The week's communications and deliberations concentrated on dQ/dt and how we could enhance our detection and interpretation of such occurrences, whether Q were a distance, an emission of energy, a velocity, a brightness, an orbital property or a spectroscopic feature. For us mortals, the derivative of Q is in respect of Time—yet rather little attention was paid during the week to Time itself. Maybe that was just as well. As was said by way of introducing the Astronomer Royal to give the public lecture, From Microseconds to Æons, Time is ever-present yet always elusive. It flies and yet it drags. We never seem to have enough of it, yet it can weigh heavily on our hands. It is free but it is priceless. You can't own it but you can spend it. Einstein said bluntly that the only reason for Time is so that everything doesn't happen at once.
Afterword
