29
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
F. Sánchez, The Rise of Astrophysics in Modern Spain, Astronomers’ Universe,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66426-8_4
4
We Are Stardust (1962–1968)
To state that we are stardust is not simply poetic licence. I did not know that
when I arrived in the Canaries at the beginning of 1961. Astrophysicists have
convincingly demonstrated that the elements that make up our bodies and all
that surrounds us could not have originated here on Earth, on the other planets, or in the sun that warms us: we are born of interstellar dust. But I did not
discover this astonishing fact until I visited the Paris Institute of Astrophysics
way back in 1962.
I had come to Tenerife to determine whether the skies above its summits
met the demands of modern observational astronomy, but neither I nor anybody else in the country knew how to carry out an astronomical site prospection campaign. Thanks to an exchange grant from the International
Astronomical Union, I went to Europe to find out. In January 1962, Dr
J. Dommanget, on a similar grant, came to visit us. He was one of a team
dedicated to a site-testing campaign then being carried out in South Africa
and Chile to choose a site for the future European Southern Observatory
(ESO). On this trip I began to familiarize myself with the techniques and
procedures used in astronomical site testing while at the same time finding
out about astrophysics.
The atmosphere has always been a bugbear to astronomers. To a greater or
lesser degree, its perturbing presence persistently impairs the observation of
celestial bodies. It is always there before our eyes and telescopes, partially or
totally obscuring our vision. It acts as a selective and variable filter always
degrading the information reaching us from space, whether in the form of
visible light or any other kind of radiation. If the Earth had no atmosphere,
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
F. Sánchez, The Rise of Astrophysics in Modern Spain, Astronomers’ Universe,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-66426-8_4
4
We Are Stardust (1962–1968)
To state that we are stardust is not simply poetic licence. I did not know that
when I arrived in the Canaries at the beginning of 1961. Astrophysicists have
convincingly demonstrated that the elements that make up our bodies and all
that surrounds us could not have originated here on Earth, on the other planets, or in the sun that warms us: we are born of interstellar dust. But I did not
discover this astonishing fact until I visited the Paris Institute of Astrophysics
way back in 1962.
I had come to Tenerife to determine whether the skies above its summits
met the demands of modern observational astronomy, but neither I nor anybody else in the country knew how to carry out an astronomical site prospection campaign. Thanks to an exchange grant from the International
Astronomical Union, I went to Europe to find out. In January 1962, Dr
J. Dommanget, on a similar grant, came to visit us. He was one of a team
dedicated to a site-testing campaign then being carried out in South Africa
and Chile to choose a site for the future European Southern Observatory
(ESO). On this trip I began to familiarize myself with the techniques and
procedures used in astronomical site testing while at the same time finding
out about astrophysics.
The atmosphere has always been a bugbear to astronomers. To a greater or
lesser degree, its perturbing presence persistently impairs the observation of
celestial bodies. It is always there before our eyes and telescopes, partially or
totally obscuring our vision. It acts as a selective and variable filter always
degrading the information reaching us from space, whether in the form of
visible light or any other kind of radiation. If the Earth had no atmosphere,