From owner-public@setileague.org Tue Mar 1 17:43:51 2005 Received: from seti1.setileague.org (seti1.setileague.org [204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.6/8.12.6) with ESMTP id j221hl7q018335 for ; Tue, 1 Mar 2005 17:43:50 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) id UAA00114 for public-list; Tue, 1 Mar 2005 20:31:57 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from hotmail.com (bay103-dav15.bay103.hotmail.com [65.54.174.87]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id UAA00110 for ; Tue, 1 Mar 2005 20:31:55 -0500 (EST) Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC; Tue, 1 Mar 2005 17:24:15 -0800 Message-ID: Received: from 65.54.174.210 by BAY103-DAV15.phx.gbl with DAV; Tue, 01 Mar 2005 20:01:25 +0000 X-Originating-IP: [65.54.174.210] X-Originating-Email: [ljk4@msn.com] X-Sender: ljk4@msn.com From: "LARRY KLAES" To: "setipublic" Subject: SETI public: Fw: GSFC Release: NEWLY SEEN FORCE MAY HELP GRAVITY IN STAR FORMATION Date: Tue, 1 Mar 2005 15:01:22 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0054_01C51E6F.88220060" X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: MSN 9 X-MimeOLE: Produced By MSN MimeOLE V9.10.0011.1703 Seal-Send-Time: Tue, 1 Mar 2005 15:01:22 -0500 X-OriginalArrivalTime: 02 Mar 2005 01:24:15.0485 (UTC) FILETIME=[8C394AD0:01C51EC6] Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0054_01C51E6F.88220060 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable ----- Original Message -----=20 From: Ed Campion=20 To: = gsfc_press_releases@listserv.gsfc.nasa.gov=20 Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2005 1:34 PM Subject: GSFC Release: NEWLY SEEN FORCE MAY HELP GRAVITY IN STAR = FORMATION Susan Hendrix = March 1, 2005 Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. (Phone: 301/286-7745) =20 RELEASE: 05-06 =20 NEWLY SEEN FORCE MAY HELP GRAVITY IN STAR FORMATION Scientists have pierced through a dusty stellar nursery to capture the = earliest and most detailed view of a collapsing gas cloud turning into a = star, analogous to a baby's first ultrasound. =20 The observation, made primarily with the European Space Agency's = XMM-Newton observatory, suggests that some unrealized, energetic process = -- likely related to magnetic fields -- is superheating the surface of = the cloud core, nudging the cloud ever closer to becoming a star. =20 The observation marks the first clear detection of X-rays from a cold = precursor to a star, called a Class 0 protostar, far earlier in a star's = evolution than most experts in this field thought possible. The surprise = detection of X-rays from such a cold object reveals that matter is = falling toward the protostar core 10 times faster than expected from = gravity alone. =20 "We are seeing star formation at its embryonic stage," said Dr. Kenji = Hamaguchi, a NASA-funded researcher at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center = in Greenbelt, Md., lead author on a report in The Astrophysical Journal. = "Previous observations have captured the shape of such gas clouds but = have never been able to peer inside. The detection of X-rays this early = indicates that gravity alone is not the only force shaping young stars." =20 Supporting data came from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, Japan's = Subaru telescope in Hawaii, and the University of Hawaii 88-inch = telescope. =20 Hamaguchi's team discovered X-rays from a Class 0 protostar in the R = Corona Australis star-forming region, about 500 light years from Earth.=20 =20 Class 0 is the youngest class of protostellar object, about 10,000 to = 100,000 years into the assimilation process. The cloud temperature is = about 400 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (minus 240 Celsius). After a few = million years, nuclear fusion ignites at the center of the collapsing = protostellar cloud, and a new star is formed. =20 The team speculates that magnetic fields in the spinning protostar core = accelerate infalling matter to high speeds, producing high temperatures = and X-rays in the process. These X- rays can penetrate the dusty region = to reveal the core. "This is no gentle freefall of gas," said Dr. Michael Corcoran of NASA = Goddard, a co-author on the report. "The X-ray emission shows that = forces appear to be accelerating matter to high speeds, heating regions = of this cold gas cloud to 100 million degrees Fahrenheit. The X-ray = emission from the core gives us a window to probe the hidden processes = by which cold gas clouds collapse to stars." Hamaguchi likened the generation of X-rays in the Class 0 protostar to = what happens during solar flares on our Sun. The solar surface has lots = of magnetic loops, which sometimes get tangled and release large amounts = of energy. This energy can accelerate atoms to velocities of 7 million = miles an hour. The particles smash against the solar surface and create = X-rays. Similarly tangled magnetic fields might be responsible for = X-rays observed by Hamaguchi and his collaborators. The detection of magnetic fields from an extremely young Class 0 = protostar provides a crucial link in understanding the star formation = process, because magnetic field loops are believed to play a critical = role in moderating the cloud collapse. The team used XMM-Newton for its powerful light-collecting capability, = necessary for this type of observation where so few X-rays penetrate the = dusty region, and the exquisite resolving power of Chandra to pinpoint = the X-ray source position. The team used the infrared Subaru telescope = to determine the protostar's age. "The age is based on a well-established chart of spectra, or = characteristics of the infrared light, as the protostar evolves over the = course of a million years," said Ko Nedachi, a doctoral student at the = University of Tokyo who led the Subaru observation. The science team also includes Drs. Rob Petre and Nicholas White of NASA = Goddard, Dr. Beate Stelzer of the Astronomy Observatory in Palermo, = Italy, and Dr. Naoto Kobayashi of University of Tokyo. Kenji Hamaguchi = is funded through the National Research Council; Michael Corcoran is = funded through Universities Space Research Association. For images and more information: http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/starsgalaxies/xmm_magnetic_starbirth.= html -end- =20 ------=_NextPart_000_0054_01C51E6F.88220060 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
 
----- Original = Message -----=20
From: Ed Campion
Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2005 1:34 PM
Subject: GSFC Release: NEWLY SEEN FORCE MAY HELP GRAVITY IN = STAR=20 FORMATION



Susan=20 Hendrix           =             &= nbsp;           &n= bsp;           &nb= sp;           &nbs= p;            = ;            =  =20 March 1, 2005
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
(Phone:=20 301/286-7745)
 
RELEASE: 05-06
 
NEWLY SEEN = FORCE MAY=20 HELP GRAVITY IN STAR FORMATION

Scientists have pierced = through a=20 dusty stellar nursery to capture the earliest and most detailed view of = a=20 collapsing gas cloud turning into a star, analogous to a baby's first=20 ultrasound.
 
The observation, made primarily with the = European Space=20 Agency's XMM-Newton observatory, suggests that some unrealized, = energetic=20 process -- likely related to magnetic fields -- is superheating the = surface of=20 the cloud core, nudging the cloud ever closer to becoming a=20 star.
 
The observation marks the first clear detection of = X-rays=20 from a cold precursor to a star, called a Class 0 protostar, far earlier = in a=20 star's evolution than most experts in this field thought possible. The = surprise=20 detection of X-rays from such a cold object reveals that matter is = falling=20 toward the protostar core 10 times faster than expected from gravity=20 alone.
 
"We are seeing star formation at its embryonic = stage," said=20 Dr. Kenji Hamaguchi, a NASA-funded researcher at NASA Goddard Space = Flight=20 Center in Greenbelt, Md., lead author on a report in The Astrophysical = Journal.=20 "Previous observations have captured the shape of such gas clouds but = have never=20 been able to peer inside. The detection of X-rays this early indicates = that=20 gravity alone is not the only force shaping young=20 stars."
 
Supporting data came from NASA's Chandra X-ray = Observatory,=20 Japan's Subaru telescope in Hawaii, and the University of Hawaii 88-inch = telescope.
 
Hamaguchi's team discovered X-rays from a Class = 0=20 protostar in the R Corona Australis star-forming region, about 500 light = years=20 from Earth.
 
Class 0 is the youngest class of protostellar = object,=20 about 10,000 to 100,000 years into the assimilation process. The cloud=20 temperature is about 400 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (minus 240 = Celsius).=20 After a few million years, nuclear fusion ignites at the center of the=20 collapsing protostellar cloud, and a new star is = formed.
 
The team=20 speculates that magnetic fields in the spinning protostar core = accelerate=20 infalling matter to high speeds, producing high temperatures and X-rays = in the=20 process. These X- rays can penetrate the dusty region to reveal the=20 core.

"This is no gentle freefall of gas," said Dr. Michael = Corcoran of=20 NASA Goddard, a co-author on the report. "The X-ray emission shows that = forces=20 appear to be accelerating matter to high speeds, heating regions of this = cold=20 gas cloud to 100 million degrees Fahrenheit. The X-ray emission from the = core=20 gives us a window to probe the hidden processes by which cold gas clouds = collapse to stars."

Hamaguchi likened the generation of X-rays in = the=20 Class 0 protostar to what happens during solar flares on our Sun. The = solar=20 surface has lots of magnetic loops, which sometimes get tangled and = release=20 large amounts of energy.  This energy can accelerate atoms to = velocities of=20 7 million miles an hour. The particles smash against the solar surface = and=20 create X-rays. Similarly tangled magnetic fields might be responsible = for X-rays=20 observed by Hamaguchi and his collaborators.

The detection of = magnetic=20 fields from an extremely young Class 0 protostar provides a crucial link = in=20 understanding the star formation process, because magnetic field loops = are=20 believed to play a critical role in moderating the cloud = collapse.

The=20 team used XMM-Newton for its powerful light-collecting capability, = necessary for=20 this type of observation where so few X-rays penetrate the dusty region, = and the=20 exquisite resolving power of Chandra to pinpoint the X-ray source = position. The=20 team used the infrared Subaru telescope to determine the protostar's=20 age.

"The age is based on a well-established chart of spectra, or = characteristics of the infrared light, as the protostar evolves over the = course=20 of a million years," said Ko Nedachi, a doctoral student at the = University of=20 Tokyo who led the Subaru observation.

The science team also = includes Drs.=20 Rob Petre and Nicholas White of NASA Goddard, Dr. Beate Stelzer of the = Astronomy=20 Observatory in Palermo, Italy, and Dr. Naoto Kobayashi of University of = Tokyo.=20 Kenji Hamaguchi is funded through the National Research Council; Michael = Corcoran is funded through Universities Space Research = Association.

