HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: ucap22a@ucl.ac.uk (Mr Alisdair R Davey)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: has anybody seen ...
Date: 22 Dec 92 14:21:10 GMT
Organization: Bloomsbury Computing Consortium

In article <92356.185824ALPAR@TRMETU.BITNET> ALPAR@TRMETU.BITNET writes:
>
>  Hi friends
> During last total lunar eclipse on 12/09/1992 I observed a star very close to
>moon . The temperature was about -10 degrees centigrades so on my telescopes ob
>jective there was a thin ice layer so I couldn't decide if it was a real star o
>r an internal reflection . Neither on my photos nor on video cassete I couldn't
> see any star close to moon . The star was about 50 arc seconds west from the m
>oon maybe that was why I couldn't define the star on computer simulations .
>  Has anybody seen that star ? Can anybody tell me which star it was (HD number
> or something like that) ?
>
>                                                 Alper Ates

I observed and timed an occultation before totality - but have not yet 
had time to figure out which it was. I didnt see it reemerge.
Alisdair
From: pg@sanitas.stortek.com (Paul Gilmartin)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: The Hole Story
Date: 22 Dec 92 16:11:49 GMT
Organization: Storage Technology Corp.
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL7]

Tom Van Flandern (metares@well.sf.ca.us) wrote:
: and pg@sanitas.stortek.com (Paul Gilmartin) replied:
: 
: > I'm curious (and naive).  Does the Coulomb potential around a static
: > electric charge appear retarded or instantaneous?  In other words, does an
: > electric charge in orbit spiral in because of the Poynting-Robertson
: > effect?  I know it spirals in because it radiates because of centripetal
: > acceleration, but I suppose this is analogous to binary neutron stars
: > losing orbital energy to gravitational radiation, which you don't attribute
: > to retarded potential.
: 
:      Electrons can only have discrete energy levels.  No spiraling is
: possible.  There aren't any good fundamental explanations of why this is so,
: but it is clear by experiment that it is.

I didn't say "electron", I said "electric charge", deliberately to allow
the macroscopic case.  According to the Correspondence Principle, even
electrons approach a classical limit at large quantum numbers.  Near this
limit, the frequency of photons emitted is nearly the same as the orbital
frequency, and the intensity of emitted radiation is close to the prediction
of Maxwell's equations.  In this regime, "spiraling" is an apt description.
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: bunner@vms.macc.wisc.edu (Dana A. Bunner)
Subject: Re: Binoculars, exit pupil size, etc...
Organization:  University of Wisconsin Academic Computing Center
Distribution: na
Date:  3 JAN 93 21:22:53    

In article <1hu2koINN7t3@gap.caltech.edu>, briscoe@cco.caltech.edu (Duke P. Briscoe) writes...

>In regard to the discussion of pupil size, I would like to recommend
>the pupil gauge kit available from Sky & Telescope. 
..
>I was surprised to find out that my
>pupils are about 5mm in a partially sunlit room.  And right now, at
>night in a moderately bright room lit by a typical incandecent
>fixture, I measure my pupils as 6mm.  After dark adaptation, I have
>measured my pupils as 7mm.  I had thought my pupils would be smaller.

In looking a little further into this eye pupil size question, I found several
references which stated the maximum aperture for a human eye to be in excess
of 7mm, a few stated 8mm and one said a few humans have been measured at 9mm.
Two said the average was not 7mm but rather between 7.25 - 7.50 mm (this is for
people under 30 years old).  Did your chart list any entries above 7mm?  I also
spoke to an optometrist (yeah, I know, they don't have *REAL* degrees!) and
he said he routinely found younger adults with 7.5-8.0mm measurements.

So for some people the 7.0-7.2 exit pupils might be a good selection for several
years.

Dana
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: jmc@SAIL.Stanford.EDU (John McCarthy)
Subject: Averting doom
Reply-To: jmc@cs.Stanford.EDU
Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University
Date: 26 Dec 92 00:48:48

The following squib is from U.P.

