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From: elt@astrovax.UUCP (Ed Turner)
Newsgroups: net.followup,net.astro
Subject: Re: Death of Ground Based Astronomy
Message-ID: <433@astrovax.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 12-Sep-84 10:01:45 EDT
Article-I.D.: astrovax.433
Posted: Wed Sep 12 10:01:45 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 14-Sep-84 20:57:24 EDT
References: <498@ames.UUCP> <443@utastro.UUCP> <370@aquila.UUCP> <4301@utzoo.UUCP>
Organization: Princeton Univ. Astrophysics
Lines: 26

This is really pretty silly.  Essentially no astronomer of the many I know
thinks that ground based astronomy is coming to an end (or even declining in
importance) in the forseeable future (decades).  Moreover, groups of 
astronomers charged with the task of planning the discipline's future have
generally reached the opposite conclusion (i.e., that there is some danger
of damage to astronomical research by devotion of too large a fraction of
available resources to space astronomy).  See for instance "Astronomy and
Astrophysics for the 1980's: Report of the Astronomy Survey Committee", a
study performed by the National Academy of Sciences (=a couple of dozen of
the county's top astronomers) which was charged (despite the 1980's reference
in the title) with taking a long range look at astronomy's future.

I hate to argue "from authority" instead of "in detail" but I simply don't
have the time to explain all of the types of observations which are not
impacted at all significantly by the atmosphere.  For a good detailed
comparison of ground based vs. space based astronomy at a quite technical
level see the Appendix of "Optical and Infared Telescopes for the 1990's"
ed. A. Hewitt, KPNO, 1980 (in Vol. 2).

Ed Turner
astrovax!elt

P.S. - The predictions of astronomers about the future of astronomy, in 
addition to whatever force of expertise they have, may in any case be
self-fullfiling.  After all, it is astronomers who will implement the
future of astronomy.