With a Meade 125-ETX, assuming 1) the system is working well, and 2) you keep your diagonals and eyepieces clean, and 3) your atmospheric seeing conditions are OK, you should be able to observe the dust storm as a bright patch on the planet. You would be able to see the dark and light "albedo" regions of the planet and find the dust storm based on them.
The features of Mars can be quite subtle. It will help if you are warm, sitting comfortably, and able to watch for a long enough period to experience good moments of atmospheric seeing.
The more time you observe, the greater your chances of getting those unusual moments of clarity. Many, MANY people will spend about 5 minutes looking at Mars in variably moderate seeing and give up on it. This is not the way to see the most your telescope has to offer.
While this is exciting for amateur astronomers to see a process like this happening on Mars, it's also very forboding and ominous. Mars has a bad habit of becoming engulfed in planet wide dust storms which almost totally hide the surface features of the planet.
I am sure many amateurs like myself would prefer NO dust storms on Mars while it is so close to the Earth, and so favorably positioned for Northern hemisphere observers. This has been a great Mars apparition so far, I've watched it growing in the eyepiece since August. If the dust stays clear, Mars will be large enough to enjoy until almost February. If it turns into a cloudy red ball, well...
IIRC the windshield of a Humveee is about 72" x 23"... thats 1656 square inches. The article quotes $10 - $15 a sq. inch, so the windshield would be worth $16,560 to $24,840.... I guess they wont be protecting fleets of vehicles with them?
This is similiar to the situation with Denethor, the Steward of Gondor. His failure was to recognize Aragorn as the rightful ruler of Gondor.
I expect it will end similiarly, with Darl coating himself in some type of oil, igniting himself and then running and jumping from the highest precipice as a plummeting human fireball.
You're not kidding. I am still working with my CNC machinist on a solid granite back for my limited series U2 iPod. The granite reduces the vibrations from the iPods on board digital clock and from any CMOS gate switching during operation. I've seen some online studies that the granite dampens the vibrations and makes the iPods last a LOT longer (besides the obvious quality difference at the ear..). Are you doing any iPod overclocking or extra cooling? Have you thought about replacing your wall receptacle outlets to feed your iPod the cleanest power?
HEY, Let me tell you about our extended in-store laptop warranties! Did you know you'll need to pay the shipping yourself if you need to have it repaired? And it can take weeks!
What?? You decline? WOW, NOBODY has EVER declined this before. Are you sure? Can you tell me why you've declined? Geeze, let me tell you about all the risks of turning this down.
(other floor guy walks up) Hey, this guys buying this laptop without the extended warranty. (Glances exchanged.) No way! Yep. Does he know about all the things that could happen if something breaks. Yep, I told him but he says he doesn't want it. Wow, I don't know if anyone has ever declined it before.
(trying to get to check out with laptop in escort, manager walks up.) Hey, Bob told me you are passing on the extended warranty. This is a very expensive items so there are a few things we have to cover before you buy it. Do you know if it breaks you'll have to cover all shipping expenses to and from the service center? That laptop has lithium batteries so there are hazardous shipping charges involved. It can take weeks to get it repaired. It's very odd for someone to turn down the extended warranties. Are you sure? Well, I have to inform you of all the potential risks of buying without the extended warranty.
Hey, I wont argue with you. Individual tastes vary, and lots of photographs which undoubtably are "fine art" are anything but high resolution.
And don't misinterpret my standards to be "low". I love high resolution. I love the look of my 21MP slide scans printed corner to corner on 12x18 paper. Like I said, I can see that my 6 megapixel can't keep up with the resolution. But I'll show those prints to 9 out of 10 people and they'll be more than happy with the resolution.
And, if I could, I'd make 11x14 prints using 4"x5" large format film as well. Unfortunately the cost of the camera, lens, film, development and printing would have me affording about 1 print a month:) No good.
In comparison, digital photography is a breath of freedom. I've shot 11,000 frames on my Canon digital cameras. Zero added cost per shutter click. At my local pro-lab rates with 35mm Fuji slide film, that would have been over $5,000 in slide film and development. Instead I've spent about $500 on Epson Archival Matte paper and ink.
Your goals and your pocketbook are undoutably different than mine, but don't call my standards low.
