Some of you may recall my post on the CNN story about the Lunar eclipse last month. I was pretty critical of a Dr. Robert Massey, who was quoted in the CNN article saying “It’s not an event that has any scientific value”.

Well, I am pleased to let you know that Dr. Massey has responded to my criticism with a clarification of his position.

Robert Massey Said:

March 7, 2007 at 4:59 am | Edit

Dear All

The perils of the media… This quote was a contraction of a statement I made that lunar eclipses were less scientifically important to professional astronomers than total solar eclipses, but that there was still some work going on.

I’m very aware of the opportunities they present, albeit mostly for education, and actively encourage everyone to watch them. For the record I have also run many outreach events with children and adults that centred on lunar eclipses (for example in 2001 there was another eclipse that was well-timed for the UK and Greenwich where I then worked and where a couple of hundred visitors came along).

I’m disappointed that you think the RAS would suggest that these events are ‘boring’. In the interviews I did I explicitly stated that very many ‘real’ astronomers enjoy them too. If we really didn’t rate the eclipse we would not have included it in our monthly press release with the aim of promoting the event in the UK.

Regards

Robert Massey

Thank you for clarifying the report Dr. Massey, and since I have repeatedly criticised the media for being both scientifically illiterate and grossly inaccurate more often than not, I can certainly appreciate that your comments were probably taken out of context or misrepresented.

I am very pleased to see that you don’t personally seem to find lunar eclipses boring or scientifically void of benefit. I am pleased to correct the record here on CosmicConservative.