HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: markb@spock.dis.cccd.edu (Mark Bixby)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: Mt. Palomar Info Needed
Date: 5 Jan 1993 09:08:15 -0800
Organization: Coast Community College District, Costa Mesa, CA
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: spock.dis.cccd.edu

In article <1icahsINN4bp@hpscit.sc.hp.com> stevep@hpscit.sc.hp.com () writes:
>About 3 years ago I visited Mt. Palomar. The 200 inch "tour" was simply
>viewing the inside of the dome from a windowed gallery. I don't remember there
>being any formal tour as such.

Correct.  I was there 4 months ago.  Everything is self-guided.  It's open 
till around 4 PM or so on weekends.  Besides the famous 200-inch, there's a
small photo/video gallery, and a small gift shop.

It makes for an interesting side trip if you're going to be in the general area,
but I wouldn't make a long journey just for that purpose.

FYI: If you're planning a winter visit, be advised that there can be snow at
the observatory elevation, and that the road is steep, narrow, and twisty.
-- 
Mark Bixby                         Internet: markb@spock.dis.cccd.edu
Coast Community College District   1370 Adams Avenue
District Information Services      Costa Mesa, CA, USA  92626
Technical Support                  (714) 432-5064
"You can tune a file system, but you can't tune a fish." - tunefs(1M)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: snyder@ronin.lerc.nasa.gov (David B. Snyder)
Subject: OBSERVING THE SUN, comments 
Organization: NASA Lewis Reserch Center	#include <std_disclaimer.h>
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 13:45:09 GMT

A couple months ago I found a copy of Peter Taylor's OBSERVING
THE SUN (Cambridge University Press, 1991) in a local bookstore
(Booksellers).  It was marked 20% off (a $30 list price) so I had
to buy it.  While I am somewhat disappointed in the book, I not
sure it's as bad as the Sky and Telescope review indicated it
was.

The book is part of the Practical Astronomy Handbooks series.  It
runs about 150 pages.  I wish it were two to three times longer.
It covers most topics extremely superficially, and only a few in
depth.  However, in most cases (not all) it provides references
to source materials.

OBSERVING THE SUN is written for amateur observers with little or
no physics background.  It only covers sunspot observations in
great detail.  It covers the Mount Wilson sunspot group
classification system, discusses telescopes and filters.  It also
provides some techniques for determining sunspot location on
sun's disk.  the book is helpful for developing techniques for
observing and recording observations of the sun.

Instructions are provided for building two instruments for
detecting ionosphere/magnetosphere responses to solar activity.
A low frequency radio detector is described for documenting
ionosphere responses.  Also a magnetometer is described to
document fluctuations in the local magnetic field.  (It would be
interesting to develop a computer interface for this one.)
Unfortunately not much effort is spend in describing how to
understand the data from these instruments.  Are the specific
responses very dependent on the specific location?

The book seems to be incomplete.  I would like to have seen more
discussion of solar physics.  It dismisses magnetic observation
of the sun as for professionals only, but I think this is a
serious omission: a) even if amateurs cannot presently make these
observations, information on how they are done would still be
interesting, and b) how long will it be before amateurs can make
these observations?  Almost nothing substantive is said
concerning solar influences on Earth, even though both detectors
measure these effects.

In summary, while I am glad that I have a copy of the book and
expect to use it, I would recommend looking over a copy from a
library first to determine if it will suit your needs.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
david b. snyder                   |  The Persistant Planetology Speculation:
email: snyder@ronin.lerc.nasa.gov |  Where there's a rill there's a ray.
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: travis@binah.cc.brandeis.edu (Leopold Travis)
Subject: Re: Calendar for 1993
Reply-To: travis@binah.cc.brandeis.edu
Organization: Brandeis University
Date: Tue, 5 Jan 1993 05:34:00 GMT

In article <1992Dec30.110210.1683@flint.comlab.ox.ac.uk>, 
sharon@comlab.ox.ac.uk (Sharon Curtis) writes:
...
>Apr. 25   Mars at aphelion

Is this correct?  According to the figures in the 1992 World Almanac (mean
longitude of 297.87 degrees on 19 April 1990, longitude of perihelion
335.81 degrees, mean daily motion of 0.524 degrees), I come out with Mars
at aphelion sometime around 11 June 1993.
                           
