Comments on: Launchpad Day 2: The Electromagnetic Spectrum, Light, Astronomical Tools (Mike Brotherton)

By: Kelvin Kao

Kelvin Kao — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 21:58:22 +0000

I believe we were talking about gels, yeah. I’m not sure how that worked, but basically you can have white, but you can have one white that feels warmer than the other. It has to do with which gels you use to add up to white.

By: Mary Robinette Kowal

Mary Robinette Kowal — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 20:11:48 +0000

Hm. I’m not sure on that. I hear people talk about the warmth of a lamp, which relates to how it sits on the white to yellow scale. But it could also be the gels.

By: Kelvin Kao

Kelvin Kao — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 18:19:15 +0000

Now that you mentioned it, oh yeah, that’s right. The next thing I thought of was the different white washes and how some may be warm and how some might be cool. Not sure if that’s related.

By: Mary Robinette Kowal

Mary Robinette Kowal — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 14:53:29 +0000

See, I immediately thought of how black clothing will sometimes look red onstage in dim lighting.

By: Kelvin Kao

Kelvin Kao — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 10:47:25 +0000

The fact that I found the most interesting from this post is “Light coming from an incandescent bulb is red. But thereâ€™s enough blue in it that our eyes perceive it as a full spectrum. If you crank down the intensity of the light, youâ€™ll notice the red.” Ah, damn, didn’t know I was fooled! This explained what I saw before the lights light up all the way, though. (“Ah… that’s why.”)

I have no idea why I knew about astronomers not liking lenses. I looked up that stuff at some point but I don’t remember why. Supposedly there are different ways of arranging the lenses and it affects the magnification and the accuracy of colors. There are, of course, terms for those things but I don’t remember.

By: Mary Robinette Kowal

Mary Robinette Kowal — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 04:58:14 +0000

Five schools? Yoicks! Good luck with that.

By: Diane Turnshek

Diane Turnshek — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 01:59:29 +0000

It’s been fun reading your astronomy notes. I’m just finishing up teaching astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh and this month I pick up classes at CCAC, Carnegie Mellon University and St. Vincent’s. Your posts have done a great job of refreshing me and making me confident that I can teach at five schools in one year (I also teach SF/F at Seton Hill University). Perhaps not the reason you posted, but I’m grateful for your efforts.

By: Eric James Stone

Eric James Stone — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 21:53:02 +0000

> If you had infrared eyes, a person with a fever would look brighter you.

Transgenics who’ve escaped from Manticore would also look brighter.