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Glenn has been kind enough to agree to post all future notices about updates to his scrapbook in this thread. Please put all comments about the scrapbook in this thread from now on. You may also subscribe to this thread if you would like to be alerted each time there are updates!
I don't live very far from John Dalton's observatory site. The last I remember, I think the new owners of the property removed the observatory. When I first moved up here 30 or so years ago it was still there but I think it was gone about 5 or 10 years ago.
Next time I think of it, I'll have to drive by there again.
Love the scrapbook. A strange thing happened when I was very young. I had two brothers and one day they found my diary, Well, they laughed and laughed and teased me. I thought that it was secret and to this day I have never used a diary or a scrapbook. Such is life. Anyhow carry on I love the picture of the observatory and the couple in the picture. Best
I am always amazed about the Science Fiction fans or people whom are amateur astronomers. Some are professionals and do Science Fiction stories in their retirement. I discovered Harry Stubbs of HCO in his graduate phase who wrote wonderful serious papers about Mountains on Mars for THE Telescope Magazine before it merged with The Sky and became the Sky and Telescope Magazine.
I was able to meet him at Readercon when he spoke and after his death I found no reason to attend the conventions. What a delightful man. This was edited by me to correct the Mountains on Moon to Mountains on Mars. Sorry.
Ah, one of my favorite authors! SAtubbs's pen name was Hal Clement, who was a graduate student at Harvard, as you pointed out. His novels "Mission of Gravity", "Iceworld", "Needle" and many others of his era belonged to the gene of "hard science-fiction". A set of "The Essential Hal Clement" came out around 2000. In the intro to the set, Poul Anderson relates that Stubbs wrote under a pseudonym while at Havard because he didn't want to be considered a "nut". To quote Anderson: "Later he [Stubbs] found out that one of the most distinguished [of his professors] had also been trying, but failing, to publish science fiction under a pen name."
As a young man, I didn't know Stubbs was an astronomer, but his science-based fiction played a part in kick-starting my interest in astronomy and science. They were unqiue in my experience because he deppicted alien races - and man - as essentially peaceful and rational, not as the ravenous, man-eating beasts of most SF of his time. Not that there wasn't conflict, though. He convbeyed the sense that humans and aliens had much in common. While lesser writers wrote about vicious and luridly violent alien beasts with sharp fangs and slathering jaws, Clement wrote absorbing "hard" science fiction adventure stories without all that lurid stuff.
The great things you learn about people here! Yes, "Mission of Gravity" was serialized in Astounding, 1953. I think the novel you read is "Star Light", which also takes place on Mesklin. (The first word of that novel is "Beetchermarlf".)
Clement wrote a very interesting article for Astounding right after "Mission of Gravity" came out. In it, he writes about the scientific concepts that he "violated" and the ones he incorporated "as is". He writes, in particular about life on a high-G planet. He uses as an example of such a star, the third component of the triple star 61 Cyg.
Which brings us back to variable stars! 61 Cyg A is a BY Dra variable (V1803 Cyg) and 61 Cyg B is a flare star!
Interesting line. I've been reading analog since I was 8 years old (52 now). Clement has always been a favorite of mine, too. Did you see the AAVSO discussed in the October 2012 issue?
Here I am again. Actually, If I remember right. When he was alive he verbily explained. That the world he created was up for grabs and he would like someone to make it live in the future by continuing the story. But, I don't remember which one but it might have been Mesklin and he didn't know if there was a picture or explanation of how they managed on a H-G planet. Best HNL
I decided that this is not a Hal Clement page. Not the intent of me to change its' content. Sorry, I will refraim from posting anything not related. Best HNL
"Growing old is for the birds. I have to agree with Robert Frietas, that natural death is an "outrage." It's insane that we spend hundreds of billions to kill, instead of putting that money to life extension research."
My thoughts exactly! In fact, I have been espousing this point for quite some time now. If we took say half of the half TRILLION we spend every year building and supporting a massive military force around the world, which does nothing for the betterment of human life, and donate it to pro-active organizations such as http://www.sens.org we just might be able to extend our productive life by at least a factor of two or three! (Or many other worthy organizations in the NIH such as http://www.ninds.nih.gov/about_ninds/gift_fund.htm or private research institutes such as http://buckinstitute.org )
Maybe its time we brought back widespread civil diosobedience and stop paying the irs en masse.
