HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: willson@seas.gwu.edu (Stephen R. Willson)
Subject: Re: Late Lunar Eclipse Report,Dec.9/10
Organization: George Washington University
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 05:18:13 GMT

According to a news story I overheard (this is why I don't know the
specific source), the blue halo was due to the recent volcanic eruptions. 
Assuming that I heard this right, why would the halo be blue?

-- 
-----------------------+-------------------------------------------------------
 Stephen R. Willson    | A fitting end to a screwy campaign year...
 willson@seas.gwu.edu  | Here to swear in the President of the United States,
 (202) 395-4922        | Larry King!                         -The Miami Herald
From: brunob@hpldsla.sid.hp.com (Bruno Bienenfeld)
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 20:31:34 GMT
Subject: Re: First Telescope??
Organization: HP Scientific Instruments Division - Palo Alto, CA
Newsgroups: sci.astro

Did you say $2000 or $200 ?
$200 NO , $2000 YES.

from the log of AA6AD

Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: jwenger@ulci06.unil.ch ()
Subject: Easter date formula
Reply-To: jwenger@ulci06.unil.ch ()
Organization: University of Lausanne - CH (Switzerland)
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 15:59:32 GMT


Hello, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Sorry to bother you with my question, but I think this is the right place
to post it. Here goes:
What is the Gauss (i think that's him) formula to compute Easter date
(month and day of month) from the year?
Thanks, and best regards,

					Jacques

----------
Jacques C. Wenger, University of Lausanne
jwenger@ulys.unil.ch
From: wats@scicom.AlphaCDC.COM (Bruce Watson)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Lunar eclipse magnitudes estimates request
Date: 12 Dec 92 20:06:12 GMT
Organization: Alpha Science Computer Network, Denver, Co.

Observers who made magnitude estimates of the moon during totality,
please post them to fido.astronomy to the attention of Dr. Richard
Keen.

Thanks.


-- 
Bruce Watson (wats@scicom) Bulletin 629-49 Item 6700 Extract 75,131
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: reinhard@stsci.edu
Subject: Re: Telescope question from rank novice
Organization: Space Telescope Science Institute
Distribution: na
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 19:17:46 GMT

In article <BzEvCL.HH1@unx.sas.com>, saseph@hal.unx.sas.com (Ed Hughes) writes:
> 
> Does anyone out there know who manufactures the
> 6" or so reflector telescope that Brookstone
> (the gadget store) sells?  Is it one of the 
> manufacturers-to-avoid?  This thing regularly
> sells for around $450 (but that's Brookstone
> dollars) and is on sale now for $299.  A tripod
> and some selection of lenses is included.  I'm
> not sure of the type of mount, since I just read
> the FAQ today and learned about equatorial and
> altazimuth.
> 

I have had the opportunity to work with one of these scopes.
For $299 they are a good scope get to see if you like 
to view astronomical objects.  The mount that it comes with
is not the best type for newtonian but you can will use
with out too much trouble.  The one that I saw was actually
a 4.5 inch scope and sold for about the same amount.  

Do not expect this to be a "Great" telescope but if you want
to some fun and not spend much money it is a good place
to start.   Just remeber that the mounting is not rock solid
and that the tube can easily be dented.  The tube is made of
thin metal and I have seen many of these that are beat up
from tipping over.

I hope this helps.

Kent Reinhard
Space Telescope Science Institute
Xref: sparky sci.astro:13296 sci.space:17930
From: baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke)
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space
Subject: Re: Voyager UVS shutdown
Date: 21 Dec 92 01:30:51 GMT
Reply-To: baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.3-4

In article <1992Dec20.061437.27570@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu>, rkornilo@nyx.cs.du.edu (Ryan Korniloff) writes...
>Yeah, that really is a shame. But let me ask this.. Does this mean that
>Voyager has discontinued to look for the helopause? Or does this mean that
>only one of the instuments have been shutdown, and there are still others
>that are active..
> 
This only applies to the UVS instrument.
The VIM (Voyager Interstellar Mission) for Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 is funded 
through the year 2019, which means we'll be tracking the spacecraft as long
as we can.  Of course, neither spacecraft is expected to last to 2019.  As
time goes on and the power level drops from the plutonium decay from the
RTG's, additional instruments will have to be turned off.  The spacecraft's
signal is getting weaker and weaker as it moves farther away, and will 
probably be out of range of the DSN stations by 2019.  Pioneer 10 and 11 are 
also being used for the search for the heliopause boundary, but they are not 
expected to last beyond 1996.  
     ___    _____     ___
    /_ /|  /____/ \  /_ /|     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. 
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: hillig@U.Chem.LSA.UMich.EDU (Kurt Hillig)
Subject: Info wanted on '93 Texas Star Party
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 92 13:00:18 EST
Organization: Department of Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Distribution: na

Does anybody out there know the dates and/or contact person for the
'93 Texas Star Party?  If so, please post!

