Science fields overlap - you can't have pure astronomy

beskeptical · #1 (**permalink**) 06-July-2005, 07:13 AM

Quote:

Again, that's not astronomy, that's xenogeology. Nothing to do with astronomy. Totally seperate fields (almost). Just as space travel is totally seperate from astronomy.

Astronomy is about one thing: looking up at stuff in the sky. It has nothing whatsoever to do with geology or space travel or anything else. Certainly astronomers might be interested in what space travel can tell them about what they are looking at, but it isn't the same thing, and there isn't much direct overlap.

*/mebeingstupid*

Whoa I got off topic. I wasn't trying to argue that astronomy isn't related to geology or space travel or anything (but I did anyway for some reason:P), but that it is no different than Psychiatry. If you don't bother checking the mental health of your astronaunts some bad things will happen. How is that any less important to space travel than astronomy is? And therefore since space travel is of interest to astronomers, Psychiatry should be too, because Psychiatry is necessary for a successful manned flight.

in the BABBling forum I think complaining that if we discuss geological and other sciences in the astronomy thread then one could discuss psychiatry there as well.

While I understand his point that one could discuss the psychological impact of space flight or something like that in this forum, the field of psychiatry does not overlap astronomy the way geology and other Earth sciences do. How can you have a field of astronomy that didn't include the geology of planetary and other bodies? Gopher, are you implying the geology of Mars is not part of astronomy? Or are you implying Earth is not included in planetary studies? I don't get it.

Fram · #2 (**permalink**) 06-July-2005, 07:51 AM

If you discuss the psychology of manned space flight, it's relevant. If you discuss the geology of Earth as a comparison with other planets, it's relevant. There will probably be more relevant geology discussions than psychology discussions, but it's the context that decides if they are appropriate in this forum or should be moved to Babbling. But almost every science can be related to astronomy and/or spaceflight, of course. It's the same with technology: if you discuss the lens of your telescope, do it here. If you discuss the lens of your digital camera, move it to Babbling. When in doubt, ask the BA.

Manchurian Taikonaut · #3 (**permalink**) 06-July-2005, 10:17 AM

It's all relevant to outer-space flights and space astronomy, a heap of sciences are involved

all theory and science are welcomed

that is until some person's Babbling starts sounding more like Hoggie's woo-woo UFO theory

Yorkshireman · #4 (**permalink**) 06-July-2005, 02:45 PM

According to the BA's own FAQ, if the subject can be arguably related to astronomy, then it's a valid subject. So I'd think that can, at various times, include:

psychology - how to keep a crew sane on a long-duration spaceflight
evolutionary biology - if it pertains to studies of Mars, Titan, Europa, extrasolar planets
geology - if it's studying the solar system, or has a bearing on it
photography - if it's astrophotography.

beskeptical · #5 (**permalink**) 06-July-2005, 06:26 PM

I agree with the above but how do we now separate any geology from astronomy? It's like saying the Earth isn't a planet if we are talking about Earth alone.

I think from hewhocaves' post perhaps my whole understanding of the issue is misconstrued.

In my concept of astronomy, the Earth is included, thus earth sciences are included. That includes geology and meteorology. Life sciences overlap but until we discover life on other planets and until we start to view life on Earth as life in the Galaxy or Universe those sciences are not integral to astronomy.

Whether to put a discussion in BABBling or General Astronomy is a completely separate issue and wasn't what I was concerned about. It was Gopher65's statement,

Quote:

Again, that's not astronomy, that's xenogeology. Nothing to do with astronomy. Totally seperate fields (almost). ........ Astronomy is about one thing: looking up at stuff in the sky. It has nothing whatsoever to do with geology or space travel or anything else.

(emphasis mine) that I was addressing.

gopher65 · #6 (**permalink**) 06-July-2005, 08:14 PM

I was really not clear in what I was saying.

I was trying to say that if you can discuss a movie about vulcanology (the core) in the Bad Astronomy Movies section because it is about Bad Science in the Media (even though it doesn't directly talk about astronomy), then you should be able to discuss Tom Cruise's purposeful lies about science in that same section cause it is about Bad Science in the Media.

Also, I was trying to say that Psychiatry is as necessary to space as other sciences are, so you can't argue something like "Psychiatry doesn't belong in an astronomy forum cause it isn't linked to space" (which someone said).

EDITTED because it was unreadable

EDITTED AGAIN: I realize that for some odd reason in the other thread I started arguing that geology and such aren't related to astronomy, but I don't actuatlly believe that. I feel that every science is actually a branch of physics, and therefore they are all closely related. I must have been high on sugar after eating that snickers bar :roll:

gopher65 · #7 (**permalink**) 06-July-2005, 09:34 PM

I read the past few posts in the BABBling thread, and I saw your post beskeptical. I fixed the quote. Sorry about that

.

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