For=20 images and more information:
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/starsgalaxies/xmm_magne= tic_starbirth.html

-end-
 
= ------=_NextPart_000_0054_01C51E6F.88220060-- From owner-public@setileague.org Thu Mar 3 08:13:19 2005 Received: from seti1.setileague.org (seti1.setileague.org [204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.6/8.12.6) with ESMTP id j23GDB7q025184 for ; Thu, 3 Mar 2005 08:13:14 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) id KAA26188 for public-list; Thu, 3 Mar 2005 10:57:42 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from hotmail.com (bay103-dav2.bay103.hotmail.com [65.54.174.74]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id KAA26184; Thu, 3 Mar 2005 10:57:39 -0500 (EST) Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC; Thu, 3 Mar 2005 07:57:00 -0800 Message-ID: Received: from 65.54.174.200 by BAY103-DAV2.phx.gbl with DAV; Thu, 03 Mar 2005 15:56:40 +0000 X-Originating-IP: [65.54.174.200] X-Originating-Email: [ljk4@msn.com] X-Sender: ljk4@msn.com From: "LARRY KLAES" To: "setipublic" Cc: "BioAstro" Subject: SETI public: Mysterious galaxies discovered by CU-led team on Spitzer telescope Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 10:56:31 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_00E0_01C51FDF.A845EC50" X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: MSN 9 X-Mimeole: Produced By MSN MimeOLE V9.10.0011.1703 Seal-Send-Time: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 10:56:31 -0500 X-OriginalArrivalTime: 03 Mar 2005 15:57:00.0738 (UTC) FILETIME=[A2C28A20:01C52009] Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_00E0_01C51FDF.A845EC50 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/05/3.3.05/Spitzer_galaxies.html Mysterious galaxies discovered by CU-led team on Spitzer telescope=20 By Larry Klaes=20 A Cornell-led team operating the Infrared Spectrograph (IRS), the = largest of the three main instruments on NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, = has discovered a mysterious population of distant and enormously = powerful galaxies radiating in the infrared spectrum with many hundreds = of times more power than our Milky Way galaxy. Their distance from Earth = is about 11 billion light years, or 80 percent of the way back to the = Big Bang.=20 Virtually everything about this new class of objects is educated = speculation, the researchers say, since the galaxies are invisible to = ground-based optical telescopes with the deepest reach into the = universe. "We think we have an idea of what they are, but we are not = necessarily correct," said Dan Weedman, Cornell senior research = associate in astronomy.=20 Among the more probable ideas are that these mysterious bodies are = ultraluminous infrared galaxies, powered either by an active galactic = nuclei (AGN) or by a starburst, a massive burst of star formation. AGNs = are powered by the in-fall of matter to a massive black hole, while = massive starbursts often are triggered by the collision of two or more = galaxies.=20 What makes the objects studied by the Spitzer team stand out is that = previously known AGNs are "not nearly as powerful, far away or as = dust-enshrouded" as these bodies are, said Weedman.=20 The Cornell Spitzer team's discovery is published in the March 1 issue = of the Astrophysical Journal Letters (ApJL), published by the American = Astronomical Society. The Spitzer telescope, which went into = Earth-trailing orbit around the sun in August 2003, is the last of = NASA's great observatories, the Hubble being the first.=20 The IRS team used data from the National Science Foundation's telescopes = at Kitt Peak National Observatory, obtained as part of the National = Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) Deep Wide-Field Survey. The team = also used a catalog of infrared sources obtained in a survey in early = 2004 by another of the Spitzer telescope's instruments, the Multiband = Imaging Photometer for Spitzer (MIPS). From the thousands of MIPS = sources in a three-degree square patch of the sky -- about one-fourth = the size of the bowl of the Big Dipper -- in the constellation Bo=F6tes = the Herdsman, the IRS team selected and observed 31 that are quite = bright in the infrared but invisible in the NOAO survey.=20 "The NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey is the best available optical survey = for comparing to our data," Weedman says. "It would have been much more = difficult to make this discovery without such a wide area of comparison. = These NOAO data allowed us to compare the sky at infrared and optical = wavelengths and find things that had never been seen before."=20 The Bo=F6tes area was chosen by the NOAO team because of the absence of = obscuring dust in our galaxy, presenting a clear view of the distant = sky. The presence of these mysterious, infrared, bright-but-optically = invisible objects was first hinted at in 1983 in a paper by James Houck, = Cornell's Kenneth A. Wallace Professor of Astronomy and principal = investigator for the IRS. Houck was interpreting data from another space = probe he was involved with, the Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS), = the first astronomy mission devoted to searching the heavens for = infrared sources. More than a decade later, these strange objects were = again recorded by the European Space Agency's Infrared Space = Observatory.=20 "Spitzer is more than 100 times more sensitive than IRAS for detecting = objects at infrared wavelengths," said Houck.=20 "These celestial bodies are so far from our Milky Way galaxy that we = detect them as they were "when the universe was just 20 percent of its = current age," said Sarah Higdon, a research associate in Cornell's = Department of Astronomy, who led the group that developed the software = package for analyzing Spitzer data.=20 In addition to their incredible distance, these objects also are = enshrouded by a great deal of dust, which Cornell astronomy research = associate Jim Higdon describes as being "the size of smoke particles = made of silicates."=20 Other authors of the ApJL paper are: from Cornell, Terry Herter and = Vassilis Charmandaris; from the Spitzer Space Science Center, L. Armus, = H.I. Teplitz and B.T. Soifer; from NOAO, M.J.I Brown (now at Princeton = University), A. Dey and B.T. Jannuzi; from Steward Observatory, = University of Arizona, E. Le Floc'h and M. Rieke; and from Leiden = Observatory, Holland, Bernhard Brandl.=20 The IRS, the most sensitive infrared spectrograph to be sent into space, = is a collaborative venture between Cornell and Ball Aerospace and funded = by NASA through the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Ames Research Center. = NOAO is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in = Astronomy Inc., under a cooperative agreement with the National Science = Foundation.=20 Reported and written for Cornell News Office by freelancer Larry Klaes.=20 March 3, 2005 ------=_NextPart_000_00E0_01C51FDF.A845EC50 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/05/3.3.05/Spitzer_galaxies.ht= ml
 
Mysterious galaxies discovered by CU-led team on Spitzer telescope =
 
By Larry Klaes

A Cornell-led team operating the Infrared Spectrograph (IRS), the = largest of=20 the three main instruments on NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, has = discovered a=20 mysterious population of distant and enormously powerful galaxies = radiating in=20 the infrared spectrum with many hundreds of times more power than our = Milky Way=20 galaxy. Their distance from Earth is about 11 billion light years, or 80 = percent=20 of the way back to the Big Bang.=20

Virtually everything about this new class of objects is educated = speculation,=20 the researchers say, since the galaxies are invisible to ground-based = optical=20 telescopes with the deepest reach into the universe. "We think we have = an idea=20 of what they are, but we are not necessarily correct," said Dan Weedman, = Cornell=20 senior research associate in astronomy.=20

Among the more probable ideas are that these mysterious bodies are=20 ultraluminous infrared galaxies, powered either by an active galactic = nuclei=20 (AGN) or by a starburst, a massive burst of star formation. AGNs are = powered by=20 the in-fall of matter to a massive black hole, while massive starbursts = often=20 are triggered by the collision of two or more galaxies.=20

What makes the objects studied by the Spitzer team stand out is that=20 previously known AGNs are "not nearly as powerful, far away or as=20 dust-enshrouded" as these bodies are, said Weedman.=20

The Cornell Spitzer team's discovery is published in the March 1 = issue of the=20 Astrophysical Journal Letters (ApJL), published by the American=20 Astronomical Society. The Spitzer telescope, which went into = Earth-trailing=20 orbit around the sun in August 2003, is the last of NASA's great = observatories,=20 the Hubble being the first.=20

The IRS team used data from the National Science Foundation's = telescopes at=20 Kitt Peak National Observatory, obtained as part of the National Optical = Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) Deep Wide-Field Survey. The team also used = a=20 catalog of infrared sources obtained in a survey in early 2004 by = another of the=20 Spitzer telescope's instruments, the Multiband Imaging Photometer for = Spitzer=20 (MIPS). From the thousands of MIPS sources in a three-degree square = patch of the=20 sky -- about one-fourth the size of the bowl of the Big Dipper -- in the = constellation Bo=F6tes the Herdsman, the IRS team selected and observed = 31 that=20 are quite bright in the infrared but invisible in the NOAO survey.=20

"The NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey is the best available optical survey = for=20 comparing to our data," Weedman says. "It would have been much more = difficult to=20 make this discovery without such a wide area of comparison. These NOAO = data=20 allowed us to compare the sky at infrared and optical wavelengths and = find=20 things that had never been seen before."=20

The Bo=F6tes area was chosen by the NOAO team because of the absence = of=20 obscuring dust in our galaxy, presenting a clear view of the distant = sky. The=20 presence of these mysterious, infrared, bright-but-optically invisible = objects=20 was first hinted at in 1983 in a paper by James Houck, Cornell's Kenneth = A.=20 Wallace Professor of Astronomy and principal investigator for the IRS. = Houck was=20 interpreting data from another space probe he was involved with, the = Infrared=20 Astronomical Satellite (IRAS), the first astronomy mission devoted to = searching=20 the heavens for infrared sources. More than a decade later, these = strange=20 objects were again recorded by the European Space Agency's Infrared = Space=20 Observatory.=20

"Spitzer is more than 100 times more sensitive than IRAS for = detecting=20 objects at infrared wavelengths," said Houck.=20

"These celestial bodies are so far from our Milky Way galaxy that we = detect=20 them as they were "when the universe was just 20 percent of its current = age,"=20 said Sarah Higdon, a research associate in Cornell's Department of = Astronomy,=20 who led the group that developed the software package for analyzing = Spitzer=20 data.=20

In addition to their incredible distance, these objects also are = enshrouded=20 by a great deal of dust, which Cornell astronomy research associate Jim = Higdon=20 describes as being "the size of smoke particles made of silicates."=20

Other authors of the ApJL paper are: from Cornell, Terry Herter and = Vassilis=20 Charmandaris; from the Spitzer Space Science Center, L. Armus, H.I. = Teplitz and=20 B.T. Soifer; from NOAO, M.J.I Brown (now at Princeton University), A. = Dey and=20 B.T. Jannuzi; from Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, E. Le = Floc'h and=20 M. Rieke; and from Leiden Observatory, Holland, Bernhard Brandl.=20

The IRS, the most sensitive infrared spectrograph to be sent into = space, is a=20 collaborative venture between Cornell and Ball Aerospace and funded by = NASA=20 through the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Ames Research Center. NOAO is = operated=20 by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy Inc., under = a=20 cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.=20

Reported and written for Cornell News Office by freelancer Larry=20 Klaes.=20

March 3, 2005
 
 
 
------=_NextPart_000_00E0_01C51FDF.A845EC50-- From owner-public@setileague.org Sat Mar 5 10:45:18 2005 Received: from seti1.setileague.org (seti1.setileague.org [204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.6/8.12.6) with ESMTP id j25IjH7q031659 for ; Sat, 5 Mar 2005 10:45:17 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) id LAA02474 for public-list; Fri, 4 Mar 2005 11:25:39 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from hotmail.com (bay103-dav10.bay103.hotmail.com [65.54.174.82]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id LAA02462; Fri, 4 Mar 2005 11:25:37 -0500 (EST) Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC; Fri, 4 Mar 2005 08:25:05 -0800 Message-ID: Received: from 65.54.174.202 by BAY103-DAV10.phx.gbl with DAV; Fri, 04 Mar 2005 16:24:40 +0000 X-Originating-IP: [65.54.174.202] X-Originating-Email: [ljk4@msn.com] X-Sender: ljk4@msn.com From: "LARRY KLAES" To: "setipublic" Cc: "BioAstro" Subject: SETI public: Radio Pulses Could Signal New Class of Astronomical Object Date: Fri, 4 Mar 2005 11:24:39 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/related; type="multipart/alternative"; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_00EF_01C520AC.C0D97E30" X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: MSN 9 X-MimeOLE: Produced By MSN MimeOLE V9.10.0011.1703 Seal-Send-Time: Fri, 4 Mar 2005 11:24:39 -0500 X-OriginalArrivalTime: 04 Mar 2005 16:25:05.0369 (UTC) FILETIME=[B94A9490:01C520D6] Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_00EF_01C520AC.C0D97E30 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_001_00F0_01C520AC.C0D97E30" ------=_NextPart_001_00F0_01C520AC.C0D97E30 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Radio Pulses Could Signal New Class of Astronomical Object=20 http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=3Dsa003&articleID=3D000566BB-3204= -1226-B20483414B7F0000 A survey of our galaxy's center has turned up evidence of what may be a = new class of astronomical object. According to results published today = in the journal Nature, scientists have detected an unusual burst of = radio waves emanating from near the galactic center with characteristics = that are unlike those of previously detected radio bursts.=20 Scott Hyman of Sweet Briar College and his colleagues analyzed data = collected from years of monitoring the center of the Milky Way galaxy = using the Very Large Array telescope in New Mexico. Radio waves having = wavelengths around one meter long were of particular interest to the = team: between September 30 and October 1, 2002, they detected five = bursts of such radiation, which repeated at regular intervals. The = bursts coming from the new source, dubbed GCRT J1745-3009, each lasted = about 10 minutes and repeated on a 77-minute cycle for nearly seven = hours. In addition, the source is not stationary. "It [GCRT J1745-3009] = has not been detected since 2002," Hyman notes, "nor is it present on = earlier images."=20 The transitory nature of GCRT J1745-3009 has made it difficult to = assign it to an existing class of object. Whatever it is, it is unique: = the astronomers suggest it is either the first of a new type of object = or an example of a known source acting in a novel way. Of interest to = the scientists is the fact that no x-rays were detected along with the = radio waves, because many astronomical sources emit both. In the future, = the team plans to continue monitoring the Milky Way for further evidence = of GCRT J1745-3009 using both radio and x-ray telescopes. In an = accompanying commentary, Shri R. Kulkarni and E. Sterl Phinney of the = California Institute of Technology note that "the manner of its = discovery, and the potentially exciting interpretation, will inspire = more dedicated searches for radio transients." --Sarah Graham =20 =20 =20 ------=_NextPart_001_00F0_01C520AC.C0D97E30 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Radio Pulses Could Signal New Class of Astronomical Object
 