	     Here's a cheery prediction from scientists at
     Pennsylvania State University. They say life on Earth as we
     know it will come to an end in one-and-a-half-BILLION
     years... and a BILLION years after that, the planet will
     look more like dusty volcanic Venus.
	     Ken Caldeira and James Kasting calculated the
     doomsday estimates using computer models of temperature and
     atmosphere changes and projections of the sun's increasing
     heat. They say (in the British journal Nature) as the sun
     continues to brighten and warm, the amount of carbon dioxide
     in the atmosphere will drop- eventually to a point too low
     for plants to survive. As the temperature rises further, all
     water on Earth will boil off.
	     But they say mirrors on Earth or shades in space
     potentially could shield our planet from increasing heat
     from the sun and delay the catastrophic consequences. Other
     possible solutions- building closed environments like the
     Biosphere Two project in Arizona... or setting up controlled
     Earth-like environments in space.
	-26-

A more straightforward solution is to move the earth further from
the sun as the sun warms up.  What are the easiest ways of doing
this?
--
John McCarthy, Computer Science Department, Stanford, CA 94305
*
He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.
From: sla@umbra.UCSC.EDU (Steve Allen)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: Is the Milky Way a Barred Spiral?
Followup-To: rec.humor
Date: 3 Jan 1993 22:25:05 GMT
Organization: UCO/Lick Observatory
NNTP-Posting-Host: umbra.ucsc.edu
Summary: sure
Keywords: M&M/Mars

In article <1993Jan3.210002.19066@ee.ubc.ca> davem@ee.ubc.ca (Dave Michelson)
writes:
>Not too long ago (but I don't remember where :-(, I read that some astronomers
>had convinced themselves that our Galaxy is actually a barred spiral.
Doug Lin here at UC Santa Cruz assures us all that the proof is found simply
by going down to the nearest market, finding the candy aisle, and noting
the shape of the M&M/Mars product called Milky Way.   ;-) ;-) ;-)
_______________________________________________________________________________
Steve Allen          | That was the equation!         |   sla@lick.ucsc.edu
UCO/Lick Observatory | Existence!...Survival must     | If the UC were opining,
Santa Cruz, CA 95064 | cancel out programming! -- Ruk | it wouldn't use me.
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: schnitzi@cs.ucf.edu (Mark Schnitzius)
Subject: Equations that give planetary positions
Organization: University of Central Florida
Distribution: sci
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1992 17:52:19 GMT

Sorry if this is a FAQ, but does anyone have a set of equations that
give the positions of the planets (relative to the sun) based on the
current date?


Mark Schnitzius
schnitzi@eola.cs.ucf.edu
University of Central Florida
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: roelle@uars_mag.jhuapl.edu (Curtis Roelle)
Subject: Re: Rediscovery of P/Swift-Tuttle
Organization: Johns Hopkins University
Date: 21 Dec 92 15:46:03 GMT

K3032E0@ALIJKU11.BITNET (Herbert Raab) writes:

>I was quite surprised that "P/Swift-Tuttle" was rediscovered by an amateur-
>astronomer using "ordinary" binoculars. As far as I know, lots of professional
                   ^^^^^^^^
>and serious amateur astronomers searches for this object, using large Schmidt-
>cameras or high-tech-CCD-equipment. The comet was not THAT far off the
>predicted path (17 day late, and the orbit was said to be uncertain by
>roughly 2 months) and bright enough to be spotted visually.

S&T's December issue states that the binoculars used by Tsuruhiko
Kiuchi to recover S-T last September have a 6-inch aperture.  If these
binoculars are "ordinary", I'd love the chance to visit your
observatory one day. :-)

>     Herbert Raab  >>>K3032E0@EDVZ.Uni-Linz.Ac.AT<<<

CWR
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: andromed@Hail.ATM.Dal.Ca (Mike Boschat)
Subject: Lunar Phenomena question
Organization: ATM, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 01:29:45 GMT

Hello Netters;

 Have any observers or observatories seen any  TLP's (Transient
Lunar Phenomena) lately ? there was much talk in the 50s and
60s about them but haven't seen much lately in this net or in
any astronomy magazines. Is the search still going on for them
by amateurs and some professionals.?
 thanks..
        
                                        Clear skies

                                        Mike Boschat

                                  andromed@ac.dal.ca
                                  andromed@sleet.atm.dal.ca
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
|    JOHN F. KENNEDY              | " Our problems are man-made, therefore |
|                                 |  they can be solved by man. "          |
|  ASTRONOMICAL  OBSERVATORY      |                                        |
|                                 |                      J.F.K.            |
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: rkornilo@nyx.cs.du.edu (Ryan Korniloff)
Subject: Looking for Digital Elivation Models
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix @ U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 92 04:09:50 GMT


I posted this message a week ago, but it was erased somehow...

I'm still looking for some FTP sites that have available NONterrestrial
DEMs. By that  I mean Mars and Venus ect.. I already have tried
Xerox.spectrum.com. They are all of THIS planet however..

