Last night I took this picture during the Rush concert, which I attended with my brother in Charlotte, NC. Rush has been my favorite rock band for many years and one of their older songs is titled "Xanadu" - that is how I first learned of the 18th century fantasy poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge about the mythical pleasure dome. My dome, "Xanadu Observatory", is named after this poem.
Rush has inspired other amateur astronomers as well. One observatory owner in Canada has named his dome observatory "Dreamline Observatory" after a more recent Rush song. Rush is an unusual rock band since many of their songs are about science, nature, and even science fiction. For example, they have a lengthy song about Cygnus X-1. One of my favorite songs that they played last night was "Natural Science". They have been going strong for about 30 years which is amazing for any band.
The concert was held in the evening and for the whole time, the crescent moon and Venus shone brightly directly behind us. One song's lyrics (from their new album, Snakes and Arrows), includes the phrase, "You can almost see the planets glowing"; I couldn't help but wonder if Geddy Lee glanced at Venus as he sang that.
I'm typing this as I wait for my plane to return me to Tucson and Xanadu Observatory. Hopefully we'll have some clear weather this week and I'll find some astronomy time.
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