Big Constellation by Poi Dog Pondering (Official)

Video Edited by Frank Orrall
From the Poi Dog Pondering Album: Pomegranate
Our Father was an Astronomer, Solar Physics was his specialty.
His work took him and his colleagues on trips around the world to be at the
optimal place for Solar eclipses, so they could observe and take readings. They'd to have their instruments made for them by
fellow engineers. There was always a workshop around them where they ground down the glass and turned the metal on the lathe to build the instruments they needed to read the heavens. It was all hand
done then. All their calculations were done with a slide rule and a chalk
board. (In fact, the first observatory/telescope housing they built was made from a grain silo!). It was fascinating to see.
And, all the traveling they did to exotic places lives with me still in my
imagination. He used to return with wooden carved boats from the south Pacific, trinkets from iIndia and woolen shawls for our mother from South america.
On one such trip, he went to the Altiplano of Bolivia for an eclipse...
sometime in the late 50's/early 60's... The footage in the first half of this video he shot there on 16mm film.
Notice the Pacific islander pattern on the spectrograph / telescope
instrument... this was after the Puka Puka, Cook island expedition, and they adorned it with the patterns they saw there.
Our Dad is the one in the Green Parka, with the beard & the big smile
I found this reel of film in our sister Chris's storage space after she
passed. Chris was a Folk Archivist and a Librarian, and this footage was well preserved and stored and
labeled.
People often like to separate Art & science; but I feel they are exactly
entwined. Our father was a scientist, but he was always looking into the heavens trying to understand, but all the while fully knowing he could never fully understand - just accepting, and trying.
Beautiful.
(the second half footage is from found footage of the celestial).
This is dedicated to my Brother Malcolm Orrall and our Sister Chris.