who scrutinizes the Universe,
or the spy of the heavens,
or the 3rd eye of the astronomer,
or even the illusionist who makes us think that
we are closer to the stars,

the telescope is in fact the instrument
through which the sky lover
perfects his gaze.

*

LIVERPOOL TELESCOPE
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe;
photo: Ovidiu Vaduvescu-

Liverpool was the town of
the famous writer Daniel Defoe
and the famous band Beatles.

Liverpool is also the town from where
John Moores University operates in the distance
the 2 meter Liverpool fully robotic telescope
in the island of La Palma.

When I saw this telescope,
I felt like Daniel Defoe’s seafarer Robinson Crusoe
singing
the Beatles’ song - “Across the Universe”.



*

GRANTECAN LIMERICK
-by David Asher (Northern Ireland, UK,
astronomer at Armagh Observatory,
famous meteor shower predictor,
discoverer of asteroids,
co-star in Hollywood movie Armageddon)-

World records can never be sealed;
Even GranTeCan one day will yield
Its number one place
In the telescope race
To one that’s as big as a field.

*

GRAN TELESCOPIO CANARIAS
-by Dimitrie Olenici-

A new giant star
in the constellation
of telescopes!

*

GRAN-TE-CAN
-by Antonio Martinez Picar (born in Venezuela
from Canarian parents,
established in Spain,
member of the International Meteor Organization)-

“Mommy, Mommy ...
What are all these little dots that appear here on the map,
near Africa?
Are they islands?”

“Son,
the truth is that I don’t know if all of them are islands ...
can be.
But what I am sure of is that one of these points
is the largest optical telescope in the world:
the GranTeCan.”

“Mommy, but it’s huge ...”

“Yes, my son, it is really huge...”

*

THE CANARIES GREAT TELESCOPE
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe;
photos Valentin Grigore-

This is neither
an ascension to the highest peak,
Everest,
nor a flight to the brightest star,
Sirius,

but a journey to the biggest optical telescope,
El Gran Telescopio Canarias,
able to observe so many stars
(even from the early universe!)
that have no idea
about world records.





































*

SARM GROUP PHOTOS AT GTC
-photos by Valentin Grigore, Ovidiu Vaduvescu and Catalin Paduraru “Sarpe”-



Ovidiu Vaduvescu:

Let’s make a historical picture with the first big Romanian group
of sky lovers and astropoets in front of the dome
of the great (Spanish, with American and Mexican participations) telescope!

Catalin Paduraru “Sarpe”:

Let’s improvise the Romanian national flag with three colors (red, yellow and blue)
for this SARM group photo!

Andreea Calugaru:

It’s good we are not Americans.
We would have to improvise a lot of stars.

British Guide Sheila Crosby:

Oh stars…
This is quite easy here!



*

TIME TRAVELLER
-by John Francis Haines (England, UK,
leader of the Eight Hand Gang British network of SF poetry,
editor of Handshake)-

Gazing back across
Billions of years to the first
Spark of the Big Bang

*

STAR TRAILS OVER ORM
(Isaac Newton Telescope, Carlsberg Meridian Telescope,
Swedish Solar Telescope and Dutch Open Telescope)
-photo by Radu Corlan-



*

MY FIRST REFLECTOR,
MY FIRST DAZZLE
-by Virgil V. Scurtu-

In the 1950s
when I was a high school student,
following Mamaev’s book ‘After Lessons”,
I made my first refractor (42x magnification),
through which I could see
the splendid lunar scenery,
Saturn’s ring
and the fascinating groups of sunspots from 1957-1958
during the highest maximum of solar activity.

Then I tried to make my first reflector
using my father’s shave mirror (10-cm diameter)
and a 2-cm magnification glass.

I looked through it at a streetlamp and…
suddenly a terrible obscure nebula
blinded me for a half of hour!

*

TIME MACHINE
-astro-photo-poem by Eugen Florin Marc-



The telescope
can be a cure for soul
and its thirst for knowledge.



The telescope
can also be a time machine
because it shows us
deeds and happenings which set
long ago…



*

LARGE CONCENTRATIONS OF TELESCOPES
-astro-photo-poem by Dimitrie Olenici-

In my life
I could only visit the great telescopes
from Mount Wilson and Mount Palomar in California,
so I know the sentiment lived in front of such instruments
from the large concentrations of telescopes.

At Mount Wilson,
next to the observatories :



At Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles,
speaking with Einstein :





At Palomar,
next to Hale Telescope :







You feel like you’re in magic lands
dreamed in childhood.

*

A WILD UNIVERSE
-by Ana Maria Anghel (student in Switzerland,
born in Romania in 1999!)-

The stars shining in cold space having their own little dream.
The burning meteors dancing, or so it would seem!
The moon tiredly yawning aloud waking from its sleep
As the sun will slowly creep up.
Then, there’s Venus, a strong name
And Mars a huge flame.

There’s too much in this wild Universe!
I’m doing my best!
But let me give you a tip:
You find out the rest!

*

MOONLIGHT SONATA AT MOUNT MILSON
-haiku by Bob Eklund (USA,
editor of the Astropoetry Blog);
image credit: Marilyn Morgan (USA)-



*

THE MOON AT THE ORM
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe;
photo: Valentin Grigore-

Selene,
I suspect that you abandoned
your love for the earthly mortal astronomer-shepherd
Endymion
just for remaining in the Top 5
of the largest satellites
in the solar system!



*

SARM’S TELESCOPE NEXT TO SARM’S PRESIDENT
and
MAN, TELESCOPE, MOON
or
DURING GAM 2011 IN ROMANIA
-photographic poem by Johannes Stubler (Austria,
ambassador of Astronomers Without Borders,
member of The World At Night)-





*

ROMANIAN TELESCOPIC PRAISE TO THE MOON
-photos:
1. Mihai Curtasu;
2-3. Maximilian Teodorescu;
4. Lucian Curelaru-









*

EXCERPTS FROM MEMORIES
-astro-photo-essay by Harry Minti (Israel,
professor at Hebrew University of Jerusalem,
born in Romania)-

The work of an astronomer can be compared to the work of a farmer.
Both must always be aware of the weather:
the farmer for working the field,
the astronomer for observing the clear sky.

Between 1964 and 1976
I worked at the Astronomical Observatory of Romanian Academy in Bucharest,
where I was passionate about the study of eclipsing variable stars.



