[meteorite-list] Crackpot in the news

[Chris Peterson]

It is an urban myth that the Moon is too bright for the HST. It can safely 
look at the Moon, and has done so in the past. You can go to the MAST site 
and download WFPC2 FITS data for lunar images. The trick with lunar imaging 
is that the relative motion of the Moon is very fast, and the HST has to be 
accurately maneuvered during the exposure. It certainly isn't done 
routinely. In fact, I know of no real science data collected from lunar 
images; the images that were made were made as a sort of demo of the HST 
capabilities. The HST also points at the Earth, which is used as a 
calibration target for some instruments.

I think "crackpot" accurately describes this fellow; whether or not he is a 
deliberate liar I'll leave to others.

Chris

*****************************************
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "AL Mitterling" <almitt at kconline.com>
To: "Tom Knudson" <peregrineflier at npgcable.com>
Cc: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
Sent: Sunday, April 24, 2005 1:18 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Crackpot in the news


> Tom Knudson wrote: about the article and
>
> Joseph Bush who the article is about said:
>
> "When I sent him my photos, they actually turned the Hubble Space 
> Telescope (HST)
> to check it out," he said.
>
> Having been down to the Hubble Space Telescope launch and talked to many 
> of the contractors who worked on the Hubble along with having lots of 
> information on how the Hubble works (from NASA), I can say that looking at 
> the moon is one of the really big no, no's as that much light will fry 
> many of the sensitive instruments on board. Three things the Hubble's 
> software is programed to do, keep it pointed away from the Earth, Moon and 
> of course the Sun as any could and would be fatal to the Space Telescope.
>
> The gentleman is a liar who advised the reporter. There are of course 
> other obvious miss statements and lies.
>
> --AL Mitterling