Space Forum / Amateur Astronomy / February 2008

I'm contemplating a writing a piece of science fiction that would take
place on a planet that is roughly earth-like in diameter, tilt, and
distance from a roughly Sol-like sun, but which has icy rings about
its equator like Saturn's.  I have several questions about this:

well?

So far I've only read Marcus Ludes report of the 30 mm and 40 mm Pentax  
XW's, whereby he really liked the 40 mm (he preferred it overall to the 41  
mm Panoptic), but he stated that the 30 mm XW had loads of color issues at  
the edge of the field (in his TeleVue 101), and ...

Combining 39 individual frames taken over 11 hours of exposure time,
NASA astronomers have created this ultraviolet mosaic of the nearby
"Triangulum Galaxy."
http://www.theanalystmagazine.com/pr/7010229.htm

I have information on a large meteor which landed on the West Coast
over 100 years ago. Information stems from a newspaper clipping which
was dated, but not attributed. I believe I know the location. There
are problems in recovery.

What is considered good eye relief for a 7 or 8 mm plossle design so that
people with eyeglasses don't have a problem and you don't have to
put your eye practically on the EP?

With the moon (and clouds) out of the way I took a look for comet
Holmes. While not visible with the unaided eye, it was reasonable easy
to pick up in binoculars (7x50) while sweeping over the general area:
big, diffuse and roundish, but clearly asymmetric.

I have an Orion Dual beam flash light, but it doesn't give off a lot
of light for reading maps.
Suggestions for a stronger red light?
Bruce

It was inevitable that if there were found to be serious flaws in our
physics and in our understanding of gravity or such things as
'momentum' these would be quickly revealed beginning in the early
1970s, when human beings first began to explore space.

Is your ED threatening you with ED?

Meteor showers are often unpredictable.  The Gamma Normids peaks
around the 13 March.  Never observed them before - any comments about
intensity?  The very fact that I observe these things seems to diminsh
the intensity dramatically.... sigh.  If the clouds don't obliterate

While doing a web search on color filters for astronomy
flashlights, I came across this:
http://amasci.com/amateur/irgoggl.html
What he is doing is to block out all of the visible light and

Scientists Tuning Very Large Array Radio Telescope for Deeper Exploration
  http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=very-large-array-radio-telescope
  The NSF's Very Large Array radio telescope is getting a digital
  makeover that will give it the sensitivity to pick up a cell phone

About a month ago, I believe I came across a small table-top planetarium
for something less than $2000. As I recall, it had no dome, but it may
have had some satisfactory substitute.  In any case, does anyone know of
such devices? The idea would be to put it on the main floor of our

The History Ch produced the DVD in the Subject. Their web page description
on it really doesn't detail much what to expect. Does anyone know? The More
Details link expands on the entire package of 4 DVDs.
<http://store.aetv.com/html/product/index.jhtml?id=77605#details>.