- Utah-Astronomy - mailman.xmission.com

Best scene in 2001
by Chuck Hards 11 Jan '05

11 Jan '05

Well, not the best, but one of the funniest: When Dr. Floyd is reading the full-page insructions on how to use the Zero-Gravity Toilet. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Meet the all-new My Yahoo! - Try it today! http://my.yahoo.com

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Best space/sci-fi movie ever
by David Moulton 11 Jan '05

11 Jan '05

2010 was not a Kubrick project. It was done by Peter Hyams, with a lot of input from Clarke. Although I enjoyed it, I agree it is not up to the level of the original. In case you aren't aware, Clarke wrote "3001: The Final Odyssey" a few years ago. If you ever run across the book "The Odyssey File", I recommend getting it. Its a collection of the correspondence between Clarke and Hyams during production of 2010. It is quite humorous at times, and gives great insight into both men. The correspondence was done by computer, but before email. Each one had a computer with a modem. They would dial in to each others computer and leave messages in a directory. Clarke was of course living in Sri Lanka, so they weren't normally awake at the same time. On the subject of 2001, another good book to get is "The Lost Worlds of 2001". It provides background on the making of 2001, as well as parts of the book and movie that were cut out. Good stuff. dave utah-astronomy-request(a)mailman.xmission.com wrote: > >(Was 2010 a Kubrick project?) > > >

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Re: Best space/sci-fi movie ever
by Chuck Hards 11 Jan '05

11 Jan '05

Kim wrote: > A bit of back-peddling... I have to rate Forbidden > Planet pretty high. I certainly liked Forbidden Planet, but it was too short on science to really satisfy me. Robby the Robot manufacturing hooch was too much! And what other film has both Earl Holloman and Greg Peck? Rob, did you notice that This Island Earth was the flim made fun of in the MST3000 movie? I had to laugh when I noticed that selection! (for sheer camp and laughs, you can't beat MST3000) __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Helps protect you from nasty viruses. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail

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Re: comet tails
by Chuck Hards 11 Jan '05

11 Jan '05

My last post just isn't what I really should have said. Astronomy is a precise science, and I am not a precise person and must admit that my interest level isn't what it used to be, and is not nearly as high as most list members these days. I have a good mental grasp of most processes and heavenly motion but don't care to take it beyond that point most of the time anymore (you can only have the same discussion so many times in a lifetime) even though I can do the math. Adult ADD also makes it very difficult to stick with a subject down to the level of intricate detail, lack of unstructured free time for the past few years also adds to my personal editing process. And sometimes I just assume too much. Uncle Carl is 99.99% correct, though once a particle gets to a certain size (he touches on this briefly) then sunlight pressure gives way to orbital motion. Also any motion imparted at the time of ejection from the nucleus can have a dramatic effect on the particle's direction of motion away from the comet at certain sizes. Again here I confess to having drifted off the excerpt, but were the sun's magnetic field lines addressed? The short answer is: two tails, two different raw materials/mechanisms. Jim, I commend you for digging as deeply as you did and taking the time to possibly violate a copyright for our benefit. I in no way meant to minimize or marginalize your posts, you most definitely are the comet master. I'm just here for the donuts. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - You care about security. So do we. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail

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Re: comet tails
by Chuck Hards 11 Jan '05

11 Jan '05

Jim Cobb wrote: > The text below is taken from Comet, by Carl Sagan > and Ann Druyan; I did say "basically", sorry if I offended anyones sensibility. I never know when to be exact and when to generalize, seems one gets corrected no matter which way one goes. Thanks again Jim. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? All your favorites on one personal page Try My Yahoo! http://my.yahoo.com

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] Re: Swap meet: ATM stuff?
by David Dunn 11 Jan '05

11 Jan '05

Chuck, I am always interested in ATM stuff and I plan to be to the swap meet. Dave

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Re: Some excellent comet pics
by Chuck Hards 11 Jan '05

11 Jan '05

Jim Gibson asked: > Can anyone explain why there appears to be 2 tails > in the animation that Rich posted? Jim Cobb's explanation is basically correct. The Ion tail, sometimes called the plasma tail, is composed of atomic particles and is driven by the solar wind; it always points away from the sun (more or less). The dust tail, composed of solid particles of dust and rubble, (and the source of earthly meteor showers when we intersect a comet's orbit) basically streams along behind the comet in it's orbital path. Imagining the geometry in your mind's eye, you can see that the two tails can thus diverge by gross angles as the comet travels in it's path. Add to that the changing position of our viewpoint on the moving earth, relative to the comet, and the relative positions of the two tails change even more. Ion tails are typically bluish because they are generating their own photons at a specific wavelength, dust tails whitish to yellowish because they are just reflecting the broad-spectrum sunlight. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - now with 250MB free storage. Learn more. http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250

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Aurora Cam
by Patrick Wiggins 10 Jan '05

10 Jan '05

Small world. One of the other lists I'm subscribed to is for those who like hummingbirds. Seems one of the subscribers likes auroras and just posted this link to a live web cam in a Alaska that watches for auroral displays. http://salmon.nict.go.jp/live/aurora_cam/live_aurora_cam_e.html Looks like there's a small display going on now. Patrick p.s. Must be a bit cool up there as when I first checked it out this afternoon (it's on 24/7) the window the camera looks through was iced over. Brrrrrr...

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First Orion Image
by astrodeb＠charter.net 10 Jan '05

10 Jan '05

I just posted my image of the Orion Nebula in the gallery. I aligned and stacked this image last night and then decided that I'd try a different stack called an Auto Quality Graded stack algorithm in my processing software. It is essentially a weighted average of the 34 frames. Each frame is given a grade quality. I played with the brightness, contrast, stretch functions and this is what I came up with. It is on page 3 of my album. Debbie

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Swap meet: ATM stuff?
by Chuck Hards 10 Jan '05

10 Jan '05

Is anyone interested in me bringing atm supplies, like flat mirrors, motors, parts, focusers, lenses, etc., or is the interest now primarily in commercial products? (of which I might have a few, like binos and complete refractor tube assemblies) Thanks. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? All your favorites on one personal page Try My Yahoo! http://my.yahoo.com

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