Life long amateur astronomer Dave Schlom is joined by professional astronomer Emily Levesque to talk about her recently published book: The Last Stargazers: True Tales of The Colorful and Vanishing World of Observational Astronomy. A kind love letter to her fellow professionals, Emily takes us on a tour of some of the world's greatest observatories perched on remote mountain tops and explains how professional astronomy is actually practiced.
Levesque takes us also on a tour through the history of astrophysics from the time of using fragile glass plates to record images to the digital revolution that has replaced photography in astronomical imaging. One thing that has held constant, the drive of astronomers to understand the mysteries of the universe.
"Emily's book was so fun to read," said Schlom. "At times funny and other poignant, it's the best book I've read on the subject since Timothy Ferris's The Red Limit back in 1977." Talking astronomy comes naturally to both Levesque and Blue Dot's host so get ready for a trip around the world and across the universe.