This is not the place for this discussion. It has nothing to do with the AAVSO, variable stars or even astronomy. Rein it in, please, or risk being blocked permanently.
I had a chance to drive by the the site of John Dalton's observatory in Brookfield, CT today and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was mistaken. It is still there but in a somewhat different form. It has what looks to be a larger dome but of different construction. The cylindrical base that the dome sits on is also of different construction and looks to be not as tall. It looks like the entire structure was rebuilt to accomodate the larger dome. I wonder if he eventually got a larger telescope.
I took a couple of photos from out on the road. When I transfer them to the computer, I'll upload them.
I really didn't notice but I'm sure the trees have grown since the observatory was last used by the late Mr. Dalton. It's quite a structure considering that's a two car garage that it's attached to.
To give you some idea of of the property and location, I'll give you another link below. This is as close as I could get without trespassing.
Just about the best yet. Too bad I never met Carolyn, but did hear alot about her. SEE. She said that people have to keep trying to observe even if it is cloudy or life intercedes. I have a button which I am going to wear on occassion. I was going to put it in the Time Capsule of the AAVSO. But, someone thought that my message to the future was dumb. The pin says Try,Try Again and refers to the story called Charlotte's web by E.B. White about a Pig and and a Spider who had problems constructing webs. But, she made a wonderful web and saved the Pigs life. Sorry for the rant.
Hi: I found the letters very interesting and decided that my posting would not be off topic. About the interests of some AAVSO people. Just to say that if your interests are stamps and I assume that people do use stamps still. There is an Edgar Rice Burroughs ( Forever stamps which is still available.) at the post office. Bye HNL
You said: "The paper, in a different form, made me $100 from Bird Watcher's Digest, as an article entitled Finding Birds After Dark. (grin) Don't know who would want to do that, but the editor seemed excited over the piece at the time."
Actually my brothers in law are very much into bird watching and they are always looking for owls at night and I suppose that this would be a good technique to find them since they are nocturnal and out in the open then. During the day, they look for hollow trees and bang on the trunk hoping to make them fly out into the open. Seems a little rough on the poor sleeping owl!
...Tim (HTY)
PS .. Thank you Mr./Ms. Moderator for allowing this thread to continue. We have to have some fun here! ;-)
Hey:" The way to go. Fantastic. I am always the one to do things and sometimes people think I am nuts. Someone else who does nutsy things. I think it is great. A paper for a different subject.
There is group whom is always looking for others. It is called Citizenscientistleague. Sheldon Greaves is the moderator and poster person. Hope to meet you some time. I don't frequent AAVSO conferences (meetings) but, hope to in 2014, That is if I am still in this world. Best HNL
Talking about optics and animals and human eyes. People are aware of red eye in photos. Also, if you use flash most people know that the flash always comes back to you if you do a picture. What I really wanted to say; Is the raccoons also inhabit the twilight times. The footprints on my patio told me that my local raccoon was out. So, we can tell that the human eye is actually an optical instrument and that I was able to diagnose my eye as having a retinal problem by using the Ronchi test for optics. We have a lens a light path and a retina to display the image on to a place. Actually, that makes this topic an OK topic and not an off topic discussion. Hope this helps to make it a neat place for a discussion. HNL
I have moved further conversation about Mr. Dalton's observatory to its own topic, since it is a separate topic from the scrapbook. The new topic is here: http://www.aavso.org/mr-daltons-observatory
Glenn has been kind enough to agree to post all future notices about updates to his scrapbook in this thread. Please put all comments about the scrapbook in this thread from now on. You may also subscribe to this thread if you would like to be alerted each time there are updates!
Previous threads on this topic are here, here, here, and here!
I don't live very far from John Dalton's observatory site. The last I remember, I think the new owners of the property removed the observatory. When I first moved up here 30 or so years ago it was still there but I think it was gone about 5 or 10 years ago.
