HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: thompson@stars.gsfc.nasa.gov (William Thompson, code 682.1, x2040)
Subject: Re: BSCALE/BZERO
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.4-b1  
Organization: NASA/GSFC-Laboratory for Astronomy and Solar Physics
Distribution: sci
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1992 18:36:00 GMT

In article <TEUBEN.92Jul28112713@lynx.astro.umd.edu>, teuben@lynx.astro.umd.edu
(Peter Teuben) writes...
> 
>The NOST fits panel report states that for BITPIX < 0 (i.e. when
>the data is stored in IEEE floating point format) the usage of
>BSCALE and BZERO not recommended. We never (wanted to) forbid 
>or explicitly state that it should or should not be applied
>in section 6.3 (though section 5.2.2.5 does state this).
> 
>The FITS users guide (also published by NOST) does explicitly
>states that BSCALE and BZERO  be applied in the BITPIX<0 case, with
>the danger of producing overflows/underflows of course (hence the 
>reason that BSCALE and BZERO should not be present).
> 
>I've indeed noted that the AIPS and MIRIAD readers 'correctly' apply
>BSCALE and BZERO in the floating point cases, but the problem arose
>when we imported a FITS file generated by IDL. The idl procedure
>'WRITEFITS' seems to write images with BSCALE not 1.0, which has
>caused some readers to read in the wrong datavalues.
>Perhaps Wayne Landsman can comment on this.
> 
>Has anybody seen fits readers which skip BSCALE and BZERO if BITPIX < 0?

I don't want to talk for Wayne Landsman as to what the IDL routines do or don't
do when writing FITS files.  I do want to address the issue inherent in the
last question, though.

I believe that there is a valid usage for BSCALE and BZERO when applied to
floating point data.  Most people probably think of these variables as just a
way of packing floating point numbers into integer arrays.  However, the FITS
documentation simply states that these parameters are used to convert array
values into scientifically useful physical values.  Thus, another possible use
of BSCALE and BZERO is to convert raw detector values into calibrated values.
Thus, both levels of information are retained, and changing the calibration at
a later date is fairly trivial.

The IDL FITS reader routines do, by default, apply the BSCALE and BZERO
parameters to the data.  This occurs for both integer and floating point
arrays.  However, this behavior can be overridden by including the /NOSCALE
keyword.  That way, the user can also access the "raw" data.  It doesn't matter
whether or not BITPIX is > 0 or < 0.

Bill Thompson
From: pmurphy@nrao.edu (Pat Murphy)
Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits
Subject: Re: FITS->gif,jpg,tiff etc
Date: 31 Jul 92 03:25:02 GMT
Organization: National Radio Astronomy Observatory

In article <14259@borg.cs.unc.edu> hyatt@tsc.cs.unc.edu (Brant Hyatt) writes:

> Does anyone know of or have written a utility that converts
> fits to any other format?

The pbmplus package that we have installed here (Dec 91 vintage I
believe) has fitstopgm, and once there you can use the pgm utilities
to convert it to just about whatever you want.  A quick run of archie
shows that pbmplus is available on ftp.uu.net:

    Location: /usenet/comp.sources.misc/volume26/pbmplus
       Directory drwxr-xr-x 00000512 1991 Dec 14 00:00:00 GMT pbmplus

I'm sure it's available elsewhere.  I don't keep track of the
comp.sources.misc newsgroup so I don't know if this is the latest
version or not.  

That said, I should say that it is NOT a sophisticated fits reader.
It knows about SIMPLE, BITPIX, NAXIS, NAXISn (n up to 3), DATAMIN,
DATAMAX, BZERO and BSCALE (but may not use them) and END.  That's it.
I have extracted the source for this from our pbmplus installation;
email me if you want it.

