NEW MEMBER? Introduce yourself in this thread.

[biddy]

HI everyone. i"m new here and i'm 18.. I will be living in les Maldives..

[BadSeed]

I'm Heather, and I'm a newspaper reporter in New York. Although sometimes I wonder why, since I've come to realize that most journalists are pretty much scientifically illiterate. There are exceptions, but not too many where I am.
I took astrophysics in college, and I'm pretty much a science junkie.

[amateur57]

Hello, I'm a 50 year old father of three, who has a casual interest in science, including astronomy.

I discovered the Bad Astronomy forum from the AstronomyCast podcast. I appreciate the site and some other sites that are dedicated to informing the public about science and debunking pseudoscientific claims that are running rampant out there.

I may have one of those from a discussion on another forum. I'll post it in the Q & A section.
Thanks!

[Maksutov]

Welcome to the BAUT, amateur57!

Good to see you're interested in real science.

Read the FAQs, especially the rules, and have fun.

[pkay]

Hi all,
I’m an amateur stargazer struggling with very basic equipment.
I own a set of ‘no name’ brand 8X40 binos that suffer from double imaging (like me). They have been dropped once too often and they now make my eyes hurt.
I also own an old and fuzzy (like me) 60mm refractor that has a few dents and the chromatic aberrations are almost psychedelic!

I look forward to hopefully meeting new friends and exchanging knowledge and ideas and yes…upgrading my equipment. That’s what led me to BAUT.

Regards
PKAY

[3488]

Hi all,

Just joined last night.

I am Andrew Brown from Ashford, Kent, UK.

Andrew Brown.

[Swift]

Hi pkay and 3488. pkay, the Astronomical Observing, Equipment and Accessories forum is your best bet for information on your equipment.

[Whirlpool]

Welcome Pkay & 3488!

I'm a stargazer in heart too.

We never get old .

See you around !

[sandgroper]

hi there folks my name is keith from Western Australia

I guess this is the beginning my interest is interstellar travel so where do we go from here Sandgroper

[sandgroper]

hi Wayne so how do you get unbanned the universe is a big place.Keith

[seobeglobal]

hi everyone
just saying hello and hope to discuss many issues

[ATGreat]

Hi all,
My name is Alex, I'm a software engineer and I'm in an teacher Ed program to eventually become a high school teacher.
I've been a lurker here for a while, but recently several people at work asked me to give a class on astronomy during our lunch breaks. Several people have seen my astronomy screen savers and started asking questions, and now I'm schedualed to talk about anything I can think of in astronomy every two or three weeks. So I figured that I should really start learning about what I want to talk about, and now I'm an official member.
Alex

[Wamboin Observatory]

Hi all, just thought I'd drop a line and say hello.
I've been following Universe today for a few years but have only just joined today. I have been a keen amateur astronomer for over thirty years now but have only taken the plunge into astrophotography about a year ago with the purchase of my new scope, a LX200R 12" and a DSI II Pro.
When I get a chance I shall post a few of my images for your comments, no laughing

All the best

[Whirlpool]

Welcome!Welcome! New Bauters.

I'm sure you'll enjoy your stay here.

See you around.

[jedaisoul]

Hi,

I'm Terry, a computing professional and Fellow of the Institution of Analysts and Programmers. I've written programs in 8080 machine code and 8086 assembly language, as well as high level languages. I dislike C and it's derivatives, but accept them as a fact of life.

Home is Chippenham, England, UK. I have a broad interest in the nature of reality; physical, philosophical and psycological, but with particular reference to the theory of relativity. I'm also interested in the reproduction of sound and have developed my own "sound stage bridge" to present stereo images with a Dolby 5.1 system.

I first became interested in the theory of relativity in 1978; particularly in its derivation, from Michelson, through Lorentz and Minkowski to Einstein. Given my background, I focus on the logic on which it is founded, rather than the mathematics.

[KLA2]

Having joined this forum, I think it courteous to introduce myself.