--
Leopold Travis
travis@binah.cc.brandeis.edu
From: kopfj@bert.Tymnet.COM (John Kopf,D,6305)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: wormholes
Date: 7 Jan 93 18:24:43 GMT
Reply-To: kopfj@bert.Tymnet.COM
Organization: Sun Microsystems

is a worm-hole the end-view of a cosmic string?  :-D
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: aavso@ariel.lerc.nasa.gov (Tom Quesinberry)
Subject: Mt. Palomar Info Needed
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: Lewis Research Center/NASA
Date:  5 Jan 1993 09:47 EST  

I need some information concerning Mt. Palomar Observatory.

Does anyone know if there are tours of the 200 inch during 
the day? Is there an E-mail address I can out other information?

Thanks in advance.

				Tom Q.

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Tom Quesinberry                 | E-MAIL: aavso@scivax.lerc.nasa.gov
  Research Analysis Center/CSD    | PBX:    (216) 433-5130
  Lewis Research Center/NASA      | LIFE:   I would rather see starlight
  Cleveland, Ohio 44135           |             than streetlights.
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------
            * Earth Is My Country. Science Is My Religion.
                     * Next Stop----------> Mars
From: aavso@ariel.lerc.nasa.gov (Tom Quesinberry)
Subject: Re: Galileo coverup
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: Lewis Research Center/NASA
Distribution: usa
Date:  7 Jan 1993 15:49 EST  

>dsc@gemini.tmc.edu (Doug S. Caprette Bldg. 28 W191 x3892) writes...

<Stuff Deleted>

Doug,

Return mail to you bounces. Please contact me.

			Quiz

Sorry Folks.

 -------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Tom Quesinberry                 | E-MAIL: aavso@scivax.lerc.nasa.gov
  Research Analysis Center/CSD    | PBX:    (216) 433-5130
  Lewis Research Center/NASA      | LIFE:   I would rather see starlight
  Cleveland, Ohio 44135           |             than streetlights.
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------
            * Earth Is My Country. Science Is My Religion.
                     * Next Stop----------> Mars
From: dieter@informatik.rwth-aachen.de (Dieter Kreuer)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: Galileo's antenna
Followup-To: sci.astro
Date: 5 Jan 1993 08:35:41 GMT
Organization: i4
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: frueh-koelsch.informatik.rwth-aachen.de

In article <1993Jan5.011705.29020@ee.ubc.ca>, davem@ee.ubc.ca (Dave
Michelson) wrote:

> The gain of a parabolic reflector decreases rather rapidly as its shape 
> deviates from an ideal paraboloid :-( 
>  
> Of course, if only a portion of the paraboloid is damaged, say the outer
> rim or an angular sector, and the rest is in prsitine condition, then
> the net gain is simply proportional to the portion which is intact.

Supposed that the stuck ribs may be freed, what are the odds that the 
HGA is permanently deformed due to having been suspended for such a 
long time? Is it flexible enough to regain its original shape? I have
never heard any mention of this.

-----------------------                  ---------------------------------
     Dieter Kreuer      ##     ======== / dieter@informatik.rwth-aachen.de
Lehrstuhl Informatik IV __   /// /#    /  dieter%informatik.rwth-
     RWTH Aachen        ##  /// # #   /             aachen.de@uunet.uu.net
     Ahornstr. 55       ## /// ##### /...!informatik.rwth-aachen.de!dieter
W-5100 Aachen, Germany  ====      # / PHONE:  +49 241 80 21413
Xref: sparky sci.astro:13679 sci.space:18800 news.answers:4959
From: whitjim@atc25.sps.mot.com (James Whitfield)
Subject: Books on the sun??
Reply-To: zirkle@atc.sps.mot.com
Organization: Motorol ACT
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 15:08:05 GMT


Hello netters!  I have been looking for a few good books on the
Sun.  I would like it to discribe like the internal structure,
it's atmosphere, sun spots and their cycles, and some of the
more recent stuff, like the surface oscillations.  I want this
book to be very informitve, but written for the general read 
(not a text).  Can someone make a suggestion for me?

