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Subject: SPACE Digest V12 #637

SPACE Digest                                     Volume 12 : Issue 637

Today's Topics:
      Astro-1 Status for 12/03/90 [1200 CST] (Forwarded)
              Re: Laser Enhanced Optics
             Re: * SpaceNews 03-Dec-90 *
    Re: Good Bye  (Quite possibly my last posting from this site)
                  HST images
      Astro-1 Status for 12/04/90 [1223 CST] (Forwarded)
                 Re: Astro-2
               MAJOR SOLAR FLARE ALERT
      Astro-1 Status for 12/05/90 [1200 CST] (Forwarded)

Administrivia:

    Submissions to the SPACE Digest/sci.space should be mailed to
  [e-mail].  Other mail, esp. [un]subscription notices,
  should be sent to [e-mail], or, if urgent, to
             [e-mail]

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 4 Dec 90 23:58:52 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: Astro-1 Status for 12/03/90 [1200 CST] (Forwarded)


      Astro 1 Shift Summary #05
      12:00 noon CST, December 3, 1990
      1/11:10 MET
      Spacelab Mission Operations Control
      Marshall Space Flight Center


      During this 12-hour period (4 a.m. to 12 noon CST), the Hopkins
      Ultraviolet Telescope (HUT) obtained data from the ultraviolet
      radiation found in the Earth's airglow.  At noon, the team was
      attempting to obtain its first star target using the Astro's Star
      Tracker (AST), an element of the Image Motion Compensation System,
      which helps to steady the Instrument Pointing System (IPS), but
      which can also be used to acquire targets.

      For most of this 12-hour timeframe, the Astro crew dealt with
      difficulties in two of the three star trackers of the IPS.  All four
      of the Astro telescopes were, at some point during this period,
      ready to complete activation or to take science (in order to
      complete activation, instruments like the Wisconsin Ultraviolet
      Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE) require a focus-and-alignment
      sequence, which requires a properly functioning IPS).

      The crew generally followed the mission timeline in attempting to
      achieve the scheduled star targets, proceeding as far as possible
      within the limits of the IPS condition.

      The WUPPE, which was relying on the Dedicated Experiment Processor-B
      (DEP-B), a backup computer assigned specifically to that instrument,
      was "power recycled" at approximately 6:35 a.m. -- that is, shut
      down to reset various computer registers, then turned on again --
      when software commands were sent to the experiment from the Spacelab
      Operations Control Center (SOCC).  Within half an hour, the test
      lamp within WUPPE was on and had reached the proper temperature for
      calibration procedures by the crew.  Payload Specialist Ron Parise
      reported good spectroscopy observations from the WUPPE, to the
      delight of the science team in the SOCC.

------------------------------

Date: 6 Dec 90 06:28:29 GMT
From: usc!samsung!olivea!orc!inews!hopi![e-mail]  (Stephen Strazdus)
Subject: Re: Laser Enhanced Optics

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (BOB CLARK) writes:
>
>   I have an idea about how we could use lasers to detect the
>degree of atmospheric distortion and was wondering if it seems
>feasible.
>   We would locate a satellite in geosynchronous orbit above a major
>ground telescope. Shine a laser down to the mirror. We know how the
>light from the laser should look so any deviation from this must be
>caused the air distortion.

(Explanation deleted)

>                        Sound plausible?

The object you are observing would need to be in the same direction as
the satellite.  Even if the satellite doesn't actually occult
the object, you would still be drastically limiting what you could
observe.
--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Steve Strazdus  |  [e-mail]  |  Insert your favorite .sig here.

------------------------------

Date: 6 Dec 90 00:23:24 GMT
From: att!linac!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!van-bc!ubc-cs!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!utzoo![e-mail]  (Henry Spencer)
Subject: Re: * SpaceNews 03-Dec-90 *

In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Bill Newman) writes:
>Newton certainly killed the 2-body gravitational problem, but many
>aspects of the many-body problem were better understood 200 years
>after his death than at his death...

