Let's see if I got this right, " she would say to herself. "I've taken an inert gas that's in the air, made it into a liquid, put some impurities in a ruby, attached a magnet, and detected the fires of creation.

Carl Sagan
About This Quote

When an astronomer is working with an instrument, he or she wants everything to be perfect. The best bet is to test the device one by one. If that doesn't work, try something else. If that doesn't work either, that's the end of the telescope - time to move on to something else.

Sometimes it can take months to figure out what will work and if it works well enough for the astronomer to get results. It may be worth the wait if it means getting more precise results than other methods will allow.

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