HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: markv@pixar.com (Mark T. VandeWettering)
Subject: Re: Astrophotography?
Organization: Pixar -- Point Richmond, California
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 17:45:32 GMT

vivek gupta <vigupta@tope.cs.indiana.edu> writes:

>I am interested in taking various pictures of the moon, stars, and other planets. I am an amateur photographer and have been fascinated by the nite sky for quite some time. I was wondering what sort of equipment I would need to start.

>I have a cannon T-70 camera, with long exposure (up to almost 24 hrs.) Since I will be doing this for personal pleasure and I don't have an enormous budget, what are some low cost telescopes and camera mounts, etc.

>I am a novice, so please list all items I would need, 
>so when I go calling around I can get total estimates.

The following are my opinions only. 

Forget using a telescope if you don't have $$$.  To get a mount sturdy 
enough for through-the-telescope photography is a big investment.  Datapoint:
a friend of mine has a Celestron 4" reflector on a Super Polaris mount.  It
takes around 4-5 seconds to settle down when bumped, which is just a bit too
jumpy.  If there is ANY wind, it jitters too much to be usable for photography.

If this sounds like there is nothing left for a novice to try; think again.
A friend of mine and I have had GREAT luck taking pictures using normal 
camera lenses, either piggybacked aboard the telescope or just unguided.
Unguided, you can get about 20 seconds of exposure with a 50mm lens.  This is
good enough to show the North America Nebula in Cygnus, or much of the 
interesting parts of Sagitarius when using a fast film like Ektar 1000, 
Kodak Gold 1600 or Konica 3200 (some letters go along with that, but I can't
remember which).

If you are interested in learning more, begin by grabbing the new Astronomy 
magazine. (November issue I believe).  It has two articles of interest.  One
describes the fun of creating your own "star atlas" by taking lots of wide 
angled short exposures.  I am gonna have to try this sometime soon.  The other
describes a simple "barn door" camera drive that you can use to lengthen your
exposures to over 10 minutes.  I have some photos here on my desk that show
even 4 minutes can yield some surprisingly good results.

One comment; the author of the Astronomy article showed a distinct preference
for Konica 3200.  I however, feel that you can take better pictures using 
Gold 1600 or Ektar 1000.  While they are slower, their color rendition is 
much better.  I have never had a real black sky with Konica 3200, it always
turns out purple. If you are just starting, I would recommend the Gold 1600, as 
it seems to tolerate bizarre exposures better, it has considerable latitude. 

Once you have finished with this article, you should probably pick of a copy
of Michael Covington's book, "Astrophotography for Amateurs".  It is one of 
my  favorites because it isn't full of photos taken with exotic equipment, it
really does concentrate on amateurs and their techniques. 

Hope this is of help.
				Mark T. VandeWettering

Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: carl@class.gsfc.nasa.gov (Carl F. Hostetter)
Subject: Re: Days of the Week
Followup-To: sci.astro
Organization: NASA/GSFC
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 19:30:53 GMT

In article <1992Oct9.082758.1628@cnsvax.uwec.edu>, elliottb@cnsvax.uwec.edu
wrote:
> 
> The days of the week get their names from the sun, moon, and planets.
> Sunday = sun
> Monday = moon
> Tuesday = mars
> Wednesday = mercury
> Thursday = jupiter
> Friday = venus
> Saturday = saturn
> 

No. Tuesday thru Friday derive their names from Germanic gods:

Day           Germanic god       Greek/Roman equivalent
---           ------------       ----------------------
Tuesday       Tiw/Tyr            Ares/Mars
Wednesday     Woden/Othinn       Mercury
Thursday      Thor               Zeus/Jupiter
Friday        Frigga             Venus

> One could check in the O.E.D. for the time of first use.

Well, this wouldn't really do any good, since the OED would only cite the
first occurrence *in English*, which is not what the original poster
wanted to know.
From: ralf@ark.abg.sub.org (Ralf Stephan)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: HST Uses Nature's Lens to Explore the Cosmos
Date: 11 Oct 92 10:19
Organization: Magick Shoppe, Gurth City

baalke@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov (Ron Baalke) writes:
 
>      Two, 6-hour exposures revealed a striking pair of faint objects close to
> the center of the cluster.  Each image has a faint structure attached to it.
> These structures show perfect mirror-symmetry, as expected if both are
> lensed images of the same source.  The images are unusually far apart for
> a lensed system, implying AC114 has a dense massive core.
> 
>      "Despite their wide separation, the high degree of symmetry and near-
> identical colors of the objects are a strong indication that they are images
> of the same source, supporting the hypothesis that we have discovered a
> very massive lens," Ellis explained.