Many thanks,  Jim
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: mccricks@cc.gatech.edu (D. Scott McCrickard)
Subject: Re: Bright planet in the evening sky
Organization: Georgia Tech College of Computing
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1993 01:08:16 GMT

In article <726585130snz@cullen.demon.co.uk>, Bobg@cullen.demon.co.uk (Bob Gregory) writes:
|> 
|> I'm not an astronomical type so would one of you experts please satisfy
|> my curiosity ?
|> 
|> Thank you !
|> 
|> Each evening at about this time of year one sees a very bright planet
|> lying to the southwest from my position at around 52N. It is at, I would
|> judge  45 to 50 degreed up from the horizontal. It is very bright.
|> 
|> Is it Mercury ? Is it Jupiter ? I don't suppose it's Venus - that's
|> called "The Morning Star", is that right.
|>  ...

It's Venus.  Venus is both the Morning Star and the Evening Star, depending
on where the Earth and Venus are located wrt the sun.  Currently, it is
approaching its greatest eastern elongation, which will occur on January 19,
at which time Venus, the Earth, and the Sun will form a right triangle (with
Venus opposite the hypotenuse).  Later in the year, Venus will have caught
up and passed the Earth and will be seen in the morning sky (although I usually
don't stay up late enough to see that).  Anybody know the date?  Of course,
elongations don't happen at the same time every year; Venus orbits the sun every
225 days, so it depends on when Venus catches up with the Earth.

Mercury is never that high in the sky, and never anywhere near that bright.
As it is approaching superior conjunction (between the Earth and the Sun) you
won't be able to see it at all.

Jupiter has just passed quadrature (Jupiter, Earth, Sun formed a right triangle
with the Earth opposite the hypotenuse) on January 3.  You will see it if
you are up past midnight.

Mars reached opposition (aligned with the Earth and the Sun) on Jan. 7, so it
rises (in the west) around sunset, and sets around sunrise.  It's close to the
twins, Castor and Pollux, in Gemini and forms an interesting red pair with
Betelgeuse in Orion.  You'll be able to see it better later in the month when
the Moon moves.

|> Whichever planet it is - how far from Earth at this time of respective
|> orbits and what is the maximum and minimum respective distances from it
|> to us at different times.
|> 
|> Last, whichever it is, what distance please from the sun at aphelion, at
|> perihelion.
|> 

What?

|> Thank you teacher
|> 
|> Regards
|> 
|> Bob Gregory

-- 

Not a problem.
					
---- D. Scott McCrickard (mccricks@cc.gatech.edu)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)
Subject: New HST Photos Released
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Date: Thu, 7 Jan 1993 19:17:11 GMT

Paula Cleggett-Haleim
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.                        January 6, 1993
(Phone:  202/358-0883)

Jim Elliott
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
(Phone:  301/286-6256)

N93-002

NEW HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE PHOTOGRAPHS RELEASED TODAY

	Two HST photographs are available to media representatives through
NASA's Broadcast and Imaging Branch, 202/358-1741.  Today, both images are
being presented at the 181st Meeting of the American Astronomical Society in
Phoenix, Ariz.

New Details in a Supernova's Blast Wave

	The HST image shows with unprecedented clarity the structure behind
the shock waves in the Cygnus Loop supernova remnant.  This is allowing
astronomers, for the first time, to directly compare the actual structure of
the shock with theortical model calculations.

	The supernova blast wave is slamming into tenuous clouds of
interstellar gas.  This collision heats and compresses the gas, causing it
to glow.  The shock acts as a searchlight by revealing the structure of the
interstellar medium.

	The Cygnus Loop marks the edge of a bubble-like, expanding blast wave
from a colossal stellar explosion which occurred about 15,000 years ago.
(Color:  92-HC-731  --  B&W:  92-H-792)

Hubble Finds a Young Planetary Nebula

	The image shows an expanding cloud of gas that was ejected from the
aging star in the center.  Before the Hubble observations, little was known
about the nebula's structure because it is too small for any detail to be
seen using ground-based telescopes.  The planetary nebula, known as Hen 1357,
is about 18,000 light-years away and located in the southern constellation
Ara the Altar.
(Color:  92-HC-732  --  B&W:  92-H-793)
- end -
     ___    _____     ___
    /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     Ron Baalke         | baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
    | | | |  __ \ /| | | |     Jet Propulsion Lab |
 ___| | | | |__) |/  | | |__   M/S 525-3684 Telos | Choose a job you love, and
/___| | | |  ___/    | |/__ /| Pasadena, CA 91109 | you'll never have to work
|_____|/  |_|/       |_____|/                     | a day in your life.
From: roth@ph-cip.uni-koeln.de (Daniel Roth)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Starfinder 2.0 / Melvin O. Duke
Date: 7 Jan 93 13:35:51
Organization: Institute of Theoretical Physics, University of Cologne, F. R.
	Germany
Distribution: sci
NNTP-Posting-Host: sun.ph-cip.uni-koeln.de

