T he Siding Spring Survey (SSS) is a Near-Earth Object search program that utilises the 0.5-m Uppsala Schmidt Telescope at Siding Spring Observatory, N.S.W., Australia. ... The mission of the Siding Spring Survey is to contribute to the inventory of near-earth objects (NEOs), or more specifically, the potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs) and comets (PHOs) that may pose a threat of impact and thus harm to civilization. ... Based on the CSS Mission page . ... Siding Spring Survey Main Page . ...

... We can help students grasp the significance of Hubble's extremely keen eye, and learn a bit about angles and math in the process, with the following in-class activity. ... Looking through binoculars or telescopes allows us to magnify a small section of the sky. To measure sizes or distances in that small section, astronomers divide a degree into 60 smaller pieces called arcminutes, and further subdivide minutes into 60 smaller sections called arcseconds. ... 30 feet = . ... 36 seconds . ...

... In asmooth at present sources can be removed and the local background interpolated over their positions. ... To create such a map, the user should supply asmooth , via the parameters withsrclistset and srclistset , with a list of sources produced by either eboxdetect or emldetect . ... For each source, asmooth calculates an elliptical boundary, being the locus at which the point spread function (PSF) of the source decreases to some constant value times the value of the local background. ...

... 12c. Venus transit (1) . 12d. Venus transit (2) . 12e. Venus transit (3) . ... 1 The 2004 Venus transit . ... Kepler's third law allows one to evaluate the dimensions of the solar system in relative units, e.g. in " astronomical units " (AUs), where 1 AU is the mean Sun-Earth distance. ... Edmond Halley suggested using the transit of Venus across the Sun's disk, when it appears as a dark round spot --or to quote one observer of the 2004 transit, "like a blueberry in front of an orange." ...

... Q: How do I best determine an observation's actual orientation? ... The science header keyword ORIENTAT is populated by adding the angle between the HST V3 axis and the detector Y axis to what we will call the "commanded roll" (North to V3 through East). ... The commanded roll can be determined by subtracting the beta_2 from ORIENTAT. ... Relying on the jitter file's measured roll if a problem is found either with the science header population or with the execution of the commanded roll. ...

... Tonight's Sky . ... The Magazine . ... Observing . ... Star Atlas . ... stars . ... The double star 54 Leonis, spiral galaxy NGC 3198, and emission nebula NGC 3199 . ... Astronomy for Kids . ... Observing springtime deep-sky objects with a large telescope . ... How do astronomers determine the ages of stars? ... Get instant access to subscriber content on Astronomy.com! ... Receive news, sky-event information, observing tips, and more from Astronomy's weekly email newsletter. ... Astronomy Magazine ...

Next: Imaging Polarimetry with NICMOS Up: NICMOS Data Calibration and Previous: The Photometric Performance of . ... NICMOSlook and Calnic C . ... Extracting spectra from a large number of NICMOS grism images requires a convenient interactive tool which allows a user to manipulate direct/grism image pairs. ... NICMOSlook and Calnic-C are two programs that were designed to take advantage of the fact that the NICMOS grism mode typically consists of taking both a direct and a grism image. ...

... Higher Criticism Statistic: Theory and Applications in Cosmology and Astronomy [.pdf] . ... pdf ] . ... Fitting Narrow Emission Lines in X-ray Spectra [.pdf] . ... A Convex Hull Peeling Depth Approach to Nonparametric Massive Multivariate Data Analysis with Applications . Abstract: We explore the convex hull peeling process to develop empirical tools for statistical inferences on multivariate massive data. ... We define the convex hull peeling depth, which enables to order multivariate data. ...

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. This diagram shows a small table with three transparent cells and illustrates how their final background is determined. The table consists of two rows. Four (labeled) cells lie in the first row, but the second cell spans the first and second row. The first, third, and fourth cells of the second row are "empty". Each non-empty cell has a red background and a double black border. Each empty cell has the table's background color (specified as #ff0) as its own. Return to image.

