A famous old telescope has spent nearly half a century in New Zealand while awaiting a new home. There is now a good chance that a new life for the 18-inch (45-cm) Brashear refractor will be found.

The telescope has an illustrious history. It was installed in 1897 at the Flower Observatory in Pennsylvania, which was owned by the University of Pennsylvania. The mechanical construction took place in 1895-96 at the Warner and Swasey Co. in Cleveland Ohio. The optics were figured by John Brashear (1840-1920) in Pittsburgh. He was the famous American optical engineer and the equal of Alvan Clark. Together Clark and Brashear built some of the largest refractors of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union has finished in Rio de Janeiro after two busy weeks of sessions. The final plenary session was on Thursday August 13, and six resolutions were proposed and passed by the members present.

Rio de Janeiro as seen from the Morro de Urca in evening light.

A few years ago (in fact in 2006) I considered the issue of how the support for astronomy in any country depends on its economy. It’s an interesting question, but the problem is how to measure an index of astronomical vitality in a country.

The very simplest and crudest measure is just to count the number of International Astronomical Union (IAU) members present in any country. The IAU is recognized as the main international organization for professional astronomers.

It is good to know that regional astronomical societies are flourishing in Spain, as they are in many other places in the world. I have just been to Málaga, the Andalusian town on the Mediterranean Costa del Sol and I gave a lecture there to la Sociedad Malagueña de Astronomía (SMA or Málaga Astronomical Society). My lecture was to mark the Society’s 34^th anniversary since its foundation in 1975.

A revolution is taking place in the attitude of astronomers, both amateur and professional, and of the public towards protecting the night sky from light pollution. No longer is it acceptable to pollute the sky with stray light; not only is light pollution wasteful and costly, but it denies ordinary people to engage in one of their fundamental rights – the right to see the stars, and hence to engage with the universe where we live.

Astronomers have a bad reputation – at least amongst scientists and politicians, and those astute people in the know. Our reputation is that we are very good at spending money (other people’s money, that is) but not very good at making it.

Certainly astronomy is expensive. Major telescopes in space cost a few billion dollars, while major ground-based telescopes may cost a hundred million or so. An instrument on a major optical telescope is likely to be at least $5 million to design and build, and possibly much more.