Another Night in Vancouver aka Planet X

Interesting program tonight folks... I think you'll like it. First off, I
attended a meeting tonight (May 8) hosted by the Royal Astronomical Society
of Canada at the H.R. Macmillan Space Center where Ray Villard (director of
public relations of the Space Telescope Science Institute ((operated for
NASA By Aura)) who manages the public information activities for the Hubble
Space Telescope) was giving an update presentation on the Hubble. The
presentation lasted about 1 1/2hrs with an audience of maybe 200-300
hundred. He showed many neat new unpublished shots from the beloved Hubble.
Mr Villard is an excellent speaker and the whole presentation was great and
very entertaining.

Points of interest. It appears that NASA now believes that there is a
REPULSION force which exists in conjunction with gravity based on
observations from the Hubble according to Mr. Villard. This sure should be
news to Nancy! Apparently the universe is expanding faster than it should be
according to conventional physics, laws etc. and may confirm what Einstein
thought all along because by his (Einstein's) calculations the planets in
our solar system should not be able to hold their present orbits without
eventually spinning in to the sun. Also he showed a shot of two celestial
bodies (I can't remember if it was a sun and a planet or two planets) that
he said were much CLOSER than they should be according to our present
formulas. Apparently caused a lot of thinking at NASA. Or so says Mr.
Villard...

At the end of the presentation I asked how the repulsion force would affect
current calculations regarding the orbits of planets in out solar system and
our moon in relation to earth. He said that the moon would not fly off and
that the effects of this repulsion force would mostly come into play at
large distances. I would think the force would be greater the closer two
objects are but maybe gravity cancels it more so the effects are less
observable. I have no idea. I also asked if NASA was afraid to show any
pictures from the Hubble to the public. He jokingly replied "Just the ones
with the ufos's!". Everyone had a good laugh. In a more serious tone he said
that sometimes they have objects that pass in front of the scope and which
they have no idea what it is...

Bear with me folks. At the end of the presentation, one of the staff from
the R.A.S.C. informed the audience that the Gordon Macmillan Observatory
would be closed for at least until the summer. Apparently all the optics,
mechanics, computers, software etc. are being changed as well as some
intrusive pipeline construction that is going on about 5ft from the
observatory. Go figure... I thought everything looked pretty new and modern
last time I was there but I guess this expensive stuff needs to be replaced
on a pretty regular basis!

Cookies and coffee were to follow in the building adjacent to the
observatory. I looked in where the telescope was and EVERYTHING was gone
except the shell of the scope which was pointing straight up. The doors were
locked with a big sign that said "OBSERVATORY CLOSED, KEEP OUT" etc.. Since
there were so many astronomers there I decided to ask some people (2 of
which were staff of the R.A.S.C.) and one other guy if an object could be
accurately located if someone gave only the RA/Dec to a competent operator
at a modern observatory. The answer was YES in all cases. In fact appears
that this is an EXTREMELY accurate method of locating an object according to
the nice and helpful people I spoke to. So that makes FOUR knowledgeable
astronomers that I have asked this question and come back with a positive
answer.

Strange lights in the sky... probably just pie...

Sweet Dreams,
Steve