In 1967
I participated in the Summer School for Young Astronomers in Manchester (UK)
and I visited the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh,
the Radioastronomic Observatory of Jodrell Bank
and the Greenwich Observatory in London.



Also in 1967
I participated in the Congress of the International Astronomical Union
in Prague (Czechia), held over there as a homage to the inauguration
of the 2-meter telescope at the Ondrejov Observatory.



I visited other important observatories and participated in other conferences in Europe.
I cooperated with the Ondrejov Observatory
and the Astrosoviet Institute from Moscow…



I installed the photoelectric photometer
at the Bucharest Observatory…



It was a time when in the world
the specialists were enthusiastic about building observatories
with bigger and more sensitive instruments in places as high as possible.

In 1989, I emigrated to Israel and I came back to Romania in 2008
for a symposium that celebrated the centenary of the Bucharest Observatory,
where I presented a photographic exhibition,
the Universe of Flowers,
in which I likened flowers to stars and constellations.

Some of my pictures, showing flower pairs,
were destined to be imagined as eclipsing binaries.



For their good, people should continue to research the Cosmos.
But without forgetting the flowers.

*

TERRA
-by Tit Tihon-

So far and so close
to the Universe,
it is a sad symphony
among the planets,
so sometimes I think that
the astral worlds
are just desperate illusions
of an earthly mortal.

*

JUPITER AT THE ORM
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe;
photo: Valentin Grigore-

Giant planet,
although sometimes your technical details
scare me,
your artistic details
always attract me.

And regarding your poetical details,
all I can say is that
your bands cannot be rhymes
for your satellites,
while your Great Red Spot
is a metaphor
through itself.



*

ROMANIAN TELESCOPIC PRAISE TO JUPITER
-images:
1. Adrian Bruno Sonka (coordinator of
Admiral Vasile Urseanu Bucharest Municipal Observatory);
2. Vlad Dumitrescu-





*

HAIKU
-by Marge Simon (USA,
Editor of Star*Line - the Journal of the Science Fiction Poetry Association,
laureate of the Rhysling Award)-

humanity’s quest
through one lens or a thousand
our hopes starward bound

*

JODRELL BANK OBSERVATORY HAIGA
-by Gerald England (England, UK,
Editor of New Hope International,
honorary member of the International Writers and Artists Association,
laureate of the Ted Slade Award)-



*

REVERIE
-by Dominic Diamant-

Watching the sky,
we became speechless.
It was so crystalline,
with luminous pearls
which thrilled us…

“Look, it’s Cassiopeia,
coquettish
like a beloved woman!”

“Look, it’s the Great Chariot,
with a so strong shaft
and so fine wheels!”

“Look, it’s Orion
with his wonderful belt!”

“Look, it’s Sirius,
which shines like Jupiter!”

We felt like kings
searching the depth of the sky
with unconditioned love.

We jubilated
and maybe we thought
that in their turn
stars smiled on us
during their heavenly shows
for our stupidity
or our temerity.

Who knows…?

*

ORION AT THE ORM
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe;
photo: Valentin Grigore-

Hunter,
I don’t think you were too moral:

you assaulted Merope,
you betrayed Artemis,
you chased the Pleiades…

But now
you are cleansing your soul
by working as a
heavenly photo-model.



*

ORION GREAT NEBULA
-photo by Cornel Apetroaiei-



*

HAIKU
-by Kim Goldberg (Canada,
poet and journalist,
winner of the Rannu Fund Poetry Prize for Speculative Literature)-

Gull sails up
on spinnaker wings returning
starfish to Orion

*

ORION GREAT NEBULA
-photo by Adrian Bruno Sonka (coordinator of
Admiral Vasile Urseanu Bucharest Municipal Observatory)-



*

A BEAUTIFUL FACE FOR GUEST
-by Steve Sneyd (England, UK,
director of Hilltop Press and editor of Data Dump,
laureate of the Peterson Trophy)-

Turns back garden to
observatory. Tonight,
enough seen for ant
of Orion’s fuzzy smudge
nebula, strange-giants her

*

ORION GREAT NEBULA
-photo by Alex Conu-



*

ORION -
M42 TO BARNARD’S LOOP
-astro-photo-poem by Alin Tolea (USA,
astrophysicist, former counsellor of SARM,
born in Romania)-

If astronomy means “law of the stars”,
amateur astronomy is defined by those who do it.

People under stars,
touched by the miracle
of curiosity and understanding.



*

HORSEHEAD HAIKU
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-

In Orion’s soul -
not a pedestrian, but
riding a fine horse

*

HORSEHEAD NEBULA
-photo by Adrian Oradean “Kuky” (USA,
winner of the New Jersey Astronomical Group astrophotography contest;
born in Romania)-



*

TO YASUHIRO TONOMURA
AND THE JAPANESE SKY LOVERS,
HEARTILY TRIED BY THE TERRIBLE EARTHQUAKE
FROM MARCH 11, 2011
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe and Valentin Grigore-

Dear Japanese Friends,
we don’t know why,
we don’t know how,
but sometimes the Earth is merciless.

We wish you all the best
and would like to see by our telescopes
your return to a normal life,
trustful again
in the starry sky
and the solar system.

*

THREE TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSES
(EGYPT 2006, SIBERIA 2008 AND THE EASTER ISLAND 2010)
-photographic poem by Yasuhiro Tonomura (Japan,
teacher of mathematics, member of the Oriental Astronomical Society)-













In 2002
Yasuhiro Tonomura had the chance to visit the world’s
largest and most diverse collection of astronomical instruments
at the Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona,
and took the pictures below:











And finally, here is Yasuhiro Tonomura (first on the left) in his country in 2010
at one of the telescopes of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan:



*

MAN-TELESCOPE-UNIVERSE
-by Boris Marian (Mehr)-

A man is a telescope,
God can watch through us
how deeply we can lower
and how highly we can think.

If Jacob Metius, Zacharias Jansen
and Hans Lippershey
invented the telescope,
it was a chance, because Galilei
could climb to the top.

Today you can buy in the shop
smaller or bigger telescopes,
but God cannot sell people…

In the chaotic infinite
a man still remains a scope,
so that intellectually
I just become a telescope.

