HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: barinaga@netcom.com (Marcia Barinaga)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: female mentors in science
Date: 26 Jan 93 18:59:00 GMT
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest)

I am a reporter with Science magazine, and am preparing articles
for an upcoming special news section on women in science. 

I am looking for an example of a female scientist who has left 
her mark on a field by attracting, inspiring and training female 
scientists. I have heard that in some fields, particularly those 
in which there are few women, one may find a clustering of women
in a sub-discipline, and that one can often trace their lineage 
back to a particularly influential mentor. I am looking for a 
compelling example of that phenomenon, particularly in a field
such as math or astronomy or physics, in which women are scarce.

Also, for a related article in the same issue, I am seeking
comments from both male and female scientists on the 
question of whether women approach science differently than
men. I know this is a controversial question, and am hoping
to present a range of views on it. Do women have different 
styles of conducting science, and even different intellectual 
approaches that may enrich their fields either through 
added diversity, or as an example men might learn from?

I know about some scholars such as Evelyn Fox Keller who deal 
with gender and science. I plan to include them in my article, and
would be happy to hear about more such scholars, but I am also 
looking for real-life examples to use in my article: for men or 
women who have compelling anecdotes about their 
experiences with female vs male scientists, and differences
or similarities in their styles of doing science.


If you have suggestions of scientists who I should contact, 
for either of these articles, or if you would be willing to 
be interviewed yourself for my articles or want to send me 
your comments for use in the articles, please e-mail me.

My address on the internet is  
barinaga@netcom.com

I am new on the internet, and am posting this query in a 
couple of newsgroups that seemed appropriate. I hope I have
not made any errors in that choice, but please forgive me
if I have. 

Thank you for your patience in considering my query,
Marcia Barinaga
West Coast Correspondent
Science magazine
Xref: sparky sci.astro:14321 sci.physics:23311
From: ted@physics2 (Emory F. Bunn)
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.physics
Subject: Re: Local Expansion - Why not?
Followup-To: sci.physics
Date: 22 Jan 1993 22:41:23 GMT
Organization: Physics Department, U.C. Berkeley
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: physics2.berkeley.edu

In article <1993Jan22.150751.10486@cs.ucf.edu> clarke@acme.ucf.edu (Thomas Clarke) writes:
>Tom Van Flandern, our perennial curmudgeon, has asked why
>we don't observe Hubble expansion in the solar system.
>
>Now I know the mathematics of general relativity (GR) explains all
>this nicely, but I find my intuition lacking.  
>
>Does anyone know of an intuitively satisfying explanation that
>does not require the mathematics?

As with most tricky questions in physics, there are a bunch of equivalent
ways of looking at this, each of which is more appealing to some people
than to others.  Let me give one way which I like.

We know that in a homogeneous expanding Universe, there is a number called
the critical density.  If the density of the Universe is below this
value, the Universe expands forever, and if the density is greater,
then the Universe stops expanding and recollapses.

Now there's a nice fact called Birkhoff's theorem, which says that if
you have a Universe which has spherical symmetry, then the behavior
of the part of the Universe that's within any particular spherical
shell is independent of what's outside of the shell.  Let's apply
this theorem to a simple ``toy model'' Universe:  Suppose the Universe
has some density greater than the critical density within a sphere of
radius R, and some density smaller than the critical density outside
of that sphere.  Then the region inside of the sphere will stop
expanding and recollapse after some time, by Birkhoff's theorem.
The space outside of the sphere will keep expanding, though.
(The region near, but just outside, the boundary between the overdense
and underdense regions will be complicated, but very far away from
the sphere the expansion will be almost undisturbed.)

Now our Universe doesn't look anything like this model, right?  So
why did I bother describing it?  Well, it turns out that even if
you relax the assumption of spherical symmetry, some of the qualitative
features of the Universe will be the same as in the model described
above.  Specifically, if you take an almost homogeneous big bang Universe,
and put in a small overdense region, then (if that region is
sufficiently dense), it will stop expanding and recollapse on itself,
while the rest of the Universe keeps expanding.  