Now, Tom, what do *you* say?  (Of course, after you have deeply examined
the data).

--ralf
From: s914311@yallara.cs.rmit.OZ.AU (Kasra)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: STRUCTURE OF TIME
Keywords: time in incomprehensible
Date: 9 Oct 92 08:27:22 GMT


	Well this is my 2 bobs worth.

	Time is not anything.  It is mearly a method for people of lesser minds
(and before you start flaiming me, I am sure almost the whole of the population
of earth, including myself, is of a lesser mind) to comprehend how things
occur.  
	Time is a concept.  You cannot bring physics into the question of
time.  My understanding of physics is that a concept is not part of it.  How
can time conform to a law??  It cant.  I have not heard anything anywhere
(here or in books) that can convince me that time is something.

Just my 2 bobs worth.

 ----------------------------------------------------------
|John Oliver                   |   The only thing worth    |
|s914311@yallara.cs.rmit.oz.au |  fearing is fear itself   |
|+61 3 789-4013                |      %lost in time%       |
 ----------------------------------------------------------
From: mtj@babar.asd.sgi.com (Michael Jones)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: UFO EVIDENCE VS. Carl Sagan
Date: 15 Oct 92 06:28:50 GMT
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.
NNTP-Posting-Host: babar.asd.sgi.com

In article <...>, kevinq@Ingres.COM (Kevin Quinn) writes:
  [...bold CONJECTURES and OPINIONS about aliens and supressed EVIDENCE...]

PERHAPS this new STYLE of typography is the TEXTUAL equivalent of
seeing ED MCMAHON'S face on a LETTER in your MAILBOX.

-- 

Be seeing you,      mtj@sgi.com  415.390.1455  M/S 7L-590
Michael Jones       Silicon Graphics, Advanced Graphics Division
                    2011 N. Shoreline Blvd., Mtn. View, CA 94039-7311
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space,sci.misc,alt.sci.planetary
From: swifty@tc.fluke.COM (Steve Swift)
Subject: Re: Robert H. Goddard - Born 110 Years Ago Today
Keywords: Goddard, rocket
Organization: John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc., Everett, WA
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 22:22:49 GMT

In article <1992Oct5.154353.25467@nntpd.lkg.dec.com> klaes@verga.enet.dec.com (Larry Klaes) writes:
>    Boston).  Goddard launched the world's first liquid-fueled rocket
>    in March of 1926 in Auburn, MA, along with many other contributions 
>    to the development of modern rocketry.  Goddard died in August of 
>
>        Larry Klaes  klaes@verga.enet.dec.com

Why would he want to launch other contributions?

-- 


            Steve Swift, Sr. Staff Engineer
    Domain: swifty@tc.fluke.COM
    Voice: (206) 347-6100, Ext. 5737 direct: 356-5737
    FAX: (206) 356-5790
    UUCP: {uw-beaver,microsof,sun}!fluke!swifty
US mail: John Fluke Mfg. Co./ P.O. Box 9090/ MS 266D/ Everett WA  98206
From: m.breunig@abbs.hanse.de (Max Breunig)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: X-ray map of N. California
Reply-To: m.breunig@abbs.hanse.de
Date: 12 Oct 92 00:57:00 MET
Distribution: sci
Organization: ABBS AstroMail, D-W 2121 Dahlenburg / Germany
X-Version: ZerUU V6.45c



From: UUCP/Sci/Astro
>Betrifft         : X-ray map of N. California
>Erstellungsdatum : 07.10.92 18:08
>
>From: J103680@LMSC5.IS.LMSC.LOCKHEED.COM
>Message-Id: 92279.49812.J103680@LMSC5.IS.LMSC.LOCKHEED.COM
>Organization: Lockheed Missiles & Space Company, Inc.
>
>I am searching for an X-ray map of Northern California to
>reveal caves and caverns underground.  Know of any sources?
>

Sounds interesting !
I have never heard of any X-ray maping of earth.
Knows anyone of such a project and some details on it ?


Max Breunig                  m.breunig@abbs.hanse.de


--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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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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From: kevinq@Ingres.COM (Kevin Quinn)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: UFO EVIDENCE VS. Carl Sagan
Date: 15 Oct 92 23:11:01 GMT
Reply-To: kevinq@Ingres.COM (Kevin Quinn)
Organization: Ask Computer Systems Inc., Ingres Division, Alameda CA 94501

In article <1bj332INN6b3@fido.asd.sgi.com> mtj@babar.asd.sgi.com (Michael Jones) writes:
>In article <...>, kevinq@Ingres.COM (Kevin Quinn) writes:
>  [...bold CONJECTURES and OPINIONS about aliens and supressed EVIDENCE...]