-- 
      Kurt Hillig
   Dept. of Chemistry      I always tell the     khillig@umich.edu
 University of Michigan     absolute truth    Telephone (313)747-2867
Ann Arbor, MI  48109-1055    as I see it.    hillig@chem.lsa.umich.edu
From: snow@castor.hahnemann.edu (Donald C. Snow)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: astronomy question
Date: 14 Dec 1992 18:48:12 -0500
Organization: Hahnemann University, Philadlephia PA
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: castor.hahnemann.edu


Can someone help with the following?

A netless friend has asked me to post the following question. Reply to
me (I don't read this group, and I doubt anyone else is interested), and
I'll pass on the answer to them.

What position on the earth (in latitude, to the minute, and longitude,
to the minute) would satisfy the following two conditions:

1) the time is Sept 23, 1987, 11:33 and 34 seconds, GMT

and

2) Vega is directly overhead.


Thanks!


-- 
=======================================================================
Donald C. Snow         || snow@castor.hahnemann.edu    ||
Senior Systems Analyst || snow@hal.hahnemann.edu       ||            
Radiation Oncology     ||        (and)                 ||      	    
Hahnemann University   || gaston@drycas.club.cc.cmu.edu||      	    
=======================================================================
From: paul.burnett@pcs.sj.ca.us (Paul Burnett)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Planet viewing
Date: 13 Dec 92 15:45:00 GMT
Reply-To: paul.burnett@pcs.sj.ca.us (Paul Burnett)
Organization: PCS-BBS - San Jose, CA - 408-270-4085

TO: howdy@patty.gaud.sheens.co.at

H>I remeber one day, I was lucky to see VENUS from dawn til 11:00 a.m.!

I have also done this several times.  It requires good planning more
than good luck, but can be easily done.

---
 . QMPro 1.0 41-8688 . ...from San Jose, CA
                                                                                                                      
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: mcovingt@aisun3.ai.uga.edu (Michael Covington)
Subject: Re: Buying mail-order from camera stores
Organization: AI Programs, University of Georgia, Athens
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 20:17:30 GMT

Over in rec.photo, people regularly rate the New York camera stores.
The received wisdom right now seems to be that Adorama and B&H are good
and Cambridge is not so good.  This squares with my own experience.

If you want a good telescope dealer, though, use Orion Telescope Center
in Santa Cruz, California.

-- 
:-  Michael A. Covington     internet mcovingt@uga.cc.uga.edu :   Verbum caro
:-  Artificial Intelligence Programs       phone 706 542-0358 :    factum est
:-  The University of Georgia                fax 706 542-0349 :  et habitavit
:-  Athens, Georgia 30602-7415 U.S.A.     amateur radio N4TMI :   in nobis...
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: dsmith@hplabsz.hpl.hp.com (David R. Smith)
Subject: Re: Earth's Orbit if no other planets
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 19:03:38 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Laboratories Palo Alto,CA

In article <1992Dec16.132704.1@ulkyvx.louisville.edu> jsmill01@ulkyvx.louisville.edu writes:
>In article <7460061@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM>, duanej@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Duane Jacobson) writes:
>> In fact, this is how the existence of Pluto was discovered.  Neptune's
>> orbit was perturbed in a way that could most easily be explained by the
>> existence of a small planet in a nearby orbit.  So they looked for it and
>> found it.
>
>I don't think so.  I believe that the scenario was more like Uranus 
>had perturbations in its orbit that still could not be explained by 
>just the presence of Neptune.  Having success with finding Neptune, 
>the same method was tried again, this time in vain.  Pluto was found 
>after a long photographic search along the ecliptic.  And if recent 
>finding are valid, the perturbations ascribed to Uranus may not really 
>have been as large as had been thought, which means, given its mass, 
>finding Pluto was more a fluke, albeit on that yielded an interesting 
>find.

I don't think Pluto's discovery should be called a fluke, since -- as you
note -- Tombaugh's search was very thorough (and extended a long ways away
from the ecliptc).  Pluto's discovery position happened to be sort of near
one of the several conflicting predictions that Lowell had made based on
gravitational perturbations.  That was the fluke, since as you say, Pluto
is too small and far away to have caused the alleged perturbations.