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chan= ID=3Dsa003&articleID=3D000566BB-3204-1226-B20483414B7F0000
 
 
A survey of our galaxy's center has turned up evidence of what may = be a new=20 class of astronomical object. According to results published today in = the=20 journal Nature, scientists have detected an unusual burst of = radio waves=20 emanating from near the galactic center with characteristics that are = unlike=20 those of previously detected radio bursts.=20

Scott Hyman of Sweet Briar College and his colleagues analyzed data = collected=20 from years of monitoring the center of the Milky Way galaxy using the = Very Large=20 Array telescope in New Mexico. Radio waves having wavelengths around one = meter=20 long were of particular interest to the team: between September 30 and = October=20 1, 2002, they detected five bursts of such radiation, which repeated at = regular=20 intervals. The bursts coming from the new source, dubbed GCRT = J1745-3009, each=20 lasted about 10 minutes and repeated on a 77-minute cycle for nearly = seven=20 hours. In addition, the source is not stationary. "It [GCRT J1745-3009] = has not=20 been detected since 2002," Hyman notes, "nor is it present on earlier = images."=20

The transitory nature of GCRT J1745-3009 has made = it=20 difficult to assign it to an existing class of object. Whatever it = is, it=20 is unique: the astronomers suggest it is either the first of a new = type of=20 object or an example of a known source acting in a novel way. Of = interest=20 to the scientists is the fact that no x-rays were detected along = with the=20 radio waves, because many astronomical sources emit both. In the = future,=20 the team plans to continue monitoring the Milky Way for further = evidence=20 of GCRT J1745-3009 using both radio and x-ray telescopes. In an=20 accompanying commentary, Shri R. Kulkarni and E. Sterl Phinney of = the=20 California Institute of Technology note that "the manner of its = discovery,=20 and the potentially exciting interpretation, will inspire more = dedicated=20 searches for radio transients." --Sarah Graham
3D""=20

------=_NextPart_001_00F0_01C520AC.C0D97E30-- ------=_NextPart_000_00EF_01C520AC.C0D97E30 Content-Type: image/gif; name="trans.gif" Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64 Content-Location: http://www.sciam.com/media/struct/trans.gif R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///////yH5BAUUAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw== ------=_NextPart_000_00EF_01C520AC.C0D97E30-- From owner-public@setileague.org Sat Mar 5 10:45:35 2005 Received: from seti1.setileague.org (seti1.setileague.org [204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.6/8.12.6) with ESMTP id j25IjX7q029888 for ; Sat, 5 Mar 2005 10:45:34 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) id TAA08480 for public-list; Thu, 3 Mar 2005 19:12:35 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from hotmail.com (bay103-dav5.bay103.hotmail.com [65.54.174.77]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id TAA08476; Thu, 3 Mar 2005 19:12:32 -0500 (EST) Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC; Thu, 3 Mar 2005 16:12:00 -0800 Message-ID: Received: from 65.54.174.200 by BAY103-DAV5.phx.gbl with DAV; Fri, 04 Mar 2005 00:11:54 +0000 X-Originating-IP: [65.54.174.200] X-Originating-Email: [ljk4@msn.com] X-Sender: ljk4@msn.com From: "LARRY KLAES" To: "setipublic" Cc: "BioAstro" Subject: SETI public: Online Community Set To Leap Beyond Solar System Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 19:11:49 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_009B_01C52024.D9C931C0" X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: MSN 9 X-MimeOLE: Produced By MSN MimeOLE V9.10.0011.1703 Seal-Send-Time: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 19:11:49 -0500 X-OriginalArrivalTime: 04 Mar 2005 00:12:00.0901 (UTC) FILETIME=[C96FC350:01C5204E] Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_009B_01C52024.D9C931C0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable http://www.craigslist.org/about/space.html PRESS RELEASE February 28th, 2005 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Susan MacTavish Best susan@bestpr.net=20 =20 Online Community Set To Leap Beyond Solar System craigslist users to be first to transmit internet postings into = deep space=20 San Francisco, CA (USA) : Today craigslist, global leader in local = classifieds and online community, announced plans to offer its users the = opportunity to have their postings transmitted trillions of miles beyond = the confines of the Solar System. craigslist currently handles 5 million = earthly postings each month, from 8 million humans, in 99 cities and 19 = countries on the planetary surface.=20 "It looks like we may hit 2 billion page views per month in March = here on Earth," noted craigslist customer service rep and founder, Craig = Newmark. "We wanted to be the first to offer free job postings, = apartment listings, personals and other classifieds to the = extraterrestrial community. We believe there could be an infinite market = opportunity," chuckled Craig as he turned back to his computer screen to = respond to craigslist customer service emails.=20 craigslist announced the ambitious plan after CEO Jim Buckmaster = won an auction on eBay for the first private communication to be = transmitted into deep space by Deep Space Communications = Network, of Cape Canaveral, Florida. = Noting that such transmissions have long been the exclusive domain of = military and research institutions, Buckmaster said "We're thrilled to = offer our users this historic opportunity", and added that negotiations = were ongoing with DSCN for transmission capacity orders of magnitude = beyond those offered in the original auction, to accommodate the = interstellar messaging needs of the mammoth online community.=20 Effective immediately, all earthlings posting to craigslist will = have an opportunity to earmark their message for inclusion in the = historic transmission from Cape Canaveral, immediately following the = launch of the Discovery Space Shuttle - currently scheduled for May 15, = 2005. Deep Space Communications Network will transmit the postings, = along with a personal video message from Craig, and a clip from the = documentary "24 Hours on craigslist" light years into space, for the = benefit and edification of potential future craigslist community members = in the great beyond.=20 When asked about the reason for using the Deep Space Communication = Network to get the word out intergalactically, Jim Buckmaster, CEO of = craigslist noted, "We checked into doing a direct mailing but the = postage rates are just out of this world, and getting a carrier to = commit to delivery verification was impossible. We know that SETI is = working on securing a good list of contacts but we didn't feel right = about waiting any longer. Why not just put the service out there, = doesn't have to be perfect at first, and let folks respond with feedback = on how we can make it better"=20 About craigslist Founded in 1995 by Craig Newmark, craigslist is known worldwide as = an archetype of online community - a democratic, trustworthy, and = efficient platform for fulfilling basic human needs, as guided by real = world communities everywhere. craigslist includes classified listings = for jobs, housing, goods and services, personals, events, and community, = plus a wide variety of discussion forums.=20 About Deep Space Communications Network Deep Space Communications Network was launched in January 2005 by = a group of respected professionals with over 20 years of experience = providing satellite communications and video production and programming = services to the government and commercial space programs. = www.deepspacecom.net=20 Media Contacts craigslist: Susan MacTavish Best, 415-505-0301, = susan@bestpr.net=20 Deep Space Communications Network: Susan Kohl, 209-586-5887, = skohl@sierracomm.com=20 =20 ------=_NextPart_000_009B_01C52024.D9C931C0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
 
PRESS RELEASE
February 28th,=20 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact:
Susan MacTavish Best
susan@bestpr.net
 

Online Community Set To Leap Beyond Solar = System

craigslist=20 users to be first to transmit internet postings into deep = space=20

San Francisco, CA (USA) : Today craigslist, global = leader in=20 local classifieds and online community, announced plans to offer = its users=20 the opportunity to have their postings transmitted trillions of = miles=20 beyond the confines of the Solar System. craigslist currently = handles 5=20 million earthly postings each month, from 8 million humans, in 99 = cities=20 and 19 countries on the planetary surface.=20

"It looks like we may hit 2 billion page views per month in = March here=20 on Earth," noted craigslist customer service rep and founder, = Craig=20 Newmark. "We wanted to be the first to offer free job postings, = apartment=20 listings, personals and other classifieds to the extraterrestrial=20 community. We believe there could be an infinite market = opportunity,"=20 chuckled Craig as he turned back to his computer screen to respond = to=20 craigslist customer service emails.=20

craigslist announced the ambitious plan after CEO Jim = Buckmaster won an=20 auction on eBay for the first private communication to be = transmitted into=20 deep space by Deep Space Communications = Network,=20 of Cape Canaveral, Florida. Noting that such transmissions have = long been=20 the exclusive domain of military and research institutions, = Buckmaster=20 said "We're thrilled to offer our users this historic = opportunity", and=20 added that negotiations were ongoing with DSCN for transmission = capacity=20 orders of magnitude beyond those offered in the original auction, = to=20 accommodate the interstellar messaging needs of the mammoth online = community.=20

Effective immediately, all earthlings posting to craigslist = will have=20 an opportunity to earmark their message for inclusion in the = historic=20 transmission from Cape Canaveral, immediately following the launch = of the=20 Discovery Space Shuttle - currently scheduled for May 15, 2005. = Deep Space=20 Communications Network will transmit the postings, along with a = personal=20 video message from Craig, and a clip from the documentary "24 = Hours on=20 craigslist" light years into space, for the benefit and = edification of=20 potential future craigslist community members in the great beyond. =

When asked about the reason for using the Deep Space = Communication=20 Network to get the word out intergalactically, Jim Buckmaster, CEO = of=20 craigslist noted, "We checked into doing a direct mailing but the = postage=20 rates are just out of this world, and getting a carrier to commit = to=20 delivery verification was impossible. We know that SETI is working = on=20 securing a good list of contacts but we didn't feel right about = waiting=20 any longer. Why not just put the service out there, doesn't have = to be=20 perfect at first, and let folks respond with feedback on how we = can make=20 it better"=20

About craigslist

Founded in 1995 by Craig Newmark, craigslist is known worldwide = as an=20 archetype of online community - a democratic, trustworthy, and = efficient=20 platform for fulfilling basic human needs, as guided by real world = communities everywhere. craigslist includes classified listings = for jobs,=20 housing, goods and services, personals, events, and community, = plus a wide=20 variety of discussion forums.=20

About Deep Space Communications Network

Deep Space Communications Network was launched in January 2005 = by a=20 group of respected professionals with over 20 years of experience=20 providing satellite communications and video production and = programming=20 services to the government and commercial space programs. www.deepspacecom.net=20

Media Contacts

craigslist: Susan MacTavish Best, 415-505-0301, susan@bestpr.net=20

Deep Space Communications Network: Susan Kohl, 209-586-5887, skohl@sierracomm.com=20

 
 