I started with the Canon D30 (3 megapixel) DSLR 3 years ago and have upgraded to the D60 (6 megapixel) and the 10D body (also 6 megapixel.) I also shot thousands of frames of slide film previously and scanned them at 21.42 megapixels per picture. I've printed hundreds of prints at home, up to 12"x18" in size.
For 98% of the slashdot crowd, I'll assure you that 6 megapixels is enough.
Ask yourself, what is your goal? For probably half the people, it's a shot that looks decent on your monitor or in email. Well, even 2 megapixels will do that in style.
For the other half of the users, they want to be able to make prints. This is where resolution comes in, the more, the better. With the 3 megapixel cameras, I was able to do nice 8"x10" prints. Anything bigger and it for sure suffered when compared with a print from the 21 megapixel slide scans.
Since 6 megapixels came out, my 8x10 prints don't comparatively suffer next to slide scans printed at the same size. They both look killer.
Now, I like to make prints on Super-A3 sized paper ( at 12" x 18" ) and at that size, I can still easily see the advantage that 21 megapixel slide scans have over the 6 megapixel DSLR shots. But, the big prints are beautiful in either case and I still make them all the time and never feel too cheated resolution wise.
With this 16 megapixel camera, the results would be superb next to the big slide scans. There would be no problem printing at 12"x18" or larger. I would be seriously wanting one of the larger format Epson's that do 20" wide prints or even the 3 and 4 foot wide printers. This camera has the resolution.
So whats your goal? This is kind of a swag but:
computer screen/TV pictures: 2 megapixels 8"x10" prints: 3 megapixels and up 12"x18" prints: 6 megapixels and up bigger prints: the more pixels the better
Slipstream is where windows updates are incorporated into the XP install CD. If SP2 is slipstreamed, than Windows XP with SP2 will be the result of the installation. Some geeky purists will insist this is the way to the cleanest XP SP2 install. (Certainly the fastest way..)
A few weeks ago I was trying a link to the next version of Windows Update, which was not publically released but someone had published it somewhere on the net. It checked my machine and told me my XP key was invalid. (My machine has a VLK 6n1 XP installed on it.) So there are indeed some windowsupdate URLs which do check and do reject!
p.s. I own three legal copies of XP of course, but the slipstreamed SP2 disc is just handy and the only one I keep laying around.
Dont burn your house down by rigging this up in a way where 120V power cords are running inside your walls. (I realize the page author does not have this.) If you use 120V wiring inside a wall that is not in an NEC approved manner, and your house burns down, you might be liable.
This includes not being able to have an outlet mounted inside a wall nearby the frame, in a permanently inaccessible location. No, the fact that you can remove drywall to access it does not make it accessible. Now, maybe if the entire frame swung open on recessed hinges to a finished space with a normally mounted outlet, OK. But best ask the inspector.
Many people will say "Ahh but this is low voltage power wiring" so, there isn't much danger. True, for DVI video signalling, but what about powering the backlighting?
But when the voltage is low, the current is high, and the potential is still there to create heat.
For example. You've probably got some big-ass wires carrying 100 amp or 200 amp service into your house. But if you go out to the power pole, you'll see the transformer which feeds your big wires has a extremely tiny wire getting it's power from the overhead lines. At the high voltages of transmission lines, small wires easily carry the small currents. At the low voltages going into your house, big wires carry the larger currents. Whats the same? The amount of power being carried.
So never assume stuffing 12V cords through a wall is safe just because the voltage is so low. How much power is involved?
But aircraft are rated as such. Look at the Fieseler Storch, made in Austrailia, read the first paragraphs and you see it says "quite strong (+6 -3)" This is their way of saying you can pull 6 G's towards the bottom of the aircraft, or 3 G's towards the top. Call them -3G to be immediately clear without explaining any furthur.
That storch is quite an aircraft!! Take off run into a 16 mph wind is straight up!
We've actually done the free fall experience in Cessna 172's. I think all those Cessna's are rated for 0G or even -1G or more no problem. Of course, it is no where near 25 seconds long, but we were still cackling like crazy kids.