				- Pat
--
==========================================================================
| Patrick P. Murphy, Ph.D.                Scientific Programming Analyst |
| National Radio Astronomy Observatory    Net:   pmurphy@nrao.edu        |
| 520 Edgemont Road                       or:    uunet!nrao.edu!pmurphy  |
| Charlottesville, VA 22903-2475          Phone: (804) 296-0372          |
|      "I don't believe in the no-win scenario"  --- James T. Kirk       |
==========================================================================
From: teuben@lynx.astro.umd.edu (Peter Teuben)
Newsgroups: sci.astro.fits
Subject: BSCALE/BZERO
Date: 28 Jul 92 15:27:13 GMT
Distribution: sci
Organization: University of Maryland, Astronomy Department


The NOST fits panel report states that for BITPIX < 0 (i.e. when
the data is stored in IEEE floating point format) the usage of
BSCALE and BZERO not recommended. We never (wanted to) forbid 
or explicitly state that it should or should not be applied
in section 6.3 (though section 5.2.2.5 does state this).

The FITS users guide (also published by NOST) does explicitly
states that BSCALE and BZERO  be applied in the BITPIX<0 case, with
the danger of producing overflows/underflows of course (hence the 
reason that BSCALE and BZERO should not be present).

I've indeed noted that the AIPS and MIRIAD readers 'correctly' apply
BSCALE and BZERO in the floating point cases, but the problem arose
when we imported a FITS file generated by IDL. The idl procedure
'WRITEFITS' seems to write images with BSCALE not 1.0, which has
caused some readers to read in the wrong datavalues.
Perhaps Wayne Landsman can comment on this.

Has anybody seen fits readers which skip BSCALE and BZERO if BITPIX < 0?

	Peter

--
Peter J. Teuben         |  INTERNET  : teuben@astro.umd.edu
Astronomy Department    |  FAX:        (301) 314-9067
University of Maryland  |  MA-BELL   : (301) 405-1540 (office)
College Park, MD 20742  |              (301) 405-1502 (secr.)
From: ralf@ark.abg.sub.org (Ralf Stephan)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: Elements for Life was Re: stars & carbon
Date: 27 Jul 92 11:12
Organization: Private Coherent 3.2.1 site waiting for 4.0

rh@smds.com (Richard Harter) writes:
> >>CHNO is it.
> >You forgot P.
> And Na and Cl and ....

...and S --- not only have some amino acids S, but the -S-S- bounds in
peptids have a major role in the tertiary structure of peptids.

--ralf
------------------------------------------------- please ignore next sig!
From: clements@vax.oxford.ac.uk
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Big Bang Debate...
Date: 27 Jul 92 10:30:04 GMT
Organization: Oxford University VAXcluster

OOOps!!!

the post title 'ex' is actually about the Big Bang debate

My editot strikes again...

-- 
================================================================================
Dave Clements, Oxford University Astrophysics Department
================================================================================
clements @ uk.ac.ox.vax			|  Umberto Eco is the *real* Comte de
dlc      @ uk.ac.ox.astro		|           Saint Germain...
================================================================================
From: wag@georwell.EBay.Sun.COM (Rick Wagoner)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Astronomy Lab BETA __Did ANYBODY ge through???
Date: 29 Jul 1992 22:16:53 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Distribution: usa
Reply-To: wag@georwell.EBay.Sun.COM
NNTP-Posting-Host: georwell.ebay.sun.com


I'm wannabe BETA tester who's had his email bounce as high as a
congressman's check... I've seen _tons_ of bounces to this group
and several others.


Did ANYBODY get through?? Are their BETA testers??


What the heck is going on?

Yes, I'd still like to be involved.

Rick

---
+-----------------------------------------------+
+ Rick Wagoner					+
+ Sun Microsystems Education Dept.		+
+ 408-276-5658					+
+ 						+
+ email Rick.Wagoner@EBay.Sun.COM		+
+ or	rick.wagoner@Ebay 			+
+ or	rwagoner@sun.com			+
+						+
+ or whateverthehell the DNS server mangles my	+
+    address into!				+
+						+
+-----------------------------------------------+
+ Opinions: MINE!	Systems: Theirs!	+
+-----------------------------------------------+
+  Everybody likes to stir the excrement        +
+  but nobody likes to clean the paddle...	+
+-----------------------------------------------+

Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: LINSCOT@RICEVM1.RICE.EDU (Stephen M. Linscott)
Subject: Re: university optics widescan eyepieces
Organization: Rice University  
Date: Thu, 23 Jul 1992 18:23:29 GMT

In article <1992Jul23.175404.12683@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu>
jfrankli@nyx.cs.du.edu (Jim Franklin]) writes:
 
>
>anybody have any comments on the 32 mm widescan, especially in
>comparison to wide field eyepieces from other companies ?
>
>thanks in advance
>jim
>
 
We used the 32 mm widescan on the McDonald 36" at this year's Texas
Star Party.  The astronomer who was running the 'scope said that it
was a great eyepiece, and he was right!  Sharp out to the edge.  We
compared it to a TV 32 widefield and a TV 55 Plossl, and the University
was better.  Your mileage may vary.
                                         - Steve -
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: jsmill01@ulkyvx.louisville.edu
Subject: Re: Phobos and Deimos
Organization: University of Louisville
Date: Sat, 25 Jul 1992 21:16:25 GMT

In article <1992Jul24.235454.23675@jpl-devvax.jpl.nasa.gov>, frisbee@jpl-devvax.jpl.nasa.gov (Tyler Brown) writes:
> I asked recently on this net what "Deimos" meant. So far I have received the
> following responses:
> 
> 		Translation		Number of Votes
> 		___________		_______________
> 
> 		Terror				5
> 		Panic				3
> 
> Terror is currently beating out panic, but by a slim margin...
> 
> Gosh, doesn't that sound like a baseball game in Hell?
> 
> 			frisbee@devvax.jpl.nasa.gov
> 
> 
============================================================================
Well, to add more fuel to the fire, I read in "The Flammarion Book of 
Astronomy" (Copyright 1964) that "The satellites of Mars have been 
named Phobos (panic) and Deimos (terror),..."

Curiouser and curiouser.

Scott Miller, Program Coordinator
Rauch Memorial Planetarium
University of Louisville
jsmill01@ulkyvx.louisville.edu
From: vanmatre@nprdc.navy.mil (Nick Van Matre)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: binoculars for astronomy
Date: 21 Jul 92 19:12:59 GMT
Reply-To: vanmatre@nprdc.navy.mil (Nick Van Matre)
Organization: Navy Personnel R&D Center, San Diego


OK, it was an impulse purchase: I bought a Pentax 10x50 pair of
binoculars.  I was a virgin astronomer--totally novice.  One
night this past weekend, I went outside and lay on the ground 
and, with the 10x50 Pentax binocs, LOOKED UP!  Geeeese!  Lots MORE
stars than I could see with the naked eye; but they jumped all over.
I couldn't really hold the binocs still enough, even using a technique
for handholding that I learned from sci.astro--move hands to eyepieces
and rest against your face.  No moon at that time, so I was content
to look at jumping stars AND what I think was a satellite as it passed
over.  That was neat...  I do have some questions.

Is the Pentax a good binoc to use?  It cost $150 at local discout store.
The specs on it say that it has a 6.5 degree field of view; is that
suitable?
The specs say it has a "relative brightness" of 25; what IS "relative
brightness"?  Is "25" appropriate?
In their literature they have an 8xsomething that has a relative
brightness of 50?  Is that better for astronomy viewing?

At this point, I probably am going to return the 10x50's for the 8xsomethings
so I can hold it still, and have a clear image.  Advice would be appreciated.

BTW, re my "first experience" -- it didn't hurt, I do want to do it
again, but I see I need to learn somethings to make it better, and
I hope you all will still respect me...

Nick
From: metares@well.sf.ca.us (Tom Van Flandern)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: grav lensing (is MG1654 a diversion?)
Date: 27 Jul 92 05:22:25 GMT
Distribution: na,sci
Organization: Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link



annis@galileo.ifa.hawaii.edu (James Annis) writes:

> In a previous post I argued that, on the basis of relative simplicity, it
> is possible to choose the gravitational lens model over any "ring
> associated with galaxy" model.  Tom Van Flandern responded by saying that I
> had used a strawman model and that he would tend to prefer a "quasar radio
> lobe spraying the galaxy" model. Well, ok, but my argument stands: the
> lensing model naturally predicts a ring, while a "spraying" model must
> invoke a mechanism for illuminating only a ring, and not the whole galaxy.
> The gravitational lens model seems simpler.