------=_NextPart_000_009B_01C52024.D9C931C0-- From owner-public@setileague.org Sat Mar 5 10:45:45 2005 Received: from seti1.setileague.org (seti1.setileague.org [204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.6/8.12.6) with ESMTP id j25Ijh7q022274 for ; Sat, 5 Mar 2005 10:45:44 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) id SAA07080 for public-list; Thu, 3 Mar 2005 18:15:47 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from imo-m19.mx.aol.com (imo-m19.mx.aol.com [64.12.137.11]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id SAA07064; Thu, 3 Mar 2005 18:15:32 -0500 (EST) From: MarcusJohn@AOL.COM Received: from MarcusJohn@aol.com by imo-m19.mx.aol.com (mail_out_v37_r3.8.) id z.12e.58df4528 (16781); Thu, 3 Mar 2005 18:14:52 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <12e.58df4528.2f58f46c@aol.com> Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2005 18:14:52 EST Subject: SETI public: Lightening emissions: Xrays. To: public@setileague.org, argus@setileague.org MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="-----------------------------1109891692" X-Mailer: 9.0 SE for Windows sub 5004 Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk -------------------------------1109891692 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit I have here a citation from Geophysical Review Letters, 16 Jan 2005. It is at the bottom. One of my pet theories is that lightening on foreign worlds ought to be detectable. Now we have evidence that lightening emits xrays. I think it is possible that lightening emits in the water hole as well, since it seems to emit in a lot of different frequencies. If anyone would like to test my theory, then if they have a lightening storm within the line of sight, see if they can turn their Argus station towards the storm and see what the electronic signature of the storm is in the water hole. The storm has to be in the line of sight because these frequencies are not observable over the horizon. Please be careful. Turn the gain down at first, or take the LNA out of the circuit, and turn everything off if the storm is within 20 miles, so you don't get hit by the bolts. This obviously puts large constraints on the local topography of the Argus station. You cannot do this if you are deep in a valley because you cannot see 20 miles to the horizon. Only Argus stations on a hill will be able to do this. Any comments? This might be an interesting project, and it may be publishable if we get good data. John. X-RAY THUNDERBOLT. Scientists have long suspected that lightning might generate x rays. However, until recently the observation of such x-rays has remained elusive, largely owing to the unpredictable nature of lightning. In the last few years a series of experiments by Joseph Dwyer and his colleagues at the Florida Institute of Technology and the University of Florida has shown that lightning indeed emits large bursts of x rays with energies up to about 250 keV (about twice that of a chest x ray). These x rays are mostly produced not by the bright return strokes, but by the leaders that precede the stroke, as they propagate from the cloud to the ground. Now, Dwyer and his colleagues have discovered that these bursts of x rays are produced at the precise moment that the lightning steps forward along its jagged path. For unknown reasons, lightning does not travel to the ground in a continuous manner, but instead traverses the distance in a series of discrete steps. It is this stepping process that gives lightning its jagged, sometimes forked, appearance, and Dwyer has now shown that this same stepping process also makes x rays. The x rays are likely produced by strong electric fields that accelerate electrons to close to the speed of light. These so-called runaway electrons collide with air producing bremsstrahlung ("braking radiation" in German) x-rays. Dwyer says that higher energy gamma rays are also emitted sometimes, but that these seem to come from the thunderstorm cloud itself and not from the lightning stroke. (Dwyer et al., Geophysical Review Letters, 16 January 2005.) -------------------------------1109891692 Content-Type: text/html; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
I have here a citation from Geophysical Review Letters, 16 Jan 2005. It= is=20 at the bottom.
 
One of my pet theories is that lightening on foreign worlds ought to be= =20 detectable.
 
Now we have evidence that lightening emits xrays.
 
I think it is possible that lightening emits in the water hole as well,= =20 since it seems
to emit in a lot of different frequencies.
 
If anyone would like to test my theory, then if they have a lightening=20 storm within
the line of sight, see if they can turn their Argus station towards the= =20 storm and
see what the electronic signature of the storm is in the water hole.
 
The storm has to be in the line of sight because these frequencies are=20= not=20 observable
over the horizon.
 
Please be careful. Turn the gain down at first, or take the LNA out of=20= the=20 circuit,
and turn everything off if the storm
is within 20 miles, so you don't get hit by the bolts.
 
This obviously puts large constraints on the local topography of the Ar= gus=20 station.
You cannot do this if you are deep in a valley because you cannot see 2= 0=20 miles
to the horizon. Only Argus stations on a hill will be able to do this.=20
 
Any comments? This might be an interesting project, and it may be=20 publishable if we
get good data.
 
John.
 
X-RAY THUNDERBOLT.  Scientists have long suspected that=20 lightning
might generate x rays.  However, until recently the=20 observation of
such x-rays has remained elusive, largely owing to the=20 unpredictable
nature of lightning.  In the last few years a series o= f=20 experiments
by Joseph Dwyer and his colleagues at the Florida Institute=20 of
Technology and the University of Florida has shown that=20 lightning
indeed emits large bursts of x rays with energies up to about=20 250
keV (about twice that of a chest x ray).  These x rays are=20 mostly
produced not by the bright return strokes, but by the leaders=20 that
precede the stroke, as they propagate from the cloud to the=20 ground.
Now, Dwyer and his colleagues have discovered that these bursts o= f=20 x
rays are produced at the precise moment that the lightning steps
for= ward=20 along its jagged path.  For unknown reasons, lightning does
not trav= el=20 to the ground in a continuous manner, but instead
traverses the distance=20= in a=20 series of discrete steps.  It is this
stepping process that gives=20 lightning its jagged, sometimes forked,
appearance, and Dwyer has now sho= wn=20 that this same stepping process
also makes x rays.  The x rays are=20 likely produced by strong
electric fields that accelerate electrons to cl= ose=20 to the speed
of light.  These so-called runaway electrons collide wi= th=20 air
producing bremsstrahlung ("braking radiation" in German) x-rays.
D= wyer=20 says that higher energy gamma rays are also emitted sometimes,
but that t= hese=20 seem to come from the thunderstorm cloud itself and
not from the lightnin= g=20 stroke.  (Dwyer et al., Geophysical Review
Letters, 16 January=20 2005.)
 -------------------------------1109891692-- From owner-public@setileague.org Sat Mar 5 10:50:15 2005 Received: from seti1.setileague.org (seti1.setileague.org [204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.6/8.12.6) with ESMTP id j25IoD7q018702 for ; Sat, 5 Mar 2005 10:50:14 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) id LAA02677 for public-list; Fri, 4 Mar 2005 11:34:39 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from hotmail.com (bay103-dav12.bay103.hotmail.com [65.54.174.84]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id LAA02673; Fri, 4 Mar 2005 11:34:37 -0500 (EST) Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC; Fri, 4 Mar 2005 08:34:02 -0800 Message-ID: Received: from 65.54.174.202 by BAY103-DAV12.phx.gbl with DAV; Fri, 04 Mar 2005 16:33:34 +0000 X-Originating-IP: [65.54.174.202] X-Originating-Email: [ljk4@msn.com] X-Sender: ljk4@msn.com From: "LARRY KLAES" To: "setipublic" Cc: "BioAstro" Subject: SETI public: Radio Waves Detected Coming From Center of Galaxy Date: Fri, 4 Mar 2005 11:33:32 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0128_01C520AD.FE9202A0" X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: MSN 9 X-MimeOLE: Produced By MSN MimeOLE V9.10.0011.1703 Seal-Send-Time: Fri, 4 Mar 2005 11:33:32 -0500 X-OriginalArrivalTime: 04 Mar 2005 16:34:02.0330 (UTC) FILETIME=[F95853A0:01C520D7] Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0128_01C520AD.FE9202A0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/03/0302_050302_galactic_radi= o.html Radio Waves Detected Coming From Center of Galaxy Brian Handwerk National Geographic News March 2, 2005 Astronomers have detected an unusual, powerful burst of intermittent = radio waves emanating from the direction of the center of our galaxy.=20 Now the search is on to trace the source of the mystery radio bursts, or = at least find more like it. Was it a dying star "burping" its last radio = emissions? Or is there something out there completely new to science?=20 The discovery "will cause a stampede of further observations," write = astronomers Shri Kulkarni and Sterl Phinney in tomorrow's issue of the = science journal Nature. They're in the Division of Physics, Mathematics, = and Astronomy at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.=20 Astronomer Scott Hyman of Sweet Briar College in Virginia helped make = the discovery while observing the center of the Milky Way through radio = telescopes set at various wavelengths. The galaxy is full of objects = that emit radio waves, including black holes and stars of various kinds. = But the cause of this particular burst of radio waves has astronomers = scratching their heads.=20 "The most spectacular aspect of this is that five bursts occurred at = regular intervals of about an hour and a quarter [77 minutes]," Hyman = said. "They were at a constant intensity . and each burst had basically = the same time profile." Each burst lasted about ten minutes.=20 Hyman and colleagues reported their findings in this week's Nature.=20 Transient radio emissions are not particularly unusual. They generally = occur, at many different wavelengths, in conjunction with large releases = of energy such as occur during deaths of stars. Binary systems featuring = black holes or neutron stars emit radio and x-ray bursts, while = supernovas emit over the entire electromagnetic spectrum.=20 But short-lived radio bursts are rarely detected, because radio = telescopes, until recently, have only been able to focus on a relatively = small area of the sky in each observation.=20 "We need a different way of building telescopes," Kulkarni said. "Now we = have very sensitive instruments, but they have tunnel vision. They are = good when you know what you want to see but not so good [for looking] at = a large piece of sky and being ready to pounce on something."=20 Kulkarni added that discoveries like Hyman's could galvanize astronomers = to press on with the development of more "wide sky" radio instruments.=20 Hyman's team was able to achieve a considerably wider sky view than = other astronomers have.=20 "If we found this by just scratching the surface, imagine what's lurking = out there," he said. "We may uncover many additional types of = lower-energy-radio transient sources."=20 Source Unknown But Likely Natural=20 The new burst, dubbed GCRTJ1745-3009, has an unknown source. Current = data cannot reveal how far away it lies in the direction of the galactic = center. The center of the galaxy is about 26,000 light-years from Earth. = The radio source could be a lot nearer or a lot farther-possibly even = beyond the galaxy. The transmission's intriguing characteristics beg the = question: Might that source be intelligent?=20 "There's no reason to expect anything but a natural cause," Hyman said. = "There are so many classes of objects we don't know about out there."=20 Yet from what's known so far, the source of the radio burst seems to be = of unknown type.=20 Hyman notes that the source could be an object like a pulsar (a = pulsating neutron star) or "magnetar" (a neutron star with an extreme = magnetic field), or more like a flare star (a star whose brightness = fluctuates rapidly) or brown dwarf (a "failed star" that never ignited). = In either case, its properties don't fit those of known sources, so it = may well be an entirely new type.=20 "Whatever it is, it's certainly a very interesting object, that's for = sure," Hyman said.=20 Kulkarni added that the burst might well represent a completely new type = of object but suggested that it could also be a dying pulsar of a type = he calls a "burper."=20 "It's a less fun possibility, I'll be the first one to admit," he said. = "It's known that when pulsars age, they start sputtering along, so the = question is, do they disappear [quickly] from the radio sky, or do they = just sputter more and more, burping their way into death?"=20 If the latter is true, there could be hundreds of millions of such = objects out there, awaiting study in what Kulkarni described as a = "stellar graveyard."=20 The mystery may move closer to resolution later this month when Hyman = and his colleagues attempt to pinpoint the location of the burst's = elusive source. An observation is scheduled at the Very Large Array = (VLA), a massive radio observatory on New Mexico's Plains of San = Agustin, where the burst was first detected. ------=_NextPart_000_0128_01C520AD.FE9202A0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/03/0302_0503= 02_galactic_radio.html
 

