HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: pmurphy@nrao.edu (Pat Murphy)
Subject: Re: Where can I find FITS images
Organization: National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1992 13:24:38 GMT

In article <9236611.461@mulga.cs.mu.OZ.AU>
   terryr@krang.vis.citri.edu.au (Terry Robison) writes: 

	   Where can I find FITS images.  I have IMDISP - and would like
   some more FITS images to experiment with.  Thanks in advance.

You can get some FITS images on fits.cv.nrao.edu (192.33.115.8) in
directory /FITS/SampleData and FITS/TestFiles.  There are also some of
lesser interest on baboon.cv.nrao.edu (192.33.115.103) in directory
/pub/aips/DDT and /pub/aips/FITS.  Check the various README and other
text files for further details.

NRAO also has a CD-ROM (and at least one other in the works I believe)
with some interesting images on it.  Contact Jim Condon
(jcondon@nrao.edu) or Don Wells (dwells@nrao.edu) for more on this.

				- Pat
--
==========================================================================
| Patrick P. Murphy, Ph.D.                Scientific Programming Analyst |
| National Radio Astronomy Observatory    Net:       pmurphy@nrao.edu    |
| 520 Edgemont Road                       Phone:     (804) 296-0372      |
| Charlottesville, VA 22903-2475          VoiceMail: (804) 980-5889      |
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==========================================================================
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Anyone for squash at AAS meeting next month?
From: rlm@sunlight.Physics.UIowa.Edu (Robert Mutel)
Date: 3 Jan 93 09:57:00 +1000

Organization: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 20:36:36 GMT

Is anyone interested in playing squash at the AAS meeting in Phoenix between
2 and 6 January? (The Hilton hotel has squash courts). 

-- 
Robert Mutel
Department of Physics and Astronomy
University of Iowa
Iowa City IA 52242

Telephone: 319-335-1950      FAX: 319-335-1753
Email: rlm@sunlight.physics.uiowa.edu  (internet) 
       iowa::rlm (span)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: jmc@SAIL.Stanford.EDU (John McCarthy)
Subject: Re: Averting doom
Reply-To: jmc@cs.Stanford.EDU
Organization: Society for Celestial Mechanical Engineering
Date: 26 Dec 92 23:24:47

I also don't see any way of making Niven's idea work.  How did he
propose to move the gas giant?
--
John McCarthy, Computer Science Department, Stanford, CA 94305
*
He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.

Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.physics
From: scip1061@nuscc.nus.sg (Marc Paul Jozef)
Subject: Re: Size of Second-Order GR Effects in Binary Pulsars
Organization: National University of Singapore
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL4
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 08:43:36 GMT

lip@s1.gov (Loren I. Petrich) writes:
: Tom van Flandern writes:
: >     There is apparently some argument about the system of equations being
: >over-determined because of an extra identity that has been found.  I can't
: >say for certain that Yu's paper is correct, but the matter isn't trivial
: >either.
: 
: 	What extra identity???
: 
: >
: >     It would help if you read Yu and gave us an informed opinion about the
: >actual line of reasoning.  Blind shots are not helpful.
: 
: 	Maybe I'll find it sometime and check it over. But if it is in
: some obscure, out-of-the-way journal, you ought to indicate whether or
: not it is worth the trouble. In the meantime, you can be reading some
: mainstream GR text like Misner, Thorne, and Wheeler's.
: 





       So this is the way real scientists reason.
       Most impressive.
From: briscoe@cco.caltech.edu (Duke P. Briscoe)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: Binoculars, exit pupil size, etc...
Date: 31 Dec 1992 06:06:16 GMT
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Distribution: na
NNTP-Posting-Host: alumni.caltech.edu

In regard to the discussion of pupil size, I would like to recommend
the pupil gauge kit available from Sky & Telescope. It consists of a
small plastic strip with various markings which enable one to measure
one's pupil size, and also a two page reprint of "A Pupil Primer for
Stargazers" from the May 1992 S&T.  The reprint is very informative
about the issues of exit pupil in regard to various observing
situations.  It is only $3.95, but there is a $2 shipping and handling
charge, but maybe if you order something in addition to the pupil
gauge, the handling charge won't be such a high percentage of your
total cost.  The phone number is (617) 864-7360, or mail P.O. Box
9111, Belmont, MA  02178-9111.  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.
I am 34, and according to the reprint's graph of pupil size in
darkness vs. age, my pupils are larger than those of about 75% of
people my age.

