ASTRO-HUMOUR IN 2023 WITH ADRIAN SONKA
By Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
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Stars after stars -
we can be joyous that we live
in the Universe
(Andrei Dorian Gheorghe)
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At the beginning of November, I made another visit to the Bucharest Municipal
Observatory, where its coordinator Adrian Bruno Sonka offered me a copy of his newly
published book, "Exotic Universe - book of astronomical records."
A book not only of astronomical education, but also of terrible humour in the author's
unique style, rich in personifications and funny comparisons between the elements of the
Cosmos and those of people's everyday life.
On this occasion, I enjoyed the same features in the first meeting of the new astronomy
course for the general public that he started for the 2023-2024 season.
After only a week or so, I saw Sonka again with a public presentation about the stars,
which he gave at the Bucharest History Museum.
Here, among other things, he assured us that it is better if you live near a binary star
system, because you can see two suns in the sky and, if you are late for work, you can say
that you messed up their times.
That's why I sometimes wonder if Adrian Bruno Sonka is the champion of Romanian
astro-humour or if he is the Romanian champion of astro-humour.
And because Adrian Sonka also presents, with particular humorous, imaginative and
poetic verve, astronomical news in Romanian on his blog since 2011, I have selected and
translated below three short fragments from the articles he published in 2023..
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From “Saturn and the North Pole”, May 23, 2023:
“I hereby announce that 2023 is the last year you can see Saturn's North Pole through a
telescope.
Due to the geometry of the orbits and the inclination of the planets, from 2024 it will be
hidden from the view of Earthlings.
The North Pole will be visible again starting in 2040, when we’ll have flying cars
illegally parked in the trees.” (Adrian Sonka)
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From “Oh well! Venus disappears from the sky!”, July 4, 2023:
“Sometime starting on July 20 you will begin to have problems because Venus is very
close to the horizon and can only be seen in the bright sky after sunset, and after July 28
you will not be able to see this planet at all.
That was it, you witnessed an end, the death of the Evening Star’s evening visibility.
Congratulations on going out in the evening and looking at the sky!” (Adrian Sonka)
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From “Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks,” July 22, 2023:
“Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks rarely comes close to the Sun, every 71 years, but when she
does, she does so with flair.
Comets normally get bright when they are closer to the Sun, but 12P behaves a little
differently, getting bright suddenly before she gets close to the heat.
That's what she did 71 years ago and that's what she's doing now.
On July 20, 2023, she suddenly became 100 times brighter than she was, through a
natural mechanism known only to herself.” (Adrian Sonka)
#poetry