Alfa_ang is a GUI for the rotang routine. The purpose of this routine is to calculate the optimum rotation angle for ALFA given the RA and Dec of a source and the date and time of the observation. The routine also returns the azimuth and zenith angle of the telescope at the requested time, thus it can be used to find the correct rotation angle and azimuth for the Fixed Azimuth Drift Scan observing mode used by the AGES drift precursor observation. ... To run alfa_ang at Arecibo: . ...

Just beyond the main asteroid belt there exists a population of small objects orbiting the Sun at the same heliocentric distance of Jupiter. The combined action of Jovian and Solar gravity creates a stable dynamical haven for these objects near the so-called Lagrangian equilibrium points, in honour to the French mathematician Joseph Louis Lagrange who first demonstrated their existence and stability. ... Soon after its discovery it was realized that this asteroid is, in fact, a Mars Trojan. ...

... One of the widely used models of neural network is the multi-layered perceptron [6]. The model network has layers of input and output elements called neurons. ... An input vector is put on the input layer, passes through the hidden layers, and arrives at the output layer. The corresponding output vector is determined by calculation of the neuron activity level for each layer using already known values of neuron activity of the previous layers. ... Training was an iterative process. ...

... The first EGRET catalog ([ Fichtel et al. 1994b ]) used the galactic diffuse gamma radiation model of Bertsch et al. (1993b). ... For the results presented by Bertsch et al. (1993b), the HI and W radio data were deconvolved by integrating the radio data over a velocity interval determined by the endpoints of each distance interval ( ). ... The Galactic radius limit used in the model has been increased to 30 kpc. ... The CR electron spectrum of Fichtel et al. (1991) was used by Bertsch et al. ...

... 314 Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XIII, eds. F. Ochsenbein, M. Allen, & D. Egret (San Francisco: ASP), 812 . ... Abstract: The calculation of flux upper limits in the source-free ("background") regions of photon-limited images is complicated by instrumental and statistical modeling and requires non-trivial computational effort. ... The principal component in this is the time taken to pre-process and handle the 30 GB of RASS data rather than the calculation of each upper limit. ...

Program: HIFLUX Purpose: derive fluxes and standard deviations from HIRAS images File: hiflux.src Category: IRAS Author: Do Kester Keywords: *** MAPS= Max number of maps to be processed simultaneously [4] All maps should be of the same size, and presumably of the same field. ... COLIND= Color index for plot colours [standard] *** LOCAL= Calculate local background [No] The background is determined as the median of the points within the form selected with SELECT=. ... But see also RADIUS=). ...

... Edwin Hubble Discovers the Universe . ... The Early Universe . ... NEAR to an Asteroid . ... Excitement mounts as NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft nears launch - currently scheduled for 3:53 ET on February 16. NEAR's mission is to become the first spacecraft to rendezvous with and orbit an asteroid, the asteroid designated 433 Eros. ... Cold, distant, Pluto is the only planet in our Solar System which has not been visited by a spacecraft from Earth. ... The First Explorer . ...

... The three optical trains for the cameras, and the pupil reimaging system, are mounted on a wheel, accurately driven by an external motor. ... The low-resolution spectroscopic mode uses the wide field camera and a suitable set of grisms and order sorting filters that are inserted in the parallel beam after the pupil. ... One of the five grisms can operate at four different orders, depending on the filter selected on the first filter wheel that acts as order sorter. ...

... Telescope concept . ... The Submillimetron Project is dedicated to astronomical studies at the submillimeter and far infrared wavelengths using a cryogenic telescope located on the Russian segment of the International Space Station (ISS). The Astro Space Center of the Lebedev Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences is responsible for developing the Submillimetron Project. ... Currently, the Astro Space Center is carrying out a pre-Project study under contract with the Russian Space Agency. ...

RATAN-600 radio telescope . ... In the "radio-Shmidt telescope" mode the antenna system the South sector of the main mirror with the flat mirror ("South+Flat") of the RATAN-600 radio telescope is used. ... The antenna system the South sector with the flat mirror. ... The flat and circular mirrors of the RATAN-600 form the basis of the system. ... In the case of antenna system "South+Flat" the planoid is flat mirror, the circular reflector of RATAN-600 is the second mirror. ...