TOP STORIES:

Habitable planets may be common

One in four = of the planetary systems identified outside the Solar
System is capab= le of harbouring Earth-like planets
http://www.newscientist.com/news/n= ews.jsp?id=3Dns99993223

EDITOR'S CHOICE:
Chatting w= ith the chimps
Kanzi is an adult bonobo, or pygmy chimpanzee. He has g= rown up among
humans, and is adept at communicating with symbols. He = understands
spoken English, and can respond to phrases such as "do yo= u want a
banana?" Now, Kanzi has surprised his trainers at Georgia St= ate
University in Atlanta by appearing to make up his own "words". Th= is
is the most convincing evidence yet that apes can make sounds that=
carry a particular meaning. It is also the latest challenge to the <= BR>orthodox view that animals don't have language...
http://www.newsci= entist.com/news/news.jsp?id=3Dns99993218

Man's early hunting role = in doubt
Instead of man the hunter, the driving force behind a key hum= an
evolutionary surge may have been woman the gatherer
http://www.= newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=3Dns99993222

First cloned baby "= born on 26 December"
The cult-linked company Clonaid says the results = of genetic tests
will prove the baby girl is a clone - but many exper= ts are sceptical
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=3Dns9999= 3217

AND FINALLY...
Why are scenes of mountains, water, trees, = sun, snow, etcetera so
heart-warming and beautiful? Why do gentlemen = prefer blondes? This
year's Feedback Christmas Competition asked read= ers to think of a
human trait or behaviour and then provide their own= evolutionary
explanation for it. Don't miss the final batch of winni= ng entries...
http://www.newscientist.com/opinion/opfeedback.jsp?id=3D= ns237699

------=_NextPart_001_000A_01C2B301.8953B9A0-- From owner-public@setileague.org Fri Jan 3 16:46:07 2003 Received: from seti1.setileague.org ([204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.2/8.11.4) with ESMTP id h040k5Vq015041; Fri, 3 Jan 2003 16:46:06 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) id TAA06741 for public-list; Fri, 3 Jan 2003 19:35:06 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from hotmail.com (oe69.pav0.hotmail.com [64.4.33.211]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id TAA06730; Fri, 3 Jan 2003 19:34:58 -0500 (EST) Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC; Fri, 3 Jan 2003 16:34:26 -0800 X-Originating-IP: [65.149.164.16] From: "LARRY KLAES" To: "setipublic" Cc: "BioAstro" Subject: SETI public: Orangutans Show Signs of Culture Date: Fri, 3 Jan 2003 19:34:21 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: MSN Explorer 7.02.0011.2700 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_001_000C_01C2B35F.1D423B20" Message-ID: X-OriginalArrivalTime: 04 Jan 2003 00:34:26.0835 (UTC) FILETIME=[09567E30:01C2B389] Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk ------=_NextPart_001_000C_01C2B35F.1D423B20 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Orangutans show signs of culture This story is from National Geographic News. We hope you enjoy it. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/12/1220_021226_orangutan.htm= l An international group of scientists pooling more than 30 years of data h= as concluded that behavioral patterns among different orangutan populatio= ns show evidence of culture. =20 The finding pushes the origins of culture among great apes back to 14 mil= lion years ago, when orangutans and African apes last had a common ancest= or. Great apes include orangutans, found only in Asia, and Africa's goril= las and chimpanzees. =20 Earlier studies had shown evidence of cultural learning among chimpanzees= , suggesting that great ape culture had been around for at least five to = seven million years. Transmission of cultural knowledge in orangutans and= other great apes has implications for understanding the evolution of hum= an culture. =20 ------=_NextPart_001_000C_01C2B35F.1D423B20 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

Orangutans sho= w signs of culture

This story is from National Geographic News. We= hope you enjoy it.

http://news.nationalgeograph= ic.com/news/2002/12/1220_021226_orangutan.html

<= /DIV>

An international group of scientists pooling more than 30 year= s of data has concluded that behavioral patterns among different oranguta= n populations show evidence of culture.

The finding pushes the origin= s of culture among great apes back to 14 million years ago, when oranguta= ns and African apes last had a common ancestor. Great apes include orangu= tans, found only in Asia, and Africa's gorillas and chimpanzees.

Earl= ier studies had shown evidence of cultural learning among chimpanzees, su= ggesting that great ape culture had been around for at least five to seve= n million years. Transmission of cultural knowledge in orangutans and oth= er great apes has implications for understanding the evolution of human c= ulture.

