In astronomical observations as well as the rest of life, Murphy's Law will prevail and things will go wrong. In that case, you're better off to throw out the bad data.
pop
rock
folk
universe
cosmos
alan marscher
boston university profess
cosmos ii
science songs
songs for science nerds
songs in russian
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Story behind the song
Based on a quote from astronomer Marshall Cohen: "Bad data is worse than no data."
Lyrics
1. At the telescope the sky was so clear
My blazar had risen, observing time was near
Opened up the dome, got the object in sight
But I forgot to do a flat field during the whole night
So I got
Chorus:
Bad data! I got bad, bad data. . . bad, bad data
And bad data's worse than no data at all!
2. Got some VLA time at 43 GHz
Prepare the OBSERVE file, then the program starts
Slew to the first source, but it's starting to rain
Attempts to calibrate will all be in vain
And I'll have [chorus]
[guitar interlude with interjections:
Outlier! Clouds! Computer glitch! Interference! Ah, my data's no good!
3. VLBI is a marvelous technique
But very difficult if your sources are weak
I observed a full day, got my data on tape
Fringes were too weak no matter how long I'd integrate
And I had [chorus]
4. So, young astronomers, you'd better understand
You need to calibrate just as often as you can
Or you'll spend all your time in the processing phase
And you'll never get an image though you work night and day
And you'll have [chorus to end]