HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: DAVID_JOHNSON@cpsnet2.cps.edu
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Earth's Orbit if no other planets
Date: 15 Dec 1992 00:11:46 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

One of the people at work and I were having a discussion of astronomy
vs.  astrology, and the subject of the Earth's orbit came up. 
Specifically, this person believed that if there were no other planets
in the solar system, then the Earth would have a different orbit than it
does now.  We were discussing various scenarios, and considered both all
other planets being removed from the existing configuration, and the
formation of Earth by itself.  I disagreed that the orbit would be any
different, giving the same mass of the Earth and Sun, and all other
factors other that the existence of the other planets would remain the
same.

I was arguing on the side of astronomy, as he believes that astrology
does have some reality to it, specifically in the area of the other
planets influencing people here.

Comments?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
- David E. Johnson      INTERNET:  DAVID_JOHNSON@cpsnet2.cps.edu
                                 Chicago, Il. 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: pg@sanitas.stortek.com (Paul Gilmartin)
Subject: Re: The Hole Story
Organization: Storage Technology Corp.
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL7]
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 21:34:42 GMT

Tom Van Flandern (metares@well.sf.ca.us) wrote:
 
:      First, here's what is true.  Light propagates through the solar system
: at lightspeed, taking minutes to hours to reach the planets.  When light from
: the Sun applies a force, for example, the Poynting-Robertson effect, that
: force seems to come from the Sun's retarded position, as one logically
: expects.  As a direct consequence, dust in the inner solar system slowly
: spirals into the Sun, since delayed forces are non-central forces and always
: change the angular momentum of an orbit.
: 
:      Gravity, by contrast, always appears to act from the true, instantaneous
: position of the bodies involved.  It never appears to associate with retarded
: positions.  And the Sun's gravity does not change the angular momentum of the
: planets.  By direct observation, the directions of the Sun's arriving photons
: at the Earth and the direction of its gravitational force on the Earth are
: not parallel, since one comes from the retarded position and the other from
: the true position.
    [ ... ]
:      Now, the interpretation.  In GR, the static gravitational fields of
                                            ^^^^^^
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.

-- gil
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: bcollins@utdallas.edu (ARLIN B COLLINS)
Subject: Re: Easter date formula
Organization: Univ. of Texas at Dallas
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 06:11:52 GMT

In an article, jwenger@ulci06.unil.ch () writes:
>Sorry to bother you with my question, but I think this is the right place
>to post it. Here goes:
>What is the Gauss (i think that's him) formula to compute Easter date
>(month and day of month) from the year?
>Thanks, and best regards,
>----------
>Jacques C. Wenger, University of Lausanne
>jwenger@ulys.unil.ch

note: this is NOT the Gauss formula, if you were looking for THAT
formula in particular....  then:  oops!

from "Astronomical Formulae for Calculators", Jean Meeus, 4th ed
      Willmann-Bell.    chapter 4

      Valid for all years in the Gregorian Calendar (1583 on)

      DIVIDE                   by     Quotient      Remainder
      the year X               19        -             A
      the year X              100        B             C
      B                         4        D             E
      B+8                      25        F             -
      B-F+1                     3        G             -
      19*A+B-D-G+15            30        -             H
      C                         4        I             K
      32+2*E+2*I-H-K            7        -             L
      A+11*H+22*L             451        M             -
      H+L-7*M+114              31        N             P

      then N is the number of the Month (3=March, 4=April)
      (P+1)  is the day of the month upon which Easter Sunday falls.

      The extreme dates of Easter are  March 22 (as in 1818, 2285)
				  and  April 25 (as in 1886, 1943, 2038)

-------------------
-- 
Arlin B Collins     bcollins@utdallas.edu
From: koolish@bbn.com (Richard M. Koolish)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: lunar eclipse frequency?
Date: 12 Dec 1992 13:52:25 GMT
NNTP-Posting-Host: bbn.com

joe@montebello.NoSubdomain.NoDomain (Joe Dellinger) writes:

>In article <ByyLvq.286@mtholyoke.edu>, kbourque@MtHolyoke.edu (Karen M. Bourque) writes:
>|> How many total lunar eclipses are there per year?

>Well, in 1982 there were three! But that was *very* unusual. (Won't happen
>again for centuries.) In many years there are none at all.

