Posts Made By: Maurice Clark

Darn, I missed that one!!! And I like to keep abreast of world-shattering events!!! :-)))

Maurice

Was the sound simutaneous with the explosion? For a meteor the sound should be heard some time after the explosion.

Maurice

Actually, this is one full moon where I expect it will be cloudy. There is going to be a total lunar eclipse!

Not that I am cynical or anything!

Maurice

Hi Mike,

In answer to your question, I think it is very important to seperate the organization from its members. There are wonderful christians within the Roman Catholic Church and there are very evil people within the Roman Catholic Church. Just like any other church! Fundamentalist or whatever. This is just how groups of people are.

For the organization, it depends on how you define good or evil. Certainly the Roman Catholic Church has done many very evil things, eg the slaughter of millions of christians, However many other churches have done the same thing, eg the Puritans, and the church of England. Personally I do not try and say if it is good or evil. I prefer to see if it follows the teaching of the Bible.

In this respect, I have found from my studies of the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, that it does not follow the teachings of the Bible. Therefore I choose not to be a part of it.

I would also mention that the Bible (particularly in Daniel and Revelation) warns about a christian organization that becomes aligned with political governments, ruling over them for 1260 years, introduces unscriptual teachings, persecutes other christians, changes the law of god, and rises out of pagan Rome. If there is any other organization that fits all of this, I would be interested to hear of it.

In summary, Good or evil? Both, just like any other human organization. The people within it? Some good, some evil, just like any other human organization. Anyone who goes around "catholic-bashing" is not a christian, regardless of what they claim.

Regards,

Maurice

Hi Mike.

Why do you say it is not 100% complete?

Regarding the deification of the bible, certainly if anyone were to do that it would be idolatry. However I do not know of anyone who does that. Just simply relying of the Bible for answers regarding God and the Christian way, is not to deify the Bible.

Putting the Bible above other sources of information about God is simply because it is the most obvious and reasonable source we have regarding God. The Bible claims to be the word of God. Either it is or it is not. That is a question each person must decide for themselves. However if it is the word of God, then it needs to be read and followed.

Turning to the Bible is not necessarily turning away from God. In fact I would say quite the opposite. However if a person were to neglect prayer etc, then they would not be living the Christian life, and not following God and what the Bible tells a person to do.

Yes, sometimes people can give contradictory arguements that are both based on scripture. However only one can be correct. (at most, after all, both might be wrong!) It is the responcibility of each person to examine both sides and compare them to what the Bible says completely about that subject. Too many times people just take sections of the Bible that seem to support their beliefs without bothering to look at the context or what the rest of the Bible says. If all Bible references to a particular subject are looked at, then it becomes very clear what the meaning is.

Best wishes,

Maurice

Hi Paul,

It is not that difficult. Although space itself is expanding as a whole, on "small" scales (eg galaxy clusters) the force of gravity is sufficiently strong to prevent galaxies from being carried along as the space between them expands. Hence M31 is approaching us because the gravitational attraction between the Milky Way and M31 is sufficiently strong to draw them together.

cheers,

Maurice

OK. I will be in this one as well. Here is one from 1999, just after the annular eclipse. It was taken at Akira Fuji's observatory in Western Ausrtalia. The people in the photo are from left to right, Kent Wallace, a planetary nebulae observer (400+ with a C-8!) Akira Fuji, well known to readers of Sky&Telescope for his photographs, Me, not known for much! Mr Tomioka, president on the Nippon Meteor society, and Timo Karhula, Deep sky observer from Sweden.

Cheers,

Maurice

Personally I prefer to use a computer program such as MegaStar, and then print out charts to the depth I want.

Cheers

Maurice

Here is the S&T alert discussion of why people in the US missed out on the aurora.

"=================================================================
This Is SKY & TELESCOPE's AstroAlert for Sun-Earth Interactions
=================================================================

A s t r o A l e r t
Sun-Earth Alert

Solar Terrestrial Dispatch
http://www.spacew.com

Supporting Imagery and Movies are available at:
http://www.spacew.com/astroalert.html

30 May 2003

BAD LUCK FOR NORTH AMERICAN AURORA OBSERVERS

Sometimes (lots of times) things don't go quite according to plan when
you're hunting for the elusive "Northern Lights." The fact that the
occurrence of auroral activity is predictable at all is a testament to our
scientific knowledge and expertise of the Sun and the processes that couple
solar disturbances with the Earth's magnetosphere.

As most North American aurora observers can attest, the anticipated
display of the northern lights on 29 and 30 May were foiled by circumstances
beyond anyones control.

Just as the Sun began setting over the eastern fringes of North America,
the disturbance that had been broiling furiously began to decay. By the time
it was dark enough to observe anything, very few people were able to spot the
northern lights. Some travelled great distances to see the phenomena, only to
be disappointed. Dedicated observers in eastern Canada were treated to a few
relatively brief periods of moderately strong activity during the evening
hours last night, but such luck didn't hold out for most. Unfortunately, this
is one of the quirks of hunting aurorae. They can be frustratingly elusive at
times.

Prospects were much rosier for Europeans. Numerous reports of moderate
to strong auroral activity were received from the United Kingdom, the
Netherlands and even Germany. Had the solar disturbance arrived 6 to 9 hours
later than it did, observers across North America and down to the central
United States might have been priviledged to observe activity as well."

Hi David,

I have been using MegaStar 4.0 for years without any problems. I have not bothered to upgrade to V5.0, but I know of several others who have and have not experienced any problems.

One thought, do you really need something like MegaStar if you are not using it to control a telescope? Have you tried downloading Cartes de Ceil (sp?). It is free software that has had great reviews.

Cheers,

Maurice