Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
A Revised History
I agree in essence with Chet Raymos
conclusions in his review of History of
Astronomy: An Encyclopedia (May issue,
page 61). He writes: All in all, editor
John Lankford and Garland Publishing
are to be congratulated for bringing this
valuable resource to the public. As an
astronomer and a historian of science, I
enjoy this encyclopedia and it will gather
no dust on my shelves. However, the reviewer fell short in discussing the improper coverage of some topics.
While numerous articles concerning
minor astronomers exist, no space was
provided in the encyclopedia for entries
concerning such prominent personalities
as Giordano Bruno, Joseph Fraunhofer,
George Gamow, Carl Gauss, Fred Hoyle,
and many others. In the index you will
find Leonid Brezhnev and Nikita
Khrushchev but not Rudjer Boskovic,
who was mentioned only in passing on
one page. And I will not belabor the
omission of a dozen Russians well
known in the West, including Aleksandr
A. Friedmann and Dmitri D. Maksutov.
The coverage of certain astronomical
observations important to the sciences
history is inadequate as well; there seems
to have been no proper criterion for the
list of entries.
I would like to apologize for six distressing mistakes in my own contributions to this volume. The errors, which
include my affiliation, appeared as a result of editing. In one case a misplaced
semicolon suggests that Nicolai D. Moiseev rather than Boris V. Kukarkin was a
vice president of the International Astronomical Union from 1955 to 1961.
Other mistakes are similar. I regret passing up my chance to check these articles
before publication. I very much hope
that a second, revised edition of this
valuable text is being planned.
Alexander Gurshtein
1119 Chipeta Ave.
Grand Junction, CO 81501
In his review of History of Astronomy,
Chet Raymo asks, When was the Doppler effect first used to measure the radial velocity of a celestial object? The earliest date he mentioned was 1868, when
attempts were made using visual obser12
Missing Maps
In the brief review of the NASA Atlas of
the Solar System (July issue, page 68), the
statement If it orbits the Sun and has
been visited up close by a spacecraft,
theres a map of it in this hefty volume,
is not true. Deimos, Gaspra, Hyperion,
Janus, Amalthea, and several other such
minor bodies have been observed in this
way, but maps are not included for them.
The maps in this atlas were produced by
the U.S. Geological Survey, which has
never fully solved the problem of mapping nonspherical worlds. The atlas does
contain an experimental map of Phobos
and an image of Ida with a few labels
added, but on the whole these bodies are
neglected.
I am working with Jean Lorre of the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Yang
Cheng of Oak Ridge National Laboratory to develop new approaches to this
problem. A variety of maps and photomosaics of small bodies may be viewed
at http://www.geog.uwo.ca/stooke_
personalhomepage/plancart.htm.
Philip J. Stooke
Department of Geography
University of Western Ontario
London, ON N6A 5C2, Canada
stooke@sscl.uwo.ca
1997 Sky Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.
The Essential
Magazine of
Astronomy
OCTOBER 1947 Visual methods [for photometry] are well adapted to the use of amateurs because they may be practiced with a
minimum of expensive equipment. Photographic methods are
not used by amateurs
because of the technical difficulties and
expense involved,
and photoelectric
photometry is all
but unknown to the
amateur for the
same reasons. . . .
The equipment
necessary for accomplishing photoelectric
photometry was so expensive, and so difficult to build and operate, that no amateur
could possibly aspire to ownership and use.
Today, however, the picture is somewhat different, owing principally to the introduction
. . . [of] the 1P21 multiplier phototube.
The famous 1P21 continued for decades to be
the workhorse for photometrists.Yet it was never
widely adopted by amateurs. The tedium of
making and reducing photometric observations
was clearly to blame.
50&25
Y
Bonus Barlows
I always enjoy Terence Dickinsons nononsense writing style, and his review of
Barlows (July issue, page 59) was no exception. However, readers who intend to
follow his suggestion and acquire an additional Barlow should consider another
factor namely the interchangeability
of Barlow lenses and tubes. This works
for Barlows that have lens elements in a
separate cell that can be unscrewed from
the tube.
The magnification of a Barlow is dependent on the focal length of its lens
and the overall length of its tube. Unscrewing and swapping the lenses of a
higher-power, shorter-tube Barlow with
that of a lower-power, longer-tube one
effectively produces two new Barlows.
When I swapped the lens cell of my old
2 Celestron Deluxe with that of my
1.8 Tele Vue, I obtained Barlows with
approximate magnifications of 1.65
and 2.3.
Thus, judicious selection of an additional Barlow can lead to effectively buying three for the price of one. An excellent value, in my opinion.
Renato Alessio
35 Cosier Dr.
Noble Park, Victoria 3174
Australia
ralessi@iic.a-l.defence.gov.au
SZ Herculis
Thank you very much for Alan MacRoberts article on the eclipsing binary
SZ Herculis in the June issue (page 76). I
obtained a usable set of timing estimates
and sent them off to Marvin Baldwin as
suggested. It was the most fun Ive had
astronomically since last years Perseid
meteor shower.
I am mostly interested in whole-sky
binocular astronomy, but observing gets
stale without some sort of project to direct the attention and lend purpose. This
endeavor was nearly ideal. It could be
completed in one evening, and the
eclipses recurred often enough for easy
scheduling. The observations served a
purpose nominally useful to science,
were slow-paced enough to allow time
to see the rest of the sky (I witnessed a
brilliant fireball that I estimated at magnitude 5), and involved both field and
desk work.
Id like to see Sky & Telescope publish
more of these request for semiskilled
assistance articles in addition to the
usual supply of why dont you go look
at this articles.
David Beard
R.D. 1 Box 648
Newmanstown, PA 17073