WOAH! Slow down, and check your attributions!  'twasn't me on this one!


kbq
--
Kevin Quinn                         | kevinq@ingres.com
                                    | {mtzinu,pacbell,ll-winken,sun}!ingres.com
My opinions are my own.  Should you think otherwise, think again.
From: mcelwre@cnsvax.uwec.edu
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: UFO EVIDENCE VS. Carl Sagan
Date: 13 Oct 92 17:59:01 -0600
Organization: University of Wisconsin Eau Claire

          
          
                           UFO EVIDENCE VS. Carl Sagan

               I watched all of Dr. Carl Sagan's updated "Cosmos" 
          programs on PBS during summer 1991.  In one of them, he STILL 
          maintains that there is no physical evidence for UFO 
          Spacecraft, "just stories". 
    
               I should think that by now he would have heard about the 
          Roswell Incident in which UFO WRECKAGE and ALIEN BODIES were 
          found on a ranch (in New Mexico, I think), gathered up by the 
          U.S. military, and hidden away in an Air Force hanger 
          somewhere.  The wreckage included materials NOT KNOWN on 
          Earth, and some of it even had ALIEN SYMBOLS written on it.  
          All of this was witnessed by many People, both civilian and 
          military.  A couple of years ago, the TV program "Unsolved 
          Mysteries" showed an excellent segment about the incident. 
    
               The Roswell Incident illustrates a serious problem here.  
          Whenever there IS physical evidence of a UFO Spacecraft, the 
          military always confiscates it, using "national security" as 
          an excuse, and then ACTS LIKE THE MAFIA toward the finders 
          and other witnesses by THREATENING them if they don't keep 
          silent!  (They did it to the rancher in the Roswell 
          Incident.) 
    
               I wonder if Carl Sagan has been pressured by the 
          government into continuing to make negative public statements 
          about UFO's.  It's too bad that so many people accept his 
          pronouncements without question.  He may very well be another 
          case of THE BLIND LEADING THE BLIND. 
       
               This is supposed to be a FREE country.  FREEDOM OF 
          SPEECH is guaranteed by the highest law of the land.  The 
          government (and its military) is supposed to be of, by, and 
          for The People, NOT the other way around.  People need to 
          know THE TRUTH about EVERYTHING in order to intelligently 
          participate in the democratic process.  It is an ORGANIZED 
          CRIME for the government to withhold or suppress information 
          and physical evidence of UFO's from us. 
    

               UN-altered REPRODUCTION and DISSEMINATION of this 
          IMPORTANT Information is ENCOURAGED. 


                                   Robert E. McElwaine
                                   B.S., Physics and Astronomy, UW-EC

                                                            
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: moroney@ramblr.enet.dec.com
Subject: Re: Mars Observer and the "Face"
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Distribution: na
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 20:23:43 GMT

In article <1992Oct12.124423.1@stsci.edu>, gawne@stsci.edu writes...
>In article <1992Oct12.150056.9477@ryn.mro4.dec.com>, 
>randolph@est.enet.dec.com (Tom Randolph) writes:
> 
>> Can someone at NASA post NASA's thoughts one way or another regarding the
>> Mars Observer and the Martian "face"? 
> 
>Oh boy.  Along these lines, I've looked thru my Atlas of Mars trying to
>find this "feature" without success.  Perhaps someone can point me to
>a specific page and map?  Or did the face come from the same survey that
>showed us the dinosaurs that resembled iguanas?
> 
>I've always pretty much assumed that the "face" represents a curious
>combination of crater, interior features, and shadows.

I've seen a .GIF of this feature, but I don't have coordinates.  The "face"
in the .GIF is quite realistic, however it is obvious that the sun is low
on the horizon so there probably isn't an actual face there, it is a
combination of shadows and features.  Also, I think the .GIF was posted by
one of those "PROOF that there are SPACE ALIENS trying to LEAVE US a MESSAGE"
posters, so it may have been "enhanced" or retouched.