I want to contact Melvin O. Duke, author of the program Starfinder 2.0.
His address listed in the program is not valid anymore. Can someone
tell me an actual address? Please write into my PM.

Daniel Roth
roth@ph-cip.uni-koeln.de
--
_______________________________________________________________________________
Daniel Roth                     e-mail: roth@ph-cip.uni-koeln.de
Bruecker Mauspfad 448           projects: astronomy software library for  
D-W 5000 Koeln 91 (Cologne)               Atari ST and PC-compatibles;
Germany                                   CHRONOS, a calendar and 
                  ___   \  /              scheduling program for the Atari ST
                 /   \   \/   ___ 
                |     \  /\  /   \            
                \      |/  \/    |              
                                /    
                   s i n c c o m 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                          
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: mccricks@cc.gatech.edu (D. Scott McCrickard)
Subject: Re: Bright planet in the evening sky
Organization: Georgia Tech College of Computing
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 1993 01:21:23 GMT

In article <1993Jan10.010816.18015@cc.gatech.edu>, mccricks@cc.gatech.edu (D. Scott McCrickard) writes:
|> In article <726585130snz@cullen.demon.co.uk>, Bobg@cullen.demon.co.uk (Bob Gregory) writes:
|> 
|> |> ...
|> 
|> Mars reached opposition (aligned with the Earth and the Sun) on Jan. 7, so it
|> rises (in the west) around sunset, and sets around sunrise.  It's close to the
                 ^^^^
                 ^^^^ woops, in the east, of course...

|> ...
-- 
					
---- D. Scott McCrickard (mccricks@cc.gatech.edu)
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space,sci.physics,sci.environment
Newsgroups: sci.astro

timothy@ccu1.aukuni.ac.nz (Tim Bates) writes:

> I am looking at purchasing a pair of binoculas (please pardon the pun).
> My question is, are fixed focus binoculars any use for star gazing. The
> particular pair Iam thinking of are Jason 10x50s. the never focus design
> appeals particularly becasue it appears to be very robust as well as
> easy to use.
> Timothy Bates

Since the intended use is terrestrial, the focal point they are fixed on
is rather close by astronomical standards. They could be "fixed out-of-focus"
for your use. Also, testing whether you can focus on a very distant subject
*during daytime* might not be a good test of whether you can do this with 
an enlarged eye pupil. 

I concur with the other response, which suggests that these type of binoculars
could be poorly made - they do seem to be at the low end of the price spectrum.
I've also never seen an optical instrument from Jason that has impressed me.
This paragraph is 100% opinion.

As a guess, I'd say that these are a very poor risk, unless you can return
them for a full refund.
Organisation: European Space Technology Centre (E.S.T.E.C)
Date: Thursday, 7 Jan 1993 11:06:15 CET
From: <PMORTENS@ESTEC.BITNET>
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: Advice wanted: CDROM star charts

****
>I'm looking for a CDROM based star catalog.  I've seen adverts for
>many different ones but I've not found any that yet meet our
>requirements.
>
>What we need is a catalog of at least 400,000 objects specifing RA,DEC
>and magnitude that we could read using our own software (or at least a
>very easy way to retrieve the information automatically)
>
>Does anyone know of anything suitable?

I have purchased the ADC CD-ROM set which contain more than 100 star
catalogues, including the SAO and NGC catalogues for $36 (overseas). I
do not have the ordering information here, but you get the necessary
information from the list-server described below. Try to send something
random to LISTSERV@HYPATIA.GSFC.NASA.GOV.

Regards,
Peter Mortensen

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Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: sharon@comlab.ox.ac.uk (Sharon Curtis)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: Calendar for 1993 / also Mars aphelion and astronauts
Date: 5 Jan 93 12:16:48 GMT
Organization: Oxford University Computing Laboratory, UK
Originator: sharon@msc6.comlab


Argh! This crummy news system of ours! it won't let me cancel my own
article, and the header doesn't seem to work when I wanted to mail a
reply to someone else!