*

A VIEW TO THE UNIVERSE
(a meditation at the GinGin Observatory, north of Perth, Western Australia)
-astro-photo-poem by John Goldsmith (Australia,
International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research - Perth,
Celestial Visions producer,
member of The World At Night - Astronomers Without Borders)-



Beginning
with a childhood wonder
of the twilight skies,
crescent moon and
evening star…
Anticipation
and excitement,
pointing skyward
with a telescope...
a view to the universe,
making the invisible, visible
discovering distant stars,
sprinkled like diamonds
so close, yet so far
How ancient
is this image
of starlight
gathered by
the telescope
and focussed
within my eye?
I reflect,
What can a
‘scope show,
to reveal
the unseen
universe
within?



*

REFLECTION
-by Irina Cristescu-

Eyes of glass try to focus
eyes of the Universe,
it’s a trip,
a series of moves towards
an absent time,
a ration measured by
imagination and volition.

The eyes of the Universe
carry stars, not glasses,
reflecting the light from the souls
of the astronomers without borders.

*

FROM NORTH TO SOUTH
-photographic poems by Alex Tudorica (student in Germany,
member of SARM, born in Romania)-

1. Magellan Telescopes, Las Campanas, Chilean Andes







2. Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, La Palma, Canary Islands







*

IN HONOUR OF ARGUS
-by Steve Sneyd (UK
director of Hilltop Press and editor of Data Dump,
laureate of the Peterson Trophy)-

Hundred-eyed island
peers past billions of shy years,
tries to spy birth pangs

*

THE PLEIADES AT THE ORM
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe;
photo: Valentin Grigore-

At first, Atlas’ question:
“Why should I support the heavens,
which are not beautiful enough
without my daughters,
the Pleiades?”

Then, the gods’ intervention
and here they are in the heavens
as symbols of beauty:

the Pleiades cluster of stars,
Atlas’ daughters,
princesses of the deep sky objects.



*

PLEIADES
-photo by Silviu Matei-



*

TELESCOPIC TROPHIES
-by Mircea Pteancu-

If I would make a sign on my Dobsonian
for all the stars that I observed,
I’m afraid I would destroy it.

*

ROMANIAN TELESCOPIC PRAISE TO DEEP SKY OBJECTS (1)
-photos:
1. Hellix Nebula, by Marian Lucian Achim;
2. Rosette Nebula, by Emil Kolbert-





*

TELESCOPE
-by Bogdan Ioana “Pele” (USA,
born in Romania)-

I like to watch through the telescope
till I feel pain in my eyes
from so many twinkles…

*

ROMANIAN TELESCOPIC PRAISE TO DEEP SKY OBJECTS (2)
-photos:
1. IC 405, by Radu Gherase;
2. M31, by Laurentiu Alimpie-





*

LORD OF SILENCE
(fantasy)
-by Stephen M. Wilson (USA,
editor of microcosms)-

On a small satellite
orbiting Sirius B
we finally saw
a green
man

(not a Martian, we later
discovered, but Osiris)
gazing back at us

An evil potent or
our salvation?

*

EUREKA
(or
At the Same Time with SARM’s Expedition to ORM)
-astro-photo-essay by Liviu Ivanescu (Canada;
expert in adaptive optics, he worked for the European Southern Observatory
and the South African Astronomical Observatory;
born in Romania)-

In October 2000
I fulfilled a dream of my life,
a hope of over 10 years:
I could observe the nocturnal sky next to the North Pole.

The sense of my mission was not directly to observe the stars,
but at the Canadian station Eureka to install
a dome, a telescope and a photometer for identifying the aerosoles
using the light of the stars.

In this time period,
the sky close to the North Pole has some particularities:
the Polar star is near the zenith,
the Sun does not rise (but is not far below the horizon),
the Moon is not too high,
and most of the stars do not rise or set,
they just move square with the horizon,
and this is quite amusing.

Eureka harbour :



Eureka weather station :



Optical effects at sundown :



With the starphotometer domes :



Fiord view from PEARL (Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory) :



Canadian pride at PEARL :



Ozone balloon release :



I truly like this :



Moon fantasy at Eureka :



Since you realize exactly where the Sun is,
the lunar phases
and the relative position between the Sun and the Moon
show clearly that the Moon is lit by the Sun.

I think that if humanity would have evolved over here,
probably the Heliocentric Universe
would have appeared much earlier in history.

*

SUNRISE
-photo by Konstantin Yakovlev (Russia/USA)-




*

TELESCOPE
-by Mihai Rusie-

The window
to the world which was
hidden for us

*

ROMANIAN TELESCOPIC PRAISE TO THE SUN
-photos:
1. Marian Lucian Achim;
2. Adrian Bruno Sonka;
3. Maximilian Teodorescu-







*

LONG AGO
-by Dan Mitrut-

My great-grandfather was half telescope
he always said that
we were created from a caprice,
an admiration exercise of the stars.

In the beginning of the world,
although all was exquisite,
the light was not enough for seeing…

The pain of birth was necessary,
and the nightfall too.

*

THE MILKY WAY AT THE ORM
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe;
photo: Valentin Grigore-

If I were the Sun,
I’d orbit almost 250 million Earth years
around the center of the galaxy
just for a galactic year,
and I’m afraid I would not live
any galactic spring,
any galactic summer,
any galactic autumn
and any galactic winter.

That’s why I prefer to remain
just a man on Earth,
orbiting so little around the galactic center,
but fully living the four seasons
every terrestrial year
in my short life
as a modest admirer
of the Milky Way.



*

THE EYES OF TERRA
-by Zigmund Tauberg-

People were always curious
and watched the heights
with a searching interest.

They first used
in the clear nights
as the observatory of the sky
a unique instrument,
the human eye.

But they wanted more and,
to watch better,
they invented lunettes and telescopes,
and brought closer the moon,
planets with natural satellites,
sunspots, stars…

Today there are even
artificial satellites in space
and mechanic robots on Mars,
and all these instruments
watching the infinite
farer and farer
are the eyes of Terra
for us, the citizens
of the cosmic era.

*

ALMOST AN ASTRONAUT
AT TWO FANTASTIC TELESCOPES:
THE JAPANESE 8.2-METER SUBARU AND
THE AMERICAN 10-METER (DOUBLE) KECK
(MAUNA KEA, HAWAII)
-photographic poem by Klaus Lowitz (Germany,
born in Romania)





*

NOT ONLY BY TELESCOPE
-by Haritina Mogosanu (New Zealand,
Education Coordinator - KiwiSpace Foundation,
Publicity Officer of the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand,
President of NZ Mars Society,
born in Romania);
photos by Virgiliu Pop (expert in Space Right
at the Romanian Space Agency)-

Our home is in the heavens.
We came here from the stars.
Each chemical element from which we are made
was one day in the heart of a star.