This pupil measurement has made me rethink my consideration of getting
10x50 binoculars to replace my Orion 10 x 70's.  I still might get
some 10x50's, hopefully with better coatings than the Orions, although
I have done no side-by-side comparisons which would lead me to believe
there is a problem with the Orions.  I am pretty happy with the
Orions, although they are somewhat large to hold for a long period of
observing.  The 10x is slightly shaky to hold, but not too bad for me.

Another issue with regard to exit pupil vs more magnification is that
the eye's ability to resolve detail falls off in dim light, so that
you may be able to see more detail in faint nebula by magnifying them
more highly (small exit pupil) rather than seeing a smaller but not
quite as dim image (large exit pupil).  I believe this is why high
magnifications are supposed to be useful for observing galaxies'
structure even though the image is fainter than a lower power.  Low
light vision is fairly complicated, with things like averted vision,
and sensitivity to movement (can be exploited by tapping the eyepiece
to make a faint object become visible).

Also, I would highly recommend people interested in binoculars to look
at Phil Harrington's book "Touring the Universe through Binoculars".
You might find it in a library; I was somewhat surprised and pleased
to find it in our public library. It has a pretty good appendix which
discusses waht to think about when buying binoculars.  It would also
be worthwhile to get the pupil gauge, so you would know your own pupil
size.

briscoe@alumni.caltech.edu
Xref: sparky sci.astro:13396 sci.physics:21703
From: lip@s1.gov (Loren I. Petrich)
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.physics
Subject: Re: Size of Second-Order GR Effects in Binary Pulsars
Date: 23 Dec 92 23:09:09 GMT
Organization: LLNL

In article <Bzoy0J.AG8@well.sf.ca.us> metares@well.sf.ca.us (Tom Van Flandern) writes:

>lip@s1.gov (Loren I. Petrich) writes:

: From the period, the projected semimajor axis, the rate of periapsis
: advance, and [beta], one can find four quantities: a, sin(i), M1, and M2.
: If one assumes post-Newtonian GR, one has a _completely_ determined system.

>     But the period, and projected semimajor axis, and especially the rate of
>periapsis advance and [beta], are determined from observations using a model.
>They cannot be determined without assuming a particular model.  If the
>assumed model includes gravitational waves, you get one value for periapsis
>rate (for example).  If it assumes no waves, you get a different result.
>Observations cannot yet say which solution is preferred.

	I guess that this should be worked out in detail. What's
actually used for the fitting is a Newtonian + precession + variable
redshift model with the appropriate parameters left free. I guess I
should explain in detail after the holiday break.
-- 
/Loren Petrich, the Master Blaster
/lip@s1.gov
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: rutkows@ccu.umanitoba.ca (Chris Rutkowski)
Subject: Re: Easter date formula
Organization: University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 15:32:09 GMT

How about the old standard:

"Easter is the first Sunday after the first Full Moon following the
vernal equinox (first day of spring)."

-- 
Chris Rutkowski - rutkows@ccu.umanitoba.ca
Royal Astronomical Society of Canada
University of Manitoba - Winnipeg, Canada
From: roussel@cicb.fr ( Franck Roussel)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: *** METEOSAT wetaher images ***
Keywords: METEOSAT, weather
Date: 30 Dec 92 15:31:36 GMT
Organization: CICB, Universite' de Rennes I, FR

Hello everybody!

I am interested in METEOSAT weather images. I know there are many
  anonymous FTP sites, such:
    - cumulus.met.ed.ac.uk  in directory /images
    - nic.funet.fi               ''      /pub/sci/meteosat
  where satellite images of World,Atlantic,Europe are displayed.

Does anybody knows about other anonymous FTP sites like those ?