        -- Ryan Korniloff
        -- rkornilo@nyx.cs.du.edu


Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: elliottb@cnsvax.uwec.edu
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: New Planet
Date: 26 Dec 92 18:24:00 GMT
Organization: University of Wisconsin Eau Claire

There is a good article in the January Sky and Telescope - page 26 about the
new planet - 1992QB1.

Bob Elliott
From: j.jahn@abbs.hanse.de (Jost Jahn)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Sunspots at 02.01.1993.
Date: 2 Jan 93 11:39:00 GMT
Reply-To: j.jahn@abbs.hanse.de
Organization: ABBS AstroMail, D-W 2121 Dahlenburg / Germany
X-Version: ZerUU V6.45c

Message-Id:   <25978348051@amterm1.abbs.hanse.de>
Sunspots at 02.01.1993., 0 h UT.

No.    Pos.  Cl.  Ar.  Mag. SF  F  M  X
---------------------------------------
No sunspots on the solar disk or no report available, sorry.


No optical or x-ray flares yesterday observed.


 
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABBS AstroMail, the first and most popular German astronomical bulletin board
------------------------- for amateur astronomers ----------------------------
    + 49 5851 7896 / V.21, V.22, V.22bis, V.32, V.42, V.42bis and MNP5
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From: ref@CS.CMU.EDU (Robert Frederking)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: Solstice Question (simple)
Date: 28 Dec 92 18:11:58 GMT
Article-I.D.: cs.BzzEJy.AsK.2
Reply-To: ref@cs.cmu.edu (Robert Frederking)
Organization: Center for Machine Translation, Carnegie Mellon University
Originator: ref@DHAKA.MT.CS.CMU.EDU

As several people pointed out to me at the time of the equinox, day is
significantly longer than night for two additional reasons: refraction
makes the visual sunrise or sunset happen when the sun is
approximately one whole solar diameter below the horizon, and each of
the visual events happens when the upper limb of the sun reaches the
horizon, rather than the center of the sun.  These effects add three
solar diameters to the length of daylight, which (I hope I get this
right) is about 1.5 degrees, or 6 minutes of daylight at the equator
(it adds more time elsewhere, because the sun doesn't travel
perpendicularly to the horizon elsewhere).   [Forgive me, Copernicus.]
From: j.jahn@abbs.hanse.de (Jost Jahn)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Sunspots at 31.12.1992.
Reply-To: j.jahn@abbs.hanse.de
Date: 31 Dec 92 11:24:00 MET
Distribution: world
Organization: ABBS AstroMail, D-W 2121 Dahlenburg / Germany
X-Version: ZerUU V6.45c

Message-Id:   <25801092360@amterm1.abbs.hanse.de>
Sunspots at 31.12.1992., 0 h UT.

No.    Pos.  Cl.  Ar.  Mag. SF  F  M  X
---------------------------------------
No sunspots on the solar disk or no report available, sorry.


No optical or x-ray flares yesterday observed.


 
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABBS AstroMail, the first and most popular German astronomical bulletin board
------------------------- for amateur astronomers ----------------------------
    + 49 5851 7896 / V.21, V.22, V.22bis, V.32, V.42, V.42bis and MNP5
    ------------------------------------------------------------------
From: j.jahn@abbs.hanse.de (Jost Jahn)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Sunspots at 22.12.1992.
Reply-To: j.jahn@abbs.hanse.de
Date: 22 Dec 92 19:33:00 MET
Distribution: sci
Organization: ABBS AstroMail, D-W 2121 Dahlenburg / Germany
X-Version: ZerUU V6.45c

Message-Id:   <25052824267@amterm1.abbs.hanse.de>
Sunspots at 22.12.1992., 0 h UT.

No.    Pos.  Cl.  Ar.  Mag. SF  F  M  X
---------------------------------------
7369 07S 22W Axx    0   a
7370 09S 13W Hsx   50   a
7371 12S 88W Dao   50   b    1
7372 12S 18E Hax   60   a
7374 08S 36E Dai  400   bd   3
7375 14N 67W Dao  150   b    1
7376 17N 45E Bxo    0   b
7378 13N 53E Cao   80   b    1
7379 11S 79E Hax   70   a


No optical or x-ray flares yesterday observed.


