Good evening,

Jeff Marraccini at Altair has migrated all of you to the new list server for the lunar-update list.
He has also added all of the lunar-update post from January 2003 to the present to the archive.
To see the collection of prior postings to the list, visit the lunar-update Archives.

Will check and see how far back I go on my computer at Ames and maybe we can add the earlier lunar-update posts as well. You will have to keep me in line and make sure I post material that will be worth looking at over time. Will take a look myself and see what it is that I have said. Hope I am not embarrassed. :-)

When you consider the thought, to the Moon, Mars, and Beyond, the topic of a "Majestic Universe" fits right in. I have a slim publication by that title from the Scientific American magazine, one of those you get when you renew your subscription.
http://www.sciam.com/p_renew.cfm?lsource=rt_nav

Astronomers of all kinds have been looking up at the heavens and wondering what was out there. We are finding that as we look in the different parts of the electro-magnetic spectrum that there is more than just what can be seen with the naked eye.
http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/science/how_l1/spectra.html
http://universe.gsfc.nasa.gov/
http://universe.gsfc.nasa.gov/org.html

One of the articles is entitled, "The Gas between the Stars" and is written by Ronald J. Reynolds. There is a nice three page spread of what can be seen when looking at the Milky Way Galaxy depending on the frequency at which astronomers observe it.

If you have students coming up through the educational system, I hope they see that the field of sensors is playing an important role. We send robots to Mars and we become one with the sensors. The more places in the Universe we explore, the more we will depend on what we use to perceive what is around us. The world is as we sense it. New ideas and new ways of looking at what is around us can be most exciting.

Let me just list the nine ways the Milky Way Galaxy was pictured in this article.

RADIO CONTINUUM
(400 MHz)
Reveals fast-moving electrons, found especially at sited of past supernovae.

ATOMIC HYDROGEN
(1420 MHz)
Reveals neutral atomic hydrogen in interstellar clouds and diffuse gas.

RADIO CONTINUUM
(2.4-2.7 GHz)
Reveals warm, ionized gas and high-energy electrons.

MOLECULAR HYDROGEN
(115 GHz)
Reveals molecular hydrogen (as traced by carbon monoxide) in cold clouds.

FAR-INFRARED
(12-100 microns)
Reveals dust warmed by starlight, specially in star-forming regions.

MID-INFRARED
(6.8-10.8 microns)
Reveals complex molecules in interstellar clouds, as well as reddish stars.

VISIBLE LIGHT
(0.4-0.6 micron)
Reveals nearby stars and tenuous ionized gas: dark areas are cold and dense.

X-RAY
(0.25-1.5 kiloelectron-volt)
Reveals hot, shocked gas from supernovae.

GAMMA RAY
(greater than 300 megaelectron-volt)
Reveals high-energy phenomena such as pulsars and cosmic ray collisions.

The article states "Fifty years ago, when astronomers were restricted to visible light, interstellar gas seemed like just a nuisance--blocking the real objects of interest, the stars. Today scientists think the gas may be as important to the evolution of the galaxy as are the stars."


Thanks for looking up. - LRK -

We really have only begun to know what is out there in space. - LRK -

May you find what you are looking for, and a few surprises thrown in just for excitement. :-) - LRK -

Who will design the next visor for us to see our surroundings?
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http://www.nexus1.net/Geordi.html
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The outstanding characteristic LaForge shows is his longtime adaptability to and satisfaction with life, symbolized by the fact that his birth-blindness until recently was overcome not by direct surgery but by the unique VISOR instrument - which, though painful allowed him to "see" throughout the electromagnetic spectrum, from heat and infrared through visible light to radio waves. It attached at the temples via implants which connected directly to the brain and provided such a complex and broad-based input that the user had to concentrate to focus on one area. It was perhaps this intense focusing ability that has enabled him to master the complexities of warp engineering and other starship systems.

Since mid-2371, however, ongoing miniaturization and cybernetic technology have allowed LaForge to begin using ocular implants, which employ complex sensors and filters all with the confines of an artificial eye.

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Larry Kellogg
http://www.larryrussellkellogg.net/index.html
http://www.larryrussellkellogg.net/links.html
http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
http://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update

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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
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