     Either I am right or I am wrong about gravitational lenses.  If I am
right, then we can be certain that MG1654 is *not* a gravitational lens.  My
suggested alternative did not produce a ring, but a shell, of which we can
see only a ring (as for planetary nebulae).

> The fact that the published examples of lensing of radio sources are all
> rings is clearly a selection effect: the workers are publishing the most
> spectacular and convincing examples first.

     Uh-huh.  Well, it will only take one clear example of a ring arc, which
should occur with one or two orders of magnitude more frequency than full
rings, to prove me wrong on this.  I await your example.  -|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: dgreisin@rodan.acs.syr.edu (Derek G. Reisinger)
Subject: Quasars and Meta
Organization: Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 92 17:02:32 EDT



	I have just recently returned to the net so I apologize if
what follows has already been discussed.
	In reading what this Meta group says, I am confused by
several insconsistencies. Most have already been mentioned and 
a subsequent reply has been issues that seems either wholly arbitrary
or is based upon differences in cosmologies used. As such I am
curious about more quantitative aspects of Quasar phenomena.
	Such as...How you reconcile your Super-Massive star engine
with observations... For instance in many cases the luminosity exceeds
the limit for a supermassive stable star. In fact it may exceed it
by up to 10 or 15 times. Now if you require 10 to 15 stars to power
a Quasar you now have to deal with variability time arguments.
In some objects these place limits (upper limits!) on the size of
the emitting region. In most cases the region is relatively small,
especially if it needs to hold 10-15 super-massive stars, all
at the very limit of stability....

	If I have missed anything that answers these questions
I apologize, else please enlighten me...

Derek Reisinger
(Dgreisin@rodan.syr.edu) or (ast99c@brandeis.bitnet)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: frisbee@jpl-devvax.jpl.nasa.gov (Tyler Brown)
Subject: Re: Phobos and Deimos
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA)
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 1992 22:35:29 GMT

I posted the message below last week:


>I know that the moon Phobos means "fear" and was a consort of the God
>of war (Mars/Ares), but I forget what "Deimos" means. Could someone
>remind me?
>			frisbee@devvax.jpl.nasa.gov

I received several replies, some of which are appended below.

The current vote total is:

	Terror	7
	Panic	6
	Fear	1 (Said that Phobos and Deimos meant fear!)
                                    ^^^
One said that Phobos means panic...

				frisbee@devvax.jpl.nasa.gov



Some excerpts:
________________________________________________________________________________

> My recollection is that Deimos means "terror". Corrections?
>
> bell@nssdca.gsfc.nasa.gov
________________________________________________________________________________

> No corrections..I read that is what Deimos means."terror"
>
> andromed@cs.dal.ca
________________________________________________________________________________

>Well, to add more fuel to the fire, I read in "The Flammarion Book of 
>Astronomy" (Copyright 1964) that "The satellites of Mars have been 
>named Phobos (panic) and Deimos (terror),..."
>
>Curiouser and curiouser.
>
>jsmill01@ulkyvx.louisville.edu
________________________________________________________________________________

>Demos = Panic.  
>
>P & D are either Mars' (Ares' in Greek) war horses, or his 
>sons, depending on what myth version your reading.
> 
>jgreen@zeus.calpoly.edu
________________________________________________________________________________

My Follet's "Classic Greek Dictionary" gives Deimos as "fear, terror" in 
the Greek-English section. In the English-Greek section, it gives
"panikon (deima)"  for Panic, so go figure.

gwc@csd4.csd.uwm.edu
________________________________________________________________________________

