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Paper: astro-ph/0507140
Date: Wed, 6 Jul 2005 17:37:28 GMT (27kb)

Title: Can Remote Observing be Good Observing? Reflections on Procrustes and
Antaeus

Authors: Felix J. Lockman (NRAO, Green Bank)

Comments: Slightly edited version of an article published in 1993 in
'Observing
at a Distance' eds. D.T. Emerson & R.G. Clowes, World Scientific, p325, with
a new short Afterword. Posted at the request of Paul Schechter
Journal-ref: Observing at a Distance, (1993) eds. D.T. Emerson and R.G.
Clowes,
World Scientific, p. 325
\\
Remote observing seeks to simulate the presence of the astronomer at the
telescope. While this is useful, and necessary in some circumstances,
simulation is not reality. The drive to abstract the astronomer from the
instrument can have unpleasant consequences, some of which are prefigured in
the ancient tales of Procrustes and Antaeus.

This article, written in 1992 for
a conference proceedings on remote observing, is reprinted here with only
slight editorial changes and the addition of a short Afterword. I consider
some
of the human factors involved in remote observing, and suggest that our aim
be
to enhance rather than supplant the astronomer at the telescope.

\\ ( http://arXiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0507140 , 27kb)

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