Radio Waves Detected Coming From Center of = Galaxy

Brian Handwerk
National Geographic=20 News
March 2, 2005

Astronomers=20 have detected an unusual, powerful burst of intermittent radio waves = emanating=20 from the direction of the center of our galaxy.=20

Now the search is on to trace the source of the mystery radio bursts, = or at=20 least find more like it. Was it a dying star "burping" its last radio = emissions?=20 Or is there something out there completely new to science?=20

The discovery "will cause a stampede of further observations," write=20 astronomers Shri Kulkarni and Sterl Phinney in tomorrow's issue of the = science=20 journal Nature. They're in the Division of Physics, Mathematics, = and=20 Astronomy at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.=20

Astronomer Scott Hyman of Sweet Briar College in Virginia helped make = the=20 discovery while observing the center of the Milky Way through radio = telescopes=20 set at various wavelengths. The galaxy is full of objects that emit = radio waves,=20 including black holes and stars of various kinds. But the cause of this=20 particular burst of radio waves has astronomers scratching their heads.=20

"The most spectacular aspect of this is that five bursts occurred at = regular=20 intervals of about an hour and a quarter [77 minutes]," Hyman said. = "They were=20 at a constant intensity =85 and each burst had basically the same time = profile."=20 Each burst lasted about ten minutes.=20

Hyman and colleagues reported their findings in this week's = Nature.=20

Transient radio emissions are not particularly unusual. They = generally occur,=20 at many different wavelengths, in conjunction with large releases of = energy such=20 as occur during deaths of stars. Binary systems featuring black holes or = neutron=20 stars emit radio and x-ray bursts, while supernovas emit over the entire = electromagnetic spectrum.=20

But short-lived radio bursts are rarely detected, because radio = telescopes,=20 until recently, have only been able to focus on a relatively small area = of the=20 sky in each observation.=20

"We need a different way of building telescopes," Kulkarni said. "Now = we have=20 very sensitive instruments, but they have tunnel vision. They are good = when you=20 know what you want to see but not so good [for looking] at a large piece = of sky=20 and being ready to pounce on something."=20

Kulkarni added that discoveries like Hyman's could galvanize = astronomers to=20 press on with the development of more "wide sky" radio instruments.=20

Hyman's team was able to achieve a considerably wider sky view than = other=20 astronomers have.=20

"If we found this by just scratching the surface, imagine what's = lurking out=20 there," he said. "We may uncover many additional types of = lower-energy-radio=20 transient sources."=20

Source Unknown But Likely Natural=20

The new burst, dubbed GCRTJ1745-3009, has an unknown source. Current = data=20 cannot reveal how far away it lies in the direction of the galactic = center. The=20 center of the galaxy is about 26,000 light-years from Earth. The radio = source=20 could be a lot nearer or a lot farther=97possibly even beyond the = galaxy. The=20 transmission's intriguing characteristics beg the question: Might that = source be=20 intelligent?=20

"There's no reason to expect anything but a natural cause," Hyman = said.=20 "There are so many classes of objects we don't know about out there."=20

Yet from what's known so far, the source of the radio burst seems to = be of=20 unknown type.=20

Hyman notes that the source could be an object like a pulsar (a = pulsating=20 neutron star) or "magnetar" (a neutron star with an extreme magnetic = field), or=20 more like a flare star (a star whose brightness fluctuates rapidly) or = brown=20 dwarf (a "failed star" that never ignited). In either case, its = properties don't=20 fit those of known sources, so it may well be an entirely new type.=20

"Whatever it is, it's certainly a very interesting object, that's for = sure,"=20 Hyman said.=20

Kulkarni added that the burst might well represent a completely new = type of=20 object but suggested that it could also be a dying pulsar of a type he = calls a=20 "burper."=20

"It's a less fun possibility, I'll be the first one to admit," he = said. "It's=20 known that when pulsars age, they start sputtering along, so the = question is, do=20 they disappear [quickly] from the radio sky, or do they just sputter = more and=20 more, burping their way into death?"=20

If the latter is true, there could be hundreds of millions of such = objects=20 out there, awaiting study in what Kulkarni described as a "stellar = graveyard."=20

The mystery may move closer to resolution later this month when Hyman = and his=20 colleagues attempt to pinpoint the location of the burst's elusive = source. An=20 observation is scheduled at the Very Large Array (VLA), a massive radio=20 observatory on New Mexico's Plains of San Agustin, where the burst was = first=20 detected.

 

------=_NextPart_000_0128_01C520AD.FE9202A0-- From owner-public@setileague.org Sat Mar 5 11:32:17 2005 Received: from seti1.setileague.org (seti1.setileague.org [204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.6/8.12.6) with ESMTP id j25JWG7q023487 for ; Sat, 5 Mar 2005 11:32:17 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) id OAA12346 for public-list; Sat, 5 Mar 2005 14:22:50 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from bambi.montana.com (bambi.montana.com [66.109.128.83]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id OAA12337; Sat, 5 Mar 2005 14:22:42 -0500 (EST) Received: from webmail.montana.com (webmail.montana.com [66.109.128.77]) by bambi.montana.com (8.12.11/8.12.11) with ESMTP id j25JF1gW005103; Sat, 5 Mar 2005 12:15:02 -0700 Received: from 66.109.135.39 (SquirrelMail authenticated user djl); by webmail.montana.com with HTTP; Sat, 5 Mar 2005 12:15:01 -0700 (MST) Message-ID: <3646.66.109.135.39.1110050101.squirrel@66.109.135.39> In-Reply-To: <12e.58df4528.2f58f46c@aol.com> References: <12e.58df4528.2f58f46c@aol.com> Date: Sat, 5 Mar 2005 12:15:01 -0700 (MST) Subject: Re: SETI public: Lightening emissions: Xrays. From: "Don Latham" To: MarcusJohn@aol.com Cc: public@setileague.org, argus@setileague.org User-Agent: SquirrelMail/1.4.3a X-Mailer: SquirrelMail/1.4.3a MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) Importance: Normal X-Milter: Stats for this sender(66.109.128.77) over the last (60) seconds con_count(1) msg_count(3) Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk Hello Mar5cus and all. The return stroke in lightning does not radiate much at 21 cm, but some of the in-cloud and junction processes do. In order to "catch" these, simce they are very short in duration, a different detection scheme is needed. Do not integrate after the detector, and look with the sound card waterfall spectral programs (by all means get a copy of spectrum lab (use your search to find this). It's freeware and really useful, might not work with all sound cards. Resolution of leader and other processes will require a triggered storage scope or some other a/d capture with at least 2-5 MHz sample rate. Good Hunting Don Latham > I have here a citation from Geophysical Review Letters, 16 Jan 2005. It is > at the bottom. > > One of my pet theories is that lightening on foreign worlds ought to be > detectable. > > Now we have evidence that lightening emits xrays. > > I think it is possible that lightening emits in the water hole as well, > since it seems > to emit in a lot of different frequencies. > > If anyone would like to test my theory, then if they have a lightening > storm > within > the line of sight, see if they can turn their Argus station towards the > storm and > see what the electronic signature of the storm is in the water hole. > > The storm has to be in the line of sight because these frequencies are not > observable > over the horizon. > > Please be careful. Turn the gain down at first, or take the LNA out of the > circuit, > and turn everything off if the storm > is within 20 miles, so you don't get hit by the bolts. > > This obviously puts large constraints on the local topography of the Argus > station. > You cannot do this if you are deep in a valley because you cannot see 20 > miles > to the horizon. Only Argus stations on a hill will be able to do this. > > Any comments? This might be an interesting project, and it may be > publishable if we > get good data. > > John. > > X-RAY THUNDERBOLT. Scientists have long suspected that lightning > might generate x rays. However, until recently the observation of > such x-rays has remained elusive, largely owing to the unpredictable > nature of lightning. In the last few years a series of experiments > by Joseph Dwyer and his colleagues at the Florida Institute of > Technology and the University of Florida has shown that lightning > indeed emits large bursts of x rays with energies up to about 250 > keV (about twice that of a chest x ray). These x rays are mostly > produced not by the bright return strokes, but by the leaders that > precede the stroke, as they propagate from the cloud to the ground. > Now, Dwyer and his colleagues have discovered that these bursts of x > rays are produced at the precise moment that the lightning steps > forward along its jagged path. For unknown reasons, lightning does > not travel to the ground in a continuous manner, but instead > traverses the distance in a series of discrete steps. It is this > stepping process that gives lightning its jagged, sometimes forked, > appearance, and Dwyer has now shown that this same stepping process > also makes x rays. The x rays are likely produced by strong > electric fields that accelerate electrons to close to the speed > of light. These so-called runaway electrons collide with air > producing bremsstrahlung ("braking radiation" in German) x-rays. > Dwyer says that higher energy gamma rays are also emitted sometimes, > but that these seem to come from the thunderstorm cloud itself and > not from the lightning stroke. (Dwyer et al., Geophysical Review > Letters, 16 January 2005.) > > -- Dr. Don Latham 17850 Six Mile Road POB 134 Huson, MT, 59846 VOX 406-626-4304 FAX 406-626-5979 www.lightningforensics.com www.sixmilesystems.com From owner-public@setileague.org Sat Mar 5 11:44:32 2005 Received: from seti1.setileague.org (seti1.setileague.org [204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.6/8.12.6) with ESMTP id j25JiU7q005388 for ; Sat, 5 Mar 2005 11:44:31 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) id OAA12705 for public-list; Sat, 5 Mar 2005 14:36:11 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from julesburg.uits.indiana.edu (julesburg.uits.indiana.edu [129.79.1.75]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id OAA12698; Sat, 5 Mar 2005 14:36:09 -0500 (EST) From: foxd@indiana.edu Received: from nerd.uits.indiana.edu (nerd.uits.indiana.edu [129.79.1.96]) by julesburg.uits.indiana.edu (8.12.10/8.12.10/IUPO) with ESMTP id j25Ja6aN003955; Sat, 5 Mar 2005 14:36:06 -0500 (EST) Received: (from nobody@localhost) by nerd.uits.indiana.edu (8.12.10/8.12.10/IUPO) id j25Ja7fW008070; Sat, 5 Mar 2005 14:36:07 -0500 (EST) Received: from dial-124-61.dial.indiana.edu (dial-124-61.dial.indiana.edu [156.56.124.61]) by webmail.iu.edu (IMP) with HTTP for ; Sat, 5 Mar 2005 14:36:06 -0500 Message-ID: <1110051366.422a0a26e365f@webmail.iu.edu> Date: Sat, 5 Mar 2005 14:36:06 -0500 To: MarcusJohn@aol.com Cc: public@setileague.org, argus@setileague.org Subject: SETI public: Re: Argus: Lightening emissions: Xrays. References: <12e.58df4528.2f58f46c@aol.com> In-Reply-To: <12e.58df4528.2f58f46c@aol.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit User-Agent: Internet Messaging Program (IMP) 3.2.1 X-Originating-IP: 156.56.124.61 Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk Hi John, Yes, I've recorded bursts of noise around the water hole frequencies during a lightning storm. The thing is it is going to be wideband noise. Perhaps looking for wideband pulses would be a better method to detect these. 73, Daniel Fox KF9ET Quoting MarcusJohn@aol.com: > I have here a citation from Geophysical Review Letters, 16 Jan 2005. It is > at the bottom. > > One of my pet theories is that lightening on foreign worlds ought to be > detectable. > > Now we have evidence that lightening emits xrays. > > I think it is possible that lightening emits in the water hole as well, > since it seems > to emit in a lot of different frequencies. > > If anyone would like to test my theory, then if they have a lightening storm > > within > the line of sight, see if they can turn their Argus station towards the > storm and > see what the electronic signature of the storm is in the water hole. > > The storm has to be in the line of sight because these frequencies are not > observable > over the horizon. > > Please be careful. Turn the gain down at first, or take the LNA out of the > circuit, > and turn everything off if the storm > is within 20 miles, so you don't get hit by the bolts. > > This obviously puts large constraints on the local topography of the Argus > station. > You cannot do this if you are deep in a valley because you cannot see 20 > miles > to the horizon. Only Argus stations on a hill will be able to do this. > > Any comments? This might be an interesting project, and it may be > publishable if we > get good data. > > John. > > X-RAY THUNDERBOLT. Scientists have long suspected that lightning > might generate x rays. However, until recently the observation of > such x-rays has remained elusive, largely owing to the unpredictable > nature of lightning. In the last few years a series of experiments > by Joseph Dwyer and his colleagues at the Florida Institute of > Technology and the University of Florida has shown that lightning > indeed emits large bursts of x rays with energies up to about 250 > keV (about twice that of a chest x ray). These x rays are mostly > produced not by the bright return strokes, but by the leaders that > precede the stroke, as they propagate from the cloud to the ground. > Now, Dwyer and his colleagues have discovered that these bursts of x > rays are produced at the precise moment that the lightning steps > forward along its jagged path. For unknown reasons, lightning does > not travel to the ground in a continuous manner, but instead > traverses the distance in a series of discrete steps. It is this > stepping process that gives lightning its jagged, sometimes forked, > appearance, and Dwyer has now shown that this same stepping process > also makes x rays. The x rays are likely produced by strong > electric fields that accelerate electrons to close to the speed > of light. These so-called runaway electrons collide with air > producing bremsstrahlung ("braking radiation" in German) x-rays. > Dwyer says that higher energy gamma rays are also emitted sometimes, > but that these seem to come from the thunderstorm cloud itself and > not from the lightning stroke. (Dwyer et al., Geophysical Review > Letters, 16 January 2005.) > > From owner-public@setileague.org Sat Mar 5 18:52:59 2005 Received: from seti1.setileague.org (seti1.setileague.org [204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.6/8.12.6) with ESMTP id j262qw7q013759 for ; Sat, 5 Mar 2005 18:52:59 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) id VAA23013 for public-list; Sat, 5 Mar 2005 21:43:10 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from host224.ipowerweb.com ([66.235.220.224]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id VAA23009 for ; Sat, 5 Mar 2005 21:43:07 -0500 (EST) Received: from cpe-66-27-116-71.san.res.rr.com ([66.27.116.71] helo=zeke) by host224.ipowerweb.com with esmtpa (Exim 4.43) id 1D7lit-0001Lu-4s for public@seti1.setileague.org; Sat, 05 Mar 2005 18:42:27 -0800 Message-ID: <006d01c521f6$2bef4660$ab7ba8c0@zeke> From: "James Brown" To: "SETI League Public" Subject: Fw: SETI public: Lightening emissions: Xrays. Date: Sat, 5 Mar 2005 18:42:42 -0800 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_006A_01C521B3.1D3DD020" X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1478 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1478 X-AntiAbuse: This header was added to track abuse, please include it with any abuse report X-AntiAbuse: Primary Hostname - host224.ipowerweb.com X-AntiAbuse: Original Domain - seti1.setileague.org X-AntiAbuse: Originator/Caller UID/GID - [47 12] / [47 12] X-AntiAbuse: Sender Address Domain - seti.net X-Source: X-Source-Args: X-Source-Dir: Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_006A_01C521B3.1D3DD020 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable I guess I'm confused. =20 When we have a lightning storm in San Diego (very rare occurrence but = one is going on now) I hear/see bursts in the water hole, on HF, UHF and = everywhere else I care to tune. Lightning discharges seem to be very = broad band. I of course have no way to detect X rays. www.SETI.Net Jim@SETI.Net W6KYP Argus station DM12jw ----- Original Message -----=20 From: MarcusJohn@AOL.COM=20 To: public@setileague.org ; argus@setileague.org=20 Sent: Thursday, March 03, 2005 3:14 PM Subject: SETI public: Lightening emissions: Xrays.=20 I have here a citation from Geophysical Review Letters, 16 Jan 2005. = It is at the bottom.=20 One of my pet theories is that lightening on foreign worlds ought to = be detectable.=20 Now we have evidence that lightening emits xrays.=20 I think it is possible that lightening emits in the water hole as = well, since it seems=20 to emit in a lot of different frequencies.=20 If anyone would like to test my theory, then if they have a lightening = storm within=20 the line of sight, see if they can turn their Argus station towards = the storm and=20 see what the electronic signature of the storm is in the water hole.=20 The storm has to be in the line of sight because these frequencies are = not observable over the horizon.=20 Please be careful. Turn the gain down at first, or take the LNA out of = the circuit,=20 and turn everything off if the storm=20 is within 20 miles, so you don't get hit by the bolts.=20 This obviously puts large constraints on the local topography of the = Argus station.=20 You cannot do this if you are deep in a valley because you cannot see = 20 miles=20 to the horizon. Only Argus stations on a hill will be able to do this. = Any comments? This might be an interesting project, and it may be = publishable if we=20 get good data.=20 John.=20 X-RAY THUNDERBOLT. Scientists have long suspected that lightning might generate x rays. However, until recently the observation of such x-rays has remained elusive, largely owing to the unpredictable nature of lightning. In the last few years a series of experiments by Joseph Dwyer and his colleagues at the Florida Institute of Technology and the University of Florida has shown that lightning indeed emits large bursts of x rays with energies up to about 250 keV (about twice that of a chest x ray). These x rays are mostly produced not by the bright return strokes, but by the leaders that precede the stroke, as they propagate from the cloud to the ground. Now, Dwyer and his colleagues have discovered that these bursts of x rays are produced at the precise moment that the lightning steps forward along its jagged path. For unknown reasons, lightning does not travel to the ground in a continuous manner, but instead traverses the distance in a series of discrete steps. It is this stepping process that gives lightning its jagged, sometimes forked, appearance, and Dwyer has now shown that this same stepping process also makes x rays. The x rays are likely produced by strong electric fields that accelerate electrons to close to the speed of light. These so-called runaway electrons collide with air producing bremsstrahlung ("braking radiation" in German) x-rays. Dwyer says that higher energy gamma rays are also emitted sometimes, but that these seem to come from the thunderstorm cloud itself and not from the lightning stroke. (Dwyer et al., Geophysical Review Letters, 16 January 2005.) ------=_NextPart_000_006A_01C521B3.1D3DD020 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
 
