First Light-The Search For the Edge of the Universe

In Richard Preston's First Light (1996), Preston introduces many types of different gadgets such as the 4-shooter, CCD( Charged Coupled Drive), radio telescopes and many other technological chips that are used in such ways to help improve on the establishment of the Hale's telescope to track down the quasars and Preston explains the many trials and scientific errors the astronomers go through in order to complete their tasks in finding the farthest quasar in the universe. Preston claims that the 4-shooter is a electronic camera attached to the base of the Hale's telescope and its used to capture photos of objects faraway, he explains the characteristics of the instrument by using facts and statistics, he then asserts that that the CCD is the most sensitive photographic film that can see light, and the radio telescopes can hear an event that occurred about 250,000 years ago after the Big Bang( a universal explosion), he clarifies this by using technical details and imagery, he then concludes that astronomer Maarteen Schmidt and his team found a radiostar (3C 48) which contained a redshift similar to a quasar he does this by using scientific details. His purpose is to convey to readers that Science is not what it seems  and that there is more to it than meets the eyes, behind the truth of what Science really is. Preston seems to have an audience prone to intellectual curiosity and again his tone is informative.

• Spectrograph-s an instrument that separates an incoming wave into a frequency spectrum.
• Photon- is an elementary particle, the quantum of the electromagnetic interaction and the basic unit of light and all other forms of electromagnetic radiation.
• oscilloscope- a type of electronic test instrument that allows observation of constantly varying signal voltages.
• impinge-to make an impression; have an effect or impact

Tone: Logical, informative, honest.

• Listing: He saw colored stars green, yellow, blue, and orange.(159)
• Statistics: Radio telescopes can collect a signal from an event that occurred about 250,000 years ago after the Big Bang, when the universe consisted of a dense, hot gas.(143)
• Denotation: According to the theory, at the moment of the Big Bang, the observable universe-all of the matter that makes all of the galaxies-occupied a volume smaller than a quark, which is the smallest known subatomic particle.(143)
• Simile: This orange light is now so deeply redshifted- coming from so far away- that it appears as the microwave background radiation, a surface of microwave emission visible all over the sky.(143)
• Colloquialism: "All of us standing and gaping."(142)

What are going to be the difficulties the astronomers are going to face in finding a quasar since their are other astronomical stars similar to it? 

Does Preston uses more of a listing or statistical approach through his writings?

Is Science still identified as how it used to be 40 yrs ago or is it more advanced now?

Quotation: "It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife."(186)