------=_NextPart_001_000C_01C2B35F.1D423B20-- From owner-public@setileague.org Fri Jan 3 19:24:39 2003 Received: from seti1.setileague.org ([204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.2/8.11.4) with ESMTP id h043ObVq031270; Fri, 3 Jan 2003 19:24:38 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) id WAA09226 for public-list; Fri, 3 Jan 2003 22:14:45 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from tomts26-srv.bellnexxia.net (tomts26.bellnexxia.net [209.226.175.189]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id WAA09222 for ; Fri, 3 Jan 2003 22:14:42 -0500 (EST) Received: from lsk.sympatico.ca ([209.226.189.111]) by tomts26-srv.bellnexxia.net (InterMail vM.5.01.04.19 201-253-122-122-119-20020516) with ESMTP id <20030104031440.XUEN21645.tomts26-srv.bellnexxia.net@lsk.sympatico.ca> for ; Fri, 3 Jan 2003 22:14:40 -0500 Message-Id: <5.2.0.9.0.20030103211410.00ad6560@pop2.sympatico.ca> X-Sender: b1aemm59@pop2.sympatico.ca (Unverified) X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.2.0.9 Date: Fri, 03 Jan 2003 21:50:57 -0500 To: "setipublic" From: Larry Kayser Subject: SETI public: Some Questions..... In-Reply-To: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk Greetings All: (1) Development Status: As of July 1999, the RAOOS software suite is undergoing Beta testing by a small group of Project Argus volunteers. Final release will be announced on The SETI League website This project had a name change to PAOOS (Project Argus Observatory Operating System . Nothing more since 1999. The notes on this project speak to software I would sure like to see and then to mine some of the resources for use in another project I am working on. Has there been any progress??????? (2) Help Wanted: SETI Logging Software This item again has items that I would find very valuable in other work, has there been any progress in this item? Are there any members working on this item? My interests are in finding ways to dump 99% or more of the collected data sets as quickly as possible, keeping only the data sets that have indicated in real time or on secondary processing that there is a need for additional processing and analysis to determine if there are events of interest. SETI is not alone in seeking to find the needle in the large stack of hay. I specifically need help in learning how to look in the FFT data and evaluate the data for signals that meet any one or more of a number of models or algorithms. I see references to some algorithms that I have never heard of in fact I am unable to even find the generic language to describe these algorithms or processes so that I might find more information on them. I need help. I am neither a C programmer or a Linux user - I do write commercial business software in VB6 and write PIC code as needed. Like so many others, I face a choice of either finding some help or forgetting my research interests and going and learning all the schooling I have missed so that I might be able then to generate the tools needed. For me it is a choice of either being a tool user or becoming a tool developer and forgetting the project that needs the tools. At ;my age, it is unlikely I will have time to do both...... My projects are collecting 7x24 data sets of 1 minute intervals at 28 MHz and 144 MHz data in a 20 KHz wide windows and seeking, by dual processing, short duration events in the order of 20 milliseconds and / or long duration events up to 55 seconds. The events may or may not have Doppler shift on the signal. Progress on my projects from a few hours per day per week to 7x24 is critical to achieving success. If anyone on here can speak to the above items I would appreciate an email, va3lk@rac.ca. Thanks in advance for reading this item.... Larry VA3LK From owner-public@setileague.org Fri Jan 3 20:43:11 2003 Received: from seti1.setileague.org ([204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.2/8.11.4) with ESMTP id h044hAVq010694; Fri, 3 Jan 2003 20:43:10 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) id XAA10479 for public-list; Fri, 3 Jan 2003 23:31:35 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from harrier.mail.pas.earthlink.net (harrier.mail.pas.earthlink.net [207.217.120.12]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id XAA10475 for ; Fri, 3 Jan 2003 23:31:33 -0500 (EST) Received: from 1cust63.tnt3.loyalsock.pa.da.uu.net ([65.238.106.63] helo=office) by harrier.mail.pas.earthlink.net with smtp (Exim 3.33 #1) id 18Ufy6-0001yo-00; Fri, 03 Jan 2003 20:31:31 -0800 Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.20030103233057.015010a0@mail.earthlink.net> X-Sender: drseti@mail.earthlink.net X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 3.0.1 (32) Date: Fri, 03 Jan 2003 23:30:57 -0500 To: Larry Kayser , "setipublic" From: "Dr. H. Paul Shuch" Subject: Re: SETI public: Some Questions..... In-Reply-To: <5.2.0.9.0.20030103211410.00ad6560@pop2.sympatico.ca> References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk At 09:50 PM 1/3/03 -0500, Larry Kayser wrote: >Greetings All: > > >(1) Development Status: As of July 1999, the RAOOS software suite is >undergoing Beta testing by a small group of Project Argus volunteers. >Has there been any progress??????? Unfortunately, Larry, this project suffered the fate of too many volunteer efforts. An initial release was made at the SARA Green Bank conference in July of 2000, and then the project died when one of the two developers had business setbacks, and the other went through a divorce. As far as I know, the project has never been ressurected. >(2) Help Wanted: SETI Logging Software > >This item again has items that I would find very valuable in other work, >has there been any progress in this item? Are there any members working on >this item? Many of the features listed there have been incorporated into the Windows version of SETIFox, as well as the Linux-based SETISearch program. Links to both appear on The SETI League website. Also, the LinRad program demonstrated at last summer's EME Conference seems to do much of what was on our wish list. The big problem is that most potential users of this software are sitting back waiting for someone else to do something. I remind all on the PUBLIC list that nothing happens in The SETI League unless YOU make it happen. Cheers, Paul -------------------------------- H. Paul Shuch, Ph.D., CFII, FBIS, FRCA Executive Director, The SETI League, Inc. 433 Liberty Street, PO Box 555 Little Ferry NJ 07643 USA voice (201) 641-1770; fax (201) 641-1771 n6tx@setileague.org www.setileague.org Project Argus station FN11LH "We Know We're Not Alone!" From owner-public@setileague.org Fri Jan 3 21:37:59 2003 Received: from seti1.setileague.org ([204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.2/8.11.4) with ESMTP id h045bwVq032624; Fri, 3 Jan 2003 21:37:59 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) id AAA11360 for public-list; Sat, 4 Jan 2003 00:27:15 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from tomts26-srv.bellnexxia.net (tomts26.bellnexxia.net [209.226.175.189]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id AAA11354; Sat, 4 Jan 2003 00:27:09 -0500 (EST) Received: from lsk.sympatico.ca ([216.209.138.136]) by tomts26-srv.bellnexxia.net (InterMail vM.5.01.04.19 201-253-122-122-119-20020516) with ESMTP id <20030104052707.JBR21645.tomts26-srv.bellnexxia.net@lsk.sympatico.ca>; Sat, 4 Jan 2003 00:27:07 -0500 Message-Id: <5.2.0.9.0.20030104000823.00aae450@pop2.sympatico.ca> X-Sender: b1aemm59@pop2.sympatico.ca (Unverified) X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.2.0.9 Date: Sat, 04 Jan 2003 00:24:17 -0500 To: "Dr. H. Paul Shuch" , "setipublic" From: Larry Kayser Subject: Re: SETI public: Some Questions..... In-Reply-To: <3.0.1.32.20030103233057.015010a0@mail.earthlink.net> References: <5.2.0.9.0.20030103211410.00ad6560@pop2.sympatico.ca> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk >Paul: >The big problem is that most potential users of this software are sitting >back waiting for someone else to do something. I remind all on the PUBLIC >list that nothing happens in The SETI League unless YOU make it happen. It is ever thus. In my first email I defined an issue, one can either develop the tools or one can use the tools, in general I have found that precious few can do both. The need for tools to wade through the collection of large, really huge amounts of data and find the gems of possible value is as I see it a general problem. We need a general solution. Phil Karn, KA9Q, has in his usual manner made his contribution by a highly optimized FFT but the FFT in and of itself does not solve the problem for anyone. I have indeed found only one reference to it, that in the Linux SetiSearch program. I will approach both the SETIFox and SETISearch developers for information. Regretfully the Linrad software is excellent manual analysis software but it does not support any form of automated processing. The ability to automagically process the raw data efficiently is the root of the need for almost everyone in long duration experimental work. So I still need help, and those who are reading this email I ask for you to consider the issues and see if you can help me find information on processing FFT data for signal detection, I still don't even know what I don't know. I am sure in this community there are those who can help in this area. Larry VA3LK PS Paul, I wonder if a little dusting and cleaning in the web site information might be in order...... From owner-public@setileague.org Sat Jan 4 01:04:26 2003 Received: from seti1.setileague.org ([204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.2/8.11.4) with ESMTP id h0494OVq024081; Sat, 4 Jan 2003 01:04:25 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) id DAA14534 for public-list; Sat, 4 Jan 2003 03:53:57 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from gull.mail.pas.earthlink.net (gull.mail.pas.earthlink.net [207.217.120.84]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id DAA14530 for ; Sat, 4 Jan 2003 03:53:55 -0500 (EST) Received: from 1cust17.tnt3.loyalsock.pa.da.uu.net ([65.238.106.17] helo=office) by gull.mail.pas.earthlink.net with smtp (Exim 3.33 #1) id 18Uk41-0005kr-00; Sat, 04 Jan 2003 00:53:54 -0800 Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.20030104035318.014ebed8@mail.earthlink.net> X-Sender: drseti@mail.earthlink.net X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 3.0.1 (32) Date: Sat, 04 Jan 2003 03:53:18 -0500 To: Larry Kayser , "setipublic" From: "Dr. H. Paul Shuch" Subject: Re: SETI public: Some Questions..... In-Reply-To: <5.2.0.9.0.20030104000823.00aae450@pop2.sympatico.ca> References: <3.0.1.32.20030103233057.015010a0@mail.earthlink.net> <5.2.0.9.0.20030103211410.00ad6560@pop2.sympatico.ca> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk At 12:24 AM 1/4/03 -0500, Larry Kayser wrote: >Regretfully the Linrad software is excellent manual analysis software but >it does not support >any form of automated processing. I was given to believe that LinRad is modular, and open source. Thus, it should be feasible for any user out there (with the interest and software skills) to write an add-on data logging module, to do the automated processing which you propose, and which I agree would be highly desirable. Any takers? 73, Paul -------------------------------- H. Paul Shuch, Ph.D., CFII, FBIS, FRCA Executive Director, The SETI League, Inc. 433 Liberty Street, PO Box 555 Little Ferry NJ 07643 USA voice (201) 641-1770; fax (201) 641-1771 n6tx@setileague.org www.setileague.org Project Argus station FN11LH "We Know We're Not Alone!" From owner-public@setileague.org Sat Jan 4 01:04:35 2003 Received: from seti1.setileague.org ([204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.2/8.11.4) with ESMTP id h0494YVq021407; Sat, 4 Jan 2003 01:04:35 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) id DAA14481 for public-list; Sat, 4 Jan 2003 03:51:07 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from gull.mail.pas.earthlink.net (gull.mail.pas.earthlink.net [207.217.120.84]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id DAA14477 for ; Sat, 4 Jan 2003 03:51:04 -0500 (EST) Received: from 1cust17.tnt3.loyalsock.pa.da.uu.net ([65.238.106.17] helo=office) by gull.mail.pas.earthlink.net with smtp (Exim 3.33 #1) id 18Uk1A-0003f7-00; Sat, 04 Jan 2003 00:50:57 -0800 Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.20030104035022.014f0f0c@mail.earthlink.net> X-Sender: drseti@mail.earthlink.net X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 3.0.1 (32) Date: Sat, 04 Jan 2003 03:50:22 -0500 To: Larry Kayser , "setipublic" From: "Dr. H. Paul Shuch" Subject: Re: SETI public: Some Questions..... In-Reply-To: <5.2.0.9.0.20030104000823.00aae450@pop2.sympatico.ca> References: <3.0.1.32.20030103233057.015010a0@mail.earthlink.net> <5.2.0.9.0.20030103211410.00ad6560@pop2.sympatico.ca> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk At 12:24 AM 1/4/03 -0500, Larry Kayser wrote: >PS Paul, I wonder if a little dusting and cleaning in the web site >information might >be in order...... I do a *weekly* website update, Larry, which occupies about 20% of my work week. Although I write many articles, and code and validate all the HTML you see there, I depend upon the members to provide new information to post to the site; it is not my policy to make it up! Until new information is provided, I leave the old information up as an historical record. But with over 2500 documents on the website, if I were to rewrite them all even once every three years, at a rate of four per working day, that would be a fulltime job in itself, and nothing else would get accomplished at The SETI League. I'm not complaining, but do read my job description at to see why this is not in our members' best interests -- after all, it is the members who foot the bill! OTOH, any new information that is provided to me, or any article submitted by the membership, gets posted to the website within a week. If you, or anyone reading this, would care to prepare a software update for web publication, feel free to submit it as straight text in the body of an email, and I'll take it from there. 73, Paul -------------------------------- H. Paul Shuch, Ph.D., CFII, FBIS, FRCA Executive Director, The SETI League, Inc. 433 Liberty Street, PO Box 555 Little Ferry NJ 07643 USA voice (201) 641-1770; fax (201) 641-1771 n6tx@setileague.org www.setileague.org Project Argus station FN11LH "We Know We're Not Alone!" From owner-public@setileague.org Sat Jan 4 10:33:59 2003 Received: from seti1.setileague.org ([204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.2/8.11.4) with ESMTP id h04IXvVq032250; Sat, 4 Jan 2003 10:33:58 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) id NAA23283 for public-list; Sat, 4 Jan 2003 13:22:47 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from hotmail.com (oe88.pav0.hotmail.com [64.4.33.230]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id NAA23273; Sat, 4 Jan 2003 13:22:44 -0500 (EST) Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC; Sat, 4 Jan 2003 10:22:13 -0800 X-Originating-IP: [65.149.164.36] From: "LARRY KLAES" To: "setipublic" Cc: "BioAstro" Subject: SETI public: Fw: Saturn and the Crab Nebula; Earth at Perihelion Date: Sat, 4 Jan 2003 13:22:06 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: MSN Explorer 7.02.0011.2700 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_001_0000_01C2B3F4.47501D20" Message-ID: X-OriginalArrivalTime: 04 Jan 2003 18:22:13.0640 (UTC) FILETIME=[34212080:01C2B41E] Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk ------=_NextPart_001_0000_01C2B3F4.47501D20 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" ----- Original Message ----- From: SpaceWeather.com Sent: Saturday, January 04, 2003 6:37 AM To: SpaceWeather.com Subject: Saturn and the Crab Nebula; Earth at Perihelion Space Weather News for January 4, 2003 http://www.spaceweather.com SATURN AND THE CRAB NEBULA: The planet Saturn is gliding by the Crab Nebula in Taurus--a rare encounter that amateur astronomers can watch using backyard telescopes. Saturn is about 3800 times brighter the Crab, so the planet will probably overwhelm the wispy nebula on January 4th when the pair overlap. During the days that follow, however, the pair will separate and make a fine target for observing. Visit spaceweather.com for pictures and sky maps. EARTH AT PERIHELION: Don't look, but today the Sun is a little bigger than usual. That's because Earth is "at perihelion"--our annual closest approach to the Sun. Because of Earth's slightly elliptical orbit, our planet and the Sun are 5 million km closer together in January than they are in July. Then why is it so cold outside (in the northern hemisphere)? Follow the links at spaceweather.com for the answer. ------=_NextPart_001_0000_01C2B3F4.47501D20 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

