A TV meteorologist of 33 years declined the vaccine, citing personal freedoms. He was fired.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

49. So true.

Last edited Sun Sep 19, 2021, 04:57 AM - Edit history (1)

I frequently send him a text asking if Ask The Astronomer is available. Somewhat understandably I'm fascinated by the topic, and I often have questions for him. He is very good at answering them, possibly because for a number of years now he's been dealing with his mother and her endless questions.

He is at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, these days. He runs tours for the telescope, which have only this past week gone back to live, not virtual tours. When he was in middle and upper school he attended the Astronomy Camp for teens at the University of Arizona. It really helped cement his interest in astronomy. I attended the adult version a few years ago and just loved it. As a child I had the good fortune to live in rural upstate New York, north of Utica, and had wonderful clear skies and did lots of looking at stars.

Almost every single time I talk to him I learn something new. Here's a factoid I hope you will appreciate. As you probably know, our galaxy, Milky Way, is on a collision course with the nearest large galaxy, Andromeda. Brace yourself. We'll collide in some 4 to 5 billion years. Here's a link to a computer simulation of what it will look like:

If you want to learn a bit more, here's a longer thing about Andromeda:

So I asked him, how many stars will actually crash into each other? And he responded, "Well, we're not sure but probably no more thn ten." Wow. That tells you more than anything how vast interstellar distances are. I've come to despise the various representations of stars that seem to show them very close together, because that is simply not true.

And yes, astronomy has been an excellent career for him. Because of his autism, he had a lot of challenges in college. He flunked out of two schools, but thanks to the kind help of his high school college counselor (he attended an independent secular school and that counselor went out of his way to help my son even after son had been away from that school. I periodically update that counselor on my son's progress.) And, in the interests of full disclosure, when my son finally got his bachelor's degree, he'd already been rejected by the four graduate programs he'd applied to. Fortunately, there was a professor at another school who'd met my son at conferences, and in the spring of that year asked him, "So what are your plans for grad school?" My son admitted he had none at that point. The professor said, "Apply to my school. I will make sure you get in." That school was Missouri State University in Springfield, MO. It only had a master's program in astronomy, but that was okay. At the end of my son's first year he called me up and told me his professor had taken a job at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, and he (my son) would be going there. At first I was in a bit of a panic, knowing my son's limitations. I have a friend who teaches college on the west coast, and he said, "Oh, Poindexter! Don't worry. Whenever a professor goes like this to a new school he's expected to bring along some grad students." Whew! What a relief. And there was another grad student who transferred to GMU along with my son.

Perhaps the very best part is that his field, exo-planet research, is a very hot field right now, and there are apparently LOTS of potential jobs out there for him whenever he finishes his degree.