I came to New Zealand in 2005
to see the stars in the Southern Hemisphere
and especially Canopus, my favorite star…
and I remained there.

But our star, the Sun,
will die in a few billion years,
and we have to find another planet.

Mars will be the training for the real trip we have to do
for the survival of our species.
If we achieve a goal on Mars,
we can achieve a goal anywhere.

A few hundred years ago
too few people dared to travel
through the immensity of the Pacific Ocean,
but some of them arrived even in New Zealand.

Why?
Maybe we all have genes of explorers…

Mars is the first place where we can go through the inter-planetary void,
which thus would replace the planetary ocean.

The first people made clothes to survive.
Now we can make costumes of astronauts…

In January 2011
the Romanian Space Agency (ROSA) was the 3rd agency in the world
(after NASA and ESA)
that sent a mission to the Mars Desert Research Station
in the Colorado plateau, Utah (USA),
and I was the first officer of the ROMARS expedition.
The simulation was as real as we wanted it to be.
We made studies in geology, biology, bio-security, astronomy, astronavigation,
and environmental management,
and had a Rover, GRIVEI, which we tested on the “Martian” ground.
We also left the first solar clock made by such a team over there.



But I’d like to really travel through space,
to walk among the stars,
or at least to see Saturn’s rings
(not only by telescope!).

So I wish all of you to not forget
that we are made from the same material:
the dust of stars!



*

SATURN AND MARS
-photo by Maximilian Teodorescu-



*

IMAGINARY
-by Ion(ut) Moraru-

We went to La Palma,
climbed the volcanic mountains,
watched through the telescope,
saw the asteroid,
walked among its humps,
drilled for his gems,
found out old traces…

Then we left the observatory
and after a long flight
we watched from the airplane
our home mountains.

*

JOYOUSNESS AT THE ORM,
OCTOBER 2010
-photographic poem by Andreea Vaculisteanu-









*

WHAT DOES A TELESCOPE REPRESENT
TO A METEOR LOVER
WHO MAKES OBSERVATIONS WITH THE NAKED EYE?
(astro-joke)
-Paul Roggemans (Belgium,
the main creator of the International Meteor Organization)-

What to do with a telescope?
it is so much trouble such a tool,
I need just my eyes to scope,
without the risk to stand for fool.

As meteors cross all over the sky,
unpredictable and at any place,
optics would make me a bad spy,
I would look like a funny face.

Like the sky meteors are for free,
no need to pay for expensive lenses,
the beauty naked eyes can see,
is the very best of all human senses.

*

ASTRO-PHOTO-POEM
-by Alex Conu-



With or without telescope,
we are painted by starlight.



*

SOLAR ECLIPSE VARIANTS
AROUND THE TELESCOPE
-photographic poem by Catalin Beldea-







*

MISSION AT THE ORM
-by Mirel Birlan (France,
astronomer at Paris Observatory;
an asteroid was named after him in 2001;
born in Romania)-

My first mission at La Palma was in 2004,
when I worked for one week
at the 3.5-meter Telescopio Nationale Galileo,
in a moment when GranTeCan was just a building site.

The ORM is an interesting place
because it brings together many scientists from Europe and further,
and the science obtained has echoes
in many prestigious publications.
It is also a training place for students.

We used with notable results its structure
for our network specialized in observations of asteroids,
and for the future we also have projects that continue to use
this concentration of telescopes.

It is difficult to limit the Universe
(or the look of the sky)
to only one place.
I had the chance to visit many other “astronomical” places,
and every time the sky appears different,
and we perceive it differently.

It is said that every place in the world
has its own sky,
and I can confirm it.

But the ORM is a place
where a man can definitely understand
that he is just a bit
in a great whole.

*

PANORAMICS OF THE ORM,
MARCH 2010
-photographic poem by Alex Tudorica (student in Germany,
member of SARM, born in Romania)-













*

CONCEALED IN OORT’S
-by Steve Sneyd (England, UK,
director of Hilltop Press and editor of Data Dump,
laureate of the Peterson Trophy)-

Comet-head-shape ship
bristling watch-scopes, green grins
watching our watchers.

*

TELESCOPE AND MICROSCOPE
-astro-art-poem by Arlene Carol (USA,
residing in Turkey)-

As we gaze outward with our telescopes
Into the great abyss that is our universe,
Perhaps, somewhere out there,
We are being observed through a cosmic microscope
Like paramecium on a glass slide.

…
Someday, we might discover that at the end of our telescope,
we are gazing into the focal point of a cosmic microscope
that is observing us!

…
Interesting isn’t it?
Telescope?
Microscope?
Which end are we really on?

…
What if time and light really DO bend…
With a telescope powerful enough
We might be looking at the back of our heads one day!



*

IMPRESSIONS FROM THE ORM
-by Radu Gherase-

The chance to visit (or even to work at) an observatory
like the Roque de los Muchachos in La Palma
represents the dream of any (professional or amateur) astronomer,
and I was one of the lucky people who used this opportunity.

If telescopes are the favorite toys of astronomers
and places sheltered from light pollution on mountain peaks
are their favorite playgrounds,
it is obvious that the biggest optical telescope in the world was situated
in an isolated and wonderful natural milieu,
a real pearl of the Atlantic Ocean,
where there is now an impressive collection of “giants” with “glass eyes”
that, tirelessly, scrutinize the infinite.

I felt like a boy on his favorite playground there,
with his favorite toys,
having many special sky lovers as play partners.

From the altitude of the ORM,
wherever you look,
your mind make an effort not to be overwhelmed
with the endless expanse of the ocean
and limitlessness of the Cosmos.

*

ORM, OCTOBER 2010
-photographic poem by Mona Laura Constantinescu-





















*

BUT WHAT IF…
-astro-art-poem by Cristina Tinta-Vass-

…a telescope would be
just a puppet theatre…



*

TELESCOPIC INTERLUDE
(fantasy)
-by Marge Simon (USA,
Editor of Star*Line - the Journal of the Science Fiction Poetry Association,
laureate of the Rhysling Award)-

Because I was there
when the world fell apart,
they gave me a party,
with a cake too small for
all two hundred candles,
a universal microcosm,
ready to explode.

