New Mars Forums

Palomar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2002-05-30

Posts: 9,734

Re: Username change

*Thanks Josh.  I've been wanting to change my username for quite some time.  I chose "Palomar" in honor of http://daphne.palomar.edu/mlane/PLACES/ … tm]Palomar Observatory

And also http://www.astro.caltech.edu/palomar/]This link

Palomar and its famous 200-inch Hale telescope were featured so prominently in my first astronomy book -- "Stars" -- by Little Golden Books, which my folks purchased for me around 1973 at a local five-and-dime, when I was 8 years old.  It was my pet book; I read and re-read it until the covers literally fell off.  Not a lot of resources in those days for kids, especially in a small rural setting.  Local library had astronomy books...written for adults.   :?  I mean "over my head" at the time, but it didn't stop me from trying to read them.

Anyway, have never been to Palomar though I'd love to visit it.  Lots of nostalgia and sentiment around it, thanks mostly in part to my pet book (which I lost years ago somehow; still a bit heartbroken over it) and also articles in Sky & Telescope magazine, etc.  The name "Palomar" evokes, for me, a wistfulness; happy memories of learning the constellations and later obtaining my own telescope; aspirations and hopes for the future; warm and black (and humid/mosquito-ridden) summer nights under the stars, etc. 

Just lots of good vibes and wonderful memories in conjunction with Palomar. 

--Cindy 

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We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

Josh Cryer

Moderator

Registered: 2001-09-29

Posts: 3,830

Re: Username change

As I said, it was a nice choice, Cindy.

I prefer it to your other one, which was quite hard to type, or remember. I had to do a wildcard search to find ya! Or copy-paste. Kind of annoying. But Palomar, that I can remember, and spell, hehe.

And as you can see all 8.3k posts of yours are preserved. Check your profile, you're responsible for 11% of the forums overall posts, now that's impressive!

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Some useful links while MER are active. [url=http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html]Offical site[/url] [url=http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Web.html]NASA TV[/url] [url=http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/mer2004/]JPL MER2004[/url] [url=http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/statustextonly.html]Text feed[/url]
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The amount of solar radiation reaching the surface of the earth totals some 3.9 million exajoules a year.