by iamlucky13 » Wed Jan 23, 2008 6:18 pm
craterchains wrote:It is our tax dollars and grant monies that they are spending at their respective "whims".
Frankly, I'm happy to spend $0.000001 of tax money per image to learn something about stars, nebulae, planets, comets, galaxies, clouds, airplanes, etc.
We ask for pertinent data, and we get "pretty pictures" instead? Give us the freaking size indicators in the images for a good change, or at least get the wording correct in what yah write.
I've always been of the opinion that part of APOD's appeal is that it keeps things simple enough for the common man. There are images where such information is appropriate, but not always easy to add. Remember, the gentlemen who edit APOD have day jobs, which ought to be their first priority. That said, they do a pretty good job of providing links to related information so that the more educated or curious readers can go deeper into topic. Frequently questions of scale, distance, or wavelength can be answered by checking out a few of these links. But APOD is not a research site. It's educational, so such information does not seem imperative to that mission.
[quote="craterchains"]It is our tax dollars and grant monies that they are spending at their respective "whims".[/quote]
Frankly, I'm happy to spend $0.000001 of tax money per image to learn something about stars, nebulae, planets, comets, galaxies, clouds, airplanes, etc.
[quote]We ask for pertinent data, and we get "pretty pictures" instead? Give us the freaking size indicators in the images for a good change, or at least get the wording correct in what yah write.[/quote]
I've always been of the opinion that part of APOD's appeal is that it keeps things simple enough for the common man. There are images where such information is appropriate, but not always easy to add. Remember, the gentlemen who edit APOD have day jobs, which ought to be their first priority. That said, they do a pretty good job of providing links to related information so that the more educated or curious readers can go deeper into topic. Frequently questions of scale, distance, or wavelength can be answered by checking out a few of these links. But APOD is not a research site. It's educational, so such information does not seem imperative to that mission.