In 1991 there were four, although they were mostly penumbral and unobservable.
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: jcj@tellabs.com (jcj)
Subject: Re: Night Lights
Organization: Carl Pellonpaa Fan Club - South Chapter
Distribution: na
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 1992 14:44:27 GMT

>> ...
>>Elsewhere, "Pentagon officals last night expressed anger at the news 
>>media's intrusiveness, in particular the use of bright television 
>>lights that they said could temporarily blind reconnaissance troops, 
>>helicopter pilots and others using night-vision goggles." 
>
>What the hell does this say about night-vision system? - SC
>

What the hell does this say about the Pentagon idiots that leaked the
timing of the landing to the media so they could show off their new
equipment for primetime tv?  Or has the military gotten so inept that
they can't keep reporters at bay?
From: palmer@sfu.ca (Leigh Palmer)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: Moon Map (Astrophotography)
Date: 19 Dec 92 01:05:03 GMT
Article-I.D.: sfu.1992Dec19.010503.17543
Organization: Simon Fraser University

In article <1992Dec18.192459.8818@panix.com> banana@panix.com (Walter
Polkosnik) writes:
>I and a friend have just gotten into doing some astrophotography and one of
our
>favorite subjects is the moon (It's so easy!). We get some nice shots
>sometimes, but it would be more satisfying if we had some idea of what we're
>taking pictures of. I've looked through all of my astronomy books, and looked
>around for books to purchase, but there don't seem to be many books with maps
>for the moon. If anyone could recommend one, we would be very grateful. What
>would really be wonderful is if there were some GIF or set of GIFs with crater
>names, mare names etc. 
>
>There was one book I did see, but it had hand drawn maps there were very ugly
>looking and hard to follow. We are looking for something photographic so we
can
>readily identify features.

I'll let you in on a trick. If you take one of those ugly maps and xerox it
with an appropriate magnification onto a transparency you will have a very nice
complement to overlay your photographs. You will also be able to see the
effects of libration quite easily using these transparencies as a tool. If you
standardize your printing magnifications a few of these transparencies should
suffice for a long time.

Leigh
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: gallim@stsci.edu (Jack Gallimore,P254)
Subject: Re: The Hole Story
Originator: gallim@icarus.stsci.edu
Organization: Space Telescope Science Institute
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 19:49:49 GMT

From article <1992Dec17.141835.1510@cs.ucf.edu>, by clarke@acme.ucf.edu (Thomas Clarke):
> In article <BzD2JC.GCG@well.sf.ca.us> metares@well.sf.ca.us (Tom Van Flandern)  
> writes:
>> 
>>      First, here's what is true.  Light propagates through the solar system
>> at lightspeed, taking minutes to hours to reach the planets.  When light from
>> the Sun applies a force, for example, the Poynting-Robertson effect, that
>> force seems to come from the Sun's retarded position, as one logically
>> expects.  As a direct consequence, dust in the inner solar system slowly
>> spirals into the Sun, since delayed forces are non-central forces and always
>> change the angular momentum of an orbit.
>> 
>>      Gravity, by contrast, always appears to act from the true, instantaneous
>> position of the bodies involved.  It never appears to associate with retarded
>> positions.  And the Sun's gravity does not change the angular momentum of the
>> planets.  By direct observation, the directions of the Sun's arriving photons
>> at the Earth and the direction of its gravitational force on the Earth are
>> not parallel, since one comes from the retarded position and the other from
>> the true position.

No, that's crap.  It takes time for all forces to propagate, even
gravity.  For example, one of the problems in observational cosmology
is understanding large scale structures (for example, the distribution
of clusters and voids).  The notion is that you can't have any 
structure arising from gravity that's larger in light-years than
the age of the universe in years.  This is because gravity also
must "propagate" at the speed of light.

I'd like to see the reference on the observation you claim to be "true."


-- 
         Jack Gallimore
        Academic Affairs
Space Telescope Science Institute
        gallim@stsci.edu
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.physics
From: steve@puppsr12.Princeton.EDU (Stephen Thorsett)
Subject: Re: Detecting Second-Order GR Effects in Binary Pulsars
Originator: news@nimaster
Reply-To: steve@puppsr.princeton.edu
Organization: Dept. of Physics, Princeton U.
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 13:50:20 GMT

In article <1992Dec11.225138.8045@s1.gov>, lip@s1.gov (Loren I. Petrich) writes:
|> 
...
|> 	I'm not terribly familiar with the precisions it is possible
|> to achieve with pulsar timing, but how good can one do? Even the
|> fastest pulsars have periods of about a millisecond or so, and one
|> needs microsecond resolution to clearly resolve second-order GR
|> effects, instead of just the first-order ones currently observed.
|> 
|> -- 

