January 2005 - Utah-Astronomy - mailman.xmission.com

Aurora warning
by Patrick Wiggins 16 Jan '05

16 Jan '05

This was sent out by Sky & Telescope: +++++ Yesterday's major class M8.6 solar flare is expected to impact the Earth during the mid to late UTC hours of 16 January (within the next 24 hours) and has the potential to produce moderate to strong levels of auroral activity across the middle and perhaps even the lower latitude regions late on 16 and into 17 January (UTC time). For North American observers, the best opportunity to observe activity will probably be during the evening hours on 16 January (Sunday night). +++++ Patrick

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Re: Donna Shirley
by Chuck Hards 16 Jan '05

16 Jan '05

Patrick, here is the text from Shirley's Website: Donna Shirley was the manager of the Mars Exploration Program and the original leader of the team that built the Sojourner Rover. Donna, who retired from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in August 1998, has written a new autobiography, published by Broadway Books in June 1998, called "Managing Martians: The Extraordinary Story of a Woman's Lifelong Quest to Get to Mars -- and of the Team Behind the Space Robot That Has Captured the Imagination of the World". It's the story of her life from her childhood in Wynnewood, Oklahoma to managing the Mars Exploration Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. It chronicles the struggles and triumphs of the Pathfinder and Sojourner Rover teams which carried out the Mars landing on July 4, 1997, and tells of the ongoing saga of the Mars Global Surveyor currently orbiting and imaging the red planet. The story of the journey of a girl from a small town who becomes first a pilot, then an engineer, then a member and finally a leader of teams exploring the solar system will keep you turning pages. I'm pretty sure she had the project at least through engineering/construction/testing/assembly/phases. I recall she did have issues with top management, I wonder if JPL and/or NASA have purposely kept her off the Web pages? Ooo, sour grapes! Tony Spear taking over "partway through the mission"? It looks to me like he was handed the whole thing after most of the work was already done. No mention of Shirley on the Website is not a very ethical (or truthful) position. A sin of ommission, at least. Credit should be given where it is due. Dig deeper, Patrick, I know you'd really hesitate to question what NASA tells you, but perhaps this is a good time...If Spear does speak at a meeting, I will definitely ask him publicly "what gives?" C. > That's odd. JPL's Pathfinder site lists Tony Spear > at the Project > Manager ( > http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/MPF/bios/team/spear1.html > ). > > Could not find Shirley anywhere on the site so maybe > Spear took over > from her part way through the mission. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Meet the all-new My Yahoo! - Try it today! http://my.yahoo.com

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] U of A site/Huygens images
by Chuck Hards 16 Jan '05

16 Jan '05

Good idea, Joe, I hope someone tries it and posts the results. Some of the images also make ersatz stereo pairs. When I free-fuse some of them the resolution does improve slightly. Note there are quite a few pages with not much recognizable in the images, but once you wade through those, you'll encounter more excellent images from the descent phase, just keep clicking through the pages. I think all the recovered images are there. It does look a lot like an "ocean", doesn't it? If you can call liquid methane or ethane an "ocean". 300-degrees below zero! Brrr! Joe Bauman wrote: > Man, this is grand. And I think if several > images of the > same site can be stacked it could improve the > resolution. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - 250MB free storage. Do more. Manage less. http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250

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Re: Joes UFO
by Chuck Hards 16 Jan '05

16 Jan '05

Joe, your description is exactly right. No ET's there. Thanks! __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Meet the all-new My Yahoo! - Try it today! http://my.yahoo.com

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Donna Shirley
by Chuck Hards 16 Jan '05

16 Jan '05

Here is Ms. Shirley's Website. She is now a professional speaker and management consultant. http://www.managingcreativity.com/ Looks like Mr. Spears might have been under Ms. Shirley at JPL, or could have been her replacement. I read her book, "Managing Martians", and can recommend it as a pretty good read for anyone in a management position, especially if you oversee talented people or those with a, shall we say, very high opinion of themselves and their work. Unfortunately my copy was loaned to the former HR manager where I work, and she took it with her into retirement...haven't seen her or the book in years! __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The all-new My Yahoo! - What will yours do? http://my.yahoo.com

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Re: Robert Burnham Jr. (Rob Ratkowski)
by Canopus56 16 Jan '05

16 Jan '05

Sorry guys, looks like I missed the top post in this thread. My post was duplicative of the root of the thread. - Canopus56 __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Read only the mail you want - Yahoo! Mail SpamGuard. http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail

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Re: Robert Burnham Jr. (Rob Ratkowski)
by Canopus56 16 Jan '05

16 Jan '05

This 1997 article from the Phoenix Times gives a good overview of Burnham's life and demise - http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/issues/1997-09-25/feature.html I keep a copy of this article in the back of Volume III of my copy of the _Celestial Handbook_. I recommend you grab a copy before it disappears off the net someday. I heard a net rumour that Lowell Observatory staff and Huachuca Astronomy Club member Brian Skiff has been working on an updated, revised edition of the _Handbook_ for sometime. - Canopus56 (Kurt) P.S. - I bought my copy of the Handbook about 5 months ago at Sam Wellers. Amazingly, they had a _new_ copy of the entire three volume set in hardback for about $30. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Meet the all-new My Yahoo! - Try it today! http://my.yahoo.com

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Re: Donna Shirley
by Chuck Hards 16 Jan '05

16 Jan '05

Patrick wrote: > I'm pretty sure Tony Spear was the project manager. > What was Ms. > Shirley's position? Nope, Donna Shirley was the project manager according to her book "Managing Martians", detailing her heading the project at JPL, where she worked. I do not know her and she is retired from JPL. Maybe Tony Spear was a section director, above Shirley and more hands-off? C. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - Easier than ever with enhanced search. Learn more. http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250

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ESA Web troubles
by Chuck Hards 16 Jan '05

16 Jan '05

It's been a day-and-a-half since I could load the image links from the ESA/Huygens home page. Anybody else having better luck? Any new stuff posted anywhere today? I realize ESA staff is probably running on adrenaline at this point but they haven't even updated their home page in 2 days. Frustrating. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? The all-new My Yahoo! - Get yours free! http://my.yahoo.com

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U of A/Huygens site
by Chuck Hards 16 Jan '05

16 Jan '05

This is the place to pull images for mosaicking. Looks like all of them are there. If any list members can do mosaics, give it a shot...(Patrick?) __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - now with 250MB free storage. Learn more. http://info.mail.yahoo.com/mail_250

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