To be more coherent:

a) Leopold noticed that his calculation was out, and I read his article
declaring this only after posting a response. I tried to cancel the
superfluous news article, but the system wouldn't let me cancel my own
article.

b) About the astronauts landing on the moon - I tried to mail a reply,
but it didn't get through, so for him and anyone else who is interested,
I thought that probably not all of them got to go down onto
the lunar surface.....I didn't know whether the other guy(s) were
orbting the moon or landed but didn't get out, and I tried to
think of a term which encompassed both walking and just visiting.
I guess I failed. Whoops.
Maybe I should have said visited the moon, or taken to the moon
or something.


Sharon


------------------------------ End of forwarded message 1
From: Van@cup.portal.com (Sylvan Van Jacques)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Apparent brightness of Sun's surface vs distance
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 93 06:26:03 PST
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Distribution: world

 I posted this in the Space and Science section of Genie, and was met with 
disbelief. The more I think about this, the more it seems to make sense. I 
would appreciate any comments.
   ======
  I was once told that the apparent brightness of the Sun would be the same
from Venus, Earth, Mars, or at any distance. It would only appear smaller.

 Is this true? How does one reconcile this with the 1/r^2 decrease in the
intensity of radiation received by a given area, whether it be the eye or a
planet? (Venus gets a lot more radiation than the Earth.)

 One could say that the reason the flux goes down as
 1/r^2 is that the apparent area of the sun goes down as 1/r^2, but
 the apparent brightness of the sun is the same.
 
 Does this breakdown when we get so far way that we can't resolve the source?
 Point sources, like stars, do obey the 1/r^2 law for apparent brightness,
don't they?

  How about this? Suppose that the Sun had twice the radius, but the same
brightness. Any surface would receive 4 times as much radiation (wouldn't it?).
 But it would not appear any brighter to our eyes (again, unless it were so far
away that we couldn't resolve the surface). Isn't this the inverse of what I 
posted above?

 Does this make sense to anyone?
 Has anyone else heard this about the sun?
  Does anyone see this as an apparent paradox?
  Any comments at all?
 Van
  van@cup.portal.com
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: mvb@chopin.udel.edu (Maurice V. Barnhill)
Subject: Re: Apparent brightness of Sun's surface vs distance
Organization: University of Delaware
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 15:13:20 GMT

In article <73361@cup.portal.com> Van@cup.portal.com (Sylvan Van Jacques) writes:
>  I was once told that the apparent brightness of the Sun would be the same
>from Venus, Earth, Mars, or at any distance. It would only appear smaller.
   As you get further away, of course.
>
> Is this true? How does one reconcile this with the 1/r^2 decrease in the
>intensity of radiation received by a given area, whether it be the eye or a
>planet? (Venus gets a lot more radiation than the Earth.)
>
> One could say that the reason the flux goes down as
> 1/r^2 is that the apparent area of the sun goes down as 1/r^2, but
> the apparent brightness of the sun is the same.
     Exactly.
> 
> Does this breakdown when we get so far way that we can't resolve the source?
> Point sources, like stars, do obey the 1/r^2 law for apparent brightness,
>don't they?
     Yes and yes.
>
>  How about this? Suppose that the Sun had twice the radius, but the same
>brightness. Any surface would receive 4 times as much radiation (wouldn't it?).
> But it would not appear any brighter to our eyes (again, unless it were so far
>away that we couldn't resolve the surface). Isn't this the inverse of what I 
>posted above?
    All three correct.
>
> Does this make sense to anyone?
> Has anyone else heard this about the sun?
>  Does anyone see this as an apparent paradox?
>  Any comments at all?
> Van
>  van@cup.portal.com

     The result certainly seems to be counter-intuitive, since it suprises 
most people the first time they hear it. It is not paradoxical, however, since
you get the same results no matter what path your discussion follows.

-- 
    \ _____ /       Maurice Barnhill, physicist and birdwatcher     /\___/\
     |_____|     mvb@brahms.udel.edu       University of Delaware  | O   O |
    /       \    FAF00911@udelvm.bitnet    Newark, DE 19716        |___V___|