<= DIV>

=
----- Original Message -----

From: SpaceWeather.com

Sent: Sat= urday, January 04, 2003 6:37 AM

= To: SpaceWeather.com

Subject= : Saturn and the Crab Nebula; Earth at Perihelion

Space Weather News for January 4, 2003
http://www.spaceweather.com=

SATURN AND THE CRAB NEBULA: The planet Saturn is gliding by the C= rab
Nebula in Taurus--a rare encounter that amateur astronomers can wa= tch
using backyard telescopes. Saturn is about 3800 times brighter the= Crab,
so the planet will probably overwhelm the wispy nebula on Janua= ry 4th when
the pair overlap. During the days that follow, however, th= e pair will
separate and make a fine target for observing. Visit space= weather.com for
pictures and sky maps.

EARTH AT PERIHELION: Don= 't look, but today the Sun is a little bigger than
usual. That's becau= se Earth is "at perihelion"--our annual closest
approach to the Sun. B= ecause of Earth's slightly elliptical orbit, our
planet and the Sun ar= e 5 million km closer together in January than they
are in July. Then = why is it so cold outside (in the northern hemisphere)?
Follow the lin= ks at spaceweather.com for the answer.

------=_NextPart_001_0000_01C2B3F4.47501D20-- From owner-public@setileague.org Sat Jan 4 11:45:28 2003 Received: from seti1.setileague.org ([204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.2/8.11.4) with ESMTP id h04JjRVq009136; Sat, 4 Jan 2003 11:45:28 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) id OAA24483 for public-list; Sat, 4 Jan 2003 14:34:30 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from hotmail.com (oe37.pav0.hotmail.com [64.4.32.117]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id OAA24479; Sat, 4 Jan 2003 14:34:28 -0500 (EST) Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC; Sat, 4 Jan 2003 11:33:57 -0800 X-Originating-IP: [65.149.164.36] From: "LARRY KLAES" To: "setipublic" Cc: "BioAstro" Subject: SETI public: Article on Grote Reber from The Guardian Date: Sat, 4 Jan 2003 14:33:48 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: MSN Explorer 7.02.0011.2700 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_001_0015_01C2B3FE.4B6FD300" Message-ID: X-OriginalArrivalTime: 04 Jan 2003 19:33:57.0692 (UTC) FILETIME=[398B57C0:01C2B428] Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk ------=_NextPart_001_0015_01C2B3FE.4B6FD300 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable To see this story with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, = go to http://www.guardian.co.uk Grote Reber The father of radio astronomy, he opened a window on the stars Pearce Wright Thursday January 02 2003 The Guardian Grote Reber, who has died aged 90, was, for several years, the world's on= ly radio astronomer. In 1937, he built a radio telescope in his backyard = in Wheaton, Illinois, with which he produced the first preliminary radio = maps of the sky. His discoveries were largely responsible for the postwar= development of radio astronomy, and gave astronomers an entirely new win= dow on the universe. =20 Born in Chicago, Reber graduated in radio engineering from what is now th= e Illinois Institute of Technology. An amateur astronomer and radio ham, = he began to think about the possibilities of radio astronomy in 1931, whi= le still a student, his imagination having been fired by the extraordinar= y experimental results achieved by the radio engineer Karl Jansky, of Bel= l Telephone Laboratories. =20 While investigating the sources of interference on short-wave radio trans= missions used for ship-to-shore communications, Jansky had discovered the= re was a constant stream of radio waves emanating from the stars. At firs= t, the stream of very weak signals seemed to be coming from the sun. But = the direction of strongest reception slowly drifted away from the sun, an= d made a circuit of the sky. Jansky decided the strongest signals were co= ming from the Milky Way, particularly from the direction of Sagittarius, = towards the centre of the galaxy. =20 The finding made front-page news, but Jansky's interests lay elsewhere an= d his results received little attention from other scientists; the discov= ery had too many drawbacks to explain away, and the recording instruments= seemed capable of only producing incomprehensible squiggles and fuzzy pa= tches. =20 It was left to Reber to combine his ham radio knowledge, and his fascinat= ion with astronomy, to determine whether the waves were coming from our o= wn galaxy, the Milky Way, or from some other celestial objects. After app= lying unsuccessfully for jobs with Jansky, and with astronomical observat= ories, he decided to study radio astronomy on his own, though his first a= ttempts to adapt his short-wave radio receiver to pick up interstellar ra= dio waves failed. =20 Then he went to work in his own backyard, building a dish-shaped radio te= lescope that cost him the equivalent of six months' salary. The parabolic= dish reflector, made of sheet metal, was 31.4ft in diameter. It was desi= gned to collect faint signals from outer space, and focus them on a sensi= tive radio receiver 20ft above the dish, which amplified the signals a mi= llion times so that they were strong enough for a chart recorder to compi= le maps. Reber spent hours scanning the skies every night because there w= as too much interference from the sparks in car engines during the daytim= e. =20 His first receiver, designed to detect 3,300 megahertz signals from outer= space, met with little success. It was the same story for the second des= ign, tuned to 900 megahertz. Finally, in 1938, a third receiver at 160 me= gahertz (1.9 metres wavelength) picked up radio emissions from the Milky = Way, confirming Jansky's discovery. =20 After two years of intense work, Reber published Cosmic Static, a series = of articles in the Astrophysical Journal that many scientists regard as t= he birth of intentional radio astronomy. In 1944, he produced the first d= etailed contour radio map of the sky, with brighter areas indicating rich= er radio sources - the brightest was the centre of the Milky Way, and the= re were other bright sources in Cygnus and Cassiopeia. =20 Over the years, Reber's increasingly detailed measurements were published= in many prestigious journals, including Nature and the Journal of Geophy= sical Research. His sky surveys ensured that radio astronomy became a maj= or field of research, and paved the way for the discoveries of quasars, p= ulsars and the remnant glow left over from the Big Bang. =20 In 1944, he became the first scientist to detect radio emissions from the= Andromeda galaxy and the sun. In 1951, having moved his radio telescope = to Virginia, and tried unsuccessfully to get funding for a 220ft radio te= lescope, he went to Hawaii to help with the development of a radio astron= omy observatory. =20 Ten years later, Reber settled in Tasmania, and began to explore a neglec= ted area of research involving cosmic radio waves at very low frequencies= (1-2 MHz, or 150-300 metres wavelength). Tasmania was one of the few pla= ces where waves of these frequencies could penetrate the earth's ionosphe= re at times of low solar activity. =20 Many of the major awards Reber won were usually reserved for professional= astronomers. A lasting memorial to his achievements was established when= he donated his original telescope to the US National Radio Astronomy Obs= ervatory at Green Bank, West Virginia. In supervising its assembly, he al= so oversaw the construction of a fullscale reproduction of the antenna Ja= nsky used to discover the existence of cosmic radio waves. =20 · Grote Reber, radio astronomer, born December 22 1911; died Decembe= r 20 2002 =20 Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited ------=_NextPart_001_0015_01C2B3FE.4B6FD300 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
To see this st= ory with its related links on the Guardian Unlimited site, go to http://w= ww.guardian.co.uk