That's exactly what our galaxy did:  Early on it was just a big,
slightly overdense region in the expanding Universe, but because
of its higher density, it recollapsed on itself.  It didn't collapse
all the way, as the spherically symmetric region did, because
the random thermal motions of the matter in it, and the need to 
conserve angular momentum, prohibited it.  But it did stop expanding,
and it hasn't been expanding ever since.

-Ted

Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: metares@well.sf.ca.us (Tom Van Flandern)
Subject: Re: "Modeling" the Expanding Universe?
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1993 06:00:43 GMT


Earlier, I wrote:

>> In short, in a big bang universe matter can change its distance in two
>> ways: (1) directly, by the curving of spacetime by gravity, which causes
>> matter to start moving through space; (2) indirectly, by the addition or
>> subtraction of space between unmoving packets of matter.

and ted@physics2 (Emory F. Bunn) wrote:

> That's exactly what our galaxy did:  Early on it was just a big, slightly
> overdense region in the expanding Universe, but because of its higher
> density, it recollapsed on itself.  It didn't collapse all the way, as
> the spherically symmetric region did, because the random thermal motions
> of the matter in it, and the need to conserve angular momentum,
> prohibited it.  But it did stop expanding, and it hasn't been expanding
> ever since.

     That refers only to type (1) collapse.  Surely empty space does not
have random thermal motions or angular momentum.  What stops type (2)
collapse?


and mock@space.mit.edu (Patrick C. Mock) replied:

> Option (2) is not what GR predicts.  It is unfortunately a very common
> misconception.  I used believe it too until I read the posts by Ethan
> Vishniac and Steve Carlip.  Weinberg was very helpful too.

     I agree that (2) is not what GR predicts; it is what the big bang
predicts.  I gave four citations in my previous post.  This is common
knowledge among cosmologists.  Maybe they all have the same very common
misconception as I do?  :-)

     The big bang is not my theory -- I have no interest in this point
beyond pinning down what the theory says so that it can be falsified. Shall
we pose my statement to some senior big bang cosmologists and ask them if
it is true, false, or ambiguous?  How else can we resolve this impasse?
     -|Tom|-

-- 
Tom Van Flandern / Washington, DC / metares@well.sf.ca.us
Meta Research was founded to foster research into ideas not otherwise
supported because they conflict with mainstream theories in Astronomy.
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: metares@well.sf.ca.us (Tom Van Flandern)
Subject: Re: Toutatis Captured by Radar Images
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 07:22:29 GMT


kopfj@bert.Tymnet.COM (John Kopf, X6305) writes:

> I assume that a "contact binary" consist of a number of pieces bound into
> contact by gravity which is not strong enough to make them join together.

     That is correct.

> What happens when one of these falls onto a planet (earth)?

     Once the pieces get inside the Earth's Roche limit, the pieces come
apart and make independent entries into the atmosphere.

> Is this how bolides work, or are they a single "rock" that explodes
> because of the heat of entry?

     The latter.

> Would the planet's gravity field cause them to seperate?  because of
> tidal forces?  could this explain clusters of craters (such as the
> Argentine crater cluster described in Sky & Telescope recently)?

     Yes.  Yes.  And yes.

     The most interesting point about the prevalence of contact binaries is
what it tells us about origins.  The rms velocity between any two asteroids
is about 5 km/s -- somewhat more near the Earth's orbit.  Collisions
between such objects would be catastrophically destructive.  So the joined
fragments must have been previously in orbit as satellites of the asteroid,
brought down gradually by tidal forces until a gentle contact occurred.
Although the satellite would roll across the surface after touchdown, there
would be no destructive collision.

     And the only way that asteroids can get lots of satellites orbiting
them with anything like the observed abundance is in the explosive breakup
of a much larger parent body.  The prediction that asteroid satellites are
numerous and commonplace originates from the exploded planet hypothesis.
There is presently no other known way to produce abundant asteroids with
current or former satellites.  -|Tom|-

-- 
Tom Van Flandern / Washington, DC / metares@well.sf.ca.us
Meta Research was founded to foster research into ideas not otherwise
supported because they conflict with mainstream theories in Astronomy.
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: MLINDROOS@FINABO.ABO.FI (Marcus Lindroos INF)
Subject: TAU Probe?(1000 Astronomical Units)
Organization: Abo Akademi University, Finland
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 19:48:52 GMT
X-News-Reader: VMS NEWS 1.24


