HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: harmons@mithril.wv.tek.com (Harmon Sommer)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Telescope question
Date: 2 Sep 92 20:01:50 GMT
Reply-To: harmons@mithril.wv.tek.com (Harmon Sommer)
Distribution: usa

In September '92 "Astronomy", Pg 55, "Through the Eyepiece; Mars returns to
the evening sky" - Jeff Kanipe

contains the statement:

"... (be able) to see at least the conspicuous surface features visible in a
small telescope. By small I mean at least a 3-inch refractor with a minimum
magnification of 120X or a 6-inch reflector at 250X".

Why would the refractor at 120X be as capable as the reflector at 250X in
revealing detail on Mars?

Also, Is there a FAQ for sci.astro - where can I find it if yes ?

Thanks, Harmon
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: chaloux@accordion.mitre.org (Dave Chaloux)
Subject: Re: C8 Coma for astrophoto.
Reply-To: chaloux@accordion.mitre.org (Dave Chaloux)
Organization: The MITRE Corporation, McLean, Va
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 20:04:27 GMT

BENOIT SCHILLINGS writes:

>Also i would like some comments about the reducer/corrector
>of Celestron. How sharp is it at the edge of the field.
>How is guiding with that reducer ?

>I use an Ultima 8 and the radial guider from C.

I have much the same equipment including the reducer. Images at the
edge are something of a mute point as even with 35mm film there is
very significant vignetting of the field.

Regards.
From: j.jahn@abbs.hanse.de (Jost Jahn)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Sunspots at 27.08.1992.
Reply-To: j.jahn@abbs.hanse.de
Date: 27 Aug 92 18:58:00 MESZ
Distribution: sci
Organization: ABBS AstroMail, D-W 2121 Dahlenburg / Germany
X-Version: ZerUU V6.45c

Sunspots at 27.08.1992., 0 h UT.

No.    Pos.  Cl.  Ar.  Mag. SF  F  M  X
---------------------------------------
7265 18S 27W Hsx   20   a
7267 03N 23E Bxo   20   b    2
7268 07N 35W Cro   10   b


No optical or x-ray flares yesterday observed.


 
--
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------------------------- for amateur astronomers ----------------------------
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From: j.jahn@abbs.hanse.de (Jost Jahn)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: FAQ of Astronomy Journals?
Reply-To: j.jahn@abbs.hanse.de
Date: 30 Aug 92 17:17:00 MESZ
Distribution: sci
Organization: ABBS AstroMail, D-W 2121 Dahlenburg / Germany
X-Version: ZerUU V6.45c

Hello all,

does there exist any index of (amateur and professional) astronomy
journals? If not, I would like to collect the data and present them
from month to month in sci.astro. I think, you should send me
the following data (if they are known):

Abbreviation - Abbreviation of the journal.
Adress       - Adress of publisher.
Content      - Content of the journal.
E-mail       - E-mail adress of publisher.
FAX          - FAX of publisher.
ISSN         - ISSN number, if available.
Issues       - (Approximate) issues in one year.
Language     - Language(s) of the journal.
Name         - Name of the journal.
Pages        - Approximate pages in one year.
Price        - Currency and price of the journal per year.
Since        - Published since year xxxx.
Telephone    - Telephone of publisher.
Telex        - Telex of publisher.

Additional lines are possible.

Yours
## net_sh v1.5 (sb)



Jost Jahn
Neustaedter Strasse 11
W-3123 Bodenteich
Germany
Tel.:[49/0]5824-3197
E-mail: j.jahn@abbs.hanse.de

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------------------------- for amateur astronomers ----------------------------
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From: j.jahn@abbs.hanse.de (Jost Jahn)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Sunspots at 01.09.1992.
Reply-To: j.jahn@abbs.hanse.de
Date: 01 Sep 92 20:13:00 MESZ
Distribution: sci
Organization: ABBS AstroMail, D-W 2121 Dahlenburg / Germany
X-Version: ZerUU V6.45c

Sunspots at 01.09.1992., 0 h UT.

