The scorching gas in many galaxy clusters is pulling a Houdini. 23 Galaxies That Go Bump in the Night, by Jill S. Price and KarenAnn Caldwell Galaxies are like dancers on a crowded floor, scrunching toes, elbowing each other in the back, and slow- dancing with other people's partners. The galactic roughhousing, once unthinkable, is now recognized to have made galaxies what they are today. These days, a space mission won't make it off the ground unless schoolkids are aboard. Scientists working on Mars Global Surveyor have involved teachers and students from day one.
Many students connect with ancient astronomies more readily than with modern astronomy.
This makes archaeoastronomy an ideal way to teach modern conceptions of the cosmos and to tear down the perception that only some groups of people do science. When these astronomers need to move their telescope, then simply drain it into half-quart bottles. That's the advantage of mercury mirrors. The disadvantage is that the mercury can kill. American schools debate whether they should even teach astronomy, but in the Czech Republic that battle has long since been won.