AstroShop Support Resources Education Events Publications Membership News About Us Home
The Astronomical Society of the Pacific

 

   home > publications > mercury

SEARCH ASP SITE:
  Publications Topics:  
   
Books  
ASP Conference Series  
Monograph Publications  
IAU Publications  
  Books of Note  
  Purchase through the AstroShop  
Journals  
  Publications of the ASP (PASP)  
Magazines  
Mercury Magazine  
    Archive  
    Guidelines for Authors  
    Order Mercury Issues  
    Mercury Advertising Rates  
   
Newletters  
The Universe in the Classroom  
  ASP E-mail Newsletters  
Special Features  
  Astronomy Beat  
Contact Us  

Laboratory Astrophysics: An Oxymoron No More

 

Mercury Autumn 2009 Table of Contents

galaxies

The cosmos is nature's ultimate physics laboratory.

Credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble Heritage Team.

by Bruce Partridge

I was asked to begin by framing the discussion, and I propose to do so by starting with a two-word oxymoron, an oxymoron that for millennia might have seemed blasphemous as well as puzzling. It is this: "laboratory astrophysics." This is the branch of astronomy that attempts to replicate astronomical processes in the laboratory.

To anyone who believes, as most of Galileo's contemporaries did, that the heavens are governed by completely different physical laws from mundane, earthly events, the idea of "laboratory astrophysics" would make no sense. Indeed, given that the mechanics of the heavens were supposedly perfect and divine, it would even smell of blasphemy.

If you enjoyed this excerpt from a feature article and would like to receive our quarterly Mercury magazine, we invite you to join the ASP and receive 4 issues a year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
line

home | about us | news | membership | publications

events | education | resources | support | astroshop | search

Privacy & Legal Statements | Site Index | Contact Us

Copyright ©2001-2010 Astronomical Society of the Pacific