Just to give you some numbers to play with: the best millisecond pulsar
timing precision reached in an ongoing, regular experiment is about
100-300 ns for the fastest (1.6 ms) pulsar PSR B1937+21 observed at the
Arecibo telescope.  Another half dozen or ten pulsars (including, for
example, the highly relativistic binary PSR B1534+12) have timing
precision of order 1 microsecond in a "daily" observation.  Note that
for experiments like Ryba and Taylor's measurement of Shapiro time
delays in the PSR B1855+09 system (ApJ,371,739,1991), one can actually
do much better than this due to root(N) improvements over multiple
orbits.  Over long (decade) time scales, even the best millisecond
pulsars show a "phase wander" with amplitude about a microsecond, and
it is not yet understood if this is due to intrinsic limitations, the
international clock standards, or problems with the solar system
ephemeris used to reduce timing data to an inertial reference frame.
But such long period timing noise is effectively decoupled from
determinations of orbital (and relativistic) parameters.

--steve thorsett
From: paul.burnett@pcs.sj.ca.us (Paul Burnett) 
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Solar Telescope Algorithm
Date: 16 Dec 92 20:39:00 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: PCS-BBS - San Jose, CA - 408-270-4085
Reply-To: paul.burnett@pcs.sj.ca.us (Paul Burnett) 

TO: berman@fndaug.fnal.gov

EB>hi, i am working on designing a solar tracking telescope for an interactive
  >museum in aurora illinois (35 miles west of chicago).  i am interested in
  >knowing if anyone has information on where i can find the algorithms that
  >are used to follow the position of the sun.  i think these would take positi
  >on the earth and time, date and year and calculate the position of the sun
  >for that time, date etc.  any books or articles would be helpful.

Look for a program called GEOCLOCK on a BBS near you.  Among many other
things, it provides the sun's position.  It even has a support BBS in
Arlington, VA.
---
 . QMPro 1.0 41-8688 . ...from San Jose, CA
From: dirkct@pine.circa.ufl.edu (TERRELL)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: Moon Cycle Accuracy?
Date: 16 Dec 92 14:25:03 GMT
Reply-To: dirkct@pine.circa.ufl.edu
Organization: University of Florida  (ufl.edu)
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.3-4

In article <1992Dec8.114830.1@hamp.hampshire.edu>, tpappas@hamp.hampshire.edu writes...
>Hello Sci.Astro users,
>I'm not a regular user of sci.astro. I thought this would be the best place to
>ask my question. I'm an electronics engineer and I want to design a digital
>time piece that will indicate the moon phase. I have the actual number for the
>moon to go through its cycle from new moon to new moon. Could I accurately use
>this number where I would set the clock once and forever forget about it.
>Please offer some words of wisdom, (e-mail).  Thank you very much.
>						Sincerely,
>						Tom Pappas 

Tom,
   You probably have the _mean_ interval between successive new moons
(29.530589 days). Because of perturbations from the Sun (mainly) and
the other planets, the actual time between successive new moons
can vary a bit. Meeus (_Astronomical Algorithms_, p 324) gives the
shortest lunation in the time frame 1900-2100 as 29d 6h 35m and the
longest as 29d 19h 54m. I guess it depends on how accurate you want
to be. The mean interval may be quite sufficient for what you want to
do. (I meant to send this by e-mail, but I hit the wrong key, and 
I am not going to type it again. :-))
Dirk

*********************************************************************
Dirk Terrell           :"The more a statement of fact conflicts with
Department of Astronomy: previous experience, the more complete must
University of Florida  : must be the evidence which is to justify us
                       : in believing it."   Thomas Huxley
*********************************************************************
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: rjwalsh@maths.tcd.ie (Robert Walsh)
Subject: Re: Lunar Eclipse :(
Organisation: Amalgamated Durables
Organization: Dept. of Maths, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 1992 13:55:49 GMT

In <1992Dec11.140924.818@rdg.dec.com> dierick@brsux0.bro.dec.com (Dierick Dominique) writes:

>We saw a very very dark moon, in fact nothing was visible. Totally clouded
>out. Typical Belgium...

>Dominique

Here in sunny Ireland, we saw pretty much the same. It was so bloody
foggy you couldn't see 20 feet in front of you. Of course, the
nights just before and after the eclipse were perfect (almost)...
-- 
rjwalsh@maths.tcd.ie          \ Inexplicably, Georges porcupine goes flat.
Robert Walsh                   \ 
Student Computer Research Group \ 
Trinity College, Dublin.         \ 
Xref: sparky sci.astro:13225 sci.space:17760
From: Cynedd@cup.portal.com (Kenneth W Durham)
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space
Subject: Images (S/W&Pics)
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 92 17:55:59 PST
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Distribution: world

Hello,
 
I'd like information on the following items:
1) S/W to handle images (change colors,etc);
2) S/W that will work under DOS/Windows;
3) A(n) List/Index of images available across the Net, be they
   asteroids, EG objects, and/or Stellar Objects.

