The Great Bare
With so much unpleasantness at ground level in recent months, it is hardly surprising that people around the world have sought solace in the heavens.
Particularly widespread hay was made of the recent arrival of Neowise, a comet that was first spotted in March and is now making its closest approach to the sun. C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE), as the giant iceball is properly known, has a 6800-year orbit, meaning that this approach may well be the last time any of us gets to see it. We aren鈥檛 talking about any one person, obviously, but the human race as a whole.
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Sigh. Of all the times to drop by, it had to pick the days of covid-19. Not really looking our best, are we? Feedback in particular hasn鈥檛 had a haircut since late 2019. We have had to attach our fringe to the backs of our ears with bulldog clips so that we can still see the computer screen.
By some standards, though, that鈥檚 practically overdressed for the occasion. According to a (since corrected) article in the Metro online, Neowise 鈥渉as been spotted streaking across the night skies around the world and will be visible to the naked here in the UK鈥�.
Feedback correspondent Dominic Driver, who sent the clipping in, confesses to being 鈥渟omewhat surprised by the requirement to strip off to view the comet and wondering why it is only a requirement in the UK. Perhaps something to do with social distancing?鈥�
Good thought, Dominic. We would certainly advise keeping well away from any astronomers who are wandering the countryside in the altogether.
Space names
On the subject of space, Feedback was over the moon to receive Alan Ashton鈥檚 correspondence on the contrived acronyms used in much astronomical research. Not only does he agree with our fundamental point, he provides some very compelling receipts on the subject.
鈥淥ne project,鈥� writes Alan, 鈥渋s H0LiCOW. This stands for 鈥楬0 Lenses in COSMOGRAIL鈥檚 Wellspring鈥� where COSMOGRAIL refers to 鈥楥OSmological MOnitoring of GRAvItational Lenses鈥�. They are hoping to reconcile the results from H0LiCOW with SH0ES, 鈥楽upernova, H0, for the Equation of State of dark energy鈥�.鈥� All of which is wonderfully ARSE (AcRonym abuSE) about FACE (Frankly Absurd and self-indulgent aCronym crEation).
Alan goes on to tickle Feedback鈥檚 fancy by suggesting the coinage of a neologism. 鈥淎stronomers seem to have cornered the market in bizarre acronyms. Maybe they should be called Astronyms.鈥� We love it.
Some certainty
In yet another entry in this week鈥檚 鈥淧reviously on Feedback鈥� sequence, reader Bob Mays wrote to us some time ago to object to our use of the expression 鈥渕ore than probable鈥�, and requested a reference table in which he could determine the exact probability referred to. We humbly prostrated ourselves before him and ceded his point.
But now, it seems that we may have ceded our ground too swiftly. Permit us, then, to quickly clamber back up onto the moral high ground and pretend we never left it in the first place. Sami Wannell has written in to direct us 鈥� and we quote 鈥� 鈥渢o Sherman Kent鈥檚 work with NATO around how people interpret different 鈥榚stimative probability鈥� terms鈥�.
shows that people consider 鈥渦nlikely鈥� to be more likely then 鈥渓ittle chance鈥�, but less likely than 鈥渋mprobable鈥� 鈥� which, in turn, is seen as less likely than 鈥渓ikely鈥� and even more unlikely than 鈥減robable鈥�.
What鈥檚 more, the study reveals that 鈥減robable鈥� is seen as less likely than 鈥渧ery good chance鈥�, 鈥渉ighly likely鈥� and 鈥渁lmost certainly鈥�. Which means, Bob, that our posteriors are very amply covered. Profuse thanks to Sami, who 鈥� in classic Feedback fashion 鈥� points out that his surname is pronounced one-L but spelled with two.
Rhea sighting
At some point in the fairly recent past (the months, where do they go? Answers on a sterilised postcard), Feedback returned to the subject of unusual social-distancing yardsticks.
We focused in particular on an Australian airport that suggested staying one cassowary apart, a whimsical idea on which we riffed airily, pointing out that the cassowary鈥檚 famously dangerous claws may warrant staying at least one cassowary apart from any cassowary.
Another flightless bird has made headlines since then, this time on the other side of the world. The scene is Brazil, and the protagonist is a noble rhea that took it upon itself to stroll around the grounds of the presidential palace.
The villain of the affair? Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, who foolishly violated social-distancing protocols by trying to feed the bird. The result? A pecking that 鈥� from a photographic point of view, at least 鈥� looks pretty painful indeed.
With Bolsonaro鈥檚 popularity on the wane in Brazil, not everybody was immediately sympathetic. , Margarida Salom茫o, a member of congress for the Workers鈥� Party, was particularly scathing. 鈥淭his rhea represents us,鈥� she tweeted. Duly noted.
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