Evaluation Of General Sources

Astronomy is not a field without controversy. The universe is so vast and mysterious, that we cannot help but hit a few bumps on the road to an answer. In this post, we will be looking at two different types of controversies that have risen in the field - one more political with the other being purely scientific.

What is probably the most scandalous event in astronomy history is actually quite recent. A post last updated August 4th by Clara Moskowitz of Scientific American titled "Astronomers Gather in Hawaii Amit Controversy Over Giant Telecope" (http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/astronomers-gather-in-hawaii-amid-controversy-over-giant-telescope/) explains the situation. A group of astronomers intend to construct one of the most powerful telescopes in history atop a dormant Hawaiin volcanoe, held as sacred to many of the locals. This has stirred up large protest, as shown by the picture in the article. This graphic is especially effective in showing how serious the situation really is. The telescope is not just angering a small fringe group, an entire population is in opposition. Though the image would have it seem that the article is taking the side of the locals, the author remains quite impartial throughout the writing, merely stating what is happening. The purpose is very obviously just to document the present, not stir further controversy.

Something I found very helpful within the article is the littering of links to past posts about the subject. Rather than explaining every little thing in detail, the author provides past information just a click away. This way, anyone new to the controversy can catch up with what is going on, while those more updated can merely stick to the article at hand.

The second controversy is more limited to the scietific community, and has much less public appeal. The predominant theory in the field of astronomy has long been that the universe is expanding. But an article by Sci-News May 23 of 2014 entitled "Universe is Not Expanding After All, Controversial Study Suggest" eponymously says otherwise. Here, the unamed author evaluates research from a Spanish astronomer who apparently has found two cases that may suggest a non-expanding universe, with multiple links to different journals and articles related to the subject. Like the previous article, this one lacks much bias, and seems to exist only to spread knowledge. At the head of the article is an image from one of the Large Magellanic Telescopes that was partially used to make this astonishing discovery. Ast the article comes to a close, it makes sure to add that the true answers are still, and probably will always be up in the air.