The meeting I just attended was the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope User's Meeting.
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The meeting I just attended was the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope User's Meeting. It was a bunch of talks about all the cool science that's being done with the telescope, and a LOT of discussion about where the telescope is going next. Lack of funds means they will be cutting a lot (like everything science-related, it seems).
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There was a very big, really needed emphasis on Indigenous perspectives, and lots of viewpoints from Native Hawaiians. I was quite impressed that they brought in an archeologist to talk about how archeology is slowly transforming from colonialist, racist viewpoints, to "community archeology," conducted in partnership with the (mostly Indigenous) people who live on and are connected to the land being studied.
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Astronomy has a loooong way to go as a field. But I'm very very happy to see these discussions happening at science meetings.
How does our science benefit the people who live around Maunakea, who are connected to that mountain? Can data and education resources be made that are specifically aimed at local people? CFHT has been doing this well for many years, but how do individual astronomers incorporate this practice?
I don't have answers. Important things to think about.
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So many cool science results. New exoplanets, new chemistry in exoplanet atmospheres, weird magnetic stars (soooo many magnetic stars), nebulae, galaxies, galaxy clusters, gravitational lenses, rocks in the outer solar system on weird orbits, rocks zipping through the solar system after being ejected from other solar systems.
I so totally enjoyed learning about such a broad array of astronomy, while also having great, very focused discussions with my TNO collaborators
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G gustavinobevilacqua@mastodon.cisti.org shared this topic
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I also got to explore, enjoy, and connect with the land where the meeting was held! The lake was GORGEOUS, I hiked around near a river and enjoyed the neon green new leaves, and I even saw some groundhogs which are maybe my new favourite animal.
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And of course, I yelled a lot about satellites, and tried to convince other astronomers there to yell along with me. (Not sure if it worked. Amazing how many astronomers are still unaware of the huge satellite problem...theorists and spectroscopists...)
Astronomers really are the canaries in the coal mine for the environmental disaster in orbit, and I think this is a topic we're especially perfectly skilled to push for regulation on.
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Back to the land - I loved the super clear, flat lake by the conference venue. One of the Quebecois astronomers told me a story about a flying canoe (that also involves loggers making a pact with the devil or something? Quebecois legends seem pretty awesome).
But at night, I could totally see where that legend came from! The stars reflected in the lake were almost disorienting, I could imagine how totally trippy that would look if you were canoeing through it!
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So anyway, just wanted to really reiterate how completely grateful I am for getting to go to this meeting. It was a much-needed reminder of why the night sky, and the land, and traditional knowledge, and science in general are all so worth fighting for.
(Apologies for the rambly thread - I am very tired. Because travel is hard!)