Grote Reber
The father of radio astronomy, he= opened a window on the stars

Pearce Wright

Thursday January 02 2003
The Guardian

Grote Reber, who has= died aged 90, was, for several years, the world's only radio astronomer.= In 1937, he built a radio telescope in his backyard in Wheaton, Illinois= , with which he produced the first preliminary radio maps of the sky. His= discoveries were largely responsible for the postwar development of radi= o astronomy, and gave astronomers an entirely new window on the universe.=

Born in Chicago, Reber graduated in radio engineering from what = is now the Illinois Institute of Technology. An amateur astronomer and ra= dio ham, he began to think about the possibilities of radio astronomy in = 1931, while still a student, his imagination having been fired by the ext= raordinary experimental results achieved by the radio engineer Karl Jansk= y, of Bell Telephone Laboratories.

While investigating the = sources of interference on short-wave radio transmissions used for ship-t= o-shore communications, Jansky had discovered there was a constant stream= of radio waves emanating from the stars. At first, the stream of very we= ak signals seemed to be coming from the sun. But the direction of stronge= st reception slowly drifted away from the sun, and made a circuit of the = sky. Jansky decided the strongest signals were coming from the Milky Way,= particularly from the direction of Sagittarius, towards the centre of th= e galaxy.

The finding made front-page news, but Jansky's in= terests lay elsewhere and his results received little attention from othe= r scientists; the discovery had too many drawbacks to explain away, and t= he recording instruments seemed capable of only producing incomprehensibl= e squiggles and fuzzy patches.

It was left to Reber to comb= ine his ham radio knowledge, and his fascination with astronomy, to deter= mine whether the waves were coming from our own galaxy, the Milky Way, or= from some other celestial objects. After applying unsuccessfully for job= s with Jansky, and with astronomical observatories, he decided to study r= adio astronomy on his own, though his first attempts to adapt his short-w= ave radio receiver to pick up interstellar radio waves failed.
=
Then he went to work in his own backyard, building a dish-shaped radi= o telescope that cost him the equivalent of six months' salary. The parab= olic dish reflector, made of sheet metal, was 31.4ft in diameter. It was = designed to collect faint signals from outer space, and focus them on a s= ensitive radio receiver 20ft above the dish, which amplified the signals = a million times so that they were strong enough for a chart recorder to c= ompile maps. Reber spent hours scanning the skies every night because the= re was too much interference from the sparks in car engines during the da= ytime.

His first receiver, designed to detect 3,300 megaher= tz signals from outer space, met with little success. It was the same sto= ry for the second design, tuned to 900 megahertz. Finally, in 1938, a thi= rd receiver at 160 megahertz (1.9 metres wavelength) picked up radio emis= sions from the Milky Way, confirming Jansky's discovery.

Af= ter two years of intense work, Reber published Cosmic Static, a series of= articles in the Astrophysical Journal that many scientists regard as the= birth of intentional radio astronomy. In 1944, he produced the first det= ailed contour radio map of the sky, with brighter areas indicating richer= radio sources - the brightest was the centre of the Milky Way, and there= were other bright sources in Cygnus and Cassiopeia.

Over t= he years, Reber's increasingly detailed measurements were published in ma= ny prestigious journals, including Nature and the Journal of Geophysical = Research. His sky surveys ensured that radio astronomy became a major fie= ld of research, and paved the way for the discoveries of quasars, pulsars= and the remnant glow left over from the Big Bang.

In 1944,= he became the first scientist to detect radio emissions from the Androme= da galaxy and the sun. In 1951, having moved his radio telescope to Virgi= nia, and tried unsuccessfully to get funding for a 220ft radio telescope,= he went to Hawaii to help with the development of a radio astronomy obse= rvatory.

Ten years later, Reber settled in Tasmania, and be= gan to explore a neglected area of research involving cosmic radio waves = at very low frequencies (1-2 MHz, or 150-300 metres wavelength). Tasmania= was one of the few places where waves of these frequencies could penetra= te the earth's ionosphere at times of low solar activity.

M= any of the major awards Reber won were usually reserved for professional = astronomers. A lasting memorial to his achievements was established when = he donated his original telescope to the US National Radio Astronomy Obse= rvatory at Green Bank, West Virginia. In supervising its assembly, he als= o oversaw the construction of a fullscale reproduction of the antenna Jan= sky used to discover the existence of cosmic radio waves.

&= amp;#183; Grote Reber, radio astronomer, born December 22 1911; died Dece= mber 20 2002