Next time I think of it, I'll have to drive by there again.
....Tim
Love the scrapbook. A strange thing happened when I was very young. I had two brothers and one day they found my diary, Well, they laughed and laughed and teased me. I thought that it was secret and to this day I have never used a diary or a scrapbook. Such is life. Anyhow carry on I love the picture of the observatory and the couple in the picture. Best
I am always amazed about the Science Fiction fans or people whom are amateur astronomers. Some are professionals and do Science Fiction stories in their retirement. I discovered Harry Stubbs of HCO in his graduate phase who wrote wonderful serious papers about Mountains on Mars for THE Telescope Magazine before it merged with The Sky and became the Sky and Telescope Magazine.
I was able to meet him at Readercon when he spoke and after his death I found no reason to attend the conventions. What a delightful man. This was edited by me to correct the Mountains on Moon to Mountains on Mars. Sorry.
Ah, one of my favorite authors! SAtubbs's pen name was Hal Clement, who was a graduate student at Harvard, as you pointed out. His novels "Mission of Gravity", "Iceworld", "Needle" and many others of his era belonged to the gene of "hard science-fiction". A set of "The Essential Hal Clement" came out around 2000. In the intro to the set, Poul Anderson relates that Stubbs wrote under a pseudonym while at Havard because he didn't want to be considered a "nut". To quote Anderson: "Later he [Stubbs] found out that one of the most distinguished [of his professors] had also been trying, but failing, to publish science fiction under a pen name."
As a young man, I didn't know Stubbs was an astronomer, but his science-based fiction played a part in kick-starting my interest in astronomy and science. They were unqiue in my experience because he deppicted alien races - and man - as essentially peaceful and rational, not as the ravenous, man-eating beasts of most SF of his time. Not that there wasn't conflict, though. He convbeyed the sense that humans and aliens had much in common. While lesser writers wrote about vicious and luridly violent alien beasts with sharp fangs and slathering jaws, Clement wrote absorbing "hard" science fiction adventure stories without all that lurid stuff.
The great things you learn about people here! Yes, "Mission of Gravity" was serialized in Astounding, 1953. I think the novel you read is "Star Light", which also takes place on Mesklin. (The first word of that novel is "Beetchermarlf".)
Clement wrote a very interesting article for Astounding right after "Mission of Gravity" came out. In it, he writes about the scientific concepts that he "violated" and the ones he incorporated "as is". He writes, in particular about life on a high-G planet. He uses as an example of such a star, the third component of the triple star 61 Cyg.
Which brings us back to variable stars! 61 Cyg A is a BY Dra variable (V1803 Cyg) and 61 Cyg B is a flare star!
Cheers,
Thom
Interesting line. I've been reading analog since I was 8 years old (52 now). Clement has always been a favorite of mine, too. Did you see the AAVSO discussed in the October 2012 issue?
Alan
Here I am again. Actually, If I remember right. When he was alive he verbily explained. That the world he created was up for grabs and he would like someone to make it live in the future by continuing the story. But, I don't remember which one but it might have been Mesklin and he didn't know if there was a picture or explanation of how they managed on a H-G planet. Best HNL
I decided that this is not a Hal Clement page. Not the intent of me to change its' content. Sorry, I will refraim from posting anything not related. Best HNL
"Growing old is for the birds. I have to agree with Robert Frietas, that natural death is an "outrage." It's insane that we spend hundreds of billions to kill, instead of putting that money to life extension research."
My thoughts exactly! In fact, I have been espousing this point for quite some time now. If we took say half of the half TRILLION we spend every year building and supporting a massive military force around the world, which does nothing for the betterment of human life, and donate it to pro-active organizations such as http://www.sens.org we just might be able to extend our productive life by at least a factor of two or three! (Or many other worthy organizations in the NIH such as http://www.ninds.nih.gov/about_ninds/gift_fund.htm or private research institutes such as http://buckinstitute.org )
Maybe its time we brought back widespread civil diosobedience and stop paying the irs en masse.
