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Some common questions and misconceptions about me using the telescope.
Yes - people have asked me these questions!!! Dont laugh!!!
1. Q: Did you get paid for this?
A: No I didnt get paid for this. But I'll be happy to take
donations ! But, I did receive funding for my travel expenses to
Baltimore, Harvard and JPL.
2. Q: Did you go up on the space shuttle to use the telescope ?
A: I wish I did!! Just by coincidence a shuttle was in my way of
receiving the data from the telescope. The Hubble receives all of
its commands from the ground at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
via the TDRS satellites, which is also used by the Shuttle and other
spacecraft's and observatories. And has precedence over everyone
else including me.
3. Q: Is someone doing the work for you ?
A: I am doing most of the research, data analysis and publishing my
results. I have had a great deal of help from many people at
NASA, Space Telescope Inst., Rutgers, Princeton, Harvard, JPL,
Caltech, and Univ. Hawaii to name a few.
4. Q: How did You find out about this opportunity ?
A: I saw an article in ASTRONOMY (Oct '90) magazine! This was
the 2nd cycle out of 4 till it was terminated. This first time
around I had also asked for the paperwork but I had no solid
idea of what to research.
5. Q: Would I do it again ?
A: Probably yes. Definitely yes if I knew then what I know now.
But this time I would do imaging instead of spectroscopy, its
alot easier!!!! I would look around for other amateurs also
to spread out the workload.
Between the learning curve I encountered with everything from
atmospheres and ultraviolet spectroscopy and all the scientists
that I met or corresponded with (Carl Sagan, Toby Owen, Gerhard
Herzberg to name a few) not to mention becoming a
celebrity-scientist on TV, radio, magazines, newspapers, &
journals...and yes autographs!!!. It was a real thrill for me.
It even helped my computer career by learning the internet
and unix operating system years before the Net/Web exploded
to what it is today.
6. Q: How much research was needed for your proposal ?
A: 7 months!! Mostly due to the complexity of my proposal.
When you do spectroscopy of an atmosphere many areas had to
be covered such as: ultraviolet, solar, molecular & atomic
spectroscopy; planetary atmospheres; Titan's chemistry &
atmosphere; translating German & French scientific papers;
researching the Hubble and the HRS instrument which I used.
It was alot more work than I envisioned it to be. Remember
this was in my spare time also, I was working full-time as a
computer programmer on Wall Street at the time.
7. Q: Where were the resources of the telescope allocated from ?
Did it effect the time allocated for professional astronomers ?
A: The first Director of the Space Telescope Science Institute,
Dr. Riccardo Giacconi who started the Amateur program
allocated some of his Director's Discretionary Time
to be used for the Amateur Program, thus not affecting the
time designated for the professional astronomers. This is time
that is allocated to the Director for him to allocate at his
discretion for special events, etc. Such as Supernova
discoveries, comets, etc.
8. Q: Did you control and position the telecope during my observation ?
A: Nope, it was all pre-programmed from ground control at Goddard
Space Flight Center which uplinks commands for the observations
and receives the data.
In special cases like the comet crash into Jupiter real-time
observations do occur and are usually controlled at the Space
Telescope Institute in Baltimore, MD. I just sat back and watched.
I do have printouts of all the commands. Plus I'm dangerous
with hardware and machinery.
HERE ARE THE COMMANDS FOR THE DAY SENT TO THE HUBBLE, including my
observation .
9. Q: What do you do for a living ? What is your college education ?
A: I'm a computer programmer. I have worked in many industries
ranging from retail, mail-order, telecomm., wall street, banking
and just recently academia. I currently work at NY Transit
Authority in Brooklyn, NY. NO I dont drive the buses!!!!
I graduated from DeVry Technical Inst, NJ with a B.S. in
Computer Information Systems in 1987.
10. Q: Who inspired you to study/research Titan ?
A: A TV episode of PBS's NOVA, "Resolution on Saturn" (~1981),
highlighting Voyager 1's encounter with Saturn had a segment
with Dr Tobias (Toby) Owen showing the infrared spectra
of Titan.
He highlighted the known compounds and then he showed the
DISCOVERY of Hygrogen Cyanide (HCN) and explained its
its significance to chemical evolution and similarities to
our Earth. The HCN stuck with me for 10 years and then while
doing a literature I found the connection with formaldehyde!
I was mesmerized that there is a body right here in
our own solar system so similar to our Earth (past & present)!!
Saturn also is my most favorite body to observe also,
I love its rings.
Also within 2 weeks after my observation I met Dr. Owen and
many other scientists and engineers involved with the Cassini
mission going to Saturn at JPL/Caltech. They invited me back
to witness the probe being dropped into my baby Titan! Cant
wait.