Copyright Guardian Newspapers Limited
------=_NextPart_001_0015_01C2B3FE.4B6FD300-- From owner-public@setileague.org Sat Jan 4 18:07:51 2003 Received: from seti1.setileague.org ([204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.2/8.11.4) with ESMTP id h0527oVq011025; Sat, 4 Jan 2003 18:07:51 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) id UAA00425 for public-list; Sat, 4 Jan 2003 20:50:31 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from adaptv.com (adaptv.com [208.223.124.11]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id UAA00421 for ; Sat, 4 Jan 2003 20:50:28 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <200301050150.UAA00421@seti1.setileague.org> Received: from WorldClient [127.0.0.1] by adaptv.com [208.223.124.11] with SMTP (MDaemon.v3.5.4.R) for ; Sat, 04 Jan 2003 20:44:02 -0500 Date: Sat, 04 Jan 2003 20:44:02 -0500 From: "Robert J Fear" To: "Larry Kayser" , "setipublic" Subject: Re: SETI public: Some Questions..... X-Mailer: WorldClient Standard 3.5.0e In-Reply-To: <5.2.0.9.0.20030103211410.00ad6560@pop2.sympatico.ca> X-MDRemoteIP: 127.0.0.1 X-Return-Path: rjfear@adaptv.com X-MDaemon-Deliver-To: public@setileague.org Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk Larry, and the list, The RAOOS (PAOOS) project is not dead... just resting. There is a group of 7 developers all working on version two. (Paul I would like to talk to you about this sometime the first quarter of this year. i.e. when it's completed and ready to release.) If you have input or questions feel free to fire them to the list or directly to myself. Sincerely, R.J. Fear BTW: I do still read my email public, and argus lists. I still have the same level of desire to be involved with The SETI League. Unfortunetly my business life has taken a dive which leaves me with little personal time. Most of my free time is involved managing the RAOOS Project. -----Original Message----- From: Larry Kayser To: "setipublic" Date: Fri, 03 Jan 2003 21:50:57 -0500 Subject: SETI public: Some Questions..... > Greetings All: > > > (1) Development Status: As of July 1999, the RAOOS software suite is > undergoing Beta testing by a small group of Project Argus volunteers. > Final > release will be announced on The SETI League website > > This project had a name change to PAOOS (Project Argus Observatory > Operating System . > > Nothing more since 1999. The notes on this project speak to software I > would sure like to see and then to mine some of the resources for use > in > another project I am working on. Has there been any progress??????? > > (2) Help Wanted: SETI Logging Software > > This item again has items that I would find very valuable in other > work, > has there been any progress in this item? Are there any members > working on > this item? > > My interests are in finding ways to dump 99% or more of the collected > data > sets as quickly as possible, keeping only the data sets that have > indicated > in real time or on secondary processing that there is a need for > additional > processing and analysis to determine if there are events of interest. > SETI > is not alone in seeking to find the needle in the large stack of hay. > > I specifically need help in learning how to look in the FFT data and > evaluate the data for signals that meet any one or more of a number of > models or algorithms. I see references to some algorithms that I have > never heard of in fact I am unable to even find the generic language to > describe these algorithms or processes so that I might find more > information on them. I need help. I am neither a C programmer or a > Linux > user - I do write commercial business software in VB6 and write PIC > code as > needed. > > Like so many others, I face a choice of either finding some help or > forgetting my research interests and going and learning all the > schooling I > have missed so that I might be able then to generate the tools needed. > For > me it is a choice of either being a tool user or becoming a tool > developer > and forgetting the project that needs the tools. At ;my age, it is > unlikely I will have time to do both...... > > My projects are collecting 7x24 data sets of 1 minute intervals at 28 > MHz > and 144 MHz data in a 20 KHz wide windows and seeking, by dual > processing, > short duration events in the order of 20 milliseconds and / or long > duration events up to 55 seconds. The events may or may not have > Doppler > shift on the signal. Progress on my projects from a few hours per day > per > week to 7x24 is critical to achieving success. > > If anyone on here can speak to the above items I would appreciate an > email, > va3lk@rac.ca. > > Thanks in advance for reading this item.... > > Larry > VA3LK > > > > From owner-public@setileague.org Sat Jan 4 19:29:15 2003 Received: from seti1.setileague.org ([204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.2/8.11.4) with ESMTP id h053TEVq027001; Sat, 4 Jan 2003 19:29:15 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) id WAA01865 for public-list; Sat, 4 Jan 2003 22:18:25 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from gull.mail.pas.earthlink.net (gull.mail.pas.earthlink.net [207.217.120.84]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id WAA01861 for ; Sat, 4 Jan 2003 22:18:21 -0500 (EST) Received: from 1cust37.tnt1.loyalsock.pa.da.uu.net ([67.202.252.165] helo=office) by gull.mail.pas.earthlink.net with smtp (Exim 3.33 #1) id 18V1In-0000yt-00; Sat, 04 Jan 2003 19:18:18 -0800 Message-Id: <3.0.1.32.20030104221706.014e7364@mail.earthlink.net> X-Sender: drseti@mail.earthlink.net X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Light Version 3.0.1 (32) Date: Sat, 04 Jan 2003 22:17:06 -0500 To: "Robert J Fear" , "Larry Kayser" , "setipublic" From: "Dr. H. Paul Shuch" Subject: Re: SETI public: Some Questions..... In-Reply-To: <200301050150.UAA00421@seti1.setileague.org> References: <5.2.0.9.0.20030103211410.00ad6560@pop2.sympatico.ca> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk At 08:44 PM 1/4/03 -0500, Robert J Fear wrote: >Larry, and the list, > >The RAOOS (PAOOS) project is not dead... just resting. There is a group >of 7 developers all working on version two. That's very good news indeed. Thanks, RJ. If you care to draft a brief update, I'll post it to the website. -------------------------------- H. Paul Shuch, Ph.D., CFII, FBIS, FRCA Executive Director, The SETI League, Inc. 433 Liberty Street, PO Box 555 Little Ferry NJ 07643 USA voice (201) 641-1770; fax (201) 641-1771 n6tx@setileague.org www.setileague.org Project Argus station FN11LH "We Know We're Not Alone!" From owner-public@setileague.org Sun Jan 5 04:56:39 2003 Received: from seti1.setileague.org ([204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.2/8.11.4) with ESMTP id h05CubVq008055; Sun, 5 Jan 2003 04:56:39 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) id HAA10610 for public-list; Sun, 5 Jan 2003 07:47:24 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from tomts13-srv.bellnexxia.net (tomts13.bellnexxia.net [209.226.175.34]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id HAA10604; Sun, 5 Jan 2003 07:47:18 -0500 (EST) Received: from lsk.sympatico.ca ([216.209.110.96]) by tomts13-srv.bellnexxia.net (InterMail vM.5.01.04.19 201-253-122-122-119-20020516) with ESMTP id <20030105124716.QDEZ17918.tomts13-srv.bellnexxia.net@lsk.sympatico.ca>; Sun, 5 Jan 2003 07:47:16 -0500 Message-Id: <5.2.0.9.0.20030105074146.00a62df0@pop2.sympatico.ca> X-Sender: b1aemm59@pop2.sympatico.ca (Unverified) X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.2.0.9 Date: Sun, 05 Jan 2003 07:44:17 -0500 To: "Dr. H. Paul Shuch" , "Robert J Fear" , "setipublic" From: Larry Kayser Subject: Re: SETI public: Some Questions..... In-Reply-To: <3.0.1.32.20030104221706.014e7364@mail.earthlink.net> References: <200301050150.UAA00421@seti1.setileague.org> <5.2.0.9.0.20030103211410.00ad6560@pop2.sympatico.ca> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk Paul and the SETI group..... That's very good news indeed. Thanks, RJ. If you care to draft a brief >update, I'll post it to the website. Now, that is the kind of news that puts some spring in an old mans step! Robert, you already have a sense I will be emailing you off line. Wonderful! Larry VA3LK From owner-public@setileague.org Sun Jan 5 08:32:02 2003 Received: from seti1.setileague.org ([204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.2/8.11.4) with ESMTP id h05GW1Vq018363; Sun, 5 Jan 2003 08:32:02 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) id LAA13825 for public-list; Sun, 5 Jan 2003 11:19:30 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from hotmail.com (oe96.pav0.hotmail.com [64.4.33.238]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id LAA13821; Sun, 5 Jan 2003 11:19:28 -0500 (EST) Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC; Sun, 5 Jan 2003 08:18:57 -0800 X-Originating-IP: [65.149.164.44] From: "LARRY KLAES" To: "setipublic" Cc: "BioAstro" Subject: SETI public: Grote Reber, the Eccentric of Tasmania Date: Sun, 5 Jan 2003 11:18:45 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: MSN Explorer 7.02.0011.2700 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_001_0003_01C2B4AC.3655C340" Message-ID: X-OriginalArrivalTime: 05 Jan 2003 16:18:57.0088 (UTC) FILETIME=[25DA9C00:01C2B4D6] Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk ------=_NextPart_001_0003_01C2B4AC.3655C340 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable A radio wave ride to fame 05 January 2003 FOR some he was the local eccentric, for others he was the father of radi= o astronomy. The full story is available at: http://themercury.com.au/common/story_pag= e/0,5936,5798728%255E3462,00.html ------=_NextPart_001_0003_01C2B4AC.3655C340 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
A radio wave r= ide to fame

05 January 2003

FOR some he was= the local eccentric, for others he was the father of radio astronomy.