-Mike
Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits
From: forveill@gag.observ-gr.fr (Thierry Forveille)
Subject: Re: Some FITS tables suggestions
Organization: National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 15:03:42 GMT

Lucio Chiappetti (LUCIO@IFCTR.MI.CNR.IT) writes

> YES, conventions are needed to avoid those incompatibilities, which can
> be very annoying.
> And I would say those conventions are needed beyond the area of databases,
> but, for instance, in the area of keywords describing the content of a
> photon list.
> At the moment I am using provisional, local conventions for the designation
> of columns for a photon list : for instance I call THETA and PHI the angular
> cooordinates of a photon (from the optical axis), X and Y the coordinates in
> micron on the focal plane, and XPOSITN YPOSITN the coordinates in detector
> pixels ...or I call ENERGY true energy in keV, but PHA energy in channels,
> and I ignore whether they are consistent e.g. with EXSAS or PROS - which
> I am told are not compatible among them)

I certainly agree that conventions for keywords names should be agreed upon 
in the various subfields of astronomy, but they should at least be compatible
with the existing standard. Specifically, A VALID FITS FILE MUST USE SI
UNITS. This tends to be repeatedly forgotten, even though it was already 
explicitly specified in the original FITS paper.
X and Y should therefore be stored in metres, not microns, ENERGY in Joules
not kev (or cm**-1, or Kelvin, or GHz),  and so on...
Also, there are some well established conventions to store projected angular
coordinates (RA---GLS or GLAT-ATF or...) though I am not sure they are part
of the standard yet.


	Thierry Forveille
	Observatoire de Grenoble
	forveill@gag.observ-gr.fr
From: murison@cfa203.HARVARD.EDU (Marc A. Murison, RG)
Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits
Subject: C++ FITS classes?
Date: 8 Oct 92 03:25:11 GMT
Organization: Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA,  USA

Does anyone know of any C++ FITS classes available?  I'd
rather not re-invent any wheels...


------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marc A. Murison                | #include <fstream.h>
Smithsonian Astrophysical Obs. | void main( void ) { 
Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits
From: bschlesinger@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov (Barry Schlesinger)
Subject: Re: Some FITS tables suggestions
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: NASA - Goddard Space Flight Center
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 1992 20:32:00 GMT

In article <199210071503.AA12607@chenas.inria.fr>, forveill@gag.observ-gr.fr (Thierry Forveille) writes...
>Lucio Chiappetti (LUCIO@IFCTR.MI.CNR.IT) writes
> 
>> YES, conventions are needed to avoid those incompatibilities, which can
>> be very annoying.
>> And I would say those conventions are needed beyond the area of databases,
>> but, for instance, in the area of keywords describing the content of a
>> photon list.
>> At the moment I am using provisional, local conventions for the designation
>> of columns for a photon list : for instance I call THETA and PHI the angular
>> cooordinates of a photon (from the optical axis), X and Y the coordinates in
>> micron on the focal plane, and XPOSITN YPOSITN the coordinates in detector
>> pixels ...or I call ENERGY true energy in keV, but PHA energy in channels,
>> and I ignore whether they are consistent e.g. with EXSAS or PROS - which
>> I am told are not compatible among them)
> 

Development of area-specific standard keywords and table headers would 
certainly make the task of human interpreters of FITS files easier.  
The different research groups working in the same area should compare 
their proposed names and try to agree on common conventions.

>I certainly agree that conventions for keywords names should be agreed upon 
>in the various subfields of astronomy, but they should at least be compatible
>with the existing standard. Specifically, A VALID FITS FILE MUST USE SI
>UNITS. This tends to be repeatedly forgotten, even though it was already 
>explicitly specified in the original FITS paper.
>X and Y should therefore be stored in metres, not microns, ENERGY in Joules
>not kev (or cm**-1, or Kelvin, or GHz),  and so on...

FITS paper I provides some recommended units.  The use of SI units is 
not required.   The NOST Draft FITS Standard recommends use of the
units in the IAU Style Manual.  In the community review process, this
recommendation has proved acceptable.  The IAU Style Manual adds a
number of units common in astronomy to the SI list. 

>Also, there are some well established conventions to store projected angular
>coordinates (RA---GLS or GLAT-ATF or...) though I am not sure they are part
>of the standard yet.
> 

These conventions are contained in documents proposing conventions for 
world coordinates.  Community consensus on conventions has not yet 
been achieved, although there does appear to be community consensus 
that progress on standardizing world coordinate conventions is needed.

				Barry Schlesinger
				NOST FITS Support Office

Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: clarke@acme.ucf.edu (Thomas Clarke)
Subject: ftp site for solar images?
Keywords: solar ftp 
Organization: University of Central Florida
Date: Fri, 16 Oct 1992 14:02:32 GMT

Does anyone know of an ftp site where digital versions
of solar images can be obtained. 
I have in mind the sort of images published by NOAA's
National Geophysical Center:  X-ray, H-alpha, that sort of
thing.

Thanks.

