Astronomy/ModPhys SIG of American Mensa, Ltd.

Very distant supernovae suggest that the cosmic expansion is speeding up. Two rival groups of observers have concluded that the gravitational slowing of the Hubble expansion is being opposed by a repulsive cosmological constant, or something even more exotic.

Of course, I manage a departmental astronomy website, so I have _lots_ of astronomy links. These are sort of organized, so take a look and give 'em a try. The professional resources may require passwords, but most (by far) don't. SkyView is amazing, for instance. Feel free to email me with comments about the site, colors, contents, etc., and... Happy surfing!

Great Astronomy/Physics/Science Humor pages from a NASA dude!

Sent in by Ramona Griffin, here's Eric Schulman's A History of the Universe in 200 Words or Less.

For the experimentalists among you, here's The Dreaded Twinkie Torture Test -- a scholarly look at a sticky subject.

Here are Doug's Physics and Science Humor Links -- There's a lot of humor right on his site, worth a visit (if you don't mind animated GIFs).

Member Articles

I hope that eventually there will be quite a few of these. For now, I have one (old, now); I attended the 10th Cambridge Workshop on Cool Stars, Stellar Systems, and the Sun in Cambridge, MA, July 15-19, 1997. One of the more interesting discussions going on was about the existence or nonexistence of extrasolar planet detections. I titled the summary Hot News in Cool Stars. It was, at the time!

New 6 Mar 99 from member John Keating:

In the beginning there was Aristotle,
And objects at rest tended to remain at rest,
And objects in motion tended to come to rest,
And soon everything was at rest,
And God saw that it was boring.

Then God created Newton,
And objects at rest tended to remain at rest,
But objects in motion tended to remain in motion,
And energy was conserved and momentum was conserved and matter was conserved
And God saw that it was conservative.

Then God created Einstein,
And everything was relative,
And fast things became short,
And straight things became curved, And the universe was fillled with inertial frames,
And God saw that it was relatively general, but some of it was especially relative.

Then God created Bohr,
And there was the principle,
And the principle was quantum,
And all things were quantified,
But some things were still relative,
And God saw that it was confusing.

Then God was going to create Furgeson,
And Furgeson would have unified,
And he would have fielded a theory,
And all would have been one,
But it was the seventh day,
And God rested,
And objects at rest tend to remain at rest.

The American Association of Variable Star Observers has some of the best research opportunities for amateur astronomers today. What follows is a current example:

GAMMA RAY BURST WITH UNUSUAL OPTICAL COUNTERPART -- From the AAVSO Alert: The position of the optical counterpart was reported by S. C. Odewahn, J. S. Bloom, and S. R. Kulkarni, California Institute of Technology, on behalf of the Caltech-NRAO-CARA GRB Collaboration (IAU Circular 7094) as:
R.A. = 15h 25m 30.5s Decl. = +44 degrees 46' 00" (2000)

This event is potentially a very important one for our observers because the bright optical flash may occur again once or several times, and so the area should be monitored. As Dr. Howard Bond of Space Telescope Science Institute explains, "...An exciting aspect of this object is the suggestion by S.G. Djorgovski et al. that GRB 990123 was gravitationally lensed (which might account for the extraordinary apparent luminosity). This raises the possibility, emphasized by E. Turner, that the gamma-ray and optical bursts may recur in the next few days to months, due to lensing time delays along different paths to the Earth. It would thus be very worthwhile for AAVSO members to monitor this position constantly, even with small telescopes or binoculars..." So hop on it, you observers! /hp

RARE OUTBURST OF THE TOAD-TYPE CATACLYSMIC VARIABLE 1626+21 V592 HERCULIS -- From the AAVSO alert: We have been informed by Timo Kinnunen, Espoo, Finland, that he observed the cataclysmic variable V592 Her in outburst at visual magnitude 12.0 on 1998 August 26.835 UT. Confirming observations were reported by Lance Shaw, Pinole, CA, and Gene Hansen, Cave Creek, AZ. V592 Her has been classified as a TOAD (Tremendous Outburst Amplitude Dwarf Nova). TOADs are cataclysmic variables similar to SU UMa systems in that they have superoutbursts and exhibit superhumps when in outburst; characteristics that set them apart from other dwarf novae include having an outburst amplitude greater than 6 magnitudes, very low luminosity at minimum, and superoutbursts that occur at intervals of months to tens of years. Comprehensive sources of information on TOADs include the article by S. Howell, P. Szkody, and J. Cannizzo in Astrophys. J., 439, 337 (1995) and the University of Wyoming International Toad Watch website, created and maintained (rarely) by the TOAD Group.

Send mail to the SIG coordinator and webster: astro_SIG@yahoo.com
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