Simply fly long up and down swoops. When you arch over the top and start to descend, the pilot controls the rate so that everything in the cabin lifts up and floats. I spun my 35mm camera in front of me, hanging in the air, so you get a few seconds. Quite a rush.
I remember building a Z80 single board computer when pursuing my electronics degree.
The Z80 CPU was so stable that we could actually hook a potentiometer up to the timing circuit and scroll the system clock speed up or down and it just went on about its business of running happily. As I recall, it maxed out about 1 megahertz, but you could reduce it way down without trouble.
When I was 20, with an electronics Associates degree, we set up a software configuration management program for a shop writing C software that became FDA approved for robotic orthopedic devices.
We based the configuration mgmt program on IEEE standard 828-1990. As part of the program we modeled our Software Requirements Specification process off of IEEE standard 830-1984. Our design practices off of IEEE 1016-1987. Our testing practices off of IEEE 1012-1986.
We demonstrated adherence to these standards of practice in order to gain FDA approval for our robotic device. Our software development cycle flowed as specified in our carefully engineered plans.
We engineered software. But we didn't have engineering degrees. Did we dilute your title?
It was wild to watch the operations, first they would put the frame rings on the leg (with spokes through the entire legs!) And then cut a very small opening, and take a chisel to the bone and cleave it into two! They liked the chisel because it made a rough break, ripe with lots of bone knitting area. The orthopedic surgeons are definitely the mechanics of the medical profession.
I wrote the C code inside a robotic limb lengthening machine and was able to attend many surgeries and see patient progress over time.
The basic principle is simple... break a leg and tug on it by 1 millimeter per day, and the body will fill in the gap with new bone.
The technique is called the Ilizarov technique after the Russian who discovered it. You can see in those pictures that a mechanical frame takes the place of your broken bone during the "stretching" phase. The leg is broken, but the frame keeps you able to walk nearly normal.
The most amazing operation I saw was a guy who blew away his entire tibia/fibula with a shotgun, but didn't overly destroy the blood vessels and nerves and muscle of the lower leg. They bolted one of these frames on, compressed his ankle and foot up just 4" from his knee, waited a few days for the bone to knit, and then grew him a new tibia over the course of 6 months.
You can make ANYONE taller using this technique, at about 1 inch per month.
The Russians used wrenches to turn their bolts 4 times a day, elongating the metal frame by 1/4 mm four times per day, for the 1mm total. Our device (the autogenesis device) used Intel microcontrollers and stepper motors geared down enormously, so that we elongated the frame over 1000 times per day by less than a micron each move. The result was more natural looking nerves, blood vessels, (which are also grown by this technique), the body likes the gradual movements better.
You can do all kinds of crazy stuff with this technique. One of the first patients was an Atlanta Falcons player who had one leg lengthened by a small amount and also had the foot rotated by a few degrees (again, a very small amount each day) to correct an improperly healed injury.
I installed XP SP2 on a 16 month old XP installation which was at SP1.
I have a Intel Seattle motherboard with Yamaha sound and a SB Live!. After SP2, both sound systems were disabled and "No audio devices" shown on sound control panel. Device manager showed all devices present. I had to uninstall all sound devices (in the device manager), and then add a single sound system. Had to do it again after rebooting, again "No audio devices" found.
Also, after first boots with SP2, time-to-desktop and time-to-shutdown was horrrrible. Event log showed a bizarre COM+ error, after which I found one of the two COM+ services was disabled. After enabling the service, I've had no furthur problems.
Also, I uninstalled ZoneAlarm since the XP Firewall seems to do what I need.
In many latitudes the Sun never comes anywhere close to being overhead. I've been in Alaska 28 yrs and never seen the Sun, Moon, or any planets even close to overhead. The highest they ever get is about 60 degrees above the horizon or so.
Slashdot Mirror
My uncle was the pilot of Deep Impact, you insensitive clod. He was lost when his spacecraft creashed into a comet.
With a Meade 125-ETX, assuming 1) the system is working well, and 2) you keep your diagonals and eyepieces clean, and 3) your atmospheric seeing conditions are OK, you should be able to observe the dust storm as a bright patch on the planet. You would be able to see the dark and light "albedo" regions of the planet and find the dust storm based on them.