I guess I'm confused. 
 
When we have a lightning storm in San Diego (very rare occurrence = but one=20 is going on now) I hear/see bursts in the water hole, on HF, UHF and = everywhere=20 else I care to tune.  Lightning discharges seem to be very broad=20 band.  I of course have no way to detect X rays.
www.SETI.Net
Jim@SETI.Net
W6KYP
Argus station=20 DM12jw
----- Original Message -----
From:=20 MarcusJohn@AOL.COM
To: public@setileague.org ; argus@setileague.org
Sent: Thursday, March 03, 2005 = 3:14=20 PM
Subject: SETI public: = Lightening=20 emissions: Xrays.

I have here a citation from Geophysical Review Letters, 16 Jan = 2005. It=20 is at the bottom.
 
One of my pet theories is that lightening on foreign worlds ought = to be=20 detectable.
 
Now we have evidence that lightening emits xrays.
 
I think it is possible that lightening emits in the water hole as = well,=20 since it seems
to emit in a lot of different frequencies.
 
If anyone would like to test my theory, then if they have a = lightening=20 storm within
the line of sight, see if they can turn their Argus station = towards the=20 storm and
see what the electronic signature of the storm is in the water = hole.=20
 
The storm has to be in the line of sight because these = frequencies are=20 not observable
over the horizon.
 
Please be careful. Turn the gain down at first, or take the LNA = out of=20 the circuit,
and turn everything off if the storm
is within 20 miles, so you don't get hit by the bolts.
 
This obviously puts large constraints on the local topography of = the=20 Argus station.
You cannot do this if you are deep in a valley because you cannot = see 20=20 miles
to the horizon. Only Argus stations on a hill will be able to do = this.=20
 
Any comments? This might be an interesting project, and it may be = publishable if we
get good data.
 
John.
 
X-RAY THUNDERBOLT.  Scientists have long suspected that=20 lightning
might generate x rays.  However, until recently the=20 observation of
such x-rays has remained elusive, largely owing to = the=20 unpredictable
nature of lightning.  In the last few years a = series of=20 experiments
by Joseph Dwyer and his colleagues at the Florida = Institute=20 of
Technology and the University of Florida has shown that=20 lightning
indeed emits large bursts of x rays with energies up to = about=20 250
keV (about twice that of a chest x ray).  These x rays are = mostly
produced not by the bright return strokes, but by the = leaders=20 that
precede the stroke, as they propagate from the cloud to the=20 ground.
Now, Dwyer and his colleagues have discovered that these = bursts of=20 x
rays are produced at the precise moment that the lightning=20 steps
forward along its jagged path.  For unknown reasons, = lightning=20 does
not travel to the ground in a continuous manner, but=20 instead
traverses the distance in a series of discrete steps.  = It is=20 this
stepping process that gives lightning its jagged, sometimes=20 forked,
appearance, and Dwyer has now shown that this same stepping = process
also makes x rays.  The x rays are likely produced by=20 strong
electric fields that accelerate electrons to close to the=20 speed
of light.  These so-called runaway electrons collide = with=20 air
producing bremsstrahlung ("braking radiation" in German)=20 x-rays.
Dwyer says that higher energy gamma rays are also emitted=20 sometimes,
but that these seem to come from the thunderstorm cloud = itself=20 and
not from the lightning stroke.  (Dwyer et al., Geophysical = Review
Letters, 16 January = 2005.)
 ------=_NextPart_000_006A_01C521B3.1D3DD020-- From owner-public@setileague.org Sun Mar 6 10:46:44 2005 Received: from seti1.setileague.org (seti1.setileague.org [204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.6/8.12.6) with ESMTP id j26Ikg7q021057 for ; Sun, 6 Mar 2005 10:46:43 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) id NAA16320 for public-list; Sun, 6 Mar 2005 13:37:09 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from hotmail.com (bay103-dav16.bay103.hotmail.com [65.54.174.88]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id NAA16316; Sun, 6 Mar 2005 13:37:07 -0500 (EST) Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC; Sun, 6 Mar 2005 10:35:18 -0800 Message-ID: Received: from 65.54.174.207 by BAY103-DAV16.phx.gbl with DAV; Sun, 06 Mar 2005 18:35:18 +0000 X-Originating-IP: [65.54.174.207] X-Originating-Email: [ljk4@msn.com] X-Sender: ljk4@msn.com From: "LARRY KLAES" To: "setipublic" Cc: "BioAstro" Subject: SETI public: Timothy Ferris on the contributions of multiple amateur astronomers Date: Sun, 6 Mar 2005 13:35:21 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0081_01C52251.57F979F0" X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: MSN 9 Seal-Send-Time: Sun, 6 Mar 2005 13:35:21 -0500 X-MimeOLE: Produced By MSN MimeOLE V9.10.0011.1703 X-OriginalArrivalTime: 06 Mar 2005 18:35:18.0988 (UTC) FILETIME=[3F65B8C0:01C5227B] Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0081_01C52251.57F979F0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable 7. Readers' Opinions: 'Seeing in the Dark,' by Timothy Ferris =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D The Reading Group is discussing Timothy Ferris's tribute to=20 amateur stargazers. One reader considered Ferris's argument=20 that amateurs are making genuine contributions to the field=20 of astronomy: "Ferris describes quite clearly the way modern=20 technology has enabled amateurs to observe better and further=20 than they have in the past. And he makes the point that for=20 many things it really pays to have large numbers of observers=20 looking at the heavens instead of just the few who can peer=20 through the very best and furthest-seeing instruments. I have=20 seen less in the book, however, about what difference all the=20 observations are making in the field of astronomy, i.e. what=20 their significance is. In fact, I would be interested in=20 hearing what the major questions of modern day astronomy=20 really are. I am sure they are not merely cataloguing or=20 being the first to see new things, exhilarating though those=20 can be." http://forums.nytimes.com/top/opinion/readersopinions/forums/books/marchr= eadinggroupseeinginthedark/index.html?8bu ------=_NextPart_000_0081_01C52251.57F979F0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
 