No.    Pos.  Cl.  Ar.  Mag. SF  F  M  X
---------------------------------------
7267 02N 44W Bxo   20   b
7270 09S 40E Cso   70   b    5
7271 09S 27E Bxo   10   b


No optical or x-ray flares yesterday observed.


 
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------------------------- for amateur astronomers ----------------------------
    + 49 5851 7896 / V.21, V.22, V.22bis, V.32, V.42, V.42bis and MNP5
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Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: mls@cbnewsm.cb.att.com (mike.siemon)
Subject: Re: Calendar (NEW)
Organization: AT&T
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 03:41:54 GMT
Summary: um, not really ...

In article <26278@scicom.AlphaCDC.COM>, wats@scicom.AlphaCDC.COM (Bruce Watson) writes:
> In article <2904@ucl-cs.uucp| P.Samet@cs.ucl.ac.uk (Paul Samet) writes:

> |He also suggests that calculating the date of Easter was the sole import of
> |arithmetic in Europe during the Middle Ages.

> If not solely, then 90 percent of all mathematics.

That is a bit misleading.  The study of _computus_ was basic to the
liberal arts astronomy/arithmetic curriculum -- but it has in fact a
fair amount of interest.  Underlying it, there is in fact a kind of
modeling of nature (the lunar calendar is central to the study) that
uses residue arithmetic, done without having any notation to help.
This is a study that goes back to Mesopotamia of circa 1000 B.C.E.,
or possibly earlier (and which Europe got in trasnplantation through
the Greeks.)  Otto Neugebauer's classic book _The Exact Sciences in
Antiquity_ in fact opens with a case study of the (gorgeous) calendar
pages from the 15th century _Tres Riches Heures_ of the Duc de Berry.

So there *is* some there there.  More to the point, it would be like
saying that solving quadratic equations was the sum total, or 90%,
of American mathematics.  As a description of what has been *taught*
at a level accessible to the average student, this is fairly accurate.
Or one could say that until Sputnik, the very pinnacle of American
secondary math education was trigonometry (in the elementary surveying
sense).

The "Dark Ages" were an educational disaster zone in Europe, to be
sure; but as the centuries wore one, specialized study and interesting
work *was* done in a fair number of places, both in and out of schools.
And to imagine *why* the Dark Ages were not so nice, it helps to have
a picture in mind of something like Bosnia continued without pause
for several centuries.

-- 
Michael L. Siemon		The Son of Man has come eating and drinking;
				and you say "Behold, a glutton and a drunkard,
mls@usl.com			a friend of tax collectors and sinners."  And
standard disclaimer		yet, Wisdom is justified by all her children.
From: davecole@cie.uoregon.edu (Dave Cole)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: C8 Coma for astrophoto.
Date: 28 Aug 92 05:56:04 GMT
Article-I.D.: nntp.1992Aug28.055604.13883
Organization: University of Oregon Campus Information Exchange


Benoit,
  I have owned an older C-8, and currently own a C-14.  In both cases the 
coma corrector Celestron sells makes a major change in the coma...  For the
better.
 
  I just wish I could get the Celestron coma corrector to mount up onto the
Lumicon guider body I use for the C-14.  If you get Celestrons corrector, and
intend on doing astrophotography, get Celestrons setup.  Not the Lumicon, unless
someone knows how to mount the Celestron corrector on to Lumicon's guider
body, you will wish you got Celestron guider setup.
 
-Dave
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.geo.meteorology,rec.radio.amateur.misc,rec.radio.shortwave
From: snyder@ronin.lerc.nasa.gov (David B. Snyder)
Subject: Watching Aurora/TV
Organization: NASA Lewis Reserch Center	#include <std_disclaimer.h>
Distribution: na
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 13:42:25 GMT

Yesterday evening (3 Sept) about 7:30 (23:30UT) I was switching through
the UHF band and found? Channel 31, apparently a Canadian station.  What
makes this unusual is that I live in Cleveland, we don't normally pick up
Canadian stations easily.  I'm guessing the reason for the reception 
is the auroral activity.  