-- 
David R. Smith, HP Labs |   "I like to get my hands dirty,
dsmith@hpl.hp.com       |   because it stimulates my mind."
(415) 857-7898          |        -- Irwin Sobel
From: paul.burnett@pcs.sj.ca.us (Paul Burnett) 
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: ATTENTION TEACHERS!
Date: 12 Dec 92 06:53:00 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: PCS-BBS - San Jose, CA - 408-270-4085
Reply-To: paul.burnett@pcs.sj.ca.us (Paul Burnett) 

TO: s1tal@isuvax.iastate.edu

 >I'm designing some software to be used in and out of the classroom to help
 >students (and the general public) learn concepts in astronomy and space
 >science.

May we safely assume you are familiar with all the shareware and
commercial software (Skyglobe, Dance of the Planets, et al)?  There's a
_lot_ of neat stuff available.  How does what you propose to do differ
from what's already available?
---
 . QMPro 1.0 41-8688 . ...from San Jose, CA
                                                                                                                                                                
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: gak@wrs.com (Richard Stueven)
Subject: Re: Moon Map (Astrophotography)
Reply-To: gak@wrs.com
Organization: Wind River Systems, Inc.
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 23:12:39 GMT

In article 8818@panix.com, banana@panix.com (Walter Polkosnik) writes:
>... there don't seem to be many books with maps
>for the moon. If anyone could recommend one, we would be very grateful.

Here's an unusual (and I hope useful) suggestion:  in one of their 1969
issues, National Geographic published a map of the Moon, and a map of
Mars in another issue.  Check your local thrift stores, flea markets,
and garage sales, and you just might come up with a really nice map for
a buck or less.

Worked for me...

have fun
gak

---
Richard Stueven        gak@wrs.com         attmail!gakhaus!gak        107/H/3&4
	Did William Faulkner have little creatures on his old typewriter?
	If so, they were the product of whiskey, which addles the brain less
	than cartoon creatures and menus and buttons that send messages to
	the screen demanding: "Abort? Quit? Try Again? Drop Dead? Exit? Go To
	Hell You Schnook?" - Mike Royko

Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: howdii@patty.gud.siemens.co.at (Wolfgang Howdii Howurek)
Subject: Gruesse an die BAA
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 10:41:38 GMT
Organization: SIEMENS Austria Corp., A-1100 Wien, Gudrunstr. 11
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5

Postmaster said to me:

"Your message could not be delivered to: 

    weber@zdfzs.una.ac.at

Your message has been enqueued and undeliverable for 3 days.
No further attempts will be made to deliver your messsage."

Something wrong with this mail adress? So I'll try it this way.
This message is special posted for Erwin Weber (BAA).

Hallo Erwin!

Na, heut' hab ich aber geschaut, hab' ich eine mail vom Herrn Ing. Weber!
Besten Dank dafuer! Ja, natuerlich gibt es bei Siemens auch astro-interessierte
Leute! Ob es sog. Amatuerastronomen sind oder einfach nur Sterngucker, kann
ich natuerlich nicht so genau beurteilen. Was meinen Fall betrifft, ich
war in dieser Szene einmal recht aktiv. Enger Kontakt mit dem AJC Wien mit
Peter Reinhard, Mitarbeit am Programm "Sternbedeckungen durch den Mond" des
Astronom. Buero (Prof. H. Mucke) und so weiter. Ja, wir hatten einmal einen
Astroclub in Mistelbach, damals Club Sommerdreieck. Wie das halt bei jungen
Buben so ist, hat das Interesse bald wieder nachgelassen. Uebriggeblieben
ist die AAG (Astronom. Arbeitsgruppe) Mistelbach, da waren wir nurmehr zu
dritt, mit der Einschraenkung, dass eigentlich nur mehr ich aktiv war.
Das hat sich aber auch weitgehendst aufgehoert, aufgrund einer Augenoperation
(Netzhautabloesung) bin ich beim Beobachten etwas gehandicapt, ich kann
mit dem Feldstecher praktisch kaum mehr beobachten, weil ich ein doppeltes Bild
sehe. Deshalb habe ich mir ein anderes Hobby gesucht, bin jetzt in der
Elektroakustik zu Hause, speziell beim Bau von Lautsprecherboxen fuer HIFI
Anwendung. Das mache ich halt solange, bis ich "terisch" (schwerhoerig) bin,
dann muss ich mir wieder was Neues suchen, vielleicht Biertrinken.
Na schoen, meine letzte astronom. Grosstat? Komet Halley, 1985/1986.
Mein letzter Teleskopblick (4,5" Newton): M57 in der Leier, August 1992. 
Meine allerlezte astronomische Tat: 
Jagd auf den Kometen Swift-Tuttle (aussichtslos, bis ich zum Beobachten kam, 
stand der Komet - im ADLER - bereits zu tief, in Horizontnaehe
macht sich ja die Extinktion sehr unangenehm bemerkbar. Auf jeden Fall
hab' ich mir zumindest einen riesigen Schnupfen geholt. Und die Mondfinsternis
war "very dark" bei uns in Mistelbach, aber im Nov. 93 gibt's ja - glaube ich
- wieder eine Chance. 
Vielleicht koennen wir via Mail etwas in Kontakt bleiben, Briefe schreiben
ist nicht meine Staerke, ich kann kaum mehr einen Kugelschreiber halten,
ohne Keyboard kann ich bald nimmer schreiben... 
Und vielleicht koennten wir uns auch mal treffen, wenn die Sterne besonders
guenstig stehen. Viele Gruesse jedenfalls an die BAA!