I recently saw a couple of pictures of the proposed Thousand Astronomical Units
probe in a book by Nicholas Booth. The craft itself looks like an enlargened
Cassini/Mariner mk.II, with a huge antenna dish [diameter of approx. 15 
meters], an optical laser system for communications, an 1.5-meter telescope 
for carrying out measurements of radial velocities for nearby stars(?) and the 
customary particle and fields experiments equipment.
---
The second part, the ion engine, wasn't really dealt with in the text so I'd
appreaciate it someone could fill in the details. It's basically a long
cylinder with a small nuclear reactor in the rear end powering the engine. The
ion drive will accelerate the propellant [metals like Mercury or Cesium?] to
velocities of up to 70km/s and will fire continuously for ten years. After
that, the two parts would separate and the engine section would act as a relay
station between the probe itself and Earth. The spacecraft will reach  a
velocity of 100 km/s and a distance of 1000 AU (0.002 light-years)
in only fifty years. In addition, a Pluto orbiter could be released as the
probe leaves the solar system.
---
How would the probe be launched? It appears to be far too big and heavy to fit
inside a standard rocket booster. Will they use the shuttle for this, and will
the ion engine be used for accelerating the probe out of Earth orbit as well?
---
Jet Propulsion Laboratory came up with the mission plan. Perhaps Ron Baalke can
shed some light on this?
 
MARCU$
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
> . . . Fififinlandssvensk
>      
> Marcus Lindroos                             Internet:     mlindroos@abo.fi
> Computer Science
> Abo Akademi University
> Finland
From: hammer1@carson.u.washington.edu (The Ghost of Elvis)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: Killer-meteorite ?
Date: 22 Jan 1993 03:44:49 GMT
Organization: University of Washington
NNTP-Posting-Host: carson.u.washington.edu

L629159@LMSC5.IS.LMSC.LOCKHEED.COM writes:
.......

>  I recall the story of the woman struck by the meteorite.  The local
>newspapers ran a photo. It was a nasty bruise.  Good thing the meteor
>didn't get a straight shot at her...  My recollection puts the site
>in Tennessee, but it's a long time ago.  ........  

>Al Moore  

  The woman was Mrs. Annie (E. Hewlett) Hodges of Sylacauga, Alabama.
She was struck by a nine-pound stony meteorite that crashed through her
roof on Nov. 30, 1954...  It's a good thing it took a couple bounces around
the inside of her living room first, judging by the size of the bruise it 
left on her...

Mark Hammergren,
Dept. of Astronomy
University of Washington    
 
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: tyamamot (Taro Yamamoto)
Subject: How to calculate vernal & autumnal equinox dates
Followup-To: sci.astro
Organization: Adobe Systems Incorporated
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 05:38:41 GMT

This may be a FAQ, but if anyone knows how to know the dates of vernal &
autumnal
equinox dates of a year by calculation using the year (ex. 1993 etc.) as an
input parameter....
Or is there any known table for this?
I am writing a calendar program and wanted to know it. 

Thank you.

--Taro Yamamoto
(pls. mail to: tyamamot@adobe.com)

Disclaimer:  
Views and recommendations, express or implied, are my own, and
do not reflect the opinion or policy of my employers.
Newsgroups: sci.astro,world
From: cox@summit.ops.lmsc.lockheed.com (John W. Cox)
Subject: Re: Sunspots at 15.01.1993.
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: Lockheed
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 93 20:48:29 GMT

In article <27131258540@amterm1.abbs.hanse.de>, j.jahn@abbs.zer.sub.org writes..
>Sunspots at 15.01.1993., 0 h UT.
> 

Sorry for this post but E-mail to the author has failed.