I am a self-employed accountant living about 45 km west of Toronto Canada.

Interested in astronomy and science since my youth, several years ago I acquired a six-inch Newtonian reflector (with the necessary accessories), and started reading astronomy books. I soon added binoculars, mirrored mounts and other toys.

I have been lurking around the BA website for a few years. I discovered this marvelous forum when a misinformed acquaintance assured me that Planet X was zipping around our solar system and affecting … I cannot remember what. Having a (passing) amateur knowledge of astronomy, I “debunked” her statements, and was reprimanded somewhat tartly, “You are not God, you know.”

Intrigued, I typed “Planet X” into my search engine and was (happily) directed to the BA website.

After a about a year, I ventured to view the BABB (my first). The critical, scientific, informed, analytical, supported thought expressed on this BB is like a breath of cool, clean air in this “demon haunted world” (trolls and a few other (entertaining) transitory oddballs excepted). An oasis of sanity. The BA’s / BAUT rules) … rule. Thank goodness I viewed BABB before GLP!

Being a slow typist and barely having the time to “lurk”, I did not join until recently. Perhaps I will be able to make a small contribution from time to time. Kudos to the few, the prolific, the relevant posters.

My username? One of the first and to this day one of the most memorable science fiction films I have ever seen was “The Day the Earth Stood Still.”

This intro duplicates the initial part of a post I made in the "Astronomy" forum. Hope the duplication is OK.

[Swift]

ATGreat and Wamboin Observatory - I love both of your avatars.

[ATGreat]

ATGreat and Wamboin Observatory - I love both of your avatars.

Swift, Thanks. If you didn't get it before, it is Sodium Hydroxide in water, and I made myself. I don't know what got into my head to make it my avitar, but there you go...

[Swift]

Swift, Thanks. If you didn't get it before, it is Sodium Hydroxide in water, and I made myself. I don't know what got into my head to make it my avitar, but there you go...

Maybe as a prelude to some "caustic" comments. Or maybe you just wanted to get down to "basics".
<and if you haven't guessed, I'm a punny chemist>

[bluebanana]

Well, I live in New Zealand, but I've lived in 2 other countries besides here: Belgium and the USA. I'm quite interested in science, but mainly physics and biology. I have one year left at high school other than this year and I don't really like chemistry but I hate to admit that I'm good at it. Or at least better than I'd like to admit. I think I want to be a high school biology teacher. I know, I'm insane, but somebody's gotta be havent they? I found this by looking up ideas for topics for a research project for physics. I think I might stick with SETI or the Roswel incident. Still have to choose though. Well thats about all about me I guess.

Julie

[ricmetal]

hi im ricardo i live in portugal and im 26 yo
i love space and galaxies and everything space related, black holes, string theory, paralel universes, it all just blows my mind away!

anways, not much to tell really besides i like reading about all this stuff

[Trouble1957]

Hello everybody. It's good to be here!

I'm an amateur astronomer living in West Texas. I suppose what I enjoy doing most with astronomy is 2 things.

1) I operate the small planetarium at the Junior College I teach at and I love to hear the kids squeal in delight when I run the shows for them. It's the best feeling in the world to have a bunch af 2nd graders yelling and clapping and cheering like you're a rock star. I'm not too sure if they realize I'm just pushing buttons....lol

2) As a member of IOTA in the past, I have successfully timed several asteroid occultations having contributed that data to Dr. David Dunham to be included in his Sky and Telescope yearly occultation article. One successful timing expedition helped astronomers to fully elucidate the size and shape of 129 Antigone as it's "shadow" passed over the earth during an occultation event. The path of the "shadow" actually crossed directly over my house and I was able to contribute data from my backyard! LOL! That doesn't happen everyday!

Anyway, I'm glad I found this board and hope to be able to contribute to the board when I can.

Thanks for letting me share!

[Swift]

Welcome bluebanana, ricmetal, and Trouble1957

[OE_Eric]

Hello astronomy fans,

I went looking for astronomy information and stumbled into this site via "Bad Astronomy". From what I have seen this looks like a place where a lot of people who know astronomy hang out...that's perfect for me.