The full story is available at: http://themercury.com.au/com= mon/story_page/0,5936,5798728%255E3462,00.html

------=_NextPart_001_0003_01C2B4AC.3655C340-- From owner-public@setileague.org Sun Jan 5 19:22:25 2003 Received: from seti1.setileague.org ([204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.2/8.11.4) with ESMTP id h063MIVq012121; Sun, 5 Jan 2003 19:22:24 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) id WAA23923 for public-list; Sun, 5 Jan 2003 22:12:16 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from smtp.comcast.net (smtp.comcast.net [24.153.64.2]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id WAA23919 for ; Sun, 5 Jan 2003 22:12:13 -0500 (EST) Received: from CC757660A (pcp914015pcs.brndml01.va.comcast.net [68.57.95.147]) by mtaout04.icomcast.net (iPlanet Messaging Server 5.2 HotFix 1.07 (built Nov 25 2002)) with SMTP id <0H8900CQRVJIP5@mtaout04.icomcast.net> for public@setileague.org; Sun, 05 Jan 2003 22:11:43 -0500 (EST) Date: Sun, 05 Jan 2003 22:11:44 -0500 From: Allan Robbins Subject: Re: SETI public: Some Questions..... To: Larry Kayser , setipublic Message-id: <001501c2b531$579c4800$6401a8c0@CC757660A> MIME-version: 1.0 X-MIMEOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-priority: Normal References: <5.2.0.9.0.20030103211410.00ad6560@pop2.sympatico.ca> Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk Larry, Here is a link to the web site for Baudline Software. I do not have any experience with this software, but thought you might want to take a look. It might do some of the things you're looking for, IE: logging. The one drawback, per se, is that it is Linux based. I should say, this is a drawback for me, it may not be for many others. http://www.baudline.com/ Regards, Allan FM17dk ----- Original Message ----- From: "Larry Kayser" To: "setipublic" Sent: Friday, January 03, 2003 9:50 PM Subject: SETI public: Some Questions..... > Greetings All: > > > (1) Development Status: As of July 1999, the RAOOS software suite is > undergoing Beta testing by a small group of Project Argus volunteers. Final > release will be announced on The SETI League website > > This project had a name change to PAOOS (Project Argus Observatory > Operating System . > > Nothing more since 1999. The notes on this project speak to software I > would sure like to see and then to mine some of the resources for use in > another project I am working on. Has there been any progress??????? > > (2) Help Wanted: SETI Logging Software > > This item again has items that I would find very valuable in other work, > has there been any progress in this item? Are there any members working on > this item? > > My interests are in finding ways to dump 99% or more of the collected data > sets as quickly as possible, keeping only the data sets that have indicated > in real time or on secondary processing that there is a need for additional > processing and analysis to determine if there are events of interest. SETI > is not alone in seeking to find the needle in the large stack of hay. > > I specifically need help in learning how to look in the FFT data and > evaluate the data for signals that meet any one or more of a number of > models or algorithms. I see references to some algorithms that I have > never heard of in fact I am unable to even find the generic language to > describe these algorithms or processes so that I might find more > information on them. I need help. I am neither a C programmer or a Linux > user - I do write commercial business software in VB6 and write PIC code as > needed. > > Like so many others, I face a choice of either finding some help or > forgetting my research interests and going and learning all the schooling I > have missed so that I might be able then to generate the tools needed. For > me it is a choice of either being a tool user or becoming a tool developer > and forgetting the project that needs the tools. At ;my age, it is > unlikely I will have time to do both...... > > My projects are collecting 7x24 data sets of 1 minute intervals at 28 MHz > and 144 MHz data in a 20 KHz wide windows and seeking, by dual processing, > short duration events in the order of 20 milliseconds and / or long > duration events up to 55 seconds. The events may or may not have Doppler > shift on the signal. Progress on my projects from a few hours per day per > week to 7x24 is critical to achieving success. > > If anyone on here can speak to the above items I would appreciate an email, > va3lk@rac.ca. > > Thanks in advance for reading this item.... > > Larry > VA3LK > > > > From owner-public@setileague.org Sun Jan 5 19:27:48 2003 Received: from seti1.setileague.org ([204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.2/8.11.4) with ESMTP id h063RlVq008505; Sun, 5 Jan 2003 19:27:48 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) id WAA24069 for public-list; Sun, 5 Jan 2003 22:20:05 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from tomts11-srv.bellnexxia.net (tomts11.bellnexxia.net [209.226.175.55]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id WAA24065 for ; Sun, 5 Jan 2003 22:20:03 -0500 (EST) Received: from lsk.sympatico.ca ([216.209.138.46]) by tomts11-srv.bellnexxia.net (InterMail vM.5.01.04.19 201-253-122-122-119-20020516) with ESMTP id <20030106032001.WALK8221.tomts11-srv.bellnexxia.net@lsk.sympatico.ca>; Sun, 5 Jan 2003 22:20:01 -0500 Message-Id: <5.2.0.9.0.20030105221606.00afbd60@pop2.sympatico.ca> X-Sender: b1aemm59@pop2.sympatico.ca (Unverified) X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.2.0.9 Date: Sun, 05 Jan 2003 22:17:02 -0500 To: Allan Robbins , setipublic From: Larry Kayser Subject: Re: SETI public: Some Questions..... In-Reply-To: <001501c2b531$579c4800$6401a8c0@CC757660A> References: <5.2.0.9.0.20030103211410.00ad6560@pop2.sympatico.ca> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk Allan: I will go and look. Thank You for thinking of me, it is sincerely appreciated. My best to you and yours for 2003 I will get back to you after I have looked.... Larry VA3LK From owner-public@setileague.org Mon Jan 6 08:02:05 2003 Received: from seti1.setileague.org ([204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.2/8.11.4) with ESMTP id h06G1xVq006204; Mon, 6 Jan 2003 08:02:05 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) id KAA05801 for public-list; Mon, 6 Jan 2003 10:48:33 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from adaptv.com (adaptv.com [208.223.124.11]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id KAA05795; Mon, 6 Jan 2003 10:48:27 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <200301061548.KAA05795@seti1.setileague.org> Received: from WorldClient [127.0.0.1] by adaptv.com [208.223.124.11] with SMTP (MDaemon.v3.5.4.R); Mon, 06 Jan 2003 10:42:30 -0500 Date: Mon, 06 Jan 2003 10:42:30 -0500 From: "Robert J Fear" To: "Dr. H. Paul Shuch" , "Larry Kayser" , "setipublic" Subject: Re: SETI public: Some Questions..... X-Mailer: WorldClient Standard 3.5.0e In-Reply-To: <3.0.1.32.20030104221706.014e7364@mail.earthlink.net> X-MDRemoteIP: 127.0.0.1 X-Return-Path: rjfear@adaptv.com Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk Paul, Should have an update for the web site after our next project status meeting scheduled for Jan 14. Specifications are complete and coding has started. I didn't want to post an update until some preliminary screen shots were available. Also, we need to discuss how to setup the Argus project under RAOOS to include the other data gathering software being used. Integrating them was part of the specification. R.J. -----Original Message----- From: "Dr. H. Paul Shuch" To: "Robert J Fear" , "Larry Kayser" , "setipublic" Date: Sat, 04 Jan 2003 22:17:06 -0500 Subject: Re: SETI public: Some Questions..... > At 08:44 PM 1/4/03 -0500, Robert J Fear wrote: > >Larry, and the list, > > > >The RAOOS (PAOOS) project is not dead... just resting. There is a > group > >of 7 developers all working on version two. > > That's very good news indeed. Thanks, RJ. If you care to draft a > brief > update, I'll post it to the website. > -------------------------------- > H. Paul Shuch, Ph.D., CFII, FBIS, FRCA > Executive Director, The SETI League, Inc. > 433 Liberty Street, PO Box 555 > Little Ferry NJ 07643 USA > voice (201) 641-1770; fax (201) 641-1771 > n6tx@setileague.org www.setileague.org > Project Argus station FN11LH > > "We Know We're Not Alone!" > > From owner-public@setileague.org Mon Jan 6 16:31:18 2003 Received: from seti1.setileague.org ([204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.2/8.11.4) with ESMTP id h070VGVq031701; Mon, 6 Jan 2003 16:31:17 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) id TAA15004 for public-list; Mon, 6 Jan 2003 19:18:19 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from hotmail.com (oe103.pav0.hotmail.com [64.4.33.245]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id TAA15000; Mon, 6 Jan 2003 19:18:17 -0500 (EST) Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC; Mon, 6 Jan 2003 16:17:46 -0800 X-Originating-IP: [65.149.164.147] From: "LARRY KLAES" To: "setipublic" Cc: "BioAstro" Subject: SETI public: Fw: Cornell News: Altschuler writes astronomy book Date: Mon, 6 Jan 2003 19:17:22 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: MSN Explorer 7.02.0011.2700 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_001_0002_01C2B5B8.3D3C3100" Message-ID: X-OriginalArrivalTime: 07 Jan 2003 00:17:46.0562 (UTC) FILETIME=[345E3220:01C2B5E2] Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk ------=_NextPart_001_0002_01C2B5B8.3D3C3100 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" ----- Original Message ----- From: cunews@cornell.edu Sent: Monday, January 06, 2003 3:34 PM To: CUNEWS-PHYSICAL_SCIENCE-L@cornell.edu; CUNEWS-SCIENCE-L@cornell.edu Subject: Cornell News: Altschuler writes astronomy book Arecibo director's new book is a witty, colorful exploration of a universe of violent change and mysterious life forms FOR RELEASE: Jan. 6, 2003 Contact: David Brand Office: 607-255-3651 E-mail: deb27@cornell.edu ITHACA, N.Y. -- Are we alone in the universe? How did we get here? How has the universe changed since the big bang? A new book by Daniel R. Altschuler, director of the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, makes a big bang itself as it creatively attempts to answer some of these questions while covering topics ranging from astronomy to physics, and paleontology to geology. In the book, Children of the Stars: Our Origin, Evolution and Destiny (Cambridge University Press, 2002), Altschuler contends, "It is not enough for scientists alone to understand the workings of nature. It is important that every citizen understands. ... My book is an effort to remedy this situation." Altschuler has close associations with Cornell University as the on-site leader of the world's largest single-dish radio telescope. Managed by the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center at Cornell's Ithaca campus for the National Science Foundation, Arecibo Observatory is recognized as one of the most important national centers for astronomical research, including radio astronomy and planetary radar. Born to German immigrants in Montevideo, Uruguay, Altschuler obtained his bachelor's degree at Duke University and his Ph.D. at Brandeis University. He is professor of physics at the University of Puerto Rico in Rio Piedras and has been director of the observatory since 1991. Altschuler writes with such clarity in Children of the Stars that even younger readers can gain an understanding of the complexities of the universe from reading it. This accords with Altschuler's long belief in the importance of educating the public about science. Among his most notable achievements at the observatory has been the construction of the Angel Ramos Foundation Visitor and Education Center, which attracts about 125,000 visitors a year and is the site of summer science teacher workshops. He begins his book by tracing the history of astronomy as a discipline, recognizing the work of such early astronomers and scholars as Plato, Aristotle, Ptolemy and Copernicus. He then discusses the aggregation of interstellar gas, dust and rocks that led to the formation of Earth and the other planets in the solar system. He proceeds to investigate the evolution of life on Earth, potential threats to our planet and, finally, the question of the possibility of life elsewhere. While his book thoroughly explores the realm of galaxies, solar systems and stars, it is Altschuler's writing style that shines brightest. As Sue Bowler, editor of Astronomy and Geophysics, the journal published by Britain's Royal Astronomical Society, writes, "With its combination of straightforward, clear explanations and excellent and well-produced illustrations, all in colour, this is a concise exposition of the Earth story [and] its likely endings." With his witty style, Altschuler keeps the reader's attention throughout, as when he dispels the notion of human encounters with aliens with exaggerated human characteristics, like big eyes and heads: "Looking at the diversity of life on Earth and thinking about how it has evolved should convince anyone that any aliens will have as much resemblance to us as a doorknob." He deepens his explanations with the use of graphic examples, such as this description of a neutron star, the highly dense, collapsed core of a star that is thrown out in a stellar explosion called a supernova: "If you were to squeeze the population of the Earth -- 6 billion people -- into a small can of sardines, it would weigh as much as if you had filled it with neutron star material." Accompanying Altschuler's text is a mosaic of photographs so brilliant that they are a close runner-up to actually staring up at the night sky on a clear summer night. And the author is able to convey the more difficult concepts with the inclusion of charts, graphs and even scientific cartoons by artist Nick Downes. In his chapter on stars and constellations, Altschuler writes: "The fate of a star, once its leisurely life of hydrogen fusion ends, depends on its mass. Some stars end their lives violently and others fade away quietly." Altschuler's Children of the Stars is a star whose popularity will not quickly fade. The Spanish-language edition of the book, Hijos de las Estrellas, recently was awarded second prize for best book of the year by the Institute of Puerto Rican Literature, a rare recognition for a book about science. Related World Wide Web sites: The following sites provide additional information on this news release. Some might not be part of the Cornell University community, and Cornell has no control over their content or availability. Arecibo Observatory: -30- The web version of this release may be found at http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Jan03/Altschuler.book.bc.deb.html Cornell University News Service Surge 3 Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 607-255-4206 cunews@cornell.edu http://www.news.cornell.edu ------=_NextPart_001_0002_01C2B5B8.3D3C3100 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

