Date: Fri, 30 Apr 93 05:10:49 From: Space Digest maintainer Reply-To: Space-request@isu.isunet.edu Subject: Space Digest V16 #501 To: Space Digest Readers Precedence: bulk Space Digest Fri, 30 Apr 93 Volume 16 : Issue 501 Today's Topics: Gamma Ray Bursters. WHere are they. Two-Line Orbital Element Set: Space Shuttle Vandalizing the sky. Welcome to the Space Digest!! Please send your messages to "space@isu.isunet.edu", and (un)subscription requests of the form "Subscribe Space " to one of these addresses: listserv@uga (BITNET), rice::boyle (SPAN/NSInet), utadnx::utspan::rice::boyle (THENET), or space-REQUEST@isu.isunet.edu (Internet). ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 28 Apr 93 21:51:46 GMT From: Ethan Bradford Subject: Gamma Ray Bursters. WHere are they. Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space In article steinly@topaz.ucsc.edu (Steinn Sigurdsson) writes: _The_ problem with Oort cloud sources is that absolutely no plausible mechanism has been proposed. It would have to involve new physics as far as I can tell. Closest to "conventional" Oort sources is a model of B-field pinching by comets, it's got too many holes in it to count, but at least it was a good try... So you have a plausible model for GRB's at astronomical distances? Recent observations have just about ruled out the merging neutron star hypothesis, which had a lot of problems, anyhow. We have to look for implausible models and what is fundamentally allowed independent of models. A paper on the possibility of GRB's in the Oort cloud just came through the astrophysics abstract service. To get a copy of this paper, send a message to astro-ph@babbage.sissa.it with the subject line get 9304001 Here is the abstract of that paper. The currently favored explanation for the origin of \GRBs puts them at cosmological distances; but as long as there is no distance indicator to these events all possible sources which are isotropically distributed should remain under consideration. This is why the Oort cloud of comets is kept on the list, although there is no known mechanism for generating \GRBs from cometary nuclei. Unlikely as it may seem, the possibility that \GRBs originate in the solar cometary cloud cannot be excluded until it is disproved. We use the available data on the distribution of \GRBs (the BATSE catalogue up to March, 1992), and the Catalogue of Cometary Orbits by Marsden and Williams (1992) to investigate whether there is any observational indication for correlations between the angular distributions of \GRBs and comets' aphelia, assuming that the distribution of aphelia direction reflect, at least to some extent, true variations in the column density of the Oort cloud. We also apply the $\vov$ test to both distributions. We have performed a variety of statistical tests (a Kolmogorov-Smirnov test for the distributions in galactic latitude, a $\chi^2$ test for the spherical multiple moments, and a 2-D cross-correlation analysis), including testing sub-samples for isolating the effect of possible observational biases. These tests imply that it is unlikely that the two distributions agree, but the statistical significance is not sufficient for ruling out any connection with complete confidence. We performed Monte-Carlo simulations which show that only when the number of bursts exceeds $\sim 800$ it is possible to rule out a correlation between the angular distributions. Currently, it is only the combination of these tests with the large disagreement found for the $\vov$ parameter which makes the Oort cloud of comets unlikely to be related to \GRBs. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 28 Apr 1993 21:06:41 GMT From: TS Kelso Subject: Two-Line Orbital Element Set: Space Shuttle Newsgroups: sci.space The most current orbital elements from the NORAD two-line element sets are carried on the Celestial BBS, (513) 427-0674, and are updated daily (when possible). Documentation and tracking software are also available on this system. As a service to the satellite user community, the most current elements for the current shuttle mission are provided below. The Celestial BBS may be accessed 24 hours/day at 300, 1200, 2400, 4800, or 9600 bps using 8 data bits, 1 stop bit, no parity. Element sets (also updated daily), shuttle elements, and some documentation and software are also available via anonymous ftp from archive.afit.af.mil (129.92.1.66) in the directory pub/space. STS 55 1 22640U 93 27 A 93117.91666666 .00044808 00000-0 13489-3 0 63 2 22640 28.4614 259.3429 0005169 259.6342 61.8074 15.90673799 201 -- Dr TS Kelso Assistant Professor of Space Operations tkelso@afit.af.mil Air Force Institute of Technology ------------------------------ Date: 28 Apr 93 08:02:51 GMT From: Jeff Cook Subject: Vandalizing the sky. Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space In article <26APR199310105388@csa2.lbl.gov> sichase@csa2.lbl.gov (SCOTT I CHASE) writes: >In article , pgf@srl02.cacs.usl.edu (Phil G. Fraering) writes... >>Jeff.Cook@FtCollinsCO.NCR.COM (Jeff Cook) writes: >>.... >>>people in primitive tribes out in the middle of nowhere as they look up >>>and see a can of Budweiser flying across the sky... :-D >> >>Seen that movie already... > >Actually, the idea, like most good ideas, comes from Jules Verne, not >_The Gods Must Be Crazy._... My comment was off the top of my head; I wasn't aware that it had already been thought of. Guess it's true that there's nothing new under the sun (or in this case, the flying billboards.) -- Jeff Cook Jeff.Cook@FtCollinsCO.NCR.com ------------------------------ Newsgroups: sci.astro,sci.space From: Dave Stephenson Subject: Re: Vandalizing the sky. Message-Id: Sender: news@emr1.emr.ca Nntp-Posting-Host: ngis.geod.emr.ca Organization: Dept. of Energy, Mines, and Resources, Ottawa References: <26APR199310105388@csa2.lbl.gov> <1993Apr28.150719.10511@aio.jsc.nasa.gov> Date: Wed, 28 Apr 1993 20:17:55 GMT Lines: 15 Source-Info: Sender is really news@CRABAPPLE.SRV.CS.CMU.EDU Source-Info: Sender is really isu@VACATION.VENARI.CS.CMU.EDU mancus@sweetpea.jsc.nasa.gov (Keith Mancus) writes: >>>Jeff.Cook@FtCollinsCO.NCR.COM (Jeff Cook) writes: >>>>people in primitive tribes out in the middle of nowhere as they look up That has sort of happened for real. Back in the 1920's travellers in the Sudan would find strange cigar shaped designs on native huts. When asked the locals would say it was a picture of the great omen that appeared in the sky. This was LZ 53 a zepplin flying from Bulgaria to German East Africa with supplies in 1917 (and back since it was fooled by the British secret service.) -- Dave Stephenson Geological Survey of Canada Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Internet: stephens@geod.emr.ca ------------------------------ End of Space Digest Volume 16 : Issue 501 ------------------------------