By way of introduction I will say that I am an aerospace engineer at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center located on Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert. My background and expertise is in the area of flight test and research. In my role as an operations engineer I integrate experiments on to airplanes, ensure the airworthiness of the airplane and conduct flight and ground tests.

When my last project came to an end I was told to pack my bags and get on a plane to Waco, Texas and help get a badly stalled airborne observatory in the air. That was October of last year. In April we managed to get the old girl up and flying and on the last day of May we flew it to Edwards where she sits right now undergoing an instrumentation mod so we can perform developmental flight test.

The airplane is called SOFIA (Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy). It is a Boeing 747SP (short-coupled classic designed for long range Pacific Rim type flights) with what I will refer to as a "great big" telescope for now.

My undergraduate work was in aeronautical engineering and I have no real experience with the space side of things. The fact of the matter is that I am completely swamped with work in trying to get this program back on track and that I am primarily a flight test engineer (one step up from being a knuckle dragger). But I'm interested in learning more about astronomy--specifically infrared astronomy. I occasionally get to talk with real astronomers and I am excited about the fact that something I work on will help the astronomical community. I'll probably mostly snoop and read here, but I may occasionally ask a dumb question.

[Josh]

Welcome to BAUT Eric! Sounds like you get up to some interesting work. Let us all know how it pans out!!

Remember, there are no dumb questions ... only dumb people. No wait, there are no ... umm ... I forget. Anyway, enjoy!

[OE_Eric]

Thanks, Josh. It keeps the boredom away, that's for sure.

[Mr. Space Cadet]

I'm space cadet's husband! Yay!

I'm a writer, and like to dabble in science fiction, but I like my worlds to at least seem plausible, so I'm hoping you guys can help. I look forward to throwing a lot of bad astronomy your way to pick apart!

[01101001]

I'll probably mostly snoop and read here, but I may occasionally ask a dumb question.

Don't be too quiet. You're an expert on what you're doing. Here's one for you. Has SOFIA been stationed at Moffett, NASA Ames, or is she still on her way for her first appearance? From a few news reports I snagged, SOFIA seems new -- but perhaps it's a new device on an old plane. I'm feeling deja vu imagining it there, like at a NASA open house, but maybe I'm thinking of the Kuiper observatory. I know there's a SOIFA hangar at Moffett. Yuri's Night was there (and I wasn't).

Oh, heck, Wikipedia: SOFIA says first flight was this April, so I guess I know what I haven't seen at Moffett.

Anyway, welcome.

[OE_Eric]

Don't be too quiet. You're an expert on what you're doing. Here's one for you. Has SOFIA been stationed at Moffett, NASA Ames, or is she still on her way for her first appearance? From a few news reports I snagged, SOFIA seems new -- but perhaps it's a new device on an old plane. I'm feeling deja vu imagining it there, like at a NASA open house, but maybe I'm thinking of the Kuiper observatory. I know there's a SOIFA hangar at Moffett. Yuri's Night was there (and I wasn't).

Oh, heck, Wikipedia: SOFIA says first flight was this April, so I guess I know what I haven't seen at Moffett.

Anyway, welcome.

Thanks for the welcome. As you have noted, SOFIA is the latest airborne observatory that is a direct descendant of Kuiper Airborne Observatory (KAO). It may spend some time at Ames, but it is a Dryden project now. There is still a good deal of controversy involved with that decision and you never know what will happen in the future.

It was originally intended to be an airborne classroom with students on board participating. That was when the project was seeking FAA certification. We are now a "public use" airplane seeking NASA airworthiness certification, which means that the only people who fly onboard that aren't part of the crew will be scientists directly associated with the experiment being flown. It will be set up for open houses and public outreach.

I suspect that I will be long gone from the project by then. As interesting as it is my career won't progress if I stick with a project that isn't a flight test article.

[F14Dude]

www.freewebs.com/f14dude/