Whispers and Waterfalls

 As I have written previously, this trip to West Virginia was one of pure beauty, not only up high in the sky, but also down low on the ground.  I just have to show you one more picture of the colorful world of moss, this one we found on the Whispering Spruce Trail on Spruce Knob.

This is a good segue into learning about whispers of the universe.  We visited Green Bank Observatory, where the sign on the science center there proclaims: "the universe is whispering to us".  In 1937 Grote Reber built the parabolic telescope pictured below.  Roughly parabolic telescope means one which reflects signals that go back to a receiver.  Using this telescope Reber found radio emissions from the Milky Way and sun- in 1941 he created the first radio map of the sky.  After the Second World War radio astronomy took off due to new receiver technology.   

It was a cloudy wet day when we visited the observatory.  Unfortunately the Science center and other buildings were closed, but we found many interpretive signs explaining radio astronomy and its advancement through the years.  We also picked up a brochure which gave us a self-guided tour and site map of the many telescopes scattered over the grounds.  By the way, this is a government agency and one area was clearly marked that no one should enter past a certain point.  Also, all electronic devices were expected to be turned off.

There is an observation deck available, and from there we could view the Green Bank Telescope which is 485 feet high and has a feeder arm rising above the dish to support sensitive receivers.  It is the world's largest steerable telescope.

Sorry if that is a bit hazy, I had to zoom my camera a good bit to take it.  There is another telescope on the grounds built by the Navy which was built to measure highly accurate time, continental drift, and the Earth's wobble.  Another older telescope was built to search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, but no signals were found.  In 1974 a mobile telescope aided in the discovery of the black hole in the center of our galaxy (called Sagittarius A).  All important scientific advancements of which I had no clue was  taking place until we stopped at Green Bank, reading that sort of material is more of John's interest than mine.

Now we are back down to earth again, at Blackwater Falls State Park.  This park lies just west of the Allegheny Front- a high escarpment that acts as a drainage divide between the Ohio and Potomac River systems.  The Blackwater River plunges 57 feet down and then flows through the Blackwater Canyon into the Ohio River, joining the Mississippi and the the Gulf of Mexico.  It was difficult to hike into any area near the falls, and walking any trails the day we were there was not advisable because of the wet weather.  One last picture here, and that is of Canaan Valley, an area through which the Blackwater River flows.  Again, this picture demonstrates the awesome beauty of the fall colors which seemed to be at their peak while we visited West Virginia.  Mist over the mountains clouded them a bit the day I took that picture.  Still, it was all quite beautiful!