 
--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABBS AstroMail, the first and most popular German astronomical bulletin board
------------------------- for amateur astronomers ----------------------------
    + 49 5851 7896 / V.21, V.22, V.22bis, V.32, V.42, V.42bis and MNP5
    ------------------------------------------------------------------


Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: andromed@Hail.ATM.Dal.Ca (Mike Boschat)
Subject: 1993 Meteor Showers
Organization: ATM, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1992 00:40:52 GMT


                  METEOR SHOWERS FOR 1993
                  -----------------------
SHOWER                  RA         DEC         PEAK DATE      NO/HR.
=========================================================================
Quadrantids            15h 30m     +50        Jan.3 11h UT    95
Lyrids                 18h 16m     +34        Apr.22 03h      15
Alpha Scorpiids        16h 24m     -25        May 3  18h      10
Eta Aquarids           22h 27m      00        May 4  21h      30
Zeta Perseids          04h 08m     +23        Jun.9  10h      40*
Beta Taurids           05h 44m     +19        Jun.28 07h      25*
Pegasids               22h 40m     +15        Jul.9  08h      8
S.Delta Aquarids       23h 38m     -16        Jul.28 19h      20
Alpha Capricornids     20h 24m     -10        Jul.29 15h      8
N.Delta Aquarids       21h 44m     -05        Aug.12 07h      20
Perseids               03h 56m     +58        Aug.12 15h      95
Alpha Aurigids         05h 44m     +42        Aug.31 20h      10
Orionids               06h 22m     +16        Oct.22 00h      20
S.Taurids              03h 24m     +14        Nov.3  00h      15
N.Taurids              03h 55m     +23        Nov.13 00h      15
Leonids                10h 11m     +22        Nov.17 13h     var
Geminids               07h 30m     +33        Dec.14 00h      90
Ursids                 14h 28m     +75        Dec.23 01h      20
=============================================================================

the RA & DEC are for Epoch 2000.0
the * means a daytime shower.
                                        Clear skies

                                        Mike Boschat

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
|    JOHN F. KENNEDY              | " Our problems are man-made, therefore |
|                                 |  they can be solved by man. "          |
|  ASTRONOMICAL  OBSERVATORY      |                                        |
|                                 |                      J.F.K.            |
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: bcollins@utdallas.edu (ARLIN B COLLINS)
Subject: Sky&Telescope Weekly News Bulletin
Organization: Univ. of Texas at Dallas
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1992 22:24:37 GMT

****
 ----- Sky & Telescope Weekly News Bulletin
       ( no bulletin/info available from my source
	 at the moment...  must be a holiday   :-)   

 ----- THIS WEEK'S "SKY AT A GLANCE" 

 DEC 27 -- SUN
 The crescent Moon is near Venus and fainter Saturn in the evening sky
 -- a striking sight. (Saturn is below the Moon, Venus is to its left.)
 Soon after dark, look for the 3rd-magnitude star Delta Capricorni even
 closer to Venus' left. Binoculars help. 

 DEC 28 -- MON
 Venus is closest to Delta Capricorni; use binoculars. 

 DEC 29 -- TUE
 *

 DEC 30 -- WED
 The eclipsing variable star Algol will be at minimum brightness,
 magnitude 3.4 instead of its usual 2.1, for a couple of hours centered
 on 11:42 p.m. Eastern standard time. It takes several additional hours
 before then to fade, several hours after to brighten. 

 DEC 31 -- THU
 First-quarter Moon (exact at 18:38 p.m. EST). 

 Saturn's brightest moon Titan can be seen in a small telescope four
 ring lengths east of the planet for the next couple evenings. 

 JAN 01 -- FRI
 *

 JAN 02 -- SAT
 The annual Quadrantid meteor shower is predicted to peak sometime
 around the predawn hours of Monday the 3rd. Some years this shower is
 very rich, in others poor. 

 ----- THIS WEEK'S PLANET ROUNDUP

 MERCURY is hidden in the glare of the Sun. 

 VENUS blazes in the southwest as the bright "evening star" during and
 after twilight. 

 MARS is in Gemini, near the fainter stars Pollux and Castor. It rises
 during twilight and shines high overhead by midnight. Mars is closest
 to Earth on January 3rd -- the closest it will get until 1999 -- and is
 at opposition on January 7th. It's already as big as it will get, 15
 arc seconds in apparent diameter. 

 JUPITER, in Virgo, rises around 12:30 a.m. and is the brightest "star"
 in the south at dawn. 

 SATURN is the much fainter "star" to the lower right of Venus. 

 URANUS and NEPTUNE are hidden behind the glare of the Sun. 

 PLUTO, extremely faint at 14th magnitude, is in Libra low in the
 southeast at dawn. 

 -----
 SKYLINE is not to be distributed or used for profit. Transcribed and
 provided with permission from Sky & Telescope Magazine.
 The SKYLINE voice report is provided as a public service by Sky &
 Telescope Magazine. SKYLINE is a voice recording on 617/497-4168.