The features of Mars can be quite subtle. It will help if you are warm, sitting comfortably, and able to watch for a long enough period to experience good moments of atmospheric seeing.
The more time you observe, the greater your chances of getting those unusual moments of clarity. Many, MANY people will spend about 5 minutes looking at Mars in variably moderate seeing and give up on it. This is not the way to see the most your telescope has to offer.
Mike
While this is exciting for amateur astronomers to see a process like this happening on Mars, it's also very forboding and ominous. Mars has a bad habit of becoming engulfed in planet wide dust storms which almost totally hide the surface features of the planet.
s dust.htm
I am sure many amateurs like myself would prefer NO dust storms on Mars while it is so close to the Earth, and so favorably positioned for Northern hemisphere observers. This has been a great Mars apparition so far, I've watched it growing in the eyepiece since August. If the dust stays clear, Mars will be large enough to enjoy until almost February. If it turns into a cloudy red ball, well...
This page shows a dust storm growing from the 2003 apparition of Mars, and a picture of the dreaded featureless red ball.
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2003/09jul_mar
IIRC the windshield of a Humveee is about 72" x 23"... thats 1656 square inches. The article quotes $10 - $15 a sq. inch, so the windshield would be worth $16,560 to $24,840.... I guess they wont be protecting fleets of vehicles with them?
my progeny worm
set loose to exploit your holes
mine left for inmates
This is similiar to the situation with Denethor, the Steward of Gondor. His failure was to recognize Aragorn as the rightful ruler of Gondor.
I expect it will end similiarly, with Darl coating himself in some type of oil, igniting himself and then running and jumping from the highest precipice as a plummeting human fireball.
You're not kidding. I am still working with my CNC machinist on a solid granite back for my limited series U2 iPod. The granite reduces the vibrations from the iPods on board digital clock and from any CMOS gate switching during operation. I've seen some online studies that the granite dampens the vibrations and makes the iPods last a LOT longer (besides the obvious quality difference at the ear..). Are you doing any iPod overclocking or extra cooling? Have you thought about replacing your wall receptacle outlets to feed your iPod the cleanest power?
regards
iJack Simpson
owner, Yahoo iPod Overclockers Forum
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/iPodOverclockers/
HEY, Let me tell you about our extended in-store laptop warranties! Did you know you'll need to pay the shipping yourself if you need to have it repaired? And it can take weeks!
What?? You decline? WOW, NOBODY has EVER declined this before. Are you sure? Can you tell me why you've declined? Geeze, let me tell you about all the risks of turning this down.
(other floor guy walks up)
Hey, this guys buying this laptop without the extended warranty. (Glances exchanged.) No way! Yep. Does he know about all the things that could happen if something breaks. Yep, I told him but he says he doesn't want it. Wow, I don't know if anyone has ever declined it before.
(trying to get to check out with laptop in escort, manager walks up.)
Hey, Bob told me you are passing on the extended warranty. This is a very expensive items so there are a few things we have to cover before you buy it. Do you know if it breaks you'll have to cover all shipping expenses to and from the service center? That laptop has lithium batteries so there are hazardous shipping charges involved. It can take weeks to get it repaired. It's very odd for someone to turn down the extended warranties. Are you sure? Well, I have to inform you of all the potential risks of buying without the extended warranty.
Hey, I wont argue with you. Individual tastes vary, and lots of photographs which undoubtably are "fine art" are anything but high resolution.
And don't misinterpret my standards to be "low". I love high resolution. I love the look of my 21MP slide scans printed corner to corner on 12x18 paper. Like I said, I can see that my 6 megapixel can't keep up with the resolution. But I'll show those prints to 9 out of 10 people and they'll be more than happy with the resolution.
And, if I could, I'd make 11x14 prints using 4"x5" large format film as well. Unfortunately the cost of the camera, lens, film, development and printing would have me affording about 1 print a month
In comparison, digital photography is a breath of freedom. I've shot 11,000 frames on my Canon digital cameras. Zero added cost per shutter click. At my local pro-lab rates with 35mm Fuji slide film, that would have been over $5,000 in slide film and development. Instead I've spent about $500 on Epson Archival Matte paper and ink.
Your goals and your pocketbook are undoutably different than mine, but don't call my standards low.