<= DIV>

=
----- Original Message -----

From: cunews@cornell.edu

Sent: M= onday, January 06, 2003 3:34 PM

= To: CUNEWS-PHYSICAL_SCIENCE-L@cornell.edu; CUNEWS-SCIENCE-L@cornell.e= du

Subject: Cornell News: Altschuler writes astronomy book

Arecibo directo= r's new book is a witty, colorful exploration of a
universe of violen= t change and mysterious life forms

FOR RELEASE: Jan. 6, 2003=

Contact: David Brand
Office: 607-255-3651
E-mai= l: deb27@cornell.edu

ITHACA, N.Y. -- Are we alone in the= universe? How did we get here?
How has the universe changed since th= e big bang? A new book by Daniel
R. Altschuler, director of the Areci= bo Observatory in Puerto Rico,
makes a big bang itself as it creative= ly attempts to answer some of
these questions while covering topics r= anging from astronomy to
physics, and paleontology to geology.
In the book, Children of the Stars: Our Origin, Evolution and Destiny (Cambridge University Press, 2002), Altschuler contends, "It is not enough for scientists alone to understand the workings of nature. = It
is important that every citizen understands. ... My book is an eff= ort
to remedy this situation."

Altschuler has close associatio= ns with Cornell University as the
on-site leader of the world's large= st single-dish radio telescope.
Managed by the National Astronomy and= Ionosphere Center at Cornell's
Ithaca campus for the National Scienc= e Foundation, Arecibo
Observatory is recognized as one of the most im= portant national
centers for astronomical research, including radio a= stronomy and
planetary radar.

Born to German immigrants in Mon= tevideo, Uruguay, Altschuler obtained
his bachelor's degree at Duke U= niversity and his Ph.D. at Brandeis
University. He is professor of ph= ysics at the University of Puerto
Rico in Rio Piedras and has been di= rector of the observatory since
1991.

Altschuler writes with s= uch clarity in Children of the Stars that
even younger readers can ga= in an understanding of the complexities of
the universe from reading = it. This accords with Altschuler's long
belief in the importanc= e of educating the public about science.
Among his most notable achie= vements at the observatory has been the
construction of the Angel Ram= os Foundation Visitor and Education
Center, which attracts about 125,= 000 visitors a year and is the site
of summer science teacher worksho= ps. He begins his book by tracing
the history of astronomy as a disci= pline, recognizing the work of
such early astronomers and scholars as= Plato, Aristotle, Ptolemy and
Copernicus. He then discusses the aggr= egation of interstellar gas,
dust and rocks that led to the formation= of Earth and the other
planets in the solar system. He proceeds to i= nvestigate the evolution
of life on Earth, potential threats to our p= lanet and, finally, the
question of the possibility of life elsewhere= .

While his book thoroughly explores the realm of galaxies, solar =
systems and stars, it is Altschuler's writing style that shines
b= rightest. As Sue Bowler, editor of Astronomy and Geophysics, the journal published by Britain's Royal Astronomical Society, writes,
= "With its combination of straightforward, clear explanations and
exce= llent and well-produced illustrations, all in colour, this is a
conci= se exposition of the Earth story [and] its likely endings."

With h= is witty style, Altschuler keeps the reader's attention
throughout, a= s when he dispels the notion of human encounters with
aliens with exa= ggerated human characteristics, like big eyes and
heads: "Looking at = the diversity of life on Earth and thinking about
how it has evolved = should convince anyone that any aliens will have
as much resemblance = to us as a doorknob."

He deepens his explanations with the use of = graphic examples, such as
this description of a neutron star, the hig= hly dense, collapsed core
of a star that is thrown out in a stellar e= xplosion called a
supernova: "If you were to squeeze the population o= f the Earth -- 6
billion people -- into a small can of sardines, it w= ould weigh as
much as if you had filled it with neutron star material= ."