 --got me a new  .sig  for Christmas....
-- 
 Arlin B Collins    Tue 29 Dec   Sun   Civil  Naut   Astro
 bcollins@utdallas.edu   rise:  07:30  07:02  06:32  06:02
 lat N32.9 long W096.9    set:  17:30  17:58  18:29  18:59
From: andromed@Hail.ATM.Dal.Ca (Mike Boschat)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Naming asteriods question..
Date: 27 Dec 92 20:41:02 GMT
Organization: ATM, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada

Why cannot asteriods be named after political leaders, like
JFK, RFK. I see one named for Dr.Martin Luther King...so
why  not the two Kennedys', and P.Trudeau one of our
Canadian Prime Ministers.
 Would we be so childish that a war would start over naming
an asteriod after someone ? example.."name it Lenin."..
"No, its going to be Lincon."...
"No, Lenin.."
"No, Lincon.."
 goes on for a few hours till one side threatens the other with
nuclear war...?????

Thanks in advance...
                                     Clear skies

                                     Mike Boschat
JOHN F. KENNEDY
  ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY
Newsgroups: sci.astro,alt.sci.planetary
From: cain@geomag.gly.fsu.edu (Joe Cain)
Subject: Re: New Planet ?
Followup-To: sci.astro
Summary: why not "asteroid?"
Organization: Florida State University Geology Dept.
Date: Fri, 25 Dec 92 18:15:40 GMT

In article <725192412.AA00896@contrast.wlink.nl> jw@contrast.wlink.nl
(Jan-Willem Stekelenburg) writes: (text greatly abbreviated)
>
>>American astronomers have successfully made pictures of a new planet that
>was discovered in a remote area of our solar system. The planet has a reddish
>>color and has a diameter of 200 km.
>>The official name of the object is 1992QB1. It's circling at almost 6 biljon
>>kilometers distance from our sun. This means 1992QB1 lies just outside of
>the orbit of Pluto en needs 262 years for a complete circle around the sun.

	What are the criteria for using "planet" for such an object? I
would think that such a small piece of real estate would be called an
"asteroid". 

	Except for historical precedent I think that the
larger member of the binary pair Pluto-Charon does not deserve such a
designation. Except that it happens to revolve around a much larger
body it seems to me that Titan is more deserving of such a title.

	I heard that the term "world" was beginning to come into favor
by those involved in the Voyager project(s). Has anyone discussed
establishing a class of objects that define same which would include
Titan, Triton, Ganymede, Callisto, Europa.... as well as the primary
"planets?" 

Joseph Cain		cain@geomag.gly.fsu.edu
cain@fsu.bitnet		scri::cain
Department of Geology B-160
Florida State University
From: gwc@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Greg F Walz Chojnacki)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: Is the Milky Way a Barred Spiral?
Date: 4 Jan 1993 02:03:10 GMT
Organization: University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Reply-To: gwc@csd4.csd.uwm.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: 129.89.7.4
Originator: gwc@csd4.csd.uwm.edu

From article <1993Jan3.210002.19066@ee.ubc.ca>, by davem@ee.ubc.ca (Dave Michelson):
> Not too long ago (but I don't remember where :-(, I read that some astronomers
> had convinced themselves that our Galaxy is actually a barred spiral.  I haven't
> seen any references to it since, though.  Does anyone else recall seeing such a
> report or care to comment?
> 
> Previously, the evidence of spiral arm tracers such as O and B stars and
> HII regions had suggested that our galaxy possesses a rather tightly wound
> spiral structure...  

Leo Blitz (U of MD) and David Spergel (Princeton) reported in Jan. 90 (at
the AAS meeting) that their analysis of the motion of hydrogen clouds and
found that outer clouds move in nearly circular orbits in the outer regions,
but more and more elliptically as one looked closer to the galaxy's center.
Their interpretation is that there is indeed a bar. 

Sorry, I can't tell you where they published their results; I only heard 
their talk at the AAS meeting.

Greg

Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: dillman@vf.jsc.nasa.gov
Subject: Orion's Small Equatorial Mount
Organization: NASA Johnson Space Flight Center
Date: 30 Dec 92 10:03:10 -0600

Looks like my post from last week got swept out in the holiday housecleaning,
so I'll try it again:

Am considering Orion's "equatorial mount for small telescopes" (p.44 of current 
catalog) for my Celestron C90.  Orion sells this as a separate mount & also uses
it for their small refractors and 4.5" reflector.  Does anyone on the net have
any experience (good/bad/otherwise) with this mount?  Any better suggestions
for a C90 mount in the $200-250 price range?

Thanks,
Dennis Dillman

Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space