> My Vote is for PANIC!
>
> gliba@scivax.stsci.edu
From: sla@fast.ucsc.edu (Steve Allen)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Summary:  TeX and LaTeX macros for astronomy and astrophysics
Summary: like I said
Keywords: TeX, LaTeX, Springer-Verlag, AAS WGAS
Date: 29 Jul 92 21:05:21 GMT
Organization: UCO/Lick Observatory
NNTP-Posting-Host: fast.ucsc.edu

A few weeks back I posted an article asking about the existence of the
Springer-Verlag TeX macros which were to be used for submitting articles
to the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

If you are at a site doing astronomical research, you may wish to give this
information to your local TeX wizard.
===============================================================================
"Priscilla Frisch" <frisch@oddjob.uchicago.edu> wrote that there is a large
archive of TeX and LaTeX macros available via anonymous ftp at
sun.soe.clarkson.edu.  These can also be obtained via an email server; viz:

To: archive-server@clarkson.edu
Subject:
path host!user@uunet.uu.net (if your address is tricky and must be specific)
help

However, none of these macros seem to be directly related to astronomy or
astrophysics.
===============================================================================
The AAS (Amer. Ast. Soc.) has an anonymous ftp server called blackhole.aas.org,
and it contains the WGAS macros which provide an Astrophysical Journal-like
appearance.

At this time the University of Chicago Press does not seem to have any plans
for making an "official" set of Ap.J. macros.  (Watch for future changes!)
===============================================================================
Mike Keane (mk@helios.ucsc.edu) and olle@chiron.astro.uu.se (Olof Morell)
pointed out that Springer-Verlag has a mail server.  Send a message; viz:

To: svserv@dhdspri6.bitnet
Subject:
help

And it will reply with a message describing how to get more information,
including the A&A TeX and LaTeX macro packages.
===============================================================================
PASP has begun to request that authors send them the TeX or LaTeX source
of papers.  At this time, however, it appears that they do not have any
"official" macro packages.  (Again, watch for future changes.)
===============================================================================
_______________________________________________________________________________
Steve Allen          | That was the equation!         |   sla@helios.ucsc.edu
UCO/Lick Observatory | Existence!...Survival must     | If the UC were opining,
Santa Cruz, CA 95064 | cancel out programming! -- Ruk | it wouldn't tell me.
Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: gwc@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Greg F Walz Chojnacki)
Subject: Re: Phobos and Deimos
Originator: gwc@csd4.csd.uwm.edu
Reply-To: gwc@csd4.csd.uwm.edu
Organization: University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Date: Sun, 26 Jul 1992 02:06:55 GMT

My Follet's "Classic Greek Dictionary" gives Deimos as "fear, terror" in 
the Greek-English section. In the English-Greek section, it gives
"panikon (deima)"  for Panic, so go figure.

Greg

Newsgroups: sci.astro
From: weemba@sagi.wistar.upenn.edu (Matthew P Wiener)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Re: On the formation of black holes
Date: 28 Jul 92 12:59:58 GMT
Reply-To: weemba@sagi.wistar.upenn.edu (Matthew P Wiener)
Organization: The Wistar Institute of Anatomy and Biology
In-reply-to: anderson@fermi.phys.ualberta.ca (Warren G. Anderson)

In article <1992Jul27.221120.3797@kakwa.ucs.ualberta.ca>, anderson@fermi (Warren G. Anderson) writes:
>Thus, there will never be a *last* outgoing null surface that the test particle
>can emit on; every outgoing null surface that a stationary observer passes
>through can contain an emission from the test particle. 

You're right.  I still remember a respected relativist claiming the black-
ness can be explained purely geometrically, which is why I assert it with
such confidence, although I take credit for inventing the wrong argument.

Second try below.

>> They explicitly say that an arbitrary low amount of possible radiation
>> omitted holds even in the continuum approximation--discretization of
>> emission only accelerates this part of the process.

>I agree, the classical field can be made arbitrarily but finitely small
>by having the classical observer look at a suuficiently great proper time.
>However, as long as the field is classical, I maintain that it can affect the
>stationary observer for an infinite amount of the observers proper time before
>it becomes infinitesimal.