I didn't say that nothing was added for 200 years, only that what was
added was incremental improvements and refinements of his work, rather
than anything new and major.
--
"The average pointer, statistically,    |Henry Spencer at U of Toronto Zoology
points somewhere in X." -Hugh Redelmeier| [e-mail]   utzoo!henry

------------------------------

Date: 6 Dec 90 05:17:31 GMT
From: boreal.rice.edu![e-mail]  (Shawn Joel Dube)
Subject: Re: Good Bye  (Quite possibly my last posting from this site)

In article <[e-mail]>, [e-mail] (Robert Casey) writes:
|> I'm afraid that this may be my last posting.  Philips is having layoffs, and I
|> might get canned.....


This brings up a question.  How many people subscribe to this
newsgroup???  I'm curious to know.

Just EMail a small letter and I'll post a total count in about a week.

--
rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
r     ___     _              "...but then there was the         r
r    /__     | \              possibility that they were        r
r   ___/hawn |__\ube          LaRouche democrats which, of      r
r  [e-mail]        course, were better off dead."    r
rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

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Date: 2 Dec 90 22:00:49 GMT
From: swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!zardoz.cpd.com!dhw68k!ofa123![e-mail]  (Rick Ellis)
Subject: HST images

On <Nov 26 14:07> Jay Travisano writes:

 JT> There have been a number of requests for Internet access to HST images.
 JT> It should be noted that all data from HST is proprietary for up to one
 JT> year, property of the scientists who propose the given observations.

There are a number of HST images available for FTP at NSSDC.





--
Rick Ellis
Internet: [e-mail]
Compuserve: >internet:[e-mail]
BBS: 714 939-1041
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------

Date: 5 Dec 90 00:50:49 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: Astro-1 Status for 12/04/90 [1223 CST] (Forwarded)


      Astro 1 Mission Report #16
      12:23 p.m. CST, December 4, 1990
      2/11:33 MET
      Spacelab Mission Operations Control
      Marshall Space Flight Center


      "We had some last minute excitement at the control center this
      morning," Astro Mission Manager Jack Jones began his press briefing
      at 9:30 a.m. CST today.  "It appears at this time we have a good
      healthy payload.  All the instruments are up and working, and all
      the pointing systems appear to be pointing nominally at this time.
      Eliminating any unforeseen events, I think we're off and ready to
      go.  There may be some minor refinements, but I believe we're in the
      mode to start getting science."

      Spacelab operators had stayed busy during the night bringing up the
      Instrument Pointing System and its optical sensor package which
      provide automatic pointing to target stars for the three Astro
      ultraviolet telescopes.  After early difficulties loading software
      into the star trackers, a misloaded computer patch had put the
      system back at "square zero," according to Jones.  But efforts to
      reload the system proceeded much more quickly the second time, and
      by the time of the briefing, Jones reported that the IPS was in the
      "automatic fine track mode, working very stably now."

      Also at the briefing, Broad Band X-Ray Telescope principal
      investigator Peter Serlemitsos showed "first light" spectra for his
      independently-mounted telescope, taken of the star Capella around 6
      a.m. CST.  Asked if the instrument would be making discoveries not
      possible with previous telescopes, Serlemitsos replied, "We did not
      work for the last ten years to say 'me too.'  We are putting up an
      instrument that does observations for the first time."  He pointed
      out that the X-ray telescope would have better resolution and
      observe across wider energy bands than any before it.  In addition,
      co-observations of the same targets in both the ultraviolet and
      X-rays would multiply the discoveries.

------------------------------

Date: 3 Dec 90 12:33:29 GMT
From: mcsun!unido!mpirbn![e-mail]  (Daniel Fischer)
Subject: Re: Astro-2

In article <[e-mail]>
[e-mail] (Stephen Strazdus) writes:
>Is there an Astro-2 flight in the works for the Space Shuttle?  I would
>imagine the instruments used in Astro-1 are not going to be thrown away
>after a 10 day mission.  Are they?  [...]