Please remove the WORLD from your Newsgroups: sci.astro,world
							^^^^^	

Your posting are causing problems and are being picked up in the 
comp.sys.ibm.pc.digest

Thanks
From: jafoust@cco.caltech.edu (Jeffrey Alan Foust)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: Tycho Apocrypha
Date: 21 Jan 1993 08:14:31 GMT
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
NNTP-Posting-Host: sandman.caltech.edu
Keywords: Tycho, Brahe, nose

In article <1993Jan20.234308.20564@athena.mit.edu> hbh@athena.mit.edu
 (Heidi Hammel) writes:
>[...]
>the word "violent" in connection with Tycho's disposition appears several
>times and he seemed like an all-around snooty guy: "... as he combined
>the irritability of a genius with the haughtiness of a medieval
>nobleman, continual quarrels were the result." 

I would add "eccentric" to the above description of Tycho Brahe.  Here are
some brief excerpts from "The Mechanical Universe: Mechanics and Heat, 
Advanced Edition" (Frautschi, Olenick, Apostol, Goodstein; Cambridge, 1986)
text about Tycho (I was just going to quote the part about the nose, but
the more I read it... well, you'll see...

		Tycho was a foul-tempered Danish lord who 
	tongue-lashed kings, tormented peasants, sported a silver
	nose (his own having been lost in a youthful duel over
	mathematics), and kept a clairvoyant dwarf as his court jester
	and a tame elk that got drunk one night, fell down stairs,
	broke a leg, and died.
	[...]
		At Uraniborg [Tycho's observatory], Tycho held court
	like a lord rather than a scholar.  He ate and drank excessively,
	and at odd moments would pop off his gleaming metal nose to
	rub ointment on what lay beneath.  When his feudal tenants
	complained of mistreatment, he tossed them into jail.
	[...]
		At a banquet, Tycho overdrank and then held back his
	water beyonds the demands of courtesy.  An acute urinary
	infection set in, and within 11 days Tycho died.

(pp. 432-433)

	Maybe eccentric is putting it mildly... :)



-- 
Jeff Foust                        Senior, Geophysics/Planetary Science, Caltech
jafoust@cco.caltech.edu   			   	 jeff@scn1.jpl.nasa.gov
 	  Final score of the Interstellar Space		Deep Space 9
	  Station Championship Softball Game:		Babylon    5
From: mld900@anusf.anu.edu.au (Murray Dow)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: PC Software
Keywords: For the PC
Date: 27 Jan 93 00:10:07 GMT
Article-I.D.: manuel.1k4jt0INNnq5
Reply-To: mld900@anusf.anu.edu.au
Distribution: world
Organization: ANU Supercomputer Facility
NNTP-Posting-Host: 150.203.5.3
Originator: mld900@asterix


|> 
|> one year ago, i bought a shareware called skyglobe. it's useful 
|> for observing the sky (my version is rather slow, but new ones
|> are certainly better). you should be able to get it from a 
|> shareware club
|> -- 
The version of skyglobe I have only calculates the moons position
once a day, so that it moves in jumps. Does any one know if new versions
have fixed this?
-- 
Murray Dow                         GPO Box 4 Canberra ACT 2601 Australia
Supercomputer Facility             Phone: +61 6 2495028
Australian National University     Fax:   +61 6 2473425
mld900@anusf.anu.edu.au
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: dsc@gemini.gsfc.nasa.gov (Doug S. Caprette Bldg. 28 W191 x3892)
Subject: Re: research grade vs. commercial grade
Organization: CDP VLBI
Distribution: na
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 1993 18:11:20 GMT

In article <93022.035547LABBEY@GITVM1.BITNET> <LABBEY@GITVM1.BITNET> writes:
>One wonders what kind of "research" is done with an 8" telescope?
>
>Besides, astronomers don't do "research".  They observe.  "Research"
>implies the ability to change the conditions of the experiment.
>
>Leonard Abbey, F.R.A.S.
>Georgia Tech Research Institute
>Atlanta, Georgia, USA
>labbey@gitvm1.gatech.edu

See A. Mallama's last three papers in Icarus  (6" scope).  Wasn't the Pluto
survey done with an 8" Crookes triplet?   At any rate, many variable star 
observations are done with small apertures.

Research implies the ability to learn something previously unknown.  Experimen-
tation implies that conditions in the system under study are varied, observation
does not require control of the conditions on the system under study.  Research
may be done by either observation, or experimentation.