Especially, is there a server at the Meteorological Space Center
  of Lannion (Brittany) ?  I tried the FTP site "lannion.cnet.fr",
  but after typing the command 'ftp lannion.cnet.fr' it answered me:
    'Connected to lannion.cnet.fr'
    '421 Service not available, remote server has closed connection'


Thanks for all answers to my questions
Roussel
Organization: Washington University, St. Louis
Date:         Mon, 21 Dec 92 09:11:02 CST
From:         Gary Kronk <C09630GK@WUVMD>
To:           NETNEWS@WUVMD
Subject:      Re: Rediscovery of P/Swift-Tuttle
Newsgroups:   sci.astro

Actually in a letter received from Brian Marsden recently, it was
stated that pre-discovery images of P/Swift-Tuttle have been found
that are dated (I believe) last January. I assumed they would appear
in this month's MPCs (which I will not get because my subsciption
renewal got in too late in November). If no one posts details, I
will post what I have in the next day or so.

Sincerely,
Gary W. Kronk
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: hathaway@stsci.edu
Subject: Re: Binoculars, exit pupil size, etc...
Organization: Space Telescope Science Institute
Distribution: na
Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1992 03:48:31 GMT

In article <1992Dec30.210117.25390@sfu.ca>, Leigh Palmer <palmer@sfu.ca> writes:
> 
> I'd like to answer the question of "virtual imagery". First I will make

> If this is all a matter of convention, why do we argue about it? 
> 
> Leigh


This explanation would be well in the FAQ - to head off many future 
arguements - I've seen far more confusion on "virtual imagery" than 
I care to remember.  Thanks for the clarity. 

Wm. Hathaway
From: jw@contrast.wlink.nl (Jan-Willem Stekelenburg)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: New Planet ?
Date: Thu, 24 Dec 1992 06:33:00

Open hailing frequencies: Greetings All !

Today, I read an article in a local fidonet group about a newly discovered
planet:

>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 two scientist who discovered the
>>planet, both from the University of Hawaii, are admirers of the British
>writer >John Le Carre, and have proposed to name the planet 'Smiley', after
>George >Smiley, one of the heroes featuring in the detective stories of le
>Carre. >Since the planets discovery in August 1992, astronomers of the
>European >Southern Observatory in La Silla, Chili have also succeeded in
>photographing >the object.

>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.

[...]

>Source: EOS Magazine, no. 1, Januari 1993.

(Thanx Leendert)

Is this just old news that I didn't know about? Does anyone have any info on
this planet?


              ***** Regards, Jan-Willem. *****

Heresy is only another word for freedom of thought.

== == == == == == == == == == == == == = == == == == == == == == == == == ==
==
==                                     =                                    
==
==    ))))))))   ))            ))      =      Jan-Willem Stekelenburg       
==
==          ))    ))          ))       =      freelance sound engineer      
==
==         ))      ))   ))   ))        =      DFF   : 2:281/527.19@fidonet  
==
==        ))        )) )))) ))         =      usenet: jw@contrast.wlink.nl  
==
==    )))))  ))     ))))  ))))   ))    =      tel.  : +31 70 3450303        
==
==                                     =                                    
==
== == == == == == == == == Den Haag, The Netherlands == == == == == == == ==
==

o
From: pg@sanitas.stortek.com (Paul Gilmartin)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: Averting doom
Date: 27 Dec 92 15:50:13 GMT
Organization: Storage Technology Corp.
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL7]

John McCarthy (jmc@SAIL.Stanford.EDU) wrote:
: I also don't see any way of making Niven's idea work.  How did he
: propose to move the gas giant?
: --
: John McCarthy, Computer Science Department, Stanford, CA 94305

Fusion ramjet.  Vertical axis.  Suspended by hot H2 balloons.
Newton's third law.  Whatever.
: *
: He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.
: 
Ah, but the sense in Niven's calculations lies in publishing royalties,
not in planetary engineering.  :-)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: dillman@vf.jsc.nasa.gov
Subject: Re: Buying mail order from camera stores
Organization: NASA Johnson Space Flight Center
Date: 24 Dec 92 08:59:55 -0600

The question that started this topic was: has anyone dealt with Shutan Camera
in Chicago?  Well, I took advantage of their 20% off sale on Televue eyepieces.
Called in my order Friday Dec. 18 & received it yesterday (Dec. 23).  Ordered a
13mm. Plossl and a 2.5x Barlow (Barlows are included in their sale).  Both
arrived well packaged and in factory fresh condition.  No complaints here...