7. Readers' Opinions: 'Seeing in the Dark,' by Timothy=20 Ferris
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D

The=20 Reading Group is discussing Timothy Ferris's tribute to
amateur = stargazers.=20 One reader considered Ferris's argument
that amateurs are making = genuine=20 contributions to the field
of astronomy: "Ferris describes quite = clearly the=20 way modern
technology has enabled amateurs to observe better and = further=20
than they have in the past. And he makes the point that for
many = things=20 it really pays to have large numbers of observers
looking at the = heavens=20 instead of just the few who can peer
through the very best and=20 furthest-seeing instruments. I have
seen less in the book, however, = about=20 what difference all the
observations are making in the field of = astronomy,=20 i.e. what
their significance is. In fact, I would be interested in=20
hearing what the major questions of modern day astronomy
really = are. I=20 am sure they are not merely cataloguing or
being the first to see = new=20 things, exhilarating though those
can be."
------=_NextPart_000_0081_01C52251.57F979F0-- From owner-public@setileague.org Mon Mar 7 07:46:48 2005 Received: from seti1.setileague.org (seti1.setileague.org [204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.6/8.12.6) with ESMTP id j27Fkk7q004183 for ; Mon, 7 Mar 2005 07:46:47 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) id KAA16391 for public-list; Mon, 7 Mar 2005 10:32:36 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from smtp1.suscom.net (smtp1.suscom.net [64.78.119.248]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id KAA16380 for ; Mon, 7 Mar 2005 10:32:31 -0500 (EST) Received: from localhost (smtp1 [127.0.0.1]) by smtp1.suscom.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1EE1CD82AF; Mon, 7 Mar 2005 10:31:19 -0500 (EST) Received: from smtp1.suscom.net ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (smtp1 [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with SMTP id 24277-01; Mon, 7 Mar 2005 10:31:14 -0500 (EST) Received: from [127.0.0.1] (ip97.91.78.64.susc.suscom.net [64.78.91.97]) by smtp1.suscom.net (Postfix) with SMTP id C76D8D82D3; Mon, 7 Mar 2005 10:31:13 -0500 (EST) Message-ID: <422C73E1.6040300@setileague.org> Date: Mon, 07 Mar 2005 10:31:45 -0500 From: "Dr. H. Paul Shuch" Organization: The SETI League, Inc. User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.2) Gecko/20040804 Netscape/7.2 (ax) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: "Dr. H. Paul Shuch" Subject: SETI public: Offline for three weeks Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Virus-Scanned: by amavisd-new .250 at suscom.net Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk SETIzens, Please forgive the cross-posting; I wanted to inform you all that I will be travelling extensively over the next three weeks. To avoid email overload while I am depending upon pay-by-the-minute dialup, tomorrow I will be removing myself temporarily from all the SETI League email lists. I am still reachable by direct email. If you need to get in touch, please use my regular SETI League address. I'll be back on all the lists on 31 March. Thanks for your undestanding. All best, Paul -- H. Paul Shuch, Ph.D. 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; URL http://www.setileague.org email work: n6tx@setileague.org; home: drseti@cal.berkeley.edu "We Know We're Not Alone!" From owner-public@setileague.org Mon Mar 7 08:06:54 2005 Received: from seti1.setileague.org (seti1.setileague.org [204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.6/8.12.6) with ESMTP id j27G6p7q007200 for ; Mon, 7 Mar 2005 08:06:52 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) id KAA17015 for public-list; Mon, 7 Mar 2005 10:53:36 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from hotmail.com (bay103-dav18.bay103.hotmail.com [65.54.174.90]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id KAA17001 for ; Mon, 7 Mar 2005 10:53:31 -0500 (EST) Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC; Mon, 7 Mar 2005 07:53:00 -0800 Message-ID: Received: from 65.54.174.203 by BAY103-DAV18.phx.gbl with DAV; Mon, 07 Mar 2005 15:53:00 +0000 X-Originating-IP: [65.54.174.203] X-Originating-Email: [ljk4@msn.com] X-Sender: ljk4@msn.com From: "LARRY KLAES" To: "setipublic" Subject: SETI public: Fw: CSICOP Online: Out of Balance - ABC, Peter Jennings and UFOs Date: Mon, 7 Mar 2005 10:53:02 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0053_01C52303.D5DD2080" X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: MSN 9 Seal-Send-Time: Mon, 7 Mar 2005 10:53:02 -0500 X-MimeOLE: Produced By MSN MimeOLE V9.10.0011.1703 X-OriginalArrivalTime: 07 Mar 2005 15:53:00.0842 (UTC) FILETIME=[BD6C50A0:01C5232D] Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0053_01C52303.D5DD2080 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable ----- Original Message -----=20 From: Barry Karr=20 To: = CSICOP-ANNOUNCE@LISTSERV.AOL.COM= =20 Sent: Monday, March 07, 2005 10:35 AM Subject: CSICOP Online: Out of Balance - ABC, Peter Jennings and UFOs =20 Out of Balance Even with respect to extraordinary and absurd claims, ABC and Peter = Jennings listen to "both sides."=20 Chris Mooney; March 7, 2005=20 How should a self-respecting journalist, one who wants to be deemed = credible, cover UFO claims, whether of the roadside sighting variety or = those involving alleged abductions and (I can't resist) sexual = molestations? That's the core issue raised by ABC's decision last week = to air a two-hour primetime special, hosted by Peter Jennings, on = precisely this topic. Entitled "Peter Jennings Reporting: UFOs -- Seeing = is = Believing,"= the show provides a pretty good example of what not to do. But it does = make a few token attempts at serious reportorial skepticism, and while = these efforts ultimately fail, they're instructive for precisely that = reason.=20 "Seeing is Believing" begins, in true mystery-mongering fashion, with a = quick opening montage presenting various firsthand UFO stories. Soon = Jennings appears, telling us that millions of Americans believe this = stuff (ABC's apparent justification for devoting its energies to UFOs at = a time when soldiers are dying in Iraq and Social Security is on the = chopping block). Before long we're introduced to UFO radio guru Art Bell = and--in a pattern that will recur throughout the program--witness an = artist's rendition of Bell's alleged encounter with a big triangular = alien spaceship.=20 To Read More of this Column Visit: www.csicop.org and = http://www.csicop.org/doubtandabout/ufos/ To Read More Articles by Chris Mooney Visit: = http://www.csicop.org/doubtandabout/ http://www.chriscmooney.com/ Please do not reply to back to the listserv. Any list questions should = be addressed to: skeptinq@aol.com=20 ------=_NextPart_000_0053_01C52303.D5DD2080 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
 
----- Original = Message -----=20
From: Barry Karr
Sent: Monday, March 07, 2005 10:35 AM
Subject: CSICOP Online: Out of Balance - ABC, Peter Jennings = and=20 UFOs

   
 
Out of Balance

Even with respect to extraordinary and absurd claims, = ABC and=20 Peter Jennings listen to "both sides."=20

Chris Mooney; = March 7,=20 2005

How should a self-respecting journalist, one who wants to be deemed = credible,=20 cover UFO claims, whether of the roadside sighting variety or those = involving=20 alleged abductions and (I can't resist) sexual molestations? That's the = core=20 issue raised by ABC's decision last week to air a two-hour primetime = special,=20 hosted by Peter Jennings, on precisely this topic. Entitled "Peter Jennings Reporting: UFOs -- Seeing is = Believing," the=20 show provides a pretty good example of what not to do. But it = does make=20 a few token attempts at serious reportorial skepticism, and while these = efforts=20 ultimately fail, they're instructive for precisely that reason.=20

"Seeing is Believing" begins, in true mystery-mongering fashion, with = a quick=20 opening montage presenting various firsthand UFO stories. Soon Jennings = appears,=20 telling us that millions of Americans believe this stuff (ABC's apparent = justification for devoting its energies to UFOs at a time when soldiers = are=20 dying in Iraq and Social Security is on the chopping block). Before long = we're=20 introduced to UFO radio guru Art Bell and--in a pattern that will recur=20 throughout the program--witness an artist's rendition of Bell's alleged=20 encounter with a big triangular alien spaceship.

To Read More of this Column Visit:

 www.csicop.org  and http://www.csicop.org/= doubtandabout/ufos/

To Read More Articles by Chris Mooney Visit: http://www.csicop.org/doubt= andabout/

http://www.chriscmooney.com/

Please do not reply to back to the listserv.  Any list questions = should=20 be addressed to: skeptinq@aol.com=20