I'd appreciate the information to be e-mailed to me, and posted.

I'll be away from the keyboard for the holidays; therefore, I'll wish
everyone a merry holiday season.

Ken Durham
Cynedd@cup.portal.com
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: jdurlak@nexus.yorku.ca (Jerome Durlak)
Subject: Re: Supernovae?
Originator: jdurlak@nexus.yorku.ca
Organization: York University, Toronto, Canada
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 23:28:06 GMT


Erik Max Francis asks:

	I've heard that there have only been seven supernovae in our
	Galaxy within ecorded history. Does anybody have the dates 
	and locations where these supernovae have occurred? (Distances
	would be nice, but I'm mostly concerned with RA and DEC?)


You may be able to derive some information from the book:

Superstars: How Stellar Explosions Shaped the Destiny of Our Universe

David H. Clark
McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1984
ISBN: 0-07-011152-9

There are several informative tables and diagrams scattered throughout
the book.

Richard Clark

 * * * * * * * * * *
If replying by email please put Richard: at the front of the subject
line as I am sharing this account. -Thanks.
Xref: sparky sci.astro:13298 sci.physics:21492
From: billn@hpcvaac.cv.hp.com (bill nelson)
Subject: Re: ATM Materials
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Corvallis, Oregon USA
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 10:27:32 GMT

zrepachol@cc.curtin.edu.au writes:
: In article <1992Dec8.093904.1@vaxr.llnl.gov>, combs@vaxr.llnl.gov writes:
: ...
: > mirrors from one kit.  Other suppliers use plate glass or a ceramic for the
: > tool, which is unsuitable for a mirror.
: 
: Several people have said that 'plain'glass makes a better tool than pyrex. Could
: you please expand on you comment.

Glass is a lot cheaper than pyrex - but you want to use plate glass. It is
not better, except in regards to cost.  Pyrex is better as far as expansion
characteristics go.  However, by the time it would matter much, you are to
the stage where the tool is covered with a pitch lap. 

Bill
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: sheppamj@sun.soe.clarkson.edu (Matthew Sheppard)
Subject: P/Swift-Tuttle Starvhart viewing
Organization: Clarkson University
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 1992 18:40:29 GMT


Can someone post/mail me directions on how to have P/Swift-Tuttle appear
on starchart outputs.  Like what file the information should be in or
what directorys and the actual data that I'll need.

Thanks in advance.

--
| Matthew Sheppard  CLARKSON UNIVERSITY  sheppamj@sun.soe.clarkson.edu |
| I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.ANoN |
| I don't want a pickle. DoD#477 TEP#477 RIDE FREE (8^]..etcetera..    |
From: qsi@contrast.wlink.nl (Peter Kocourek)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Info wanted on Halton Arp
Date: Thu, 17 Dec 1992 17:21:02

Hi!

In a recent discussion, someone mentioned to me a certain guy named Halton
Arp, who supposedly has "disproven the Big Bang" theory, by showing that
there are flows of matter between quasars and galaxies, with the
implication that the quasars aren't as far away as thought. He even is
supposed to have "photographs" proving this. It would seem to me, without
knowing anything further about this, that this is just a misinterpretation
of optically close objects. Does anyone know more about (the refutation
of) Halton Arp's theories?

Thanks for your help!


YHS:QSI!
 
Xref: sparky sci.astro:13120 sci.physics:21143
From: matt@physics2.berkeley.edu (Matt Austern)
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.physics
Subject: Re: Detecting Second-Order GR Effects in Binary Pulsars
Date: 14 Dec 92 12:52:34
Organization: Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (Theoretical Physics Group)
Reply-To: matt@physics.berkeley.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: physics2.berkeley.edu
In-reply-to: metares@well.sf.ca.us's message of 14 Dec 92 08:18:02 GMT

In article <Bz8pq3.CKs@well.sf.ca.us> metares@well.sf.ca.us (Tom Van Flandern) writes:

>      Quite true, I do use these terms interchangeably.  The Astronomy &
> Astrophysics Encyclopedia says "In the language of Albert Einstein's general
> theory of relativity, gravitational radiation or gravitational waves (GWs)
> are "ripples in the geometry of space and time."  This of course is quite
> different from the stress-energy of space-time, or ordinary gravitational
> force, presumed to be propagated by gravitons, which is an entirely different
> phenomenon.

