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Book: The Red Limit
Quotes of Book: The Red Limit
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  1. Timothy Ferris _ The Red Limit

    Observatories are built on mountains to raise them above the thick, turbulent lower levels of the atmosphere. In principle, the higher the telescope the better. In practice, the expense of building mountain roads and the severity of high-altitude weather inspires a willingness to compromise. Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii, which may be the highest observatory that will ever be built on Earth, stands at nearly 14,000 feet, where gale-force winds are common and the air so thin that higher brain functions are impaired by lack of oxygen. Astronomers quartered halfway down the mountain write themselves childishly simple instructions they hope their muddled brains will be able to obey when they go up to the dome to observe.
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  2. Timothy Ferris _ The Red Limit

    Baade, born and raised in Germany, had lost his U. S. citizenship papers, and found himself classed an enemy alien. Barred from security clearance, he was left alone with the 100-inch telescope. As if in an astronomer's fantasy, he watched from Mt. Wilson as the lights of Los Angeles disappeared into wartime blackout.
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