I remember dying forests
and the years of acid rain,
on rock or dried up stream beds,
in the wake of the asteroid;
we called it many names,
united and survived!

Our legacy, our future is
in the telescopic memory
of what the skies told us
over two centuries ago,
what our spyglass to the stars
may tell us as many hence.

A warning to all nations:
we share this globe in common.
Bond, or suffer consequence.

*

1930:
A LUNETTE IN THE CENTRE OF BUCHAREST
-photo by an unknown author-



*

RIDDLE
-by Galina Ryabova (Russia,
professor doctor at Tomsk University, Siberia);
artwork by an unknown author-



*

WISH
-by Danut Ionescu (New Zealand,
member of Auckland Astronomical Society,
former counselor of SARM, born in Romania)-

Glory to those astronomers
that work in the empire
of the eagles
and the clear sky!

*

TELESCOPIC INERTIA
-by Eugen Florin Marc-

When we cannot make observations
by telescope
at low altitudes
because of the weather,
at least we can be
dreamers…

*

THOUGHT
-by Dimitrie Olenici-

My admiration
to those who succeed in working
at high altitude concentrations of telescopes,
where only the gods of astronomy
have permanent residence…

*

OTHER VISIONS OF THE ORM,
MARCH 2010
-photographic poem by Alex Tudorica (student in Germany,
member of SARM, born in Romania-

































*

MUSIC OF THE SPHERES
-by Virgil V. Scurtu;
poster by Valentin Grigore and Alexandru Sebastian Grigore-

Finding about the cosmic concerto for Global Astronomy Month 2011
in the town of Targoviste,
where the Muntenia Philharmonic Orchestra will perform classical music
on cosmic images projected by
the Romanian Society for Meteors and Astronomy (SARM),
which will also manage nocturnal observations by telescope
during the breaks and after the concerto,
I remembered that the planet Uranus was discovered during the break
of such a classical music concerto, when Herschel went out
and looked at the Gemini constellation with his small reflector.



And who knows?
Maybe on this occasion,
a lucky person will discover another planet!

*

INTERNATIONAL CONCERTO OF RADIOTELESCOPES
-photos:
1. Swedish-ESO Submillimetre Telescope, La Silla, Chilean Andes,
by Ovidiu Vaduvescu
2. Submillimeter Array, Mauna Kea, Hawaii,
by Ovidiu Vaduvescu
3. Miyun, China,
by Jos Nijland (Holland)
4. Westerbork, Holland,
by Casper ter Kuile (Holland)









*

THE OBSERVATORY DOOR WAS OPEN
-by David Kopaska-Merkel (USA,
editor of Dreams and Nightmares, a magazine of fantastic poetry)-

I’m a bit fuzzy
the Astronomer said
about what you expect to see
through my giant glass eye
with which I peer
into immensity

I may be a greenhorn
please make allowances
for my ignorance, replied his visitor
of late my vision’s sharpest in my sleep
I need no widget to show me
that it’s just plain folks living out there
cooking dinner, doing laundry,
looking at the sky

I think I see what you mean
the scientist replied
for when I go home
and pick up a novel
when the rocket ships land
people can sit down together
on the green, or purple
and picnic together
no matter how many heads they have
or don’t have
but in the meantime take a look at this:
don’t you see a horse rearing up
in all its brilliant colors?

*

SKY LOVERS AND ASTRONOMICAL INSTRUMENTS AT THE ORM,
OCTOBER 2010
-photographic poem by Valentin Grigore-





































*

PROOF
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-

Astronomical observatories as sanctuaries…
Telescopes as superior connections.…

Could a better proof be that
the people love the Universe?

*

A TELESCOPE AT ORADEA FORTRESS, TRANSYLVANIA, ROMANIA
(Varad in Hungarian, Varadium in Latin;
in this fortress, during the reign of the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus and
about 150 years before the invention of the telescope,
the Croatian-Hungarian archbishop Janos Vitez de Sredna and
the Austrian-German scientist Georg Peuerbach -
with his disciple Regiomontanus -
created in the 1460s
the first observatory as an astronomic institution in Europe;
for over one century, due to Peuerbach’s Tabula Varadiensis,
the Varadium-Oradea meridian was the prime meridian for navigation maps)
-photo by “Meridianul 0” Astroclub, Oradea
(celebrating the International Year of Astronomy 2009)-



*

ROYAL PARIS OBSERVATORY, FRANCE
(the world’s oldest observatory in service, built in 1667-1672)
-photo by Ovidiu Vaduvescu-



*

SEQUENCE FROM PARIS-MEUDON OBSERVATORY, FRANCE
(founded in 1876, initially as a reply to Royal Paris Observatory)
-photo by Valentin Grigore-



*

THREE DUTCH OBSERVATORIES
(Sonnenborch - Utrecht,
Geminid night at Public Observatory Halley - Heesch,
ISS over KNMI - DeBilt)
-photographic poem by Casper ter Kuile (Holland,
a leading member of the Dutch Meteor Society,
honorary member of SARM)-







*

A PHOTO-SALUTE FROM JOHANNES KEPLER OBSERVATORY,
LINZ, AUSTRIA
(the town where Kepler was a teacher of mathematics)
AND FROM JOHANNES STUBLER MOBILE OBSERVATORY
(a microbus armed with telescopes to cross the world)
-by Johannes Stubler (Austria,
international ambassador and national coordinator for Astronomers Without Borders)-



*

A PHOTO-SALUTE FROM
POLARIS OBSERVATORY, BUDAPEST, HUNGARY
(on the occasion of a visit of a SARM team in 2008)
-by Attila Mizser (Hungary,
observatory head
and secretary-general of the Hungarian Astronomical Association)-



*

PEOPLE ON THE “DECK” OF ADMIRAL VASILE URSEANU BUCHAREST MUNICIPAL OBSERVATORY
(built in 1910 in the form of a yacht;
winner, along with the Bucharest Astroclub, of the Best Plan B Award
for the IYA2009 Galilean Nights Cornerstone Project;
host of many galas of SARM’s Cosmopoetry Festival)
-photo by Adrian Bruno Sonka (observatory coordinator)-



*

SKALNATE PLESO OBSERVATORY, SLOVAKIA
(1,800 meters altitude; famous for comet discoveries)
-photo (made during the International Meteor Conference 1992)
by Casper ter Kuile (Holland)-