Earlier we agreed to ignore the horizon expanding as the object falls in,
as a simplification.  If we don't, doesn't this cut off the emissions?
-- 
-Matthew P Wiener (weemba@sagi.wistar.upenn.edu)
Newsgroups: sci.astro
Subject: Spectral Abundances? and why OBAFGKM?
From: jbatka@desire.wright.edu
Date: 27 Jul 92 10:20:23 EST
Organization: Wright State University 

Could someone post or Email to me the approximate relative
abundance of stars both on and off of the main sequence?
I would also like the approximate abundances of Binary and
Trinary star systems.

I do not care what group the sample is taken from just please
include what it is (e.g. local neighborhood, galaxy, etc.).

Example:
White Dwarfs:	a%
Neutron Stars:	b%
Red Giants:	c%
O		d%
B		e%
A		f%
F		g%
G		h%
K		i%
M		j%
Suspected Black Holes:  .00small%
Brown Dwarfs
etc
Include others that I may have missed

I do not need great accuracy (definitely no more then 2 significant
figures), I am just trying to get a feel for relative star abundances.

Now a serious question.  How was this lettering scheme picked to 
define stellar spectral class?  Why wasn't something like A,B,C,D,E,F,etc
picked instead?

Thanks for any info,
-- 

   Jim Batka  | Always remember ...                        | Buckaroo
   Modemman   |    No matter where you go, there you are!  |   Bonzai
--------------+--------------------------------------------+--------------
              | Work Email:  BATKAJ@CCMAIL.DAYTON.SAIC.COM | Elvis is
              | Home Email:  JBATKA@DESIRE.WRIGHT.EDU      |   DEAD!
--------------+--------------------------------------------+--------------
              | 64 years is 33,638,400 minutes ...         | Beatles:
              |    and a minute is a long time.            |   Yellow Submarine
Newsgroups: sci.astro,rec.radio.amateur.misc,rec.radio.shortwave
From: oler@rho.uleth.ca (Cary Oler)
Subject: Daily Solar Geophysical Data Broadcast for 26 July
Organization: University of Lethbridge
Date: 27 Jul 92 06:25:58 GMT

!!BEGIN!! (1.0) S.T.D. Solar Geophysical Data Broadcast for DAY 208, 07/26/92
10.7 FLUX=101.1  90-AVG=127        SSN=082      BKI=2111 1111  BAI=003
BGND-XRAY=B1.5     FLU1=2.6E+05  FLU10=1.2E+04  PKI=3312 2222  PAI=007
  BOU-DEV=013,006,005,009,007,006,005,008   DEV-AVG=007 NT     SWF=00:000
 XRAY-MAX= C2.6   @ 1214UT    XRAY-MIN= B1.4   @ 2208UT   XRAY-AVG= B2.1
NEUTN-MAX= +003%  @ 2355UT   NEUTN-MIN= -001%  @ 1955UT  NEUTN-AVG= +0.5%
  PCA-MAX= +0.1DB @ 1435UT     PCA-MIN= -0.2DB @ 0915UT    PCA-AVG= -0.0DB
BOUTF-MAX=55245NT @ 2359UT   BOUTF-MIN=55202NT @ 1907UT  BOUTF-AVG=55230NT
GOES7-MAX=P:+112NT@ 2011UT   GOES7-MIN=N:+001NT@ 0154UT  G7-AVG=+085,+039,+009
GOES6-MAX=P:+125NT@ 2012UT   GOES6-MIN=E:-011NT@ 1454UT  G6-AVG=+099,+002,+030
 FLUXFCST=STD:105,105,110;SESC:105,105,110 BAI/PAI-FCST=005,010,010/010,010,010
    KFCST=1122 3221 1223 4321  27DAY-AP=045,048   27DAY-KP=4754 5345 6763 3333
 WARNINGS=
   ALERTS=
!!END-DATA!!
Xref: sparky sci.astro:8393 rec.radio.amateur.misc:12800 rec.radio.shortwave:5949