Question for you in southern Ontario:  Where is Channel 31 broadcast from?
as well as Channel 9 and 38 and 40?  I'm getting the impression CBC is not
good about telling where the broadcasts originate.  

And I guess my aurora report is that the station came in clearly until 7:50 
when it began to fade out. (caught the last half of a ST:NG episode) by 
8:00 even the audio was becoming useless.  
At about 10:20 I was picking up channel nine weakly.  I went outside then, 
but I think what I saw was stars dimly through the clouds coming off 
the lake.  To the south were definite clouds.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
David B. Snyder
email: snyder@ronin.lerc.nasa.gov 
* * *  What are Inorganic Chemists made of?  * * *
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: bowers@rigel.dfrf.nasa.gov (Al Bowers)
Subject: Re: C8 astrophotgraphy, optical specs
Organization: NASA Dryden, Edwards, Cal.
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 19:54:22 GMT

In article <1992Sep1.111122.25@nsrvan.vanc.wa.us> sysevm@nsrvan.vanc.wa.us writes:

>I have looked into converting the 8"SCT into a Schmidt camera and or
>adding correctors for flat field photography. The rub in optimizing
>the design has been that lack of accurate curves and refractive index
>for the corrector.

Keep in mind that only a good approximation of the actual physical
properties is required for photography (the Schmidt Camera
application).  Film is not as discerning to optical aberations as the
eye is.

--
"But the fact that a 1938 touring bodied Alfa Romeo I once had is
worth $1 million sometimes bothers the hell out of me.  It's a
personal problem."                                     -Phil Hill
Iaido   Takamine   Hobie   Rossignol   Alfa Romeo  Ducati (DOD #900)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: MEDELMA@cms.cc.wayne.edu (Michael Edelman)
Subject: Re: Warning
Organization: Wayne State University, C&IT
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 12:42:04 GMT

In article <1992Sep3.225639.17696@nntp.hut.fi>
s35277r@saha.hut.fi (Jaakko Oksa) writes:
 
>
>I'd like to warn everyone against using cyanoacrylate glue (Loctite super-
>glue etc.) near optical surfaces -  the stuff seems to release vapor which
>forms a semi-opaque coating. I used it on my telescope's auxiliary mirror
>assembly, and part of the fumes landed on the surface...
>I was finally able to remove the coating with acetone; water and
>isopropanol didn't have any effect.
>
>Could someone try and find a practical use for this discovery, a do-it-
>yourself deep-sky filter or something...:-)
>
 
The glue is *very* volitile, and the vapor will condense and polymerize on any
cool surface where there is a trace of moisture.
 
Interestingly, there *is* a practical use for this! It's used in developing
latent fingerprints. The object to be developed is placed in a tank (typically
an aquarium) along with a small lightbulb (plugged in). A few drops of the
cynanoacrylate glue are put on the bulb. The tank is covered, and the bulb
turned on. The glue vaporizes and then condenses on the cooler surfaces
surrounding. The trace amounts of moisture in the fingerprints cause the
glue to polymerize, yielding a permanant, easily read print.
 
As to the astronimical use.....         --mike
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: mock@space.mit.edu (Patrick C. Mock)
Subject: Re: Standard model of QSOsex
Originator: mock@benz
Reply-To: mock@space.mit.edu (Patrick C. Mock)
Organization: MIT Center for Space Research
Distribution: sci
Date: Sat, 29 Aug 1992 04:18:55 GMT


In article <Bt9Gqz.Jx@well.sf.ca.us>, metares@well.sf.ca.us (Tom Van Flandern) writes:
> .... stuff deleted ....
>>>
>>>      m(i) A = G m(p) M(a) / r^2,
>>>
> .... stuff deleted ....
>      In the Meta Model, m(i) = m(p) > m(a).  But the difference is usually
> too small to be detectible, as you correctly note.
> 

