Posts Made By: jess tauber

I thought you wrote 'Killer Klowns from Outer Space' there for a moment (that must have been a hoot to shoot).

Now I understan' you meant the Kook Klux Klan.

But heck, as one of the overly wise sages said, I'm usually just blowing smoke (here's a couple of embers in YOUR eye, dude!- NOT you Sandy).

Jess Tauber

Sorry for the mixup, I misread your original post- now I know how the White House must feel about the WMD report- or ABC News' own misreading. Good thing my error won't lead to imminent hostilities (I hope...).

Jess Tauber

I turn 48 next week, but since rediscovering astronomy, feel 30 (and occasionally 40) years younger mindwise, though after lugging heavy equipment maybe 20 years OLDER at times! But its a sacrifice I'm willing to make. :-)

Jess Tauber

I had to drive 20 miles to a relatively dark (green) sky mostly unblocked by budding trees, but I DID finally manage to see fragment C, I think. Lot dimmer than I thought it would be- frankly M13 was a lot more interesting in my 10 inch Coulter as well as my 20x80 binoculars.

But heck, if a couple of the bits and pieces finally decide to swing by this way, I'm sure I can modify my opinion, in the hours we'd have left....

Jess Tauber

OK, just my three cents- I say lets take the W story, splice in some star recognition (and I'm not referring to astronomy), some action- voila! Tom Cruise as the gung-ho president with a temper and a Top-Gun attitude, keep the whole jumping-up-and-down-on-the-couch thing (but make it the President insisting that the Iraqi people will love us), title it Mission: Impossible.

Jess Tauber

Happy 55th, if belated (or inflated, if cosmologically taken).

Next time you're looking at WMAP data, take a REAL HARD LOOK at the map. It's Earth. Seas and continents and everything. It COULD just be the human mind's propensity to see patterns everywhere, or perhaps something to do with dimensional closure of the universe. Not exactly the same as today, but to be expected given the time offset from big bang to light transparency. Loopy space, loopy time, loopy writers on Astromart forums!

Jess Tauber

Oh, BTW, if any lemmings out there feel there is already plenty of oversight on domestic spying- 'yay for our team!', then you should consider that

'The reporters covering the original NSA story have said that the NSA Program involves data-mining of a vast scale, whereby the government uses computers to read everyone's emails and listen to phone calls with voice recognition.'

(From Shayana Kadidal: The NSA's Massive Database & The Fight to Stop It, in today's Huffington Post. Yeah I know what you think this tax and spend liberal electron rag is good for- maybe you ought to stop carping on WHO sends the message and maybe consider whether the message itself is valid?)

Jess Tauber

I'm looking for one of those old nonflexing microscope binoviewers to make a one-piece binoscope viewer out of- I'll subtract out the beamsplitter and try to attach mirrors or prisms to the focus tubes facing sideways. It won't be a binoviewer anymore but might be more convenient than the usual jerry-rigged focuser assemblies people use on refractor binoscopes these days. Of course it might help to have bigger tubes for bigger ep's, but this will just be a proof-of-concept experiment anyhow.

Jess Tauber

I have an old scope like this I never use, nor had I thought of using as a finder scope till I read your post. Where would I have to put crosshairs to get them to focus (I assume I could find old reticals at places like Surplusshed, etc.)? Thanks.

Jess Tauber

No takers, eh? Ok, now I'm talking to myself... According to the experts, things like clam, nautilus, and snail shells all exhibit this sort of logarithmic equal angle growth.

But- how about some sort of GROWN astro-usable mirror? After all, things like nacre in mother of pearl get laid down- anything like dielectrics in biological deposition? Can the process be genetically controlled? Can you get 99% reflection?

So.. you just leave Junior in the well-oxygenated tank, pump him up with growth hormones and the occasional Happy Meal, and you're good to go. Couple of years later you've got your very own logarithmic telescope- of course getting Junior to voluntarily vacate the premises might be another issue, but hey, I like calamari as much as the next guy!

Your kids who've grown to love the big fellow (aperture fever?) may be happy to give him the family bathtub- but you've now been worried for several years that the dog or cat (or little Ricky) might go missing, leaving I guess what counts as the equivalent of a contented smile on his mollusky face (interesting factoid- squid/octo/nautiloid 'arms', snail and clam/oyster 'foot' are all really LIPS. OK- have we got our anatomy straight?).

ATM'ing the beast postmortem could be messy, but as your wife may now be screaming at you that's what kitchens and dispose-all's are for (or not, depending on wife...).

Final figuring and polishing could be touch and go, especially in the deeper parts of the shell (never knew, didya, that the toilet snake could be mobilized this way?).

I have absolutely NO IDEA how one would test the figure. Pretty obvious the usual methods won't work here. I suppose one could make some sort of audio test (you know, hold the shell up to your ear and see if you can hear your kids crying upstairs because you had more 'spine' than your new project, or the neighbors fighting two blocks down).

And the novelty value of your finished logarithmic telescope should keep guest observers coming for considerable time. It could be the ultimate grab and go scope (even when still growing, though in the opposite direction!).

Logarithmic curves come in all shapes and sizes- you can have slow, medium or fast scopes. The slow ones all nicely coiled up. And lightweight, too- you ever held a dry nautilus shell? And you can be grateful you didn't have to shell out an arm or a leg for it- well, actually you DID..
Which leads me to my final issue that will have to be addressed- protests at your dark site by the ASPCA.

Jess Tauber