Posts Made By: jess tauber

Found this on the BBC News website (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5083222.stm)

Apparently using crushing pressures and high temperatures, scientists have created a glassy, amorphous (and stable) form of carbon dioxide. Still a few bugs left to work out, such as though it holds together at room temperature, you still need extreme pressures. So maybe its an ATM material for creatures living on gas giant planets.

Perhaps doping the material with other light elements will do the trick? Personally I'd be a little worried that this stuff might explode at a star party- POOF! And you thought kids with grimy hands were a threat?

Jess Tauber

I have a question about optical flat mirrors- I'm red-green colorblind (really color-confused, but the name stuck) and wonder whether gold-coated flats will seriously alter my perception of dark-sky views if used as a secondary or diagonal. These are laser flats, very good surface accuracy, but the coating has me concerned.

Anyone know how this will affect things? Thanks.

Jess Tauber

From LiveScience.com. They didn't say whether these came in sour cream and onion, or Nacho flavor.

Jess Tauber

The Giant Quahog (Andromollusca umustbprettyboredica) was spotted by amateur astromarter Jake Squidsco four nights ago from his home in rural Arkansas, after a hard day of cleaning chicken guts at the local Tightson processing facility. Using his homemade 60 inch folded detractor (made with Walmart optics), and a pocket calculator, he was able to determine that the object would indeed hit the planet in three days. Area university scientists quickly scrambled.

It has been determined that because only the outermost shell of the oysteroid is solid, unclear weapons exploded on the surface would only partially cook the interior, making the oysteroid much more angry, and possibly leading to food poisoning here on the ground after impact. It has been suggested, therefore, that a team be lunched immediately on the space shuttle to pack the object in ice (to be picked up on the way from the Moon's poles) so that it may be enjoyed raw by whoever survives and gets there first.

From Spaceickiness.com

For those of you that missed it Comedy Central is supposed (if I remember the date correctly) to air the infamous 'pulled' episode of South Park lampooning the faith that I'll not name here (but hint: Tom Cruise and John Travolta are membranes) on July 16th. I haven't seen it myself, but it is supposed to be devilishly clever (ooh, did I say the D word??).

According to the articlette I read, the heavy hitters used their influence to make the network yank the episode. And who says there's a conspiracy? Similar things happened to episodes raking Catholicism and the Mohammed cartoon debacle over the hot coals.

Jess Tauber

For those of you scratching their heads, that's the creator/deity/thing of the Yahgan people- the southernmost people of the world.

No fluffy heaven, no flaming hell- your spirit originates where you're born and hangs out for eternity where you die. I guess then that you get sorta lonely unless there's an epidemic or general massacre. Passersby can be haunted, so at least there's something to do while you wait for the sky to fall.

Speaking of which, W. (not to be confused with the 'other' W) owns everything, so you'd better walk on eggshells. He's touchy, and can strike you dead for nothing in particular, wreck your canoe, kill your kids, or let you be eaten by orcas. A nice sacrifice here and there might appease him- maybe- nothing very organized or ritualistic though. Just scatter what you've got. 'Here, take it...'

W. invented death (again, don't confuse...., but that's the V.P. anyhow)- the rainbow is the symbol, believe it or not. No pot of gold there.

In Yahgan religion, there was a myth time where all the animals and astronomical bodies were once undifferentiated 'people' that went on to their separate destinies. This seems to be a common theme among a number of American cultures, especially less socioeconomically developed ones on the west side of N. and S. America. Important stars had their own animal names, but some constellations were named as well (for instance, Orion was U:kau.

The wooded areas, where the pelagic/nomadic Yahgans got their canoe bark and hunted guanaco occasionally, but otherwise avoided, were considered to be haunted by the spirits of evil or crazy people.

I guess they hadn't yet invented the Astromart Religion and Politics Forums. 8)

Jess Tauber

Maybe some of you refractor boys will have my answer- are there any optical quality/clarity anisotropic materials that have different refractive indices depending on direction of incidence? Or is this the same as birefringence?

Jess Tauber

Another mustard ice cream strange bedfello combo.

Has anyone ever reflectivized a Fresnel lens to make a telescope mirror? Can it even be done? Can diffractive zones be masked or otherwise treated? How closely spaced must they be to get a good image at low, high powers?

Jess Tauber

Me, I think it was Curly. 8)

Jess Tauber

I was just reading on the BBC news web pages (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5196362.stm)

Apparently big chunks of meteoritic glass are quite common in the Egyptian desert (there is a pic in the piece of a guy holding a football sized piece).

I don't know how uniform or pure these pieces are, but if they are that big then one might not have to 'comb the desert' to find them. Any of you contemplating melting up your own materials have a unique opportunity to be the first to have a telescope mirror not going TO outer space, but FROM there (at least the energy).

King Tut's jewellers thought enough of the material to incorporate it into the late pharoah's treasures. Perhaps it comes in an optically clear grade as well?

Jess Tauber