*

VISNJAN-TICAN OBSERVATORY, CROATIA
(famous for asteroid discoveries)
-photo (made during the International Meteor Conference 2008)
by Zeljko Andreic (Croatia)-



*

USE THE VIRTUAL TELESCOPE PROJECT!
(a service from Bellatrix Observatory, Ceccano, Italy
for more official programs of the Global Astronomy Month)-
-capture from Valentin Grigore’s TV weekly broadcast “Noi si Cerul - Us and the Sky”)-



*

ARMAGH OBSERVATORY
(the oldest observatory in the island of Ireland, founded in 1790)
-photographic poem by Miruna Popescu (Northern Ireland, UK,
professional astronomer at Armagh, born in Romania)-













*

PIC DU MIDI OBSERVATORY, FRANCE
(2,800 meters altitude; for many, the world’s most spectacular observatory;
first on the left, the famous 2-meter Bernard Lyot telescope)
-photo by Ovidiu Vaduvescu-



*

A SALUTE FROM NEW ZEALAND
-astro-photo-poem Danut Ionescu (New Zealand,
member of Auckland Astronomical Society,
former counselor of SARM, born in Romania)-

I salute the world’s observatories
from the hemisphere of the up in the down,
from the Auckland StarDome…



where I met wonderful friends,
such as Comet McNaught…



and where the Greater Dog wallows
though the grass of the southern sky.

*

COPERNICUS TOWER, FROMBORK, POLAND
(a propriety of the founder of heliocentric theory, used for astronomic studies
one century before the invention of the telescope)
-photo (made during the International Meteor Conference 2002)
by Casper ter Kuile (Holland)



*

ASTRONOMICAL TOWERS
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-

Not only architecture,
but also civilization
of astronomy

*

WHEN I WAS AT THE 150-FOOT SOLAR TOWER
ON MOUNT WILSON, CALIFORNIA
(built in 1912, this was the world’s largest of this kind for half a century)
-photo by Dimitrie Olenici-



*

EINSTEINTURN SOLAR OBSERVATORY, POTSDAM, GERMANY
(built in the 1920s with Albert Einstein’s support to check his relativity theory;
for many, this is the world’s most beautiful astronomical tower)
-photo (made during the International Meteor Conference 1991)
by Axel Haas (Germany)-



*

MCMATH-PIERCE SOLAR TELESCOPE,
KITT PEAK NATIONAL OBSERVATORY, ARIZONA
(the world’s largest solar telescope)
-photo by Yasuhiro Tonomura (Japan)-



*

A TELESCOPIC PREFERENCE
-by Mircea Pteancu-

Struve 1932 is a very interesting double star,
with the components of almost the same magnitude
(7.3 and 7.4),
separated through 1.6 arcseconds.

It provokes that thrill of the heart
which makes you feel more than understand
the abyss without bottom
of the space which we watch.

For instance,
at 232x/PL7.5mm+Barlow2x,
it is a wonder:
the diffraction discs are separated
through a tiny bridge of black sky
and shine in a color of copper,
just like that of the planet Mars.

I recently heard a South-Korean proverb:
“The strong essences are kept in small bottles.”

Watch Struve 1932
and you will find that
the proverb is available
for the world of the double stars too.

*

DOMES OF THE NATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY OF CHINA
(1. NAOC Headquarters - Beijing,
2. Delingha
3-4. Xinglong)
-photographic poem by Casper ter Kuile (Holland)-









*

FROM EAST TO WEST:
THREE EXOTIC OBSERVATORIES
-astro-photo-essay by Dimitrie Olenici-

Since I am a fan of the exotic observatories,
I’ll show you three of them.
The first is the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory in China
(where, near the old telescope from the Chinese Museum of Astronomy,
I took a picture with even the International Year of Astronomy 2009 coordinator,
the Portuguese man Pedro Russo).











The second is the Tubitak National Astronomical Observatory in Turkey
(with a 1.5-meter telescope),
placed at 2,500 meters altitude
(probably the highest observatory in Asia Minor)







The last of them, on the small island of a rivulet (in Horodnic, Romania),
is just my private observatory.
(Exotic, isn’t it?)



Continuing the sense from east to west,
maybe next time I’ll visit the Canaries Great Telescope in La Palma.
It is also an exotic place!

*

GRAN TELESCOPIO CANARIAS, ORM, LA PALMA
-photo by Alex Tudorica-



*

HAIKU
-by Razvan Ciomartan-

Without telescope
any real astronomer
would be myopic

*

TELESCOPIC PRAISE TO VENUS
-photo by Marian Lucian Achim-



*

HOWEVER
A TELESCOPE IS JUST A TELESCOPE…!
(sequence from an astronomical mountain camp of SARM in 2002)
-photo by Calin Niculae-



*

STAR TRAILS OVER GEMINI NORTH, MAUNA KEA, HAWAII
-photo by Radu Corlan-



*

YEAR 3000
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-

“Doctor,
where are you going
in your space shuttle?”

“I’m going to
the International Space Station
to check the state of health
of the Hubble Telescope.”

*

ROMANIAN TELESCOPIC PRAISE TO THE ISS TRANSIT
-photos:
1. (Discovery-ISS) Catalin Fus;
2. Maximilian Teodorescu-





*

TELESCOPIC PASSION
-by Traian Abrudan (Finland,
born in Romania)-

I’ve remarked that
some people observe heavenly bodies through telescopes
faster than
other people read articles in newspapers…

*

M51
or
TELESCOPIC FAMILY ADVANTAGES
-photo by Marian Lucian Achim;
artwork by Ramona Achim-





*

TELESCOPES
-by Dominic Diamant-

Astral bridges, invented by earthlings,
orientate to the firmament
and make mysterious infinite spaces
speak at present.