These statements have some interesting implications.  I am going
to present a deviation of these implications for an isolated two
body system.
                                _
Since the systems is isolated:  F(total) = 0
  _          __   __                                                 __
{ F(total) = F1 + F2  =  0 } ->  F1 = F2     (F1 is the magnitude of F1)

If I understand TVF correctly then:

	F1 = m1(i) a1 = G m1(p) m2(a) / r^2  

	F2 = m2(i) a2 = G m2(p) m1(a) / r^2  

Now:

	{ F1 = F2 } ->  m1(p) m2(a) = m2(p) m1(a)

Which means that:

                 m1(a)       m2(a)
                ------   =  ------
                 m1(p)       m2(p)

Which must be true for any value of the masses.  Therefore, if the
effect is small for one mass it must be small for all masses.  The
ratio must be a constant of the Meta Model.


                 m1(a)       m2(a)
Therefore:      ------   =  ------  =  CONSTANT
                 m1(p)       m2(p)

This seems to contradict the claims that the ratio must decrease for
dense matter.  If the ratio varies, then F(total) is not zero
and energy is not conserved in the Meta Model!

Pat
Xref: sparky sci.astro:9399 sci.space:12379 news.answers:2742
From: wats@scicom.AlphaCDC.COM (Bruce Watson)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: Calendar (NEW)
Date: 25 Aug 92 17:47:20 GMT
Organization: Alpha Science Computer Network, Denver, Co.

In article <2904@ucl-cs.uucp| P.Samet@cs.ucl.ac.uk (Paul Samet) writes:
|
|He also suggests that calculating the date of Easter was the sole important of
|arithmetic in Europe during the Middle Ages.
|
If not solely, then 90 percent of all mathematics.


-- 
Bruce Watson (wats@scicom)  Tumbra, Zorkovick; Sparkula zoom krackadomando.  
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: brougham@fraser.sfu.ca (Chris Brougham)
Subject: Celestron SP-C6 ... Any comments?
Organization: Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1992 21:22:26 GMT

Hi,


I think I'm going to purchase a SP-C6 for my first serious
telescope. I would like any comments on this instrument (good,
bad or indifferent) and recommendations on good mail order supply
firms that carry this scope. I intend to use this reflector
for general observing and maybe some astrophotography in the
future.


Thanks

Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: metares@well.sf.ca.us (Tom Van Flandern)
Subject: Re: B-O Effect (was Re: Proof of quasar non-locality?)
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 00:54:58 GMT


newberry@newton.as.arizona.edu (Mike Newberry) writes:

> Here's my 2 dollars' worth:
>
> There is absolutely NO way that the spectrum of a Butcher-Oemler "blue"
> galaxy can be a single star or a small group of stars.  ...  [various
> lengthy arguments to the effect that spectra resolve any ambiguity left by
> colors alone about the B-O objects being galaxies, as opposed to clumps of
> supermassive stars.]

     Mike, I'm sorry you are jumping in so late (I'm just leaving on two
weeks of foreign travel), as I would like to have discussed your points in
depth.

     Since that won't happen at least until I return in mid-September,
perhaps you could in the meantime enrich your contribution above the 2 dollar
level, and provide some details to supplement your simple, declarative
sentences.

     One of the points of this discussion is that almost any observation can
be interpreted with almost any model by patching it in an "ex post facto"
fashion.  It is then instructive to compare the quality of the various
interpretations using Occam's Razor.  You have not afforded us the
opportunity to interpret your data with an alternative model to make such
comparisons, because you have been so vague about what the actual data are.