Dennis Dillman

Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: clarke@acme.ucf.edu (Thomas Clarke)
Subject: Re: The Hole Story
Organization: University of Central Florida
Date: Mon, 21 Dec 1992 14:07:12 GMT

In sci.astro article <1992Dec18.192414.25686@sfu.ca> you wrote:
> In article <1992Dec18.162839.1529@cs.ucf.edu> clarke@acme.ucf.edu (Thomas
> Clarke) writes:
> >> >                                                      ...When 
> >> >something changes, only the retarded solutions propgagate and
> >> >thus radiation appears to comes from only the retarded position.  
> >> >Why only retarded solutions? - ask the philosophers :-)
> >> 
> >> For heaven's sake, take off your blinders!
> >> 
> >This was an allusion to a poorly remembered book (Davies?) 
> >that discussed incoming and outgoing (advanced and retarded) 
> >electromagnetic waves from an accelerated charge in terms of
> >time's arrow, our apparent perception of an asymetry in time.  
> 
> I don't think I misunderstood you, Thomas, but of course it's
> possible. I understand that you would rather consider a static
> field to be something replaceable by a Fourier decomposition in
> harmonic functions of time. ...

Thanks for the well reasoned reply, I see what your concerns are
now. Further discussion of metaphysics, while interesting, would 
depart from the astronomical thread too far, I fear.

At the risk of muddling the issue concerning Tom Van Flandern's
paradox I would like to add my two cents to Chris Flatters'
already amply clear discussion.

I would not "rather consider" the Fourier decomposition of the 
gravitational field, but I think the possibility of such a
cecomposition provides the resolution of TVF's "paradox".

If I may paraphrase TVF's argument:  
-Post-newtonian or GR theory predict A.
-Gravitational wave theory predicts B.
-Observation shows A to be true.
-Therefore, since GR contains gravitational wave 
theory which predicts B, something is wrong. 

TVF. of course, would like that something to be wrong with
GR, opening the door to alternate theories.

Chris Flatters and others (me in my ham-handed way)
point out that when the maths are done properly there
is no contradiction between B and A.  [The Fourier sum
of propagating solutions each satisfying B, does not
have to satisfy A.  The Cauchy data satisfying A, may
be analyzed in terms of propagating solutions obeying B.
There are probably many other ways to looke at the
situation].  

Searching for an analogy, I think the causality of signals
may work.  All physical signals are causal.  {S(T) depends
only on events after t=T].  It may be convenient to
consider S as a sum of single frequency signals which
depend on all time (or no time?).  There is no contradiction 
in this signal decomposition either.
--
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: jwarner@mrcnext.cso.uiuc.edu (Jack E. Warner)
Subject: Re: Equations that give planetary positions
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Distribution: sci
Date: Thu, 31 Dec 1992 13:30:26 GMT

stone@cwis.unomaha.edu (Travis Stone) writes:


>See "Astronomical Algorithms" by Jean Meeus, Wilemann-Bell (1990)
>for planetary position trig series.

>T.R. Stone

I'm interested in this information also; i checked the astronomy library
and it is ``missing''. there is also another book called \it{Celestial
BASIC}, by Burgess. unfortunately, it was ``missing'' too.


From: goris@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Andy Goris)
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 1992 17:37:41 GMT
Subject: Solstice Question (simple)
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Newsgroups: sci.astro


I have a simple question for some astronomy guru out there:

   As everyone knows, winter solstice is the day with the shortest time 
   between sun-rise and sun-set.  However, it is neither the day
   of latest sun-rise nor earlist sun-set.  Why is this?  I'm having
   trouble picturing in my mind what happens  as the earth rotates
   around the sun, and how the tilt of the earth could cause this.
   One of my coworkers believes the shift is caused by the fact the
   earth is not in perfectly circular orbit around the sun.  I can't
   see how our elliptical orbit could cause this effect.

   I believe the answer to this question would also explain that 
   photograph of the sun moving in a figure-8 pattern you see in S&T every 
   so often.  It's a time exposure where, for one year, the shutter is 
   openened at the same time every day. I understand how the earths tilt 
   causes the up-down movement in the figure-8, but what causes the 
   left-right movement, and why does it have a period of twice/year?


   Here's some other related questions:

   1. If you live on the equator, is the length of the day always ~12 hours?

   2. If you live on the equator, do you really get effectively two
      summers (when the sun is highest in the sky), that occur on the
      two equinoxes?  

   Thanks,

   Andy Goris                goris@fc.hp.com


Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: F1.DAO@isumvs.iastate.edu (David Oesper)
Subject: Highest Mountain & Deepest Crater on the Moon
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames IA
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 05:12:05 GMT

Does anyone know which mountain on the Moon is the highest and what
its altitude is?  The Leibnitz Mountains, on the southern limb of
the nearside of the Moon, contain a few peaks which tower nearly
five miles above the surrounding lunar terrain.  The Dorfel range
also contains peaks in the 4-5 mile high category, and they are
located not far away.  But which is the highest mountain?

At latitude 78 degrees S, longitude 20 degrees W lies the deepest
crater on the surface of the Moon, Newton.  The floor of Newton
crater extends an astonishing five miles below its crater rim, and
nearly four miles below the surrounding plain.  Newton crater is
just barely visible from Earth on the nearside of the Moon,
south-southwest of Clavius.

David Oesper  (S Per)
Ames Area Amateur Astronomers
Ames, Iowa  USA
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: ashutosh@engr.LaTech.edu (Ashutosh Srivastava)
Subject: astro gifs
Organization: Louisiana Tech University
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL8]
Date: Wed, 30 Dec 1992 04:14:44 GMT

 thanks to everyone who replied to my query regarding astro gifs.

--
  ashutosh srivastava

Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: chris@chrism.demon.co.uk (Chris Marriott)
Subject: Re: Naming asteriods question.. 
Distribution: world
Organization: None
Reply-To: chris@chrism.demon.co.uk
X-Mailer: Simple NEWS 1.90 (ka9q DIS 1.19)
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1992 01:54:33 +0000

In article <BzxqsF.E1o@cs.dal.ca> andromed@Hail.ATM.Dal.Ca writes:

>Why cannot asteriods be named after political leaders, like
>JFK, RFK. I see one named for Dr.Martin Luther King...so
>.....
>                                     Mike Boschat
>JOHN F. KENNEDY
>  ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORY
>

As far as I know, the discoverer of an asteroid can call it whatever
he or she wants, can't they?  I guess the fact that nobody's called an
asteroid after Lenin or JFK says a lot about peoples' opinion of
politicians :)

Chris
-- 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Chris Marriott                           | chris@chrism.demon.co.uk    |
| Warrington, UK                           | BIX: cmarriott              |
| (Still awaiting inspiration              | CIX: cmarriott              |
|  for a witty .sig .... )                 | CompuServe: 100113,1140     |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: clarke@acme.ucf.edu (Thomas Clarke)
Subject: Re: Averting doom
Organization: University of Central Florida
Date: Mon, 28 Dec 1992 15:52:59 GMT

In article <1992Dec28.134408.4522@cs.ucf.edu> clarke@acme.ucf.edu (Thomas  
Clarke) writes:
> In article <JMC.92Dec26004848@SAIL.Stanford.EDU> jmc@SAIL.Stanford.EDU (John  
> McCarthy) writes:
> > 
> > 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
> 
> 
> One could even be elegant and use a single asteroid and ping-pong
> it back and forth between the earth and another planet.

Maybe that wasn't totally clear.  The asteroid has some guidance
rockets on it to adjust its trajectory so that it gives
momentum to the earth and then heads off to say, Jupiter, where it
slingshots off in just the right way to pick up some momentum
and head back to earth.  And so on and so on.  The orbits might
require a retrograde pass around the sun or some other such fancy
shooting, but I think no laws of physics are violated.

Hmm. A second thought.  Maybe the Magratherians (see Adams' 
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy) are already using comets to
adjust the orbits in the solar system :-)  Comets are sent in
from deep space, steal momentum from Jupiter and redistribute it
to the other planets!  This would eliminate the need for the
Oort cloud to explain the precision with which new incoming comet 
orbits approximate parabolas !-) This should make Tom vanFlandern
very happy!
--
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
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.physics