The claim, then, is that gravitational radiation is *not* a solution
to the vacuum form of the Einstein field equations?

Frankly, I find that claim very difficult to accept.  The vacuum
Einstein equations just aren't all that complicated, and I don't see
any way that you could fail to get waves from them.  Can you provide
some more details?
--
Matthew Austern                   Just keep yelling until you attract a
(510) 644-2618                    crowd, then a constituency, a movement, a
austern@lbl.bitnet                faction, an army!  If you don't have any
matt@physics.berkeley.edu         solutions, become a part of the problem!
Newsgroups: sci.astro,rec.radio.shortwave
From: oler@rho.uleth.ca (Cary Oler)
Subject: Daily Solar Geophysical Data Broadcast for 11 December
Organization: University of Lethbridge
Date: 12 Dec 92 11:03:12 GMT

!!BEGIN!! (1.0) S.T.D. Solar Geophysical Data Broadcast for DAY 346, 12/11/92
10.7 FLUX=164.4  90-AVG=133        SSN=190      BKI=4122 2222  BAI=009
BGND-XRAY=B6.2     FLU1=9.1E+05  FLU10=1.0E+04  PKI=3111 2222  PAI=006
  BOU-DEV=040,007,011,012,013,015,013,015   DEV-AVG=015 NT     SWF=00:000
 XRAY-MAX= C1.4   @ 1451UT    XRAY-MIN= B4.3   @ 0437UT   XRAY-AVG= B7.5
NEUTN-MAX= +003%  @ 2010UT   NEUTN-MIN= -002%  @ 2125UT  NEUTN-AVG= +0.1%
  PCA-MAX= +0.1DB @ 2245UT     PCA-MIN= -0.3DB @ 1330UT    PCA-AVG= -0.0DB
BOUTF-MAX=55431NT @ 0229UT   BOUTF-MIN=55398NT @ 1848UT  BOUTF-AVG=55416NT
GOES7-MAX=P:+107NT@ 1711UT   GOES7-MIN=N:+004NT@ 1047UT  G7-AVG=+081,+027,+011
GOES6-MAX=P:+124NT@ 1945UT   GOES6-MIN=E:-015NT@ 0234UT  G6-AVG=+097,-006,+032
 FLUXFCST=STD:170,175,175;SESC:170,175,175 BAI/PAI-FCST=010,010,005/010,010,010
    KFCST=2223 3322 2223 3322  27DAY-AP=008,013   27DAY-KP=2223 3222 3222 4433
 WARNINGS=*SWF
   ALERTS=
!!END-DATA!!
From: jeremy@atlantis.CS.ORST.EDU ((-| Jeremy |-) Smith)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: I want the moon
Date: 13 Dec 92 03:57:31 GMT
Article-I.D.: leela.1992Dec13.035731.14189
Organization: Computer Science Outreach Services - Oregon State University

Dear Fellow astro-netters.

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

	Whilst I'm here, is there an available list of the main events 
for the coming year: time and dates of the moon phases and eclipses and such?
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: chris@nork.auc.dk (Flemming Christensen)
Subject: Re: lunar eclipse behind clouds in germany
Organization: Aalborg University, Institute of Electronic Systems
	<Bz3t02.uv@ens-lyon.fr>
Date: 12 Dec 92 01:09:46

In article <Bz3t02.uv@ens-lyon.fr> jfgonzal@cepe.ens-lyon.fr (Jean-Francois Gonzalez) writes:

>   In article <ROTH.92Dec10164051@sun.ph-cip.uni-koeln.de> roth@ph-cip.uni-koeln.de (Daniel Roth) writes:
>   >Hello,
>   >
>   >I tried to look for the lunar eclipse, but there opened no hole in the clouds.
>   >Did anybody in Germany or mid-europe see the eclipse?
>   >
>   >Daniel
>
>   Here in Lyon, France the eclipse was eclipsed by the clouds too. :-(

Well, in the northern of Denmark we got a short look at it. But not more than
5 minutes (at about half past one) :(

-- Flemming Christensen
   email:  chris@nork.auc.dk  or   i8s704fc@aud1.auc.dk
--
============================================================================
=                         Flemming Christensen                             =
=                                                                          =
=                   E-mail: chris@tuborg.nork.auc.dk                       =
============================================================================  
=  The nice thing about standards is that you have so many to choose from. =
=  Furthermore, if you do not like any of them you can just wait for next  =
=  year's model.                                                           =
=                                            Andrew S. Tannenbaum          =
============================================================================
Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.physics