What you posted has serious implications regarding your attitude.
--
dsc@gemini.gsfc.nasa.gov  
 |  Regards,         |   Hughes STX                |    Code 926.9 GSFC        |
 |  Doug Caprette    |   Lanham, Maryland          |    Greenbelt, MD  20771   |
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"...when the Saudis agreed to ask for American assistance.."
				  -- Dick Cheney 2/21/91
From: higgins@fnalf.fnal.gov (Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Asteroidal Satellites (was Re: Toutatis Captured by Radar Images)
Date: 22 Jan 93 11:28:09 -0600
Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
NNTP-Posting-Host: fnalf.fnal.gov

In article <C18v5H.6oA@well.sf.ca.us>, metares@well.sf.ca.us (Tom Van Flandern) writes:
>      And the only way that asteroids can get lots of satellites orbiting
> them with anything like the observed abundance is in the explosive breakup
> of a much larger parent body.  The prediction that asteroid satellites are
> numerous and commonplace originates from the exploded planet hypothesis.

A favorite Van Flandern hobbyhorse, I know.  Tom, it's probably too
early to ask this question, but I'll ask anyway:  How well could
Ostro's group detect or rule out satellites of Toutatis using their
radars?

Is this a good way to search for evidence of asteroidal satellites?

"Do you know the asteroids, Mr.Kemp?...    Bill Higgins
Hundreds of thousands of them.  All        
wandering around the Sun in strange        Fermilab
orbits.  Some never named, never
charted.  The orphans of the Solar         higgins@fnal.fnal.gov
System, Mr. Kemp."
                                           higgins@fnal.bitnet
"And you want to become a father."
  --*Moon Zero Two*                        SPAN/Hepnet: 43011::HIGGINS
From: kdyer@MtHolyoke.edu (Kristy K. Dyer)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Request for info: Summer Undergraduate
Date: 23 Jan 1993 22:57:19 -0500
Organization: Mount Holyoke College
NNTP-Posting-Host: slab.mtholyoke.edu
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5


	Last year I remember there being information posted to sci.astro
about summer research/employment for undergraduates. Does anyone know
about summer programs yet? 
	If you email, I'll summarize and post.
 --
Kristy Dyer__________________________________________kdyer@MHC.mtholyoke.EDU
From: O.MostynOwen@cs.ucl.ac.uk
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: comets in 16th century
Date: 26 Jan 93 15:31:09 GMT

Please can someone help me?

I need to find references to the major comet sightings in the year 1506.

Is there a compendium of such things, and if so what is it called.

Does anyone know of ANY comet sightings in the early 16th century.

I have been asked by a historian to calculate the countries in which a comet
would be visible given that it was visible in Britain at a particular date.
His reference does not specify in which constellation the comet was seen in
1506, hence my question.

Thanking you, 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Owen Mostyn-Owen				     +44 71 387 7050 ext 3673
Internet: omostyno@cs.ucl.ac.uk
Computer Science, University College London, Gower Street, LONDON WC1E 6BT
Xref: sparky sci.astro:14257 sci.physics:23232
From: ethanb@ptolemy.astro.washington.edu (Ethan Bradford)
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.physics
Subject: Re: Expanding space, or not?
Date: 21 Jan 93 12:54:04
Organization: U. of Washington
Distribution: na
NNTP-Posting-Host: ptolemy.astro.washington.edu
In-reply-to: zellner@stsci.edu's message of Thu, 21 Jan 1993 17:58:53 GMT
TO: zellner@stsci.edu

General relativity gives a geometric explanation to gravitational
phenomena; thus, we say that an object deflected by a gravitational
field is moving "straight" (on a gedesic) in a curved spacetime.
Also, we say that space is expanding.

However, for weak and not rapidly varying fields, a Newtonian
description is also correct.  For cosmology, this limit applies for
distances which are small with respect to the Hubble distance (the
distance light has traveled since the start of the universe), i.e. the
vast majority of what we can see (and everything for which the simple
Hubble law, v = H r, is well defined).

Thus, you can understand Hubble expansion correctly as galaxies flying
away from themselves because of their momentum, with the rate of
separation slowing due to their mutual gravitational attraction.

The same limit applies in the early universe, as long as you replace
the gravitating mass density by the energy density plus three times
the pressure.

-- Ethan
Newsgroups: sci.astro