------=_NextPart_000_0053_01C52303.D5DD2080-- From owner-public@setileague.org Mon Mar 7 11:46:36 2005 Received: from seti1.setileague.org (seti1.setileague.org [204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.6/8.12.6) with ESMTP id j27JkY7q028946 for ; Mon, 7 Mar 2005 11:46:35 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) id OAA22443 for public-list; Mon, 7 Mar 2005 14:32:42 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from hotmail.com (bay103-dav13.bay103.hotmail.com [65.54.174.85]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id OAA22439; Mon, 7 Mar 2005 14:32:39 -0500 (EST) Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC; Sun, 6 Mar 2005 23:15:05 -0800 Message-ID: Received: from 65.54.174.208 by BAY103-DAV13.phx.gbl with DAV; Sun, 06 Mar 2005 22:20:38 +0000 X-Originating-IP: [65.54.174.208] X-Originating-Email: [ljk4@msn.com] X-Sender: ljk4@msn.com From: "LARRY KLAES" To: "setipublic" Cc: "BioAstro" Subject: SETI public: Deep Space Communications Network and the people's ASETI/MSETI Date: Sun, 6 Mar 2005 17:20:39 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0026_01C52270.D1B8ADF0" X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: MSN 9 Seal-Send-Time: Sun, 6 Mar 2005 17:20:40 -0500 X-MimeOLE: Produced By MSN MimeOLE V9.10.0011.1703 X-OriginalArrivalTime: 07 Mar 2005 07:15:05.0785 (UTC) FILETIME=[633EEA90:01C522E5] Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0026_01C52270.D1B8ADF0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable http://www.flatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=3D/20050306/NEWS02/5030= 60320/1007 March 6, 2005 Send your photos, videos spacebound BY TODD HALVORSON=20 FLORIDA TODAY CAPE CANAVERAL - Some might call it throwing money into a black hole. = Others, a cosmic message-in-a-bottle. Jim Lewis and Deep Space = Communications Network consider it a chance to contact life elsewhere in = the universe. Prices aren't set yet, but the Cape Canaveral company is offering to = beam digital text, still photos, audio and video to the edge of the = solar system and beyond. Clients could send poetry, the works of William Shakespeare, or the text = of the Bible or the Koran. They could beam up pictures of junior's bar mitzvah, the giant pumpkin = that took first place at the county fair, or that self-portrait little = Sally drew in kindergarten. The radio broadcast of War of the Worlds could be transmitted or a = series of heartbeats representing prime numbers. You could even send video clips of stupid pet tricks, every episode of = "I Love Lucy" or the classic movie "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To = Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb." But it will be much cheaper just to dispatch a simple message like, "Is = Anyone Out There?" "We're serious about this. But we're not so serious that we don't have a little fun with it, too," said Lewis, managing partner of = the company. "I think there's always a possibility of extraterrestrial life out = there, and who knows, we might touch it. Or it could be your message = that touches it." Strange as it seems, Deep Space Communications Network is for real. The company is an offshoot of Communications Concepts Inc., a group that = has produced live television coverage of shuttle launches for NASA, CNN, = BBC and networks around the world. It recently finished three national = television commercials for Sears and has worked with Lockheed Martin and = Boeing among others. Subsidiary Deep Space Communications Network formed in January and plans = to use a dish-shaped television antenna to transmit messages one to = three light years from Earth. "In the intergalactic world, that's not very far, I guess," Lewis said. = "But to me, one to three light years -- which is quite a number of miles = -- is pretty good anyway." A light year is the distance light travels in a year, or 5.9 billion = miles. Lewis recently tested the market on Internet auction site eBay, posting = an item titled "Call an Extraterrestrial: An opportunity to make a = personal transmission into space." Deep Space Communications offered to transmit a 75-word text message in = several languages and basic computer code as well as five digital = pictures and a five-minute video. The company promised a certificate of authenticity to document the date = and time of the transmission, location, azimuth and elevation of the = satellite dish antenna and broadcast frequency. The bidding opened Feb. 20 at $89 and rose to $345 by Feb. 26. About = 1,200 people from the U.S., Russia, the United Kingdom and other parts = of Europe dropped in on the auction. There were 64 bids. A back-and-forth battle between two bidders drove the price to $1,225. The winner: Jim Buckmaster, chief executive officer of craigslist.org, = an online community of eight million people in 19 countries and 99 = cities. The site includes classified listings for jobs, housing and = goods as well as personals and forums. A user tipped Buckmaster to the quirky item. The more he thought about = it, the more he liked the idea of enabling people to be among "the first = to beam Internet postings and classified ads into space." The chances of a reply are slim, but "something above absolute zero," = Buckmaster said. "It's kind of like the Lotto. If you don't play, you = can't win, and you know, our users are accustomed to long shots." Some 10,000 people signed up to have their craigslist postings and ads = sent into deep space in just the first 24 hours. The demand prompted Buskmaster and Lewis to modify the deal to transmit = more than the 75 words auctioned. A billion words would be a better estimate, Buckmaster guessed. The transmission will take place about May 15 to coincide with the = planned launch of Discovery on NASA's first post- Columbia shuttle mission. Still in question: The market for such a service. It "could be the pet = rock of outer space," Lewis said. Deep Space Communications plans to post prices and order forms at = www.deepspacecom.net in the next 30 days. "I'm not saying that it's going to be a major business model for us," he = said, "but it's something we're going to continue doing for a while and = see how it works out." Contact Halvorson at 639-0576 or = thalvorson@flatoday.net ------=_NextPart_000_0026_01C52270.D1B8ADF0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
http://www.flatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=3D/= 20050306/NEWS02/503060320/1007
 

March 6, = 2005

Send your photos, = videos=20 spacebound

BY TODD HALVORSON
FLORIDA TODAY

CAPE CANAVERAL - Some might call it throwing money into a black hole. = Others,=20 a cosmic message-in-a-bottle. Jim Lewis and Deep Space Communications = Network=20 consider it a chance to contact life elsewhere in the universe.

Prices aren't set yet, but the Cape Canaveral company is offering to = beam=20 digital text, still photos, audio and video to the edge of the solar = system and=20 beyond.

Clients could send poetry, the works of William Shakespeare, or the = text of=20 the Bible or the Koran.

They could beam up pictures of junior's bar mitzvah, the giant = pumpkin that=20 took first place at the county fair, or that self-portrait little Sally = drew in=20 kindergarten.

The radio broadcast of War of the Worlds could be transmitted or a = series of=20 heartbeats representing prime numbers.

You could even send video clips of stupid pet tricks, every episode = of "I=20 Love Lucy" or the classic movie "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To = Stop=20 Worrying and Love the Bomb."

But it will be much cheaper just to dispatch a simple message like, = "Is=20 Anyone Out There?"

"We're serious about this. But we're not so serious that we
don't = have a=20 little fun with it, too," said Lewis, managing partner of the = company.

"I think there's always a possibility of extraterrestrial life out = there, and=20 who knows, we might touch it. Or it could be your message that touches = it."

Strange as it seems, Deep Space Communications Network is for = real.

The company is an offshoot of Communications Concepts Inc., a group = that has=20 produced live television coverage of shuttle launches for NASA, CNN, BBC = and=20 networks around the world. It recently finished three national = television=20 commercials for Sears and has worked with Lockheed Martin and Boeing = among=20 others.

Subsidiary Deep Space Communications Network formed in January and = plans to=20 use a dish-shaped television antenna to transmit messages one to three = light=20 years from Earth.

"In the intergalactic world, that's not very far, I guess," Lewis = said. "But=20 to me, one to three light years -- which is quite a number of miles -- = is pretty=20 good anyway."

A light year is the distance light travels in a year, or 5.9 billion=20 miles.

Lewis recently tested the market on Internet auction site eBay, = posting an=20 item titled "Call an Extraterrestrial: An opportunity to make a personal = transmission into space."

Deep Space Communications offered to transmit a 75-word text message = in=20 several languages and basic computer code as well as five digital = pictures and a=20 five-minute video.

The company promised a certificate of authenticity to document the = date and=20 time of the transmission, location, azimuth and elevation of the = satellite dish=20 antenna and broadcast frequency.

The bidding opened Feb. 20 at $89 and rose to $345 by Feb. 26. About = 1,200=20 people from the U.S., Russia, the United Kingdom and other parts of = Europe=20 dropped in on the auction. There were 64 bids.

A back-and-forth battle between two bidders drove the price to = $1,225.

The winner: Jim Buckmaster, chief executive officer of = craigslist.org, an=20 online community of eight million people in 19 countries and 99 cities. = The site=20 includes classified listings for jobs, housing and goods as well as = personals=20 and forums.

A user tipped Buckmaster to the quirky item. The more he thought = about it,=20 the more he liked the idea of enabling people to be among "the first to = beam=20 Internet postings and classified ads into space."

The chances of a reply are slim, but "something above absolute zero," = Buckmaster said. "It's kind of like the Lotto. If you don't play, you = can't win,=20 and you know, our users are accustomed to long shots."

Some 10,000 people signed up to have their craigslist postings and = ads sent=20 into deep space in just the first 24 hours.

The demand prompted Buskmaster and Lewis to modify the deal to = transmit more=20 than the 75 words auctioned.

A billion words would be a better estimate, Buckmaster guessed.

The transmission will take place about May 15 to coincide with the = planned=20 launch of Discovery on NASA's first post-
Columbia shuttle = mission.

Still in question: The market for such a service. It "could be the = pet rock=20 of outer space," Lewis said.

Deep Space Communications plans to post prices and order forms at www.deepspacecom.net in the next 30 days.

"I'm not saying that it's going to be a major business model for us," = he=20 said, "but it's something we're going to continue doing for a while and = see how=20 it works
out."

Contact Halvorson at 639-0576 or thalvorson@flatoday.net

 

------=_NextPart_000_0026_01C52270.D1B8ADF0-- From owner-public@setileague.org Tue Mar 8 13:55:38 2005 Received: from seti1.setileague.org (seti1.setileague.org [204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.6/8.12.6) with ESMTP id j28Lta7q008544 for ; Tue, 8 Mar 2005 13:55:37 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) id QAA26370 for public-list; Tue, 8 Mar 2005 16:39:15 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from hotmail.com (bay103-dav13.bay103.hotmail.com [65.54.174.85]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id QAA26364; Tue, 8 Mar 2005 16:39:12 -0500 (EST) Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC; Tue, 8 Mar 2005 13:36:18 -0800 Message-ID: Received: from 65.54.174.201 by BAY103-DAV13.phx.gbl with DAV; Tue, 08 Mar 2005 21:36:17 +0000 X-Originating-IP: [65.54.174.201] X-Originating-Email: [ljk4@msn.com] X-Sender: ljk4@msn.com From: "LARRY KLAES" To: "setipublic" Cc: "BioAstro" Subject: SETI public: Where Does Intelligent Life Come From? Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 16:36:21 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_00E8_01C523FC.F629C330" X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: MSN 9 X-MimeOLE: Produced By MSN MimeOLE V9.10.0011.1703 Seal-Send-Time: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 16:36:21 -0500 X-OriginalArrivalTime: 08 Mar 2005 21:36:18.0218 (UTC) FILETIME=[DCD438A0:01C52426] Sender: owner-public@setileague.org Precedence: bulk This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_00E8_01C523FC.F629C330 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Where Does Intelligent Life Come From?=20 Summary - (Mar 8, 2005) Biologists - and all parents - have a = pretty good idea that "life begets life". Beginning with the most = primitive anaerobic bacteria and leading up to the most sophisticated = and accomplished astronomer, it's pretty clear that offspring don't = necessarily resemble their parent(s) in all particulars. Meanwhile = exobiologists are unlikely to ever disprove the fact that life exists = beyond the Blue Planet because disproving something is much harder than = proving it. After all if intelligent life could happen here - it could = happen elsewhere... =20 http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/where_intelligent_life.html?83200= 5 ------=_NextPart_000_00E8_01C523FC.F629C330 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
Where Does Intelligent Life = Come=20 From?

Summary - (Mar 8, 2005) = Biologists - and all parents - have a pretty good idea that "life = begets=20 life". Beginning with the most primitive anaerobic bacteria and = leading up=20 to the most sophisticated and accomplished astronomer, it's pretty = clear=20 that offspring don't necessarily resemble their parent(s) in all=20 particulars. Meanwhile exobiologists are unlikely to ever disprove = the=20 fact that life exists beyond the Blue Planet because disproving = something=20 is much harder than proving it. After all if intelligent life = could happen=20 here - it could happen elsewhere...
 
http://www.universetoday.com/am/publish/where_intelligent_life= html?832005
 
 
------=_NextPart_000_00E8_01C523FC.F629C330-- From owner-public@setileague.org Wed Mar 9 05:04:53 2005 Received: from seti1.setileague.org (seti1.setileague.org [204.176.91.10]) by Sentry.net (8.12.6/8.12.6) with ESMTP id j29D4q7q027251 for ; Wed, 9 Mar 2005 05:04:52 -0800 (PST) Received: (from majordom@localhost) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) id HAA18412 for public-list; Wed, 9 Mar 2005 07:46:16 -0500 (EST) X-Authentication-Warning: seti1.setileague.org: majordom set sender to owner-public@seti1.setileague.org using -f Received: from hotmail.com (bay103-dav2.bay103.hotmail.com [65.54.174.74]) by seti1.setileague.org (8.9.3 (PHNE_24419+JAGae58098)/8.9.3) with ESMTP id HAA18405; Wed, 9 Mar 2005 07:46:13 -0500 (EST) Received: from mail pickup service by hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC; Wed, 9 Mar 2005 04:45:42 -0800 Message-ID: Received: from 65.54.174.200 by BAY103-DAV2.phx.gbl with DAV; Wed, 09 Mar 2005 12:45:42 +0000 X-Originating-IP: [65.54.174.200] X-Originating-Email: [ljk4@msn.com] X-Sender: ljk4@msn.com From: "LARRY KLAES" To: "setipublic" Cc: "BioAstro" Subject: SETI public: World's First Intergalactic (?) Communication System Now Transmitting Date: Wed, 9 Mar 2005 07:45:38 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipa