A Note on the Title

Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world I feel like I can't take it, like my heart's going to cave in.

-- Ricky Fitts, American Beauty, 1999

It is sometimes said that scientists are unromantic, that their passion to figure out robs the world of beauty and mystery. But is it not stirring to understand how the world actually works -- that white light is made of colors, that color is the way we perceive the wavelengths of light, that transparent air reflects light, that in so doing it discriminates among the waves, and that the sky is blue for the same reason that the sunset is red? It does no harm to the romance of the sunset to know a little bit about it.

-- Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 1994



Welcome to my new blog, l'Heure Bleue! I suppose that the first order of business is explaining the unusual name. The term is French for "Blue Hour" (no, I do not actually speak French, so I suppose that the name is slightly pretentious, but this is not my intent). The blue hour is (literally) a reference to the hour between daylight and darkness. This loosely connects to the primary theme of this blog -- Astronomy.

Professional astronomers will probably not be particularly interested in the site, as I am not a professional astronomer -- just a dilettante in the field. I am a (nearly) professional scientist, however: a 5th year PhD student in chemical engineering employed as a research assistant at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. In writing for this blog, my goal is to provide interested amateurs with some introduction to theoretical astrophysical concepts that are not usually within the realm of amateur astronomy. I'll also be describing my own adventures in the realm of amateur observational astronomy -- both visual & photographic (when I can afford a decent camera, that is).

It is the former goal, however, that inspired the name l'Heure Bleue. I am not a professional astronomer, but I do possess the mathematical & physical background of a PhD-level engineer. In this sense, the level of technical detail on this blog will (at times) be somewhere between the professional astronomical world and the non-technical amateur who is concerned only with pretty pictures. It is doubtful that anyone other than myself will find this combination interesting or helpful, but, well, c'est la vie...

-Jon


P.S. -- Also, I invite any professional astronomers or astrophysicists who spot an error in my ramblings to please correct me. The internet is too polluted with misinformation already, and the last thing I want is to contribute to the problem.