Re: Terror of Space

In message <43b5ebd6$1@darkstar>, Eugene Miya <eugene@xxxxxxxxxxxx> writes 
In article <xN7gDqHiyWtDFw5l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Chris Townsend  <Chris@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

It's belief suspension.
Certainly. Willingly.
Entertainment.
Yes. Aren't most things? 

Many.  I am not certain of most.
Bread and circuses.  Not nearly enough bread for the world population.

And maybe too many circuses. 

Invisible things (to us), especially live ones, are just as impressive.
microscope. Amazing!

Yep, I bought another one just recently.
Some people don't believe in micro biology.
What do they think they see through a microscope?
a kaledascope. If you just jump to high magnifications, you just get
...
In many cases, these are the people who insist on "common sense." 

I guess some people need that progression. I never used a hand lens
until long after I used a microscope but I had read about microscopic
life before I ever saw it.


The progression is merely context.
It took a Hooke to figure things out.

How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?

Ask them.

:-) 

telescopes
nebulae
Plough?
British name. Big Dipper in the US I think. 
British constellation names differing from the US?
gasp!  And we thought it was Mayan astronomy, Inca astronomy, East Asian
astronomies, etc....


And now .... British astronomy!
I guess most are the same.


Well most constellations are social artifacts.  The Union mixes Greek
and Latin.  Individual starts irrespective of names are Greek: Alpha,
Beta, Gamma, so the constellations mostly have Latin names.
Ursa not only for the constellation but the bear (as in tired joke)
species (like Ed, the maritime one except in Latin).

The Greeks came up with the constellations idea. We see patterns. 


Plough is like a secret password to certain old Adventure games by
Crowther.
I had to deduce that from below:


"Ough" is peculiar. Plough is pronounced plow. Enough is pronounced
enuff.

See the post where you typed -ise, and I typed -ize?

Indeed. There are many words like that.

Vega is a summer star. Part of the Northern triange in Lyra (a binary, too).
Yes. Clearly visible here now though.
High latitude?
57 degrees. 

No not highly.  Alaska and Iceland are in the 60s, Floyd is about 72 N.
Clouds are their problems.

Clouds are the problems here too.

What's its aperature? 
4.5 inches.
Celestron. Newtonian.

Celestron.  Oh, I grew up 3-4 miles from their factory.
Newtonian?  Not Schmidt-Cassegran?  It doesn't have a front corrector
plate holding a mirror, but is open?

It does have front plate holding a mirror. 

Schmidt-Cassegran.
Newtonians have spiders to hold mirrors in place.

The full name is "Firstscope 114 EQ 4.5 inch Newtonian Telescope". The
manual says it's a Newtonian Reflector.


Really?  Well, they could certainly be using a flat plate to hold the
mirror, but is the light coming back through the primary objective
mirror in a hole in the back or at a 45 degree side hole?

The diagram (I had to look this up) shows the light coming in one end, hitting the primary mirror at the other end, coming back to hit the secondary mirror and then going up the focuser, which is set at 90 degrees to the tube.

Good tip. Thanks.
Astronomy classes and reading 4 decades ago.

I've never studied astronomy. 

I started at age 9 or 10.
I had reasonable teachers, book in a library, and planetaria and
modest sized free observatories.

I only took a real interest a few years ago. Before then I knew a few constellations and the brightest planets and admired many night skies but didn't know much. Now I still don't know much but know a tiny bit.

My partner has the new Dorling Kindersley book called Universe, which looks superb for non-scientists.

M101 I think. 

Quite exciting. A ring of undulating coloured light. I couldn't see it
with the naked eye.

What colors?

Red and blue. 

Spelling noted.


.

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