Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T18:49:32.906Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Educating the Public About Interference to Radio Observatories

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2016

David G. Finley*
Affiliation:
National Radio Astronomy Observatory, P. O. Box 0, Socorro, New Mexico 87801 USA

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Educating the public about interference to radio observatories is a different and more difficult task than educating the public about light pollution. Convincing and successful arguments against light pollution can be based on aesthetic, economic, cultural, safety and security considerations without relying solely on the need to preserve the environment for astronomy. In contrast, it is necessary to first convince members of the public of the value of radio astronomical research before making the case for interference protection. Once this is done, arguments about interference must be presented in ways understandable to a public that is, by and large, woefully uninformed about the technology involved. Successful approaches often borrow from the language of environmental protection and draw parallels to such issues as air and water pollution in justifying the expense of engineering measures to protect radio astronomy.

Type
Part 5. Outreach
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2001 

References

Almond, G. A. 1950, The American People and Foreign Policy , New York: Harcourt, Brace.Google Scholar
Gillespie, M. 1999, U.S. Public Worries About Toxic Waste, Air and Water Pollution as Key Environmental Threats , Princeton, N.J.: The Gallup Organization.Google Scholar
Miller, J. D. 1999, “Scientific Literacy, Issue Attentiveness, and Attitudes toward Science and Space Exploration”, paper presented to AAS meeting, May 1999.Google Scholar
National Science Board 1998, Science & Engineering Indicators , Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Yun, M.S., Ho, P.T.P. and Lo, K.Y. 1994, Nature, 372, 530.Google Scholar