Wolfgang "howdii" (gesprochen "Haudi") Howurek (bei Siemens Austria, Wien)
Privat: 2130 Mistelbach, Schuetzenweg 9
Tel. Firma: 60171/5661

==========================================================================

Please, no one should response, except Erwin Weber from BAA!

howdii.
From: jeremy@atlantis.CS.ORST.EDU ((-| Jeremy |-) Smith)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: I want the Moon.
Date: 13 Dec 92 05:53:19 GMT
Article-I.D.: leela.1992Dec13.055319.14742
Organization: Computer Science Outreach Services - Oregon State University

Dear Fellow astro-netters.

	I'm looking for a clear, bright graphic of a full moon - no 
shadows, eclipses, umbras penumbras, phases.  I've archied moon and 
fullmoon and there are many neat pictures but most of the full moon 
shots show <75%.

	Whilst I'm here, is there an available list of the main events 
for the coming year: time and dates of the moon phases and eclipses and such?

-- 
jeremy@atlantis.cs.orst.edu (Jeremy |-) Smith)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: strobel@stein.u.washington.edu (Nicolas Strobel)
Subject: collision timescales in galactic disk
Summary: Collision timescales in flat rotation curve galactic disk
Keywords: disk galaxy collision timescale
Organization: University of Washington
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 00:33:04 GMT


Can anyone give me a derivation of the timescale between collisions of
objects in the slightly less trivial case of a rotating galactic disk?
I know the timescales for a spherically distributed system with no net
rotation. The case of a flattened system whose rotation tends to keep
objects from colliding as frequently as if there was no rotation should
be a little trickier to find. The particular case I'm interested in is
one for a flat rotation curve galactic disk with a given velocity 
dispersion ellipsoid (or epicyclic frequencies).

Please email. If there is interest, I'll post what answers I receive.

Thanks
Nick Strobel
strobel@dirac.phys.washington.edu

Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: roelle@uars_mag.jhuapl.edu (Curtis Roelle)
Subject: Which Lunar Eclipse Was Darker?  Dec 82 or 92?
Summary: Thanks to volcanic action we've had two dark eclipses within 10 years
Organization: Johns Hopkins University
Distribution: usa
Date: 11 Dec 92 21:16:42 GMT

Unfortunately, during the lunar eclipse I was in class except for a 10
minute break at 23:05 UT (so I got to view 2nd contact) when I bolted
outside with a pair of 7x35's, and when class ended near 0 UT (so
resumed observing at 3rd contact and the following partial).  I did
not get to view the eclipse during its maximum.  Now,

Gerry Santoro - CAC/PSU <GMS@psuvm.psu.edu> writes:

>Egad!  What a night for astronomy!

>After a 2-month cloudy spell the sky miraculously cleared this afternoon
>over central PA in time for the lunar eclipse.  In fact, as I watch out
>my window the moon is just coming out of the darkest eclipse I have seen
>in 30 years of watching.  To the naked eye it darn near completely
>disappeared.

>In 10x50 binoculars it was a dusky grey-black at mid eclipse and was
>only barely visible at 40x in a 2.4" refractor.   My 8" F6 Newtonian
>showed it as a beautiful faint grey, with only the slightest hint of
>deep brown along the southern edge.

Although I only saw it near 2nd and 3rd contact, the moon remained
visible to the naked eye as a brownish-grey, and quite faint.  But I
seem to remember that the eclipse 10 years ago, on 30 December 1982
was even darker yet.  That eclipse came several months after the
eruption of Mexico's El Chichon volcano.  After totality in 1982 I
could *not* see the moon with the naked eye and also found it impossible
to focus a camera connected to on a 6-inch Newtonian.