I started with the Canon D30 (3 megapixel) DSLR 3 years ago and have upgraded to the D60 (6 megapixel) and the 10D body (also 6 megapixel.) I also shot thousands of frames of slide film previously and scanned them at 21.42 megapixels per picture. I've printed hundreds of prints at home, up to 12"x18" in size.
For 98% of the slashdot crowd, I'll assure you that 6 megapixels is enough.
Ask yourself, what is your goal? For probably half the people, it's a shot that looks decent on your monitor or in email. Well, even 2 megapixels will do that in style.
For the other half of the users, they want to be able to make prints. This is where resolution comes in, the more, the better. With the 3 megapixel cameras, I was able to do nice 8"x10" prints. Anything bigger and it for sure suffered when compared with a print from the 21 megapixel slide scans.
Since 6 megapixels came out, my 8x10 prints don't comparatively suffer next to slide scans printed at the same size. They both look killer.
Now, I like to make prints on Super-A3 sized paper ( at 12" x 18" ) and at that size, I can still easily see the advantage that 21 megapixel slide scans have over the 6 megapixel DSLR shots. But, the big prints are beautiful in either case and I still make them all the time and never feel too cheated resolution wise.
With this 16 megapixel camera, the results would be superb next to the big slide scans. There would be no problem printing at 12"x18" or larger. I would be seriously wanting one of the larger format Epson's that do 20" wide prints or even the 3 and 4 foot wide printers. This camera has the resolution.
So whats your goal? This is kind of a swag but:
computer screen/TV pictures: 2 megapixels
8"x10" prints: 3 megapixels and up
12"x18" prints: 6 megapixels and up
bigger prints: the more pixels the better
Slipstream is where windows updates are incorporated into the XP install CD. If SP2 is slipstreamed, than Windows XP with SP2 will be the result of the installation. Some geeky purists will insist this is the way to the cleanest XP SP2 install. (Certainly the fastest way..)
A few weeks ago I was trying a link to the next version of Windows Update, which was not publically released but someone had published it somewhere on the net. It checked my machine and told me my XP key was invalid. (My machine has a VLK 6n1 XP installed on it.) So there are indeed some windowsupdate URLs which do check and do reject!
p.s. I own three legal copies of XP of course, but the slipstreamed SP2 disc is just handy and the only one I keep laying around.
That sure reads funky, but I'm not on crack, just distracted.
Dont burn your house down by rigging this up in a way where 120V power cords are running inside your walls. (I realize the page author does not have this.) If you use 120V wiring inside a wall that is not in an NEC approved manner, and your house burns down, you might be liable.
This includes not being able to have an outlet mounted inside a wall nearby the frame, in a permanently inaccessible location. No, the fact that you can remove drywall to access it does not make it accessible. Now, maybe if the entire frame swung open on recessed hinges to a finished space with a normally mounted outlet, OK. But best ask the inspector.
Many people will say "Ahh but this is low voltage power wiring" so, there isn't much danger. True, for DVI video signalling, but what about powering the backlighting?
But when the voltage is low, the current is high, and the potential is still there to create heat.
For example. You've probably got some big-ass wires carrying 100 amp or 200 amp service into your house. But if you go out to the power pole, you'll see the transformer which feeds your big wires has a extremely tiny wire getting it's power from the overhead lines. At the high voltages of transmission lines, small wires easily carry the small currents. At the low voltages going into your house, big wires carry the larger currents. Whats the same? The amount of power being carried.
So never assume stuffing 12V cords through a wall is safe just because the voltage is so low. How much power is involved?
But aircraft are rated as such. Look at the Fieseler Storch, made in Austrailia, read the first paragraphs and you see it says "quite strong (+6 -3)" This is their way of saying you can pull 6 G's towards the bottom of the aircraft, or 3 G's towards the top. Call them -3G to be immediately clear without explaining any furthur.
That storch is quite an aircraft!! Take off run into a 16 mph wind is straight up!
We've actually done the free fall experience in Cessna 172's. I think all those Cessna's are rated for 0G or even -1G or more no problem. Of course, it is no where near 25 seconds long, but we were still cackling like crazy kids.
