First Light-The Search For the Edge of the Universe.(#2)

In Richard Preston's nonfiction First Light (1996), in section two of the novel Preston presents the couple the Shoemakers who are deeply involved in the search of the asteroids and comets and also how many astronomers did indepth studies in researching galaxies for the asteroids but they easily gave up in completing their tasks. Preston describes how the geologists astronomers Eugene Shoemaker and Carolyn Shoemaker are captivated by the science of the asteroids and comets so they go to Palomar Mountain to  discover asteroids and comets by using facts and statistics through critiquing answers through research and validating unresolved scientific research that hasn't been prove to be true. Preston asserts that the Shoemakers use a different type of telescope, not the Hale's telescope, they use a faster telescope called the Schmidt telescope to observe asteroids and comets that passes through Earth's Orbit by using imagery, he then describes the historical background behind the different asteroids and their given names by using mathematical and scientific statistics, and to conclude he presents the reader of how the Schmidt telescope came into creation and he deeply reveals his experiences working as a side helper with the telescope. Preston's purpose is to evoke in readers that each new telescope used on Palomar mountain has to have some type of deep meaning to it. He seems to have again an audience prone to intellectual curiosity and his tone again is informative.

• emulsion- a fine dispersion of minute droplets of one liquid in another in which it is not soluble or miscible.
• creosate bushes- a shrub native to arid parts of Mexico and the western U.S. Its leaves smell of creosote and when steeped in boiling water, they yield an antiseptic lotion. 
• celestial- positioned in or relating to the sky, or outer space as observed in astronomy.

Tone: informative, logical, straight-forward.

1) Statistics: Another 65,800 planets have been seen once or twice, not often enough to have their orbits plotted with certainty and thus to be eligible for numbering.(96)

2) Denotation: A supernova is the heatcomb of a star.(97)

3) Listing: It was titled "Known Trojans," and it contained a list of heroes from the Trojan War- Achilles, Patroclus, Hektor, Nestor, Priam. (68)

4) Personification: A flash of blue sparks danced around the telescope's mounting.(85)

5) Simile: I remarked to her that it felt as though we were in free-fall.(87)

• Why does Preston use the location of every telescope being used on Palomar Mountain to be the first greatest telecope?
•  In what structure does Preston use listing in the sentence?
• What impact will the Earth have if it is hit by an asteroid?

Quotation: " Darkness had triggered the death of much singled-celled life in the sea, dynamiting the pyramid of life at its base, causing mass extinction to ripple upward." (128)

First Light-The Search For the Edge of the Universe.

In Richard Preston's novel, "First Light- The Search For the Edge of the Universe,"(1987), Richard Preston claims that First Light is classified as a moment in history when stars and galaxies are first formed out of a dark universe and it revolves around astronauts who are searching for light in the end of the universe using the Hales telescope. Preston supports his claims by using facts and staisctics through astronomical mesaurements and reaserch data that the scientists use to prove their theories, Preston describes that the astronomers Jim Gunn, Maarten Schmidt(team leader), Donald Schneider(assistant) Barbara Zimmerman are deeply involved in the astronominical research at Polamar Observatory for the "First Light" by using imagery, and he describes history of the First Light by using technical details, and to conclude he describes that the discoveries of Quasars are to be evidently reaserched by the astronomers by using listings(dashes/hyphens) and definition. Prestron's purpose is to prove to readers that there is such existence in the galaxies and universe to be uncovered. Preston seems to have an audience prone to intellectual curiousity or perhaps a nerdy audience, his tone is informative.

• spectrum- an ordered array of the components of an emission or wave.
• spectroscopy- is the use of light, sound or particle emission to study of matter.
• quasars-is a very energetic and distant active galactic nucleus.

Tone: philosophical,informative,straight-forward.

1. Statistics: Light moves at a speed of 186,282 miles per second through space-a snail's pace by the measure of cosmic distance.(24)
2. Definition: Spectroscopy-the division of light into its component wavelengths.(23)
3. Listings(dashes/hyphens/commas)-Quasars disgorge opulent, multitdinous colors all at once-gamma rays, X rays, ultraviolets, blues, greens, yellows, reds, infrareds, microwaves,and, in the case of some quasers, radio waves, all of which are forms of light at different wavelengths.(24)
4. Personification: The sky could also be imagined as a book, bound into chapters that tell a story.(25)
5. Imagery: The quasars are brilliant pinpoints of light that seem to surround the earth on all sides, shining out of deep time.(25)

• Why does Richard empahsize on the "Quasars" as being the first of all lights?
• In what structure does Preston use the dashes in his sentences?
• Once you get to the edge of how far the universe has expanded, what does the border look like? What is on the other side of that border?

Quotation: "The Milky Way lay in mist along the eastern ridge of Palomar Mountain."