Errata in \em {Enclyclopedia of Cosmology}

I have noted a number of errors, most of them quite minor, in the {\em Encyclopedia of Cosmology} (New York and London: Garland), 1993, Norriss S. Hetherington, ed. The majority occur in my mathematically verbose article, ``Fundamental cosmological parameters". Some errata were passed on to me by Prof. Ralph Alpher. In the interests of accuracy, I feel that the corrections should be publicized, since no book review will mention more than a couple of them. Also, the incorrectly typeset equations could lead to serious confusion in the minds of readers seeing such material for the first time.Comment: 5 pages, Late

The Usefulness of Type Ia Supernovae for Cosmology - a Personal Review

We review some results of the past 12 years derived from optical and infrared photometry of Type Ia supernovae. A combination of optical and infrared photometry allows us to determine accurately the extinction along the line of sight. The resulting distance measurements are much more accurate than can be obtained from optical data alone. Type Ia supernovae are very nearly standard candles in the near-infrared. Accurate supernova distances, coupled with other observational data available at present, allow us to determine the matter density in the universe and lead to evidence for the existence of Dark Energy. We can now address some questions on the grandest scale such as, "What is the ultimate Fate of the universe?"Comment: 14 page, 9 figures, to be published in Journal of the American Assoc. of Variable Star Observer

Strange Cases from the Files of Astronomical Sociology

What astronomer could not use his own surname because his father was beheaded for sorcery? Who built the only observatory worth $5 billion in today's money? Who had worse luck than YOU travelling thousands of miles NOT to observe an astronomical event? Who had one of his books bound in human skin at the request of his most ardent fan? Is there an anti-correlation between scientific output and the number of children one has? Are astronomers known for having unusual honeymoons? Who wrote the most egotistical work in the history of astronomy? What famous astronomer was present for the opening of King Tutankhamen's tomb and later began having hallucinations of an elf, which advised him on the running of his observatory? What is the strangest abstract published in the Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society? What well-known bad tempered astronomer was born in 1898 (the year after Bram Stoker's {\em Dracula} was published) in Varna, Bulgaria, which all vampirologists recognize as the nearest port from which any self-respecting Transylvanian vampire would embark on a sea voyage to London? In this article we provide answers to these fascinating questions.Comment: 7 pages, Late

A Mixture of Ancient and Modern Understanding Concerning the Distance and Motion of the Moon

Ptolemy's model of the Moon's motion implied that its distance varies by nearly a factor of two, implying that its angular size should also vary by nearly a factor of two. We present an analysis of 100 naked eye observations of the Moon's angular size obtained over 1145 days, showing regular variations of at least 3 arc minutes. Thus, ancient astronomers could have shown that a key implication of Ptolemy's model was wrong. In modern times we attribute the variation of distance of the Moon to the combined effect of the ellipticity of the Moon's orbit and the perturbing effect of the Sun on the Earth-Moon system. We show graphically how this affects the ecliptic longitudes and radial distance of the Moon. The longitude and distance "anomalies" are correlated with the Moon's phase. This is illustrated without any complex equations or geometry.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures; to be published in Asian Journal of Physic

A Brief History of Astronomical Brightness Determination Methods at Optical Wavelengths

In this brief article I review the history of astronomical photometry, touching on observations made by the ancient Chinese, Hipparchus and Ptolemy, the development of the concept (and definition) of magnitude, the endeavors of Argelander and Zoellner, work at Harvard at the end of the 19th century, and the development of photography, photomultipliers, and CCD's and their application to astronomy.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, 40 reference

At What Distance Can the Human Eye Detect a Candle Flame?

Using CCD observations of a candle flame situated at a distance of 338 m and calibrated with observations of Vega, we show that a candle flame situated at ~2.6 km (1.6 miles) is comparable in brightness to a 6th magnitude star with the spectral energy distribution of Vega. The human eye cannot detect a candle flame at 10 miles or further, as some statements on the web suggest.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure

The Sign of Four: A new class of cool non-radially pulsating stars?

In this paper we discuss four early F-type variable stars whose periods are an order of magnitude slower than known pulsators of comparable luminosity. They cannot be stars undergoing simple radial pulsations. For one or more of these stars we can discount the possibility that the variability is due to rotational modulation of star spots, interactions with (or tidal distortions by) a close companion, or obscuration by a rotating lumpy ring of dust orbiting the star. They are certainly not eclipsing binaries. The only possibility left seems to be non-radial pulsations, though this explanation involves difficulties of its own. If they are indeed pulsating stars exhibiting non- radial gravity modes, they would be the first stars on the cool side of the Cepheid instability strip in the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram to be so identified.Comment: 16 pages Latex, 1 ASCII table, 3 figures (available from author

New Photometry of the Hyades δ\delta Scuti star V777 Tau (71 Tau)

71 Tau was discovered to be a $\delta$ Scuti star by Horan (1979, AJ 84, 1770). To our knowledge no other photometry of this star has been published. 71 Tau is the second brightest X-ray source in the Hyades and has been shown to be variable by as much as 30 \% at ultraviolet wavelengths near 1700 to 2000 \AA. We find that the best two-frequency fit to the new photometry is obtained with $f_{1}$ = 5.485 and $f_{2}$ = 7.637 d$^{-1}$, with amplitudes $A_{1}$ = 6.0 and $A_{2}$ = 3.4 mmag, respectively. However, one-day aliases of these frequencies {\em could} be the true values. (For $\delta$ Scuti stars pulsating radially the ratio of first overtone period to fundamental period is 0.773.) It would be useful to obtain more extensive data runs on this and other $\delta$ Scuti stars in the Hyades.Comment: 2 pages, Latex; uses IBVS.STY; 3 figures, available via Fax or ftp at ftp://ftp.jach.hawaii.edu/usr/local/ukirt/ftp/kevin ; to appear as Information Bulletin on Variable Stars, No. 426

Light pollution at high zenith angles, as measured at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory

On the basis of measurements of the V-band sky brightness obtained at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in December 2006 and December 2008 we confirm the functional form of the basic model of Garstang (1989, 1991). At high zenith angles we measure an enhancement of a factor of two over Garstang's later model when there is no marine cloud layer over La Serena/Coquimbo. No corresponding enhancement is found in the B-band.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, to be published in the March, 2010, issue of Publs. of the Astron. Soc. of the Pacifi

Mode Identification of the Slowly Pulsating F0V Star V398 Aurigae (9 Aur)

We have investigated the F0V star V398\,Aurigae (= 9 Aur) under the assumption that it is undergoing non-radial gravity mode oscillations and that the two principal periods given by Krisciunas et al. (1995) are correct. We find that the two periods are manifestations of an $\ell=3, |m|=1$ spheroidal mode and its toroidal corrections due to the rotation of the star. As far as we know, this is the first detection of toroidal correction terms in a real star. The two modes probably are the result of rotational splitting. Our analysis provides for the first time a physical explanation of certain characteristics of the observed behavior of the star. The amplitude of the radial part of the pulsation for $f_1 = 0.795$\,d$^{-1}$ is a factor of 4 larger than the one for $f_2 = 0.346$\,d$^{-1}$. Since the photometric variability is determined mostly by temperature variations, which in turn are determined by the radial part of the pulsation, the photometric variability is dominated by the mode with frequency $f_1$. On the other hand, $f_2$ is the more pronounced one in all three spectroscopic moment variations (including the radial velocity), reflecting that the transverse displacement of $f_2$, and not the one of $f_1$, dominates the velocity behavior.Comment: 6 pages, Latex, uses MN.STY, 2 figures, available via Fax or regular post, accepted to Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (15 September 1995