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stargazing

eok

Slopefossil
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very cool!

Are you aware of this group that recovered data from the first lunar orbiters that photographed the moon's surface back in the mid 60's? Interesting technical archeology. 70mm magnetic tapes that a JPL archivist kept in her garage for decades, and the recorder that was almost thrown into the great lakes at one point to dispose, had to be restored. Fascinating story and project that's now over. The restored first image of the earth from the moon is stunning. ...

Oh man, have I got a story about this.

Some years back, a co-worker & I had to go to NASA Ames for a meeting and to check out some vacant technical space there for potential use for hosting servers. It was my first time visiting Ames. Anyway, we arrived, parked and started heading for the building where the meeting was to be. But, we both immediately noticed a small building (adjacent to the Ames parking lot) that looked like an old Burger King. We looked at each other, talked about it, and then headed to the building expecting to snag some fries & soda. The doors were wide open, so we just walked in. We were completely taken by surprise as the place was chock full of some old mini-computer gear and lots of ancient storage devices. Since the two of us were older uber geeks, we were enthralled by all the familiar old 'tech. So, we continued to nose around. Eventually, a guy appeared from the depths & greeted us. I had tons of questions and he was gracious enough to spend time answering most of them. The gist of the conversation was that they were doing "data recovery". However, at the time, he didn't level with us on exactly what was being recovered. He was somewhat impressed we recognized the old storage devices & knew something about them. He wasn't aware of the fact that my co-worker & I might have been able to help them out (heck, I would have gladly donated my time if I'd know what the mission was). Back in the day, one of my jobs was reverse engineering legacy device code/drivers (ie: no longer supported or just abandoned) to add new features or fix compatibility issues.

Anyway, we didn't realize what was really going on in the old Burger King building until NASA PR finally spilled the beans & write-ups appeared in the press. Such a cool surprise!
 

Mikey

Getting on the lift
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Aug 26, 2016
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yeah, I grew up loving the manned program but fell into loving the stars just as much if not more. hence making time to venture to the 100% eclipse zone this late summer.

Have some personal experience with a handful of space probes while a student. Funny story is one of my bosses showed me a letter (50's or 60's) to Dr Van Allen from Dr Von Braun. The letter was from a lady asking Von Braun if Hell could actually be in the Aurora Boreallis which are driven by the newly discovered and now named Van Allen belts. The hand written note on the letter from Von Braun to Van Allen said something like "James, I believe you would be better at answering this question"

I always liked seeing this letter as I was lucky enough to speak on occasion to Dr Van Allen. He was retired, in his 80's but still came into work looking at data from various probes including Voyager I and II. Always super friendly, courteous and mild mannered.

He smoked a pipe. Around this time the State of Iowa banned smoking in buildings. Dr Van Allen would on occasion smoke his pipe in his office, no one really cared as the building is named after him.

Speaking of Dr. Van Allen, my Brit neighbor, an otherwise intelligent person, is one of the Moon Landing Denier crowd. Absolutely, 100% believes we didn't land on the moon. The one "fact" he clings on to is that the astronauts would not have survived the Van Allen belt.

I showed him this and he had to begrudgingly accepted the facts, but not sure he's willing to let go of his belief.

 
Thread Starter
TS
Eleeski

Eleeski

Making fresh tracks
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Nov 13, 2015
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Location
San Diego / skis at Squaw Valley
10 mi South of Madras,Or. Which is @ 2 min total eclipse. The max.

Can we come visit? I'm actually planning a waterski trip to friends in Nampa Idaho which will be close. But weather or smoke might interfere. Hopefully I'll be there with the Cessna so I can fly to where it's good. My old Cessna has Madras wingtips so I have a connection with you.

I can bring beer if I'm flying but I can't drink it.

It's going to be a fun summer.

Eric
 

slowrider

Trencher
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Dec 17, 2015
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4,534
Any skier is welcome at the ranch. You can land your plane on the south pasture. Seriously stop by, were having a eclipse fest. I've solar eclipse glasses. :)
 

pete

not peace but 2 Beers!
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Iowa
Any skier is welcome at the ranch. You can land your plane on the south pasture. Seriously stop by, were having a eclipse fest. I've solar eclipse glasses. :)
good point on the Eclipse Glasses, ordered 20 on line the other day. Two of my kids up for a road trip to the 100% zone, hoping weather is clear, being Aug is a good thing Midwest wise;

nice site where you can check out the % coverage:

Glasses, suggest one get theirs early as they're inexpensive on line. I ordered from from one of the franchised "American Paper Optics" outlets just for confidence. It's that or 14 or better welders ..
 

pete

not peace but 2 Beers!
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Not directly related to Stargazing but more to some side comments on space research.

The prof I used to work for passed away this last week. Super great guy and his history is spectacular, one of those stories where things are just serendipitous.

 

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