In SCIENCE of 1 June, Lennard Fisk was quoted on that. He explained that of the
initially planned at least 8 ASTRO missions all but the first one were
abandoned, but that a slight chance remained that Astro-2 might be returned
to the manifest. Don't blame the astronomers for building expensive telescopes
that are to fly for ten days only: when it all started 12 years ago, NASA
told them that there would be a shuttle launch per week and they'd get
plenty of flights. That, of course, seemed more interesting to the community
than to have just one unmanned satellite like IUE or the Soviet ASTRO - there
would be chances for improvements and repairs after each flight, and then
there would be already the next one. Now, of course, everyone on the mission
would have preferred to fly the ASTRO scopes IUE-style...

------------------------------

Date:    Wed, 5 Dec 90 01:29:01 MST
From: [e-mail] (Cary Oler)
Subject: MAJOR SOLAR FLARE ALERT
X-St-Vmsmail-To: ST%"[e-mail]"

                        --  MAJOR SOLAR FLARE ALERT  --

                               DECEMBER 04, 1990

                           Potential Impact Forecast
                              Flare Event Summary

                                    --------


MAJOR ENERGETIC EVENT SUMMARY

     Region 6397 (N09E45) has been throwing some unexpected surprises at us
lately.  It has been abnormally active considering the relatively weak
magnetic gradients which have been observed in the region.  At 02:03 UT on
04 December, Region 6397 spawned an M6.6/1F major flare at a solar position
of N08E56.  This event was accompanied by a 310 s.f.u. Tenflare.  There were
no significant radio bursts or shock-related frequency sweeps observed from
this event.  The flare duration was a respectable 39 minutes.  This flare
produced a moderate intensity SID/SWF at 01:57 UT on 04 December, which ended
at approximately 02:36 UT.  Frequencies up to about 17 MHz were noticably
absorbed during this period over sunlit portions of the earth.  This flare was
associated with minor VHF enhancements.

     Considering the lack of complexity in this group, it is almost surprising
it managed to spawn such an energetic x-ray flare.  The region is more active
than it apparently should be, by observing the data which has been collected
on the region thus far.  It has not grown significantly over the past
24 hours, nor has its magnetic gradients changed much.  It is therefore,
difficult to predict what this region may do next.

     Aside from the major M6.6/1F Tenflare which occurred early on the 4th,
Region 6397 also managed to produce a class M1.8/1B flare at 14:39 UT on
04 December.  This flare, located at N08E51, lasted for 38 minutes and was not
accompanied by any significant radio emissions.

     If Region 6397 continues to behave as it has over the past several days,
it could conceivably erupt with another major flare.  The Space Environment
Services Center expects this region to continue to produce M-class flare
activity with a slight risk of another major flare over the next 3 to 5 days,
depending on whether it detensifies or not.

     Flare probabilities for the next 72 hours (ending 07 December) follow:

             Flare        Probability
             Type       24hr  48hr  72hr
       --------------   ----  ----  ----
       Class M Flare     60%   60%   60%
       Class X Flare     20%   20%   20%
       Proton Flare      05%   05%   10%

     Flare activity will likely remain elevated for the remainder of this week
due to Region 6397's level of activity.  The return of old Region 6368 on
11 or 12 December may increase the risk for M-class flaring even further.  By
that time, Region 6397 will be approximately half-way to the western limb.
However, it is distinctly possible that Region 6368 has stabilized now (or even
died on the far side of the sun).  We won't know until 11 or 12 December.


POTENTIAL TERRESTRIAL IMPACT FORECAST

     The major flare of 04 December is not expected to have a terrestrial
impact.  Its lack of association with shock-related frequency sweeps and
small-size (in addition to the rather poor trajectory for any mass ejections)
seem to indicate that the risk for a terrestrial impact from this event is
small.  It will, however, require close monitoring as it nears the solar
meridian.  If it grows or increases in magnetic complexity, the risk for PCA
and proton activity will increase, particularly as it crosses over to the
western solar hemisphere (which it will do in about 4 days - by 08 December).

     There is a strong risk for potentially frequent SID and SWF activity over
the next 3 to 5 days (at least).  M-class flare activity should provide
approximately 1 to 2 potential SID/SWF-capable flares per day.  SID durations
could exceed 50 minutes.  SWF affected frequencies could exceed 15 MHz on the
sunlit hemisphere of the earth.  There is likewise, a moderate probability for
associated VHF enhancements from some of the minor and/or potential major
flare activity over the next several days at least.