     For B-O objects there surely can't be vast numbers of spectral lines,
since most are so faint.  Please describe a *typical* (not an exemplary)
case.  How many lines are involved in this spectral comparison, which ones,
wide/narrow, emission/absorption, variability, discordant redshifts, etc.  In
other words, what is the data essential to interpreting it with a completely
different model, including that which doesn't fit quite so well in the
standard model.  -|Tom|-

-- 
Tom Van Flandern / Washington, DC / metares@well.sf.ca.us
Meta Research was founded to foster research into ideas not otherwise
supported because they conflict with mainstream theories in Astronomy.
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: mcdonald@aries.scs.uiuc.edu (J. D. McDonald)
Subject: Re: Advice needed for Purchase (Novice)
Organization: UIUC SCS
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 1992 01:31:59 GMT

In article <1992Sep3.234147.15427@athena.cs.uga.edu> mcovingt@athena.cs.uga.edu (Michael A. Covington) writes:

>In article <16857E8FF.MEDELMA@cms.cc.wayne.edu> MEDELMA@cms.cc.wayne.edu (Michael Edelman) writes:
>>My year of novice experience has taught me two things:
>> 
>>1. Buy a good pair of binoculars first, and learn the sky. See what you
>>can do with these before you buy a telescope. I spend 10 times as much
>>time with my 8x56s as with my 80mm refractor. And when you do buy a telescope,
>>you'll still have plenty of uses for the binocs.

>Amen!  I have an 8" Meade, a 5" Celestron, and 8x40 binoculars.
>Guess which I use the most?

I disagree **VERY** strongly with this, as the original poster said
use "by children (and me)". For children you want something that will stay
put where you point it. I've got the same setup as Covington has,
and guess which I use the most? The Meade. And when I am out in
my apartment complex yard using it, I get lots of walkup folks, and
am very glad it has a good mount and a clock drive. And also that I've 
made **all** my eyepieces parfocal ... even the 55mm 2 inch barrel one.


To the original poster ... get the Edmund. A good friend of mine did and he
and his children are as happy as clams.  The Moon, Saturn, Jupiter,
M13, the Double Cluster, and the Orion Nebula are quite nice in it.

Doug McDonald 
Xref: sparky sci.astro:9425 sci.geo.meteorology:2994 rec.radio.amateur.misc:14963 rec.radio.shortwave:6671
From: jhays@boi.hp.com (John D. Hays)
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.geo.meteorology,rec.radio.amateur.misc,rec.radio.shortwave
Subject: Re: AURORA WATCH: Middle Latitude Auroral Activity Watch
Date: 3 Sep 92 16:18:19 GMT
Article-I.D.: mail.Bu0FyL.4rB
Organization: Hewlett Packard - Boise Printer Division (LAFS)

Scott (Young),

I'm 5700 angstroms with jealousy!

John
-- 
John D. Hays [KD7UW]           |Email: [UUCP]          ...!hplabs!hpdmd48!jhays
Firmware Engineer              |       [INTERNET]              jhays@boi.hp.com
Boise Printer Division         |       [GEnie]                             HAYS
Boise, Idaho                   |       [Compu$erve]                   72725,424
From: CLANCEY@SLACVM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU (Patrick Clancey)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: David Malin's color astrophotography
Date: 2 Sep 92 16:54:36 GMT
Organization: Stanford Linear Accelerator Center

Does anyone out there know if the color photographs taken by David Malin
at the Anglo-Australian Telescope are available via FTP?
Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits
From: thompson@stars.gsfc.nasa.gov (William Thompson, code 682.1, x2040)
Subject: Re: Year 2000
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.4-b1  
Organization: NASA/GSFC-Laboratory for Astronomy and Solar Physics
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 14:07:00 GMT

In article <1992Aug26.231536.5504@nrao.edu>, cflatter@nrao.edu writes...
>Dates in FITS are stored using two digits for the year.  Has anyone thought
>about what happens in 2000?
> 
>	Chris Flatters
>	cflatter@nrao.edu

I've been looking into this for the SOHO program.  Currently, I've been looking
into a CCSDS standard "Time Code Formats" CCSDS 301.0-B-2.  I believe this is
also an ISO standard, but the number eludes me right now.  Basically, the
standard allows you to enter dates in the form, e.g.