*

DEEP SKY OBJECTS
(M64, M51 and ARP 188)
PHOTOGRAPHED THROUGH THE ISAAC NEWTON TELESCOPE
(the first big telescope installed in La Palma),
ING, ORM, MARCH 2010
-photographic poem by Alex Tudorica (student in Germany,
member of SARM, born in Romania)-







*

A COMPARISON BETWEEN
THE FORMER JKT FROM LA PALMA
AND THE FUTURE TELEROM
FROM NOBODY KNOWS WHERE
-Romanian collective astrotragicomedy;
based on a conversation in which every character is real;
scenario by Virgil V. Scurtu;
adaptation and translation by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-

Andrei Dorian Gheorghe:

As we all know,
Romania is the country of absurd and paradox.
Astronomically this means that Romania does not have any big telescope,
but:
-sometime in the last 20 years
Romanian meteor observers (who make observations with the naked eye)
and Romanian variable star observers (who use their small telescopes)
made Romania penetrate into the first 10 countries of the world;
-Romanian astrophotographers published works in
the most important specialized web sites;
-Romanian professional astronomers who work in the West
are very appreciated;
-Romanian high school students won more medals
at international astronomy Olympiads;
-Romanian amateur astronomy received a few world awards
during the International Year of Astronomy 2009.
And not in the least, but as a ironical compensation,
Romania has a terrible astropoetry movement…

Dimitrie Olenici:

I suppose that the Romanian squire Costache Conachi,
famous because in the 1800s transported a big lunette from Vienna to Romania
by oxcart,
would be disappointed that today the authorities from his country postpone the launch
of a national telescope made from European funds.

Virgil V. Scurtu:

I think this 1.3-meter telescope should be installed in Romanian mountains.
Thus, it will help the formation of new researchers
and will be a tourist destination.
Outside of Romania,
it would be only a drop in an ocean of much bigger telescopes…
But before this, a study of astroclimate is a necessity...

Alex Conu:

A good road toward the telescope would be as important.

Virgil V. Scurtu:

If we don’t have money to build a road,
let’s find a new Milton La Salle Humason, the driver of mules who
transported the first components for the Mount Wilson Observatory in California.

Laurentiu Alimpie:

Since the TeleRom it is a robotic telescope, I prefer its installation in
the Chilean Andes or in La Palma, from reasons of astroclimate.

Virgil V. Scurtu:

Why not on the Moon?
The astroclimate is even better over there.

Alin Tolea (established in USA):

Usually, the telescopes of this class (1-meter) are operated from the distance.
And regarding the future TeleRom…

Virgil V. Scurtu:

I don’t like this name,
it sounds like a telecommunications firm …

Alin Tolea:

Romania does not have a place good enough (turbulence, clear nights, light pollution)
for such a telescope.
For instance, I desperately looked for a place with a decent road for cars and a black sky
for an astronomical camp in Romania, and I have only 2-3 choices…

Radu Gherase:

Another problem for such a telescope in Romania, which is a needy country,
would be the thieves attracted by any isolated building.
It would be necessary to have a group of guardians, plus another group of guardians
who must guard the first group not to fraternize with the thieves.

Danut Ionescu (established in New Zealand):

We can install the TeleRom on the other side of the world.
Here, in New Zealand, there are the fewest thieves.
And I know a few fine places…

Marian Suran:

Taking in consideration all the details (astronomical seeing,
number of clear nights, minimal nocturnal pollution, limiting magnitude),
our 1.3-meter telescope, installed in the Atacama Desert (Chile),
would work just like a 2.5-meter telescope installed in Romania.
Something similar to Atacama
if the the telescope would be installed in La Palma.

Virgil V. Scurtu:

However, I still prefer the Romanian national telescope in Romania.
Outside, it will be stifled by giant neighbors,
like in the case of the Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope in La Palma…

Ovidiu Vaduvescu (established in La Palma, Canary Islands):

Out of service since 2003, the 1-meter Jacobus Kapteyn Telescope is still good
and recently a Spanish project of atmospheric studies operated there.
But astronomy is normally financed by state budgets
(with some exceptions in the USA),
and are usually constant,
so more money for huge telescopes means
less money for the 1 to 2-meter telescopes - because
the Americans “exhausted” almost all that can be detected and studied
by a 1-meter telescope.
However, I believe that such a telescope is still feasible for science and discoveries,
and also training for students.
But now there is not any budget to operate the JKT,
and I suffer seeing its cupola always close.

Emil Kolbert:

So we try to install a 1.3-meter telescope
while in the world similar telescopes fight for survival.
I think it’s something both sad and amusing.

Mircea Pteancu:

Great occasion!
I’ve just read that the 1.2-meter telescope at the Elginfield Observatory
of West Ontario University in Canada will be closed.
So we need only a few things: request for donations, a lobby for approval,
documents, dissemble activity, transport, maintenance management,
research programs…
I have one hectare of terrain near my town.
Who does ensure the rest?

Virgil V. Scurtu:

I prefer to wait for the moment when the old 2.5-meter Hooker telescope
(open in 1917!) on Mount Wilson
will become available as a donation to us.
Until then I’ll continue to observe variable stars with my…
20x80-mm binoculars!

*

FELEAC HILL OBSERVATORY
(750 meters altitude,
a variant proposed and rejected for the future TeleRom)
WHEN THE MOON HAD RISEN
AND SOMEONE WORKED ON A VARIABLE STAR FROM DRACO
-photo by Lucian Hudin-



*

JUDGEMENT
-by Mihai Rusie-

Today,
due to light pollution,
installing a telescope of over 1 meter
in a town
seems to be
an astronomical crime.

*

IN FRONT OF AN IMPRESSIVE INSCRIPTION
AT THE JACOBUS KAPTEYN TELESCOPE
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe;
photos by Ovidiu Vaduvescu-



The JKT was sumptuously inaugurated
in the 1980s
and discreetly taken out of service as a common user facility
during the 2000s.

But Dear Cornelius Jacobus Kapteyn,
this meant just technical evolution…

We all heard about
your studies of the Milky Way
and that you were the first discoverer
of evidence for galactic rotation.

I’m sure that later, in the ether,
you were moved
that your work
made astronomy become respected
at least for a moment
by kings, queens and presidents.



*

THROUGH THE MIRROR OF THE TELESCOPE
-by Razvan Ciomartan-

The astronomer
seeks himself
and finds himself again.

*

PALMS
IN THE DREAM OF
“GALILEO”
-by Alfredo Caronia (Italy,
co-discoverer of five asteroids,
honorary member of SARM);
photos (Telescopio Nationale Galileo, ORM, La Palma):
Valentin Grigore (1) and Ovidiu Vaduvescu (2)-



Galileo,
straining at high altitudes,
higher than the
the harmonious hills
in Arcetri,
contemplates
in a dream,
the wonders
that its primordial lens widened
before his eyes
pointing toward the sky,

Galileo
is a flight into orbit
projecting
in infinite targets,
wonderful gifts
to his view,
lost,
and to his life
dedicated to the future,
and projected over
his human defeat
due to a abjure imposed!

