Book 8, Question 149
Why Is Patience Part of Astronomy?
Patience is part of astronomy because clouds win some nights, and skills grow slowly! But the reward is worth it. You build a personal library of real sights that no screen can fully replace.
More fun facts
- On a chilly April morning in 1960, Frank Drake used a giant radio telescope in Green Bank, West Virginia, to listen to two nearby stars.
- The two stars were Tau Ceti and Epsilon Eridani.
- Drake named his project after Oz, a land far away full of strange beings.
- Long before that, in 1909, a newspaper wrote about astronomer David Todd's efforts to contact Mars.
- In 1924, Todd organized another search for signals from Mars.
- Astronomy as a modern science is less than 400 years old, so there is still plenty to discover.
Sources: Smithsonian Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine
Questions kids ask
Did Drake find aliens?
No. Searches like his have not found a signal yet, which is why patience matters.