     Geomagnetic activity is not expected to increase as a result of the recent
major flare.  However, a well positioned coronal hole will likely begin
affecting geomagnetic and auroral activity over the next 2 to 3 days (05 to
07 December).  Radio propagation conditions may deteriorate over middle and
high latitudes during this period.  Low latitudes are not expected to be
seriously affected.  Effects from this coronal hole should diminish by 07 or
08 December.


**  End of Report **

------------------------------

Date: 6 Dec 90 03:35:31 GMT
From: trident.arc.nasa.gov![e-mail]  (Peter E. Yee)
Subject: Astro-1 Status for 12/05/90 [1200 CST] (Forwarded)


         Astro-1 Shift Summary Report #11
         12:00 noon CST, Dec. 5, 1990
         2/11:10 MET
         Spacelab Mission Operations Control
         Marshall Space Flight Center,
         Huntsville, AL


         During the period 4 a.m. to 12 noon CST, much high quality
         data were taken by the Astro-1 instruments.  Toward the end
         of the work shift for Alternate Payload Specialist (APS)
         John-David Bartoe in the payload control room, he voiced up
         to the crew some promising statistics, indicating that our
         science acquired has been increasing at a good rate each
         shift.  And, he said, he expected those numbers to continue
         to rise.  A smiling Mission Scientist Dr. Ted Gull concurred
         at a later briefing to news media, saying that the mission
         was going well and the instruments were obtaining data the
         science teams had hoped to receive from the beginning.

         Early within this time period, an interstellar polarization
         probe was successfully completed by the Wisconsin Ultraviolet
         Photo-Polarimeter Experiment (WUPPE), the primary instrument
         for the observation.  The purpose was to study the polarized
         light of the interstellar medium -- the great volume of space
         filled with hydrogen and tiny grains of dust.  The target was
         a star which acted much like a flashlight, illuminating the
         interstellar medium to allow the WUPPE to study its
         polarization effects.

         WUPPE was primary observer as well for the Canis Majoris, a
         possible binary star with a strong stellar "wind" that
         continues to erode its mass.  As a powerful polarized
         ultraviolet source, EZ Canis Majoris provided excellent
         science for the WUPPE team.

         According to downlink information, the Ultraviolet Imaging
         Telescope (UIT) obtained good data in the observation of
         globular cluster M79, although some drift by the Image Motion
         Compensation System may have slightly degraded the
         information.  (Final science results will not be known until
         the UIT -- in effect, a camera taking pictures aboard the
         orbiter but keeping its film -- lands on Earth next week.)
         The UIT was definitely successful, according to collateral
         data received, in observing M87, a giant elliptical galaxy 41
         million light-years from Earth.  Because the galaxy is a high
         priority target for the UIT team, Payload Specialist Ron
         Parise joked from on orbit that had he not obtained M87, "the
         PI would have fired me."  (The PI is a principal
         investigator, or chief scientist, for a particular science
         experiment.)  APS Bartoe voiced back to Parise, with a laugh,
         "You're right about that."

         Throughout this timeframe, the Hopkins Ultraviolet Telescope
         (HUT) locked on to the various stellar objects and beamed
         live television of its target-acquisition images to the
         Spacelab Operations Control Center.  Even for those targets
         in which HUT was not the primary instrument, it nonetheless
         obtained good data for the HUT science team.

         The Broad Band X-Ray Telescope (BBXRT) also had a happy day.
         The science team noted that the instrument was continuing to
         receive excellent data from its scheduled targets, except
         when certain attitudes too near the line of sight with the
         Sun prompted focusing upon alternate targets.  In all cases,
         however, excellent data was being returned to the BBXRT
         team.  Among the targets viewed during this timeframe was a
         quasi stellar object (popularly, a "quasar").

         At approximately noon, the WUPPE was able to complete the
         observation of the Sanduleak star, another stellar object to
         act as a distant "beacon" to reveal polarization effects
         within the interstellar medium between Sanduleak and our
         solar system.

------------------------------

End of SPACE Digest V12 #637
*******************