Simply fly long up and down swoops. When you arch over the top and start to descend, the pilot controls the rate so that everything in the cabin lifts up and floats. I spun my 35mm camera in front of me, hanging in the air, so you get a few seconds. Quite a rush.
I remember building a Z80 single board computer when pursuing my electronics degree.
The Z80 CPU was so stable that we could actually hook a potentiometer up to the timing circuit and scroll the system clock speed up or down and it just went on about its business of running happily. As I recall, it maxed out about 1 megahertz, but you could reduce it way down without trouble.
Actually, the advice is from Lazarus Long, the very long lived character from "Time Enough For Love", his advice?
Get a shot off fast. This upsets him long enough to let you make your second shot perfect.
Let's adopt this definition at Slashdot.
It's a moon if it's big enough that it's own gravity and mass forms itself into a spherical shape.
Phobos... obviously a big rock.
Europa... a moon.
When I was 20, with an electronics Associates degree, we set up a software configuration management program for a shop writing C software that became FDA approved for robotic orthopedic devices.
We based the configuration mgmt program on IEEE standard 828-1990. As part of the program we modeled our Software Requirements Specification process off of IEEE standard 830-1984. Our design practices off of IEEE 1016-1987. Our testing practices off of IEEE 1012-1986.
We demonstrated adherence to these standards of practice in order to gain FDA approval for our robotic device. Our software development cycle flowed as specified in our carefully engineered plans.
We engineered software. But we didn't have engineering degrees. Did we dilute your title?
It was wild to watch the operations, first they would put the frame rings on the leg (with spokes through the entire legs!) And then cut a very small opening, and take a chisel to the bone and cleave it into two! They liked the chisel because it made a rough break, ripe with lots of bone knitting area. The orthopedic surgeons are definitely the mechanics of the medical profession.
I wrote the C code inside a robotic limb lengthening machine and was able to attend many surgeries and see patient progress over time.
The basic principle is simple... break a leg and tug on it by 1 millimeter per day, and the body will fill in the gap with new bone.
The technique is called the Ilizarov technique after the Russian who discovered it. You can see in those pictures that a mechanical frame takes the place of your broken bone during the "stretching" phase. The leg is broken, but the frame keeps you able to walk nearly normal.
The most amazing operation I saw was a guy who blew away his entire tibia/fibula with a shotgun, but didn't overly destroy the blood vessels and nerves and muscle of the lower leg. They bolted one of these frames on, compressed his ankle and foot up just 4" from his knee, waited a few days for the bone to knit, and then grew him a new tibia over the course of 6 months.
You can make ANYONE taller using this technique, at about 1 inch per month.
The Russians used wrenches to turn their bolts 4 times a day, elongating the metal frame by 1/4 mm four times per day, for the 1mm total. Our device (the autogenesis device) used Intel microcontrollers and stepper motors geared down enormously, so that we elongated the frame over 1000 times per day by less than a micron each move. The result was more natural looking nerves, blood vessels, (which are also grown by this technique), the body likes the gradual movements better.
You can do all kinds of crazy stuff with this technique. One of the first patients was an Atlanta Falcons player who had one leg lengthened by a small amount and also had the foot rotated by a few degrees (again, a very small amount each day) to correct an improperly healed injury.
Who could build the tension like Giraldo Rivera... and what a perfect conclusion for his career.
I installed XP SP2 on a 16 month old XP installation which was at SP1.
I have a Intel Seattle motherboard with Yamaha sound and a SB Live!. After SP2, both sound systems were disabled and "No audio devices" shown on sound control panel. Device manager showed all devices present. I had to uninstall all sound devices (in the device manager), and then add a single sound system. Had to do it again after rebooting, again "No audio devices" found.
Also, after first boots with SP2, time-to-desktop and time-to-shutdown was horrrrible. Event log showed a bizarre COM+ error, after which I found one of the two COM+ services was disabled. After enabling the service, I've had no furthur problems.
Also, I uninstalled ZoneAlarm since the XP Firewall seems to do what I need.
In many latitudes the Sun never comes anywhere close to being overhead. I've been in Alaska 28 yrs and never seen the Sun, Moon, or any planets even close to overhead. The highest they ever get is about 60 degrees above the horizon or so.