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Path: utzoo!linus!security!genrad!decvax!harpo!seismo!ut-sally!riddle
From: riddle@ut-sally.UUCP (Prentiss Riddle)
Newsgroups: net.space
Subject: Re: List of astronomy depts. and observatories on the net
Message-ID: <344@ut-sally.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 7-Nov-83 10:14:13 EST
Article-I.D.: ut-sally.344
Posted: Mon Nov  7 10:14:13 1983
Date-Received: Tue, 8-Nov-83 22:41:34 EST
References: <328@ut-sally.UUCP> <335@ut-sally.UUCP>
Organization: U. Texas CS Dept., Austin, Texas
Lines: 95

Oops again!  HAO, I am politely corrected by a small legion of people,
is indeed engaged in astronomical work.  As one person put it:

> From: seismo!hao!hull
> Subject: Re: List of astronomy depts. and observatories on the net
> Posted-Date: 6 Nov 83 18:39:41 EST (Sun)
> 
> Hmmmn.  Uh, how high is high enough?  Er, um, we have several observing
> programs, many collaborative in nature, that involve ground based telescopes.
> We also have many programs that involve observations from satellites.
> It is possible that everyone in the HAO will write to you about this, but
> don't worry, you probably will not be flamed.  Let me try to make a summary:
> 
> 0. The High Altitude Observatory is a Division of NCAR, The National Center
> 	for Atmospheric Research.  NCAR is a Laboratory for UCAR, the
> 	University Corporation for Atmospheric Research.  UCAR, a consortium
> 	of 50 member Universities, is a contractor to The National Science
> 	Foundation.
> 
> 1. The Solar Maximum Mission Program
> 	This program, initiated by Dr. Robert M. MacQueen and others at HAO
> 	was a NASA contract to develop a satellite coronagraph for observations
> 	of the Solar Corona on a synoptic basis from 2.5 to 5.0 solar radii.
> 	The objective was to develop the understanding of Coronal Dynamics
> 	and MHD Plasma Physics with respect to Solar processes.  The launch
> 	was carried out in 1979 and in appx one year of observations, the
> 	HAO/NASA instrument collected 30000 images of the white light solar
> 	corona.  Some of these images display coronal transient phenomena
> 	not previously seen.  Many of these images are today found in the
> 	literature as computer-enhanced false-color intensity contours.
> 
> 2.  Solar Maximum Repair Mission Program
> 	Too bad, but the SMM spacecraft failed in multiple ways after about
> 	a year of operation.  This NASA program, which involves most of the
> 	scientists formerly using SMM data, will continue to work together
> 	with Dr. Frost (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center) to re-activate
> 	the programs when the repair is completed by the crew abord NASA's
> 	shuttle flight STS-13.  NASA will repair the satellite's Attitude
> 	Control System (ACS), and HAO will need to replace an electronics
> 	box (MEB).  The HAO repair program is headed by Dr. Lewis L. House,
> 	who until recently had been in charge of the data reduction program
> 	using NCAR's CRAY computers.  The Main Electronics Box was fabricated
> 	by the Ball Brothers Research Corporation, the subcontractor for the
> 	original sucessful instrument.  The box will undergo final testing
> 	next week here at HAO prior to being shipped to the NASA Goddard
> 	Space Flight Center for integration with the STS-13 mission hardware.
> 
> 3.  The SMM was initially supported by, and is now totally supplemented by the
> 	Mauna Loa Solar Observatory (mlso) coronagraph station on the island
> 	of Hawaii at 11000 ft. altitude on the North side of the mountain.
> 	(Mauna Loa is regarded as an active volcano.  One eruptions did occur
> 	within a few miles of the station, however most are far away down the
> 	southeast flank.)  Including HAO scientist Dr. Richard Fisher, the
> 	station is manned by a five member HAO team, and makes synoptic
> 	observations of the Solar Corona from 0.5 to 3.0 Solar Radii in
> 	complement with the SMM.  Observations are supplemented by selected
> 	H-Alpha telescope images that the crew collects in patrol mode, or
> 	other modes where activity is evident.
> 
> 4.  New programs at HAO will obtain data for the Solar Variability program,
> 	and will include a collaborative program with Dr. G.W. Lockwood of
> 	the Lowell Observatory and Dr. Dimitri Mihalas of HAO to collect
> 	synoptic data on a significant number of stars in the K-Line and in
> 	H-Alpha.  There is ample evidence that there are stars with cycles
> 	and chromospheres (See Wilson, et. al.) so its about time we got some
> 	solar/stellar documentation.  Dr. Fisher (HAO) is planning to collect
> 	Solar K-Line data at MLSO as well.  The K-Line is an excellent magnetic
> 	spectral line generated in the chromospheres of the Sun and many stars.
> 	
> 5.  A new collaborative program with the Sacramento Peak Observatory will
> 	use instrumentation constructed at HAO and SPO to measure velocities
> 	of solar surface material to an accracy of less than one meter per
> 	second.  HAO scientist Dr. Tim Brown is working with SPO scientist
> 	Jack Evans to begin gathering data in the near term.  The HAO portion
> 	of the instrument was delivered in July, and integration with the
> 	SPO Perkin Elmer 3220, CAMAC, optical ports and mechanisms is well
> 	along.
> 
> The above discussion concerns mostly instrumentation efforts at HAO.  There
> is an equal preponderance of theoretical work done here under a couple of
> other programs that I will not delineate; it is not possible for me to compose
> an article of this length without making an annoying mistake somewhere, so
> I had better stop here.
> 				Regards, Howard Hull... A member of the
> 				HAO Instrument Group
> 
>  {ucbvax!hplabs | allegra!nbires | decvax!brl-bmd | harpo!seismo | ihnp4!kpno}
>        		        !hao!hull

Oh, well, into each life some blunders must fall.
----
Prentiss Riddle
{ihnp4,seismo,ctvax}!ut-sally!riddle
riddle@ut-sally.UUCP