Galileo
now, wins
with the wings
that are pushed
in the skies of altitude,
millennial reflexes
of your eyes.



*

MY IMAGINARY TELESCOPE
FOR ASTROPOETIC OBSERVATIONS
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-

If sooner or later
I’d make a telescope,
I’d name it after the deeds below.

In 1542
a Transylvanian-Saxon humanist
re-published in Kronstadt, Transylvania
(now Brasov, Romania)
his masterpiece,
the first European-wide manual,
this time in verses
as Rudimenta Cosmographica.
So never forget please,
that manual included astronomy in verses!

I don’t know how much that manual
was a historical accumulation
which inspired Galileo Galilei
to love astronomy
and then to make the first astronomical telescope.

I don’t know how much that manual
was a historical accumulation
which inspires me
to coordinate SARM’s cosmopoetry
(astropoetry + other astrohumanist forms of expression)
multiproject
here, in Bucharest,
150 km south from Brasov-Kronstadt.

But I know that my future telescope
will be dedicated to the astropoetic observations
and its name will be…

Johannes Honterus!

*

STATUE OF JOHANNES HONTERUS IN BRASOV, ROMANIA
-photographic haiku (in honour of GAM 2011)
by Mircea Pteancu-







*

ASTROHAIKU
-by Tit Tihon-

I watch the stars
lost in the abysses
forgotten by Ra.

*

ORM AT NIGHT,
OCTOBER 2010
-astro-photo-poem by Catalin Paduraru “Sarpe”













In La Palma
I feel I am
a grain of sand
on the beach
of the Universe.



*

CANNON AND TELESCOPE
-by Virgil V. Scurtu-

In his book “Science in History”,
John Desmond Bernal wrote that
the dimension of the telescopes is continually on the rise,
just like the dimension of the cannons.

In that year (1954)
the largest telescope was
in Palomar (California)
and the biggest cannons were
on the Japanese warships Yamato and Musashi.

What a comparison!
This tempts me to write a book,
The Cannon and the Telescope,
and makes me think of other antitheses:
Lev Tolstoi’s “War and Peace”
and Santiago Ramon y Cajal’s “Hero and Researcher”.

*

FROM BUCHAREST TO LA PALMA,
or
GLOBE TROTTER
FROM AN OBSERVATORY TO ANOTHER
or
EXCERPTS FROM
THE PHOTO-DIARY 1999-2008
OF AN ASTRONOMER
-by Ovidiu Vaduvescu-

At Astronomical Institute of Romanian Academy, Bucharest, 1999 :



At Royal Greenwich Observatory, London (England, UK), 1999 :



At David Dunlap Observatory (with a 1.9-meter telescope,
the largest optical on Canadian soil), Toronto :



At York University Observatory, Toronto (Canada) :



At John Hopkins University Observatory, Baltimore, USA :



At the largest Mexican telescope (2.1-meter), San Pedro Martir (Mexico), 2003 :



At Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, Mauna Kea (Hawaii), 2002 and 2004 :





At Keck Domes (the 10-meter two-telescope observatory,
the world’s largest optical between 1993 and 2009), Mauna Kea (Hawaii), 2004 :



At Royal Edinburgh Observatory (with its cupolas in the form
of the Royal crown), Scotland, UK, 2005 :



At Paris Observatory, France, 2005
(Paris Meridian, Polissoir and the Arago refracting lunette) :







At Timisoara Observatory (Romania), 2006 :



At Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia, Granada, Spain, 2006 :



At Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, Groningen, the Netherlands, 2006 :



At Pic du Midi Observatory, French Pyrenees, 2006 :











At KZN University, Durban, South Africa, 2006 :



At Sierra Nevada Observatory, Spain, 2007 :







At Haute-Provence Observatory, France, 2007 :







At La Silla Observatory (famous especially for the ESO 3.5-meter telescope),
Chilean Andes, 2007 and 2008 :















At Cerro Amazones Observatory, Chilean Andes, 2007 and 2008 :









At Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (famous especially for
the Victor Blanco telescope), Chilean Andes, 2007-2008 :











At Cerro Paranal Observatory (famous especially for
the ESO 4 x 8.2-meter Very Large Telescope),
Chilean Andes, 2008 :







At Las Campanas Observatory (famous especially for the Magellan telescopes),
Chilean Andes, 2008 :









At Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, La Palma, Canary Islands, 2008 :



With love
for all observatories and telescopes of the world,
bigger or smaller,
born or unborn yet!



*

MY FRIEND THE TELESCOPE
-by Andrei Dorian Gheorghe-

The telescope is my friend:
he shows me lunar craters,
comets and planets,
Galilean satellites and Saturn’s rings.

The telescope is my friend:
he shows me sunspots,
Messier objects,
and other galaxies, nebulae and star clusters.

The telescope is my obedient and sincere friend,
and I totally trust him:
he shows me that,
whatever I learn,
there will always exist something more
to be…

*

I’M WORKING AT THE ORM!!!
-photographic poem by Ovidiu Vaduvescu
(current astronomer at William Herschel Telescope)-

























Hooray!!!



*

TELESCOPES
-by Dominic Diamant-

Magic eyes that deeply pierce
the cosmic mirage
and reveal for mortals
its frantic and fecund miracle.

*

STARS, DOMES AND PEOPLE
AT THE ROQUE DE LOS MUCHACHOS,
OCTOBER 2010
-photographic poem by Valentin Grigore-

































*

ASTRONOMY
-by Kirsten Emmott (Canada)-

Away, away on this strange world
we have built our telescopes, and tonight,
as I promised, I put my eye to one of them:

a huge thing to collect the light
so scattered over the distances
into a fuzzy lens, your home:
you at home in the mountain observatory
did the same.

Years of light-time make no difference:
love is instantaneous:
like the spark that jumped between our fingers
when we met in the observatory
our magnetism pulled us together
and keeps us together, pulling across the space and time.

It leaps across catches up with the starlight
that left each lens so long ago
passes by in a wink of thought
and sooner than the wave of blood reaches from
our heart to our fingers' ends
fills up the telescope pierces my eye enters my brain: "Hello, hello, my love,"
and you hear: "My love, my love, hello:
Twelve o'clock and all's well."

*
*
*



*

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