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Can you see through clouds
with a telescope?
Not a chance. Although some
people believe that a telescope is capable of revealing objects otherwise masked
by cloud cover. Here are just two examples.
In December 1973, a special
gathering was organized in lower Manhattan at dawn to observe the newly discovered
Comet Kohoutek. Prospective viewers were invited to view the comet through a
variety of telescopes in the pre-dawn hours, followed by a chowder breakfast.
On the appointed morning,
the sky was hopelessly overcast, yet thousands of people came just the same,
many still expecting to get their promised view of the comet - despite the clouds
-- through the assemblage of telescopes.
After an astronomer explained
from a sound truck that the comet would not be visible he asked if there were
any questions. From out of the crowd somebody asked, "So what do we do
now?" To which the astronomer replied: "Have another bowl of chowder!"
A year later, in December
1974, a partial eclipse of the Sun occurred over much of North America. In New
York, local astronomical societies had gathered with their telescopes on the
86th floor observation deck of the Empire State Building. A large number of
reporters were also there to report on the viewing of the eclipse.
Unfortunately, a solid deck
of low, gray clouds completely obscured any possible view of the Sun (some attributed
the bad luck to the fact that it was also Friday, the 13th)!
One reporter for a local
news radio station arrived just moments before the predicted peak of the eclipse.
He pushed his way through the group and, somewhat out of breath, asked which
telescope he could look through to view the eclipse.
When it was explained to
him that the eclipse couldn't be seen because of the clouds, he was incredulous,
saying in exasperated tones, "You mean I came all the way up here for nothing?"
But in the end he had the last laugh. Composing himself, he quickly filed his
report from a nearby phone booth: "The clouds eclipsed today's eclipse,
and this reporter was rather surprised to discover that not even these impressive
telescopes could provide us with a glimpse. If you ask me, this is the biggest
cover-up since Watergate!"
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Joe Rao serves as an
instructor and guest lecturer at New York's Hayden Planetarium. He writes about
astronomy for The New York Times and other publications, and he is also an on-camera
meteorologist for News 12 Westchester,
New York.
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