11. Q: What kind of data did you need for your observation and where
did you obtain it ?
A: (1) I needed high-resolution UV spectra of our Sun which was
taken from Skylab, rockets, high-air balloons, Solar Max
and data modelling. The spectra came from the Air Force,
Navy, and Harvard-CFA
(2) As for the high resolution UV formaldehyde spectra it came
from General Motors (yes the car company), UCAR, and the FAA.
(2a) As for Titan's spectra. Most came from Voyager, IUE, OAO
and ground-based. Note: groundbased doesnt include UV.
IUE was the ONLY observatory ever to observe my region before
me. BUT, its resolution only produced a handful of points of
data whereas mine produced thousands at a HIGHER resolution
and S/N (signal to noise ratio).
(3) acquisition and a constant quest for line lists in my
UV region has been ongoing since my connection of the formaldehyde
was found. This includes solar, molecular and atomic spectra
covering my region so that line absorptions cannot be mistaken
for solar or something else already discovered. This was quite
difficult since most colleges by me hold very little UV data
and spectra. I've even been in touch with Gerhard Herzberg
("Mr. Molecule") and he has responded with several data sources
and assistance. I've learned alot of research tricks for
finding what your looking for at any library. Many scientists
and librarians have asked me how I found such materials!!
(4) The following institutions/libaries were invaded by me:
NASA-JPL, NASA-Goddard, Natl Air & Space Musuem, Libr of Congress,
Rutgers, Princeton, Columbia, Harvard-CFA, New York Univ, Caltech,
Space Telescope Science Inst., Johns-Hopkins, NY Public Library,
Wesleyan and some others I cant pluck out right now.
12. Q: Did the spherical abberation problem affect your observation
or your data ?
A: NO, since I did spectroscopy instead of imaging I avoided any
chance of encountering that problem. Also the spherical
abberation became a problem for fainter distant objects, and
since Titan was right here in our solar system it didnt pose
a problem.
13. Q: Why couldnt your observation be done on the ground ?
A: Because Earth's Ozone layer blankets us from the Sun's harmful
ultraviolet(UV) region. So the UV can only be observed at very
high altitutes using rockets and baloons and in space.
14. Q: Why was the amateur program stopped ?
A: Several reasons. Belive it or not not many amateurs knew about
it and there was a low response of submitted proposals for the
last 2 cycles. People always ask me "How did you find out about
this ? ". Also due to budget cuts, which affected the funding
and staffing needed for supporting the amateurs. I would post
info to the newsgroups when the cycles began and gave handouts
to amateurs when I did my presentations to spawn more applicants
and get the word out...
15. Q: How did you apply ?
A: I requested the paperwork from the AAVSO, and submitted the
finished application & references to be reviewed by the
Amateur Astronomer's Working Group (AAWG) (ALPO, AAVSO, AL and
other amateur and professional groups). AAWG reviewed it and
I was told I made it to the finals (found out on April Fool's
day!). Then I received a large envelope from Director Riccardo
Giacconi in September confirming my proposal was accepted.
Took me a half hour to open it. Just like those days when you
applied for college.
16. Q: What are some of your interests and hobbies?
A: Other areas of science (physics, chemistry), archaeology,
music (rock & classical) plus I play a few in whatever time
remains, nature (rainforests, animals), the Antarctic,
travelling, movies, TV (Seinfeld, Melrose) and lots more!!
17. Q: Have you thought about returning to college for astronomy?
A: Yes, even before my proposal was accepted the thought
was racing through my mind. I even consulted several
professional astronomers for their advice and reccomendations.
Unfortunately it wasnt what I wanted to hear. Science especially
the field of Astronomy has faced a BIG financial cut over the
years especially my favorite area - Planetary Science. I'm
looking into teaching and/or the mix of computers and astronomy
in the future. Also if my current job continues I will start
taking classes at Princeton and other colleges.
18. Q: What is your status now ?
A: Looking for a starving UV spectroscopist !!! Now really I'm
removing/identifying the solar lines from my spectra is a very
difficult process. Especially since the solar and Titan's
spectra are all from different instruments, filters and
resolutions. I need to do this to rule out whether the
few absorption features I have left are our Sun's or Titan's.
Remember I am seeing the Sun's UV rays bounced off Titan
much like a mirror. So I need to remove and identify the
solar features to derive Titans. I have a 20+ page journal
article written.
Much of the research, work and data reduction I have
documented for my journal article, but my career and
schedule the last 1.5 years has kept me from finishing up.
I'd be happy to answer any other question you may have.
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