Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!husc6!mit-eddie!apollo!rehrauer
From: rehrauer@apollo.COM (Steve Rehrauer)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Subject: Re: Science observations selected for NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (Forwarded)
Message-ID: <449caca4.71d0@apollo.COM>
Date: 24 Jul 89 13:54:00 GMT
References: <28843@ames.arc.nasa.gov>
Reply-To: rehrauer@apollo.COM (Steve Rehrauer)
Organization: Apollo Computer, Chelmsford, MA
Lines: 19

In article <28843@ames.arc.nasa.gov> yee@trident.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) writes:
[...much about the Hubble Space Telescope...]
>     The HST is such a powerful, new resource for optical 
>astronomy, that observing time was heavily oversubscribed.  
>During the first 12-month observing cycle, 11,000 hours of 
>observing time were requested, with only 1200 hours available.  
>The average length of an accepted observation is 10 hours.  

Time for a naive question.  Does this 12-month observing period include
the 7 months' worth of checkout time?  If not, why on (or off :-) Earth
are there only 1200 hours of observation time available?  Is this the
time that has been allotted for such use, or total available time?  If
the latter, why only 50 days' worth?  (Hey, I *said* it was naive!)

-- 
>>> "Aaiiyeeeee!  Death from above!" <<<  | Steve Rehrauer
    Fone: (508)256-6600 x6168             | Apollo Computer, a
    ARPA: rehrauer@apollo.com             | division of Hewlett-Packard
"Look, Max: 'Pressurized cheese in a can'.  Even _WE_ wouldn't eat that!"