I’ve collected together 5 years of astronomy musings, analyses and proposals into a single document. It’s http://freepages.misc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hallsofjamaica/Topics%20in%20Astronomy.pdf

This is printed in the in the hope of an astronomer finding something they would like to pursue further. It contains 14 Astronomy-related topics (those on this forum will have seen up to half of these before). The topic nearest to my heart right now is the proposal for a blind-spot telescope to look for transient events in space within 45 degrees (or 60 degrees) of the Sun. This telescope would complete a triplet of transient-event seeking telescopes with Pan-STARRS (Northern Hemisphere) and the LSST (Southern hemisphere) in the survey of transient events. Neither Pan-STARRS not the LSST will be looking for events near the Sun. transient events include gamma ray bursters, supernovae, supernova imposters, galactic jets, quasar brightness, flare stars, binary star eclipses, starspots, novae, irregular variable stars, semi-regular variable stars, gravitational lensing by Machos, comets, near-Earth asteroids, and other inner-solar system asteroids, as well as the solar corona itself. It would be an enormous shame if a supernova occurred in the Milky Way and we missed it because it occurred in November when the Sun in Sagittarius hides ¾ of all stars in the Milky Way. Ditto if the Earth passed through the tail of a comet that had never been seen because it approached from the direction of the Sun.

Topics.
1. The H-R diagram extended for brown dwarfs and planets.
2. Astronomy’s blind spot – a telescope proposal.
3. Physical modelling of planets, moons and dwarf planets – a proposal.
4. Fermi’s unidentified sources no longer a mystery.
5. Busting four modern planet-formation myths (using Kepler data).
6. Discovery of the nearest stars. Who? and When?
7. Search for Jupiter-distance planets in Kepler data.
8. Inappropriateness of the Lutz-Keller equation for brown dwarfs.
9. Table. The FOV of some telescopes.
10. Relative scientific contribution of spacecraft and telescopes.
11. Some of the largest lenses used in telescopes.
12. Goddard optimisation and multistage. Into space for less than $600?
13. Miller-Urey revisited – a proposal.
14. Ultra-high temperature nuclear reactor for rocket propulsion – an unsuccessful idea.

mollwollfumble said:

I’ve collected together 5 years of astronomy musings, analyses and proposals into a single document. It’s http://freepages.misc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hallsofjamaica/Topics%20in%20Astronomy.pdf

This is printed in the in the hope of an astronomer finding something they would like to pursue further. It contains 14 Astronomy-related topics (those on this forum will have seen up to half of these before). The topic nearest to my heart right now is the proposal for a blind-spot telescope to look for transient events in space within 45 degrees (or 60 degrees) of the Sun. This telescope would complete a triplet of transient-event seeking telescopes with Pan-STARRS (Northern Hemisphere) and the LSST (Southern hemisphere) in the survey of transient events. Neither Pan-STARRS not the LSST will be looking for events near the Sun. transient events include gamma ray bursters, supernovae, supernova imposters, galactic jets, quasar brightness, flare stars, binary star eclipses, starspots, novae, irregular variable stars, semi-regular variable stars, gravitational lensing by Machos, comets, near-Earth asteroids, and other inner-solar system asteroids, as well as the solar corona itself. It would be an enormous shame if a supernova occurred in the Milky Way and we missed it because it occurred in November when the Sun in Sagittarius hides ¾ of all stars in the Milky Way. Ditto if the Earth passed through the tail of a comet that had never been seen because it approached from the direction of the Sun.

Topics.
1. The H-R diagram extended for brown dwarfs and planets.
2. Astronomy’s blind spot – a telescope proposal.
3. Physical modelling of planets, moons and dwarf planets – a proposal.
4. Fermi’s unidentified sources no longer a mystery.
5. Busting four modern planet-formation myths (using Kepler data).
6. Discovery of the nearest stars. Who? and When?
7. Search for Jupiter-distance planets in Kepler data.
8. Inappropriateness of the Lutz-Keller equation for brown dwarfs.
9. Table. The FOV of some telescopes.
10. Relative scientific contribution of spacecraft and telescopes.
11. Some of the largest lenses used in telescopes.
12. Goddard optimisation and multistage. Into space for less than $600?
13. Miller-Urey revisited – a proposal.
14. Ultra-high temperature nuclear reactor for rocket propulsion – an unsuccessful idea.

No feedback huh? You must still be reading through it.

I’ve printed out 5 copies (slightly reduced in B/W) for distribution to professional astronomers. Where could I find a professional astronomer who is as crazy as I am?