Accompanying Altschuler's text is a mosaic of photographs so brilliant that they are a close runner-up to actually staring up at the night sky on a clear summer night. And the author is able to <= BR>convey the more difficult concepts with the inclusion of charts,
g= raphs and even scientific cartoons by artist Nick Downes.

In his c= hapter on stars and constellations, Altschuler writes: "The
fate of a= star, once its leisurely life of hydrogen fusion ends,
depends on it= s mass. Some stars end their lives violently and others
fade away qui= etly."

Altschuler's Children of the Stars is a star whose populari= ty will
not quickly fade.

The Spanish-language edition of the = book, Hijos de las Estrellas,
recently was awarded second prize for b= est book of the year by the
Institute of Puerto Rican Literature, a r= are recognition for a book
about science.

Related World Wide W= eb sites: The following sites provide
additional information on= this news release. Some might not be part
of the Cornell Unive= rsity community, and Cornell has no control over
their content or ava= ilability.

Arecibo Observatory: <http://www.naic.edu/>
-30-

The web version of this release may be found at http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Jan03/Altschuler.book.bc.deb.html
Cornell University News Service
Surge 3
Cornell UniversityIthaca, NY 14853
607-255-4206
cunews@cornell.edu
http://www.new= s.cornell.edu
------=_NextPart_001_0002_01C2B5B8.3D3C3100-- From owner-public@setileague.org Mon Jan 6 18:06:04 2003 Received: from seti1.setileague.org ([204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.2/8.11.4) with ESMTP id h07263Vq030249; Mon, 6 Jan 2003 18:06:04 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) id UAA17046 for public-list; Mon, 6 Jan 2003 20:49:55 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from hotmail.com (oe163.pav0.hotmail.com [64.4.33.156]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id UAA17042; Mon, 6 Jan 2003 20:49:53 -0500 (EST) Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC; Mon, 6 Jan 2003 17:49:22 -0800 X-Originating-IP: [65.149.164.147] From: "LARRY KLAES" To: "setipublic" Cc: "BioAstro" Subject: SETI public: Astronomers look into space for clues to life's origins Date: Mon, 6 Jan 2003 20:49:03 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: MSN Explorer 7.02.0011.2700 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_001_0014_01C2B5C5.0C1F5540" Message-ID: X-OriginalArrivalTime: 07 Jan 2003 01:49:22.0770 (UTC) FILETIME=[005CFB20:01C2B5EF] Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk ------=_NextPart_001_0014_01C2B5C5.0C1F5540 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Stargazers look into space for clues to life's origins The nation's leading stargazers are converging on Seattle this week for the winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society to discuss such matters as binary stars, black holes and ... bacteria. * Read the full article at: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/102933_planets06.shtml --------------------------------------------------------------- Keep track of what's happening around the Northwest, the nation and the world at http://www.seattlepi.com/ -- updated as news breaks. ------=_NextPart_001_0014_01C2B5C5.0C1F5540 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Stargazers loo= k into space for clues to life's origins

The nation's lead= ing stargazers are converging on Seattle this
week for the winter meet= ing of the American Astronomical Society
to discuss such matters as bi= nary stars, black holes and ...
bacteria.

* Read the full artic= le at:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/102933_planets0= 6.shtml

----------------------------------------------------------= -----
Keep track of what's happening around the Northwest, the nation<= BR>and the world at http://www.seattlepi.com/ -- updated as news
break= s.
------=_NextPart_001_0014_01C2B5C5.0C1F5540-- From owner-public@setileague.org Mon Jan 6 18:18:53 2003 Received: from seti1.setileague.org ([204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.2/8.11.4) with ESMTP id h072IqVq030583; Mon, 6 Jan 2003 18:18:53 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) id VAA17307 for public-list; Mon, 6 Jan 2003 21:00:37 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from hotmail.com (oe125.pav0.hotmail.com [64.4.33.118]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id VAA17303; Mon, 6 Jan 2003 21:00:34 -0500 (EST) Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC; Mon, 6 Jan 2003 18:00:03 -0800 X-Originating-IP: [65.149.164.147] From: "LARRY KLAES" To: "setipublic" Cc: "BioAstro" Subject: SETI public: Fw: Astronomers Find a Hero Date: Mon, 6 Jan 2003 20:59:42 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: MSN Explorer 7.02.0011.2700 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_001_0018_01C2B5C6.890B0CB0" Message-ID: X-OriginalArrivalTime: 07 Jan 2003 02:00:03.0861 (UTC) FILETIME=[7E7BB450:01C2B5F0] Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk ------=_NextPart_001_0018_01C2B5C6.890B0CB0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" ----- Original Message ----- From: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Sent: Monday, January 06, 2003 5:07 PM To: ljk4@msn.com Subject: Astronomers Find a Hero MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE JET PROPULSION LABORATORY CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011 http://www.jpl.nasa.gov http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ Paul Morledge (818) 354-0850 Jane Platt (818) 354-0880 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Image Advisory: 2003-003 January 6, 2003 Astronomers Find a Hero Heroes are usually confined to comic books and movies, but as the saying goes, we all need one. So astronomers have turned to the deep, dark cosmos to find their heroic figure -- the "Hyper Extremely Red Object," or "Hero." At the American Astronomical Society winter meeting in Seattle today, an astronomer from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena reports the discovery of a Hero near the radio galaxy 53W002, more than 10 billion light years away. This marks the first time a Hero has been found near a radio galaxy, suggesting that radio galaxies -- which are optically dim but have strong radio emissions -- may provide a guidepost for scouting out other Hero objects. "Hero objects are intriguing. Like comic book heroes, they travel really fast -- almost at the speed of light. They are virtually invisible to our eyes and they are very mysterious. Most importantly, this type of Hero may hold a key for understanding how the first galaxies formed and evolved in the universe," said Dr. Myungshin Im, a staff research scientist at the Space Infrared Telescope Facility Science Center, located at Caltech. So far, the astronomical version of a hero has taken on the unassuming guise of a small, glowing, red patch in deep space. More advanced infrared telescopes like NASA's Space Infrared Telescope Facility, managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., and launching in spring 2003, may, among other things, lift this red veil and reveal these remote objects for what they really are -- quite possibly the universe's earliest stars and galaxies. Due to expansion of the universe after the Big Bang, a distant object in the universe races away from us so fast that any visible light from it "redshifts" -- in other words, a light source becomes redder when it recedes from observers on Earth, and, conversely, bluer when it approaches. So when a visible light source moves away from us at nearly the speed of light, it often appears in infrared wavelengths. Big Bang theory also implies that the farther away an object is, the faster it moves away from us. 53W002_HERO1, the designation for the newly found Hero, is so far away and moves so fast it appears as a faint infrared source. In fact, it took two powerful telescopes equipped with infrared cameras to spot it in the deep sky. Im discovered 53W002_HERO1 from images taken by the near-infrared camera and multi-object spectrometer on NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the cooled infrared spectrograph and camera attached to the Subaru 8-meter (26-feet) telescope atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Dr. Toru Yamada and collaborators at the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan provided Im with the Subaru data. The more distant a cosmic object is, the further in the past we see it. But for Im and colleagues to glean information about the early universe from 53W002_HERO1, they first need to determine its intrinsic color -- that is, how would this astronomical hero appear to a human observer nearby? It could be red, indicating either dust-obscured galaxies cocooning intense star formation, or older galaxies filled with an overabundance of elderly, reddish stars, both of which would lie about 10 billion light-years away. If the former condition exists, astronomers will appreciate the degree to which dust hid star formation during that epoch. However, if the latter holds then scientists can trace back to a time when a significant population of stars were born. Another possibility is that a Hero might really be blue -- a very young galaxy populated with fresh, super-hot blue stars at a distant 13 to 14 billion light years. In this instance, we may be witnessing the formation of the universe's very first galaxies. To determine whether 53W002_HERO1 is intrinsically red or blue, Im and his colleagues will peer at these mysterious objects in the redder part of infrared, a feat that requires a view from above Earth's infrared-absorbing atmosphere. This will be accomplished with the Space Infrared Telescope Facility. Images of 53W002_HERO1 are online at http://spider.ipac.caltech.edu/staff/myung/hero.html More information on the Space Infrared Telescope Facility is available at http://sirtf.caltech.edu http://sirtf.caltech.edu/ . The Jet Propulsion Laboratory is a division of Caltech. -end- ------=_NextPart_001_0018_01C2B5C6.890B0CB0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

<= DIV>