Granted, the 1982 eclipse was before dawn on the East Coast, and at a
lower altitute -- I think the moon set before 4th contact.  But it was
just as clear, if not clearer than Wednesday's eclipse.  Plus I viewed
the 1982 eclipse from a darker site.

So sci.astro readers, which was darker?  The December 1982 or the
December 1992 eclipse?

Curt
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: galchutt@gab.unt.edu (SHERYL ANN GALCHUTT)
Subject: Space shuttle holusion info
Keywords: color holusions
Organization: College of Arts and Sciences
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 1992 18:56:00 GMT

Hello-

If anyone's interested, I have some info on holusions (i.e., a graohic print 
containing an appartently meaningless random pattern which is capable of 
fooling the mind into seeing a 3D image that does not exist.)  The one I 
just bought has the image of the space shuttle Discovery with Saturn and a 
satalite.  The posters are in full color; they look like random dots of 
color until you look _through_ the poster, then the image pops out.

If you want more info, email me.  I'm be away for the holidays, but I'll get 
back with you when I get back.  Then I can send the address of the 
distributors to you.

galchutt@gab.unt.edu

From: duanej@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Duane Jacobson)
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 23:29:20 GMT
Subject: Re: Earth's Orbit if no other planets
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Newsgroups: sci.astro

>If all the other planets were to suddenly disappear, the Earth's orbit
>WOULD be very slightly different in the future.  The gravitational
>attraction of the planets "perturbs" the orbit of the centre of mass
>of the Earth/Moon system from the keplerian ellipse it would otherwise
>follow around the sun.  Unless you're interested in predicting precise

In fact, this is how the existence of Pluto was discovered.  Neptune's
orbit was perturbed in a way that could most easily be explained by the
existence of a small planet in a nearby orbit.  So they looked for it and
found it.
From: j.jahn@abbs.hanse.de (Jost Jahn)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Sunspots at 10.12.1992.
Reply-To: j.jahn@abbs.hanse.de
Date: 11 Dec 92 21:50:00 MET
Distribution: sci
Organization: ABBS AstroMail, D-W 2121 Dahlenburg / Germany
X-Version: ZerUU V6.45c

Sunspots at 10.12.1992., 0 h UT.

No.    Pos.  Cl.  Ar.  Mag. SF  F  M  X
---------------------------------------
7355 16S 16W Cso   90   b
7360 17S 30E Cso   40   b
7362 04S 18E Dai  130   bg   2
7363 07S 58E Dao  170   b    3
7364 09N 54E Hsx   40   a
7365 21S 00W Cso   30   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: cecil@physics.unc.edu (Gerald Cecil)
Subject: Toutatis was spectacular!
Reply-To: cecil@physics.unc.edu
Organization: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 21:45:33 GMT

One of our students took a beautiful 35-frame sequence of CCD frames spaced 4
mins apart on Sunday morning, when motion was about 18 arcsec/minute of time.
The unfiltered exposures were 10 secs on our campus 24" B&C telescope &
Cryocam 512x480 CCD.  He described it as the most exciting astronomical
observation he had made in his 40 years of amateur astronomy.
---
Gerald Cecil cecil@wrath.physics.unc.edu  919-962-7169 
Physics & Astronomy, U of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3255 USA

Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.physics
From: lip@s1.gov (Loren I. Petrich)
Subject: Detecting Second-Order GR Effects in Binary Pulsars
Organization: LLNL
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 22:51:38 GMT


	As is well known, some pulsars have companions, an example
being the Hulse-Taylor binary pulsar.

	The lowest-order effects are the familiar Newtonian
binary-star effects. The timing delay is easily shown to be of order
a/c, where a is the semimajor axis. For the HT pulsar, this time is
about 1 second or so.

	The next-order effects are the redshift from the motion and
the gravitational potential. These effects are timeing delays of order
sqrt(a*Rs)/c, where Rs is the Schwarzschild radius of the masses
(2GM/c^2, ~ 3 km for the Sun). For the HT pulsar, this time is about 3
milliseconds or so.

	Next after this order is the order where one sees effects from
the GR time delay and periodic orbit perturbations. This order
produces timing delays of order Rs/c, which is about 10 microseconds
for two 1.4 solar-mass neutron stars. Note that it is independent of
the size of the orbit.

	I'm not terribly familiar with the precisions it is possible
to achieve with pulsar timing, but how good can one do? Even the
fastest pulsars have periods of about a millisecond or so, and one
needs microsecond resolution to clearly resolve second-order GR
effects, instead of just the first-order ones currently observed.

-- 
/Loren Petrich, the Master Blaster
/lip@s1.gov