Bookchat: Astronomical Non-Fiction – The Last Stargazers

Welcome to bookchat! Where you can talk about anything; books, plays, essays, and audio books. You don’t have to be reading a book to come in, sit down, and chat with us.

I’ve been married for almost 40 years to a man who is interested in everything. He is, of course, a Jeopardy! champion, and science books are his idea of recreational reading.

Well, as a child, my ambition was to live in a library, and we basically do, because I’m an avid reader of fiction, poetry, and history, while he reads some of that, and lots of everything else.

His enthusiasm for astronomy has led to our spending a very cold night at Joshua Tree National Park here in California to see Halley’s Comet, a remarkable afternoon at Palomar Observatory, and of course, going to events and lectures at the Griffith Park Observatory. In fact, he proposed to me on the observatory’s observation deck, at sunset, with a sweeping view of Los Angeles below us.

He has also talked me into reading some of his books, just as I have persuaded him to try some of mine.

Most recently, he handed me The Last Stargazers: The Enduring Story of Astronomy’s Vanishing Explorers by Emily Levesque, with the words, “She’s a good storyteller.”

He wasn’t kidding. She is an outstanding storyteller, and she has some great stories to tell, not only her own tales of triumph and disaster, but also epic sagas she’s collected from the international community of professional stargazers.

Some of the chapter titles will give you the flavor:

   Chapter Three: Has Anybody Seen the Condors?

   Chapter Five: The Harm from the Bullets Was Extraordinarily Small

   Chapter Seven: Hayrides and Hurricanes

   Chapter Twelve: The Supernova in Your Inbox

In Chapter Four, she relates the story of Doug Geisler, a University of Washington graduate student, who was observing at Manastash Ridge Observatory in central Washington on May 17, 1980.

“He was alone on the mountain and taking his very first night of data for his PhD thesis, observing billion-year-old stars in the Milky Way.” 

Early in the morning, he carefully closed and covered the telescope, and went to the nearby dormitory to get some sleep. Around 8:30 AM, something woke him up, but he fell back asleep, dreaming about the end of the world.

When he woke up later, he noticed there was no light leaking around the edges of the blackout curtain – wondering if he’d overslept, he checked his watch, which read 12 noon – then he opened the dormitory door to pitch blackness and the smell of brimstone. His first thought was that there had been a nuclear attack.

While he slept that morning, Mount St. Helens, 90 miles away, had erupted. It was the most destructive volcanic eruption in U.S. history. In the hours since, prevailing winds had carried most of the volcanic plume right over the observatory.

He was supposed to have a second night of observing, but his log entry, “which became the stuff of legends,” read:

Hours Lost: 6. Reason: Volcano (good excuse, huh?)

Sky Condition: Black + smelly    

I am the last survivor of the war – I remembered the “boom.” I rush to the radio – most stations are still playing “cha-cha” music. The end of the world + they’re playing “cha-cha” music! Finally KATS in Yakima says Mt. St. Helens blew its wad. I am somewhat relieved. It remains completely dark until -2, + eventually clears to -1/2 mile visibility by dusk. I cover the telescopes + instruments. Some of the fine ash is settling thru the slit but I think the damage will be minimal. I’ve heard of the dark run but this is ridiculous.

In between stories of adventure – and misadventure – at the world’s biggest telescopes, she explains some of the technological advances and new discoveries which are radically changing how astronomers work, as well as what they will be researching.

The Last Stargazers was a PEN America Literary Award finalist.

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