--
Thomas Clarke
Institute for Simulation and Training, University of Central FL
12424 Research Parkway, Suite 300, Orlando, FL 32826
(407)658-5030, FAX: (407)658-5059, clarke@acme.ucf.edu
From: sommer@scd.hp.com (Jeremy Sommer)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: UFO EVIDENCE VS. Carl Sagan
Date: 16 Oct 1992 00:35:05 GMT
Organization: Hewlett Packard Santa Clara Division
NNTP-Posting-Host: hpscau.scd.hp.com
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1.4 PL6]

Filippo A. Salustri (fil@me.utoronto.ca) wrote:
: 	2) A local mortician was asked if they had 4' and 3' 6" hermetically
: sealed caskets around.

Ya gots ta make sure ya buries them aliens in the right size box, eh?  :-)



-Jeremy Sommer
From: ehwd@sherman.pas.rochester.edu (Eric Howard)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: read-write optical drives
Date: 9 Oct 92 17:31:15 GMT
Organization: University of Rochester

Does anyone in the astro community use optical read-write drives?
Our group is looking into buying one, but we want to find out if
there is some sort of standard that people are starting to go with,
and if anyone has horror stories about specific machines. The 
device we are looking at right now is the Pinnacle Micro PMO-650. 

eric howard
U of Rochester
ehwd@sherman.pas.rochester.edu
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: andromed@cs.dal.ca (Mike Boschat)
Subject: Comet Swift-Tuttle..diameter ???
Organization: Math, Stats & CS, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada
Date: Wed, 7 Oct 1992 18:33:14 GMT


 Can anyone who saw Swift-Tuttle recently  like last night or a day or so
before tell me its diameter in arc minutes ? I know its about 8.6 as of the 7th
but could not locate it..
 thanks in advance...
 Oh, just "visual" observations no CCD devices or photography...

						Clear skies

						Mike Boschat

 -------------------------------------------------------------------
| " Our problems are man-made,             |  JOHN F. KENNEDY       |
|   therefore they can be solved by man."  |                        |
|                                          | ASTRONOMY  OBSERVATORY |
|                   JOHN F. KENNEDY        |                        |    
 -------------------------------------------------------------------
From: irwin@iago.caltech.edu (Horowitz, Irwin Kenneth)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: Diesen sphere or Strungen Sphere
Date: 12 Oct 1992 11:34 PDT
Organization: California Institute of Technology
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: iago.caltech.edu
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    

In article <Bw0poC.E4z@Novell.COM>, steve_olson@npd.novell.com writes...
First, I'd be careful about posting Star Trek episode spoilers here on
sci.astro...

>Does anyone know any thing about a Diesen sphere or a Strungen Sphere? 
>It is supposed to be a sphere with a star in the middle. 
> 
>I first saw it on Star Trek, you should see it in this weeks episode, I saw 
>the sattelite feed on Sunday.  Our local university astronomer told me that
>the sphere is actually called the strungen sphere, but on ST they refer to
>it as a Diesen Sphere.
> 
A Dyson sphere (note spelling) is named after Princeton physicist Freeman
Dyson, who postulated a few decades ago that an truly advanced civilization
could utilize the entire energy output of a star by building a sphere around
it.  Such an object would not be detectable in visible light, but would
radiate quite strongly in the infra-red, as the waste heat from the inside
of the sphere would need to be radiated away.  A Stromgren sphere (also note
spelling, though the "o" has those two little dots over it :-) is the region
that forms around a hot, young O/B star, whose ultraviolet emissions ionize 
the nearby gas and cause it to glow.

The artifact found on the episode on Star Trek is most definitely a Dyson
sphere, not a Stromgren sphere.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Irwin Horowitz                        |
Astronomy Department                  |"Whoever heard of a female astronomer?"
California Institute of Technology    |--Charlene Sinclair, "Dinosaurs"
irwin@iago.caltech.edu                |
ih@deimos.caltech.edu                 |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: meier@Software.Mitel.COM (Rolf Meier)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: UFO EVIDENCE VS. Carl Sagan
Date: 14 Oct 92 17:38:21 GMT
Organization: Mitel. Kanata (Ontario). Canada.

In article <1992Oct13.175901.1730@cnsvax.uwec.edu> mcelwre@cnsvax.uwec.edu writes:

>               I should think that by now he would have heard about the 
>          Roswell Incident in which UFO WRECKAGE and ALIEN BODIES were 
>          found on a ranch (in New Mexico, I think), gathered up by the 

You ARE certain of the ALIEN artifacts but NOT sure of the STATE?

_____________________________________________________________________
Rolf Meier					Mitel Corporation
		"Everything You Know Is Wrong"