Observers at low latitudes may wish to pay special attention to upcoming opportunites to see GRO, a large and impressive satellite, as she is soon to be ditched into the Pacific. She's not so impressive at the low altitudes allowed at higher latitudes, above about 35 degrees. Latest elset courtesy of OIG and US SPACECOM: GRO 1 21225U 91027B 00095.15592251 +.00016082 +00000-0 +59694-3 0 08009 2 21225 028.4525 123.5281 0004013 281.7661 078.2517 15.26087084382094 I haven't checked for other locations, but she will be nearly optimal here within the next two weeks. Some details about the burns which will deorbit GRO are at http://www.seds.org/pub/info/newsletters/spaceviews/text/20000327.txt. General information about GRO is in http://cossc.gsfc.nasa.gov/cossc/descriptions/cgro.html. Press release at ftp://pao.gsfc.nasa.gov/pub/PAO/Releases/2000/H00-44.htm. GRO, the second of NASA's Great Observatories, is officially known as "The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory", named for Arthur Holly Compton (1892-1962), who received the 1927 Nobel Prize in Physics for "The Compton Effect" which directly demonstrated the particle nature of light. I find it highly coincidental that I should be communicating this note to you via the Internet, as the first tiny speck of cyberspace was sparked off in 1961 November on the first floor of "The Karl T. Compton Laboratories". The Compton Laboratories were named for the ninth president of William Barton Rogers' MIT, Arthur's older brother, Karl Taylor Compton (1887-1954). According to http://www.bementfamily.com/report5.htm, the Compton brothers were among 4 siblings, all of whom graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the College of Wooster. Speaking of some native sons of Ohio, I might note in passing that, despite their impressive resumes, it would appear that the Compton brothers are not in the running for memorial on the anticipated "Ohio quarter dollar". Thomas Alva Edison, Orville Wright (the "Flyer" was built in Ohio), John Herschel Glenn, Jr., Neil Alden Armstrong, and William Howard Taft (the only President to be Chief Justice) have prominence. Cheers. Walter Nissen wnissen@tfn.net -81.8637, 41.3735, 256m elevation --- Ralf Kurtz, tech investor, age 28, reflects on a lifetime of investing in high tech stocks: Mistakes? You won't make mistakes, because tech stocks only swoon to recover and exceed their old highs. The market has its own rhythms. If your stock goes down 10 or 15%, it's time to take out a second mortgage on your house and buy more. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www2.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed Apr 05 2000 - 07:32:49 PDT