Mike LMK
This is not the place for this discussion. It has nothing to do with the AAVSO, variable stars or even astronomy. Rein it in, please, or risk being blocked permanently.
To all our friends in the south ,whom watch Magellen at night. I say:
Feliz Navidad. Best HNL
I had a chance to drive by the the site of John Dalton's observatory in Brookfield, CT today and I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was mistaken. It is still there but in a somewhat different form. It has what looks to be a larger dome but of different construction. The cylindrical base that the dome sits on is also of different construction and looks to be not as tall. It looks like the entire structure was rebuilt to accomodate the larger dome. I wonder if he eventually got a larger telescope.
I took a couple of photos from out on the road. When I transfer them to the computer, I'll upload them.
...Tim (HTY)
Here are a couple of links to the photos that I mentioned earlier:
http://home.earthlink.net/~thager6164/Dalton-obs1.jpg
http://home.earthlink.net/~thager6164/Dalton-obs2.jpg
....Tim (HTY)
The observatory looks like it's in pretty good shape. How close is the treeline? Looks close, but it's hard to tell in a photograph.
SDB,
I really didn't notice but I'm sure the trees have grown since the observatory was last used by the late Mr. Dalton. It's quite a structure considering that's a two car garage that it's attached to.
To give you some idea of of the property and location, I'll give you another link below. This is as close as I could get without trespassing.
http://home.earthlink.net/~thager6164/Dalton-obs3.jpg
Tim (HTY)
Just about the best yet. Too bad I never met Carolyn, but did hear alot about her. SEE. She said that people have to keep trying to observe even if it is cloudy or life intercedes. I have a button which I am going to wear on occassion. I was going to put it in the Time Capsule of the AAVSO. But, someone thought that my message to the future was dumb. The pin says Try,Try Again and refers to the story called Charlotte's web by E.B. White about a Pig and and a Spider who had problems constructing webs. But, she made a wonderful web and saved the Pigs life. Sorry for the rant.
Best in all things. HNL
Hi: I found the letters very interesting and decided that my posting would not be off topic. About the interests of some AAVSO people. Just to say that if your interests are stamps and I assume that people do use stamps still. There is an Edgar Rice Burroughs ( Forever stamps which is still available.) at the post office. Bye HNL
Hi Glenn,
You said: "The paper, in a different form, made me $100 from Bird Watcher's Digest, as an article entitled Finding Birds After Dark. (grin) Don't know who would want to do that, but the editor seemed excited over the piece at the time."
Actually my brothers in law are very much into bird watching and they are always looking for owls at night and I suppose that this would be a good technique to find them since they are nocturnal and out in the open then. During the day, they look for hollow trees and bang on the trunk hoping to make them fly out into the open. Seems a little rough on the poor sleeping owl!
...Tim (HTY)
PS .. Thank you Mr./Ms. Moderator for allowing this thread to continue. We have to have some fun here! ;-)
Hey:" The way to go. Fantastic. I am always the one to do things and sometimes people think I am nuts. Someone else who does nutsy things. I think it is great. A paper for a different subject.
There is group whom is always looking for others. It is called Citizenscientistleague. Sheldon Greaves is the moderator and poster person. Hope to meet you some time. I don't frequent AAVSO conferences (meetings) but, hope to in 2014, That is if I am still in this world. Best HNL
Talking about optics and animals and human eyes. People are aware of red eye in photos. Also, if you use flash most people know that the flash always comes back to you if you do a picture. What I really wanted to say; Is the raccoons also inhabit the twilight times. The footprints on my patio told me that my local raccoon was out. So, we can tell that the human eye is actually an optical instrument and that I was able to diagnose my eye as having a retinal problem by using the Ronchi test for optics. We have a lens a light path and a retina to display the image on to a place. Actually, that makes this topic an OK topic and not an off topic discussion. Hope this helps to make it a neat place for a discussion. HNL
Thanks for posting this stuff! Fascinating!
I have moved further conversation about Mr. Dalton's observatory to its own topic, since it is a separate topic from the scrapbook. The new topic is here: http://www.aavso.org/mr-daltons-observatory