			    1992-08-27T10:03:38.123

There's also an alternate form that allows you to use day-of-year rather than
month and day.  Either the date or time part can be left out, in which case the
"T" separater is omitted.  The fractional seconds is optional, and can be to
any precision desired.

Although I like FITS, and plan to use it, I find the eight character limit very
constraining.  As one person I work with said, "It's like programming in
FORTRAN 2".

Bill Thompson
Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits
From: cflatter@nrao.edu (Chris Flatters)
Subject: Re: Year 2000
Reply-To: cflatter@nrao.edu
Organization: NRAO
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 16:07:06 GMT

In article 27AUG199210071784@stars.gsfc.nasa.gov, thompson@stars.gsfc.nasa.gov (William Thompson, code 682.1, x2040) writes:
>In article <1992Aug26.231536.5504@nrao.edu>, cflatter@nrao.edu writes...
>>Dates in FITS are stored using two digits for the year.  Has anyone thought
>>about what happens in 2000?
>> 
>>	Chris Flatters
>>	cflatter@nrao.edu
>
>I've been looking into this for the SOHO program.  Currently, I've been looking
>into a CCSDS standard "Time Code Formats" CCSDS 301.0-B-2.  I believe this is
>also an ISO standard, but the number eludes me right now.  

A usually reliable source tells me that it is ISO 8601

Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits
From: warnock@Hypatia.gsfc.nasa.gov (Archie Warnock)
Subject: Re: Year 2000
Reply-To: warnock@hypatia.gsfc.nasa.gov
Organization: Hughes STX at Goddard Space Flight Center
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 14:11:52 GMT

In article <27AUG199210071784@stars.gsfc.nasa.gov>, thompson@stars.gsfc.nasa.gov (William Thompson, code 682.1, x2040) writes:
|> Although I like FITS, and plan to use it, I find the eight character limit very
|> constraining.  As one person I work with said, "It's like programming in
|> FORTRAN 2".

And we're all the way up to FORTRAN 77, with 90 due out RSN <grin>.

Seriously, though, it's supposed to be that way - maximum portability
and all that...

-- 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- Archie Warnock                   Internet:  warnock@hypatia.gsfc.nasa.gov
-- Hughes STX                       "Unix --- JCL For The 90s"
-- NASA/GSFC
From: cflatter@nrao.edu (Chris Flatters)
Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits
Subject: Year 2000
Date: 26 Aug 92 23:15:36 GMT
Reply-To: cflatter@nrao.edu
Organization: NRAO

Dates in FITS are stored using two digits for the year.  Has anyone thought
about what happens in 2000?

	Chris Flatters
	cflatter@nrao.edu
Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits
From: dwells@fits.CV.NRAO.EDU (Don Wells)
Subject: fitsbits and anonFTP on fits.cv.nrao.edu
Organization: National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 18:10:02 GMT

On the 7th of July the Sun-3 named 'fits.cx.nrao.edu' (the workstation
on my desk) was replaced by a SPARC (Sun-4) named 'fits.cv.nrao.edu'.
Many facilities of my computing environment were disrupted by this
change. In particular, during the past 8 weeks,

(1) the 'fitsbits' exploder which is gatewayed to sci.astro.fits and

(2) the anonymous FTP server of archival files of the FITS community

have not been operational.  I believe that 'fitsbits' and the anonFTP
server are operational again.  I expect to transmit copies of the July
and August messages to the 'fitsbits' list within the next few days.

Donald C. Wells             Associate Scientist        dwells@nrao.edu
National Radio Astronomy Observatory                   +1-804-296-0277
520 Edgemont Road                                 Fax= +1-804-296-0278
Charlottesville, Virginia 22903-2475 USA            78:31.1W, 38:02.2N