Subject: astronomy links

From: Tim Eastman <[email-masked]> (by way of [email-masked] (Hans-Martin Adorf))
Date: Wed, 18 Jan 1995 09:31:21 +0100

Dear WebMaster for AstroWeb:

I manage the Homepage for Plasma Science and Technology at
URL http://www-plasma.umd.edu.  It covers all aspects of plasma
science (basic, fusion, technology, space).  The Space Plasma
section (see resources page) has a comprehensive list of current
homepages in Space Physics including the homepage for NASA's Space
Physics Division.  I recommend some of these links to you for AstroWeb -
check them out by links from the plasma homepage.

Under "Other Info." I recommend a link to the plasma homepage above
and also the sci.physics.plasma Newsgroup for your Newsgroup listing
because this one includes space plasmas.

One last item - I'm puzzled by your title.  I thought that modern
astronomy includes all of the broad, interdisciplinary fields of
Astrophysics, Planetary science and Space Physics.  Using the
phrase "Astronomy and Astrophysics" effectively duplicates astrophysics
in the title and, in my view, causes confusion.  I earlier tried to
learn what this peculiar combination of terms means from the NAS study
by the Bahcall committee entitled "A Decade of Discovery in Astronomy
and Astrophysics" (published about 1990); however, the document never
defines the terms and uses at least four different meanings for the
terms, thus greatly adding to my confusion.  At the University of Maryland,
our department here is simply titled "Dep't of Astronomy" and they do
Astrophysics, Planetary Physics, and Space Physics (no confusion there).

Also, under the category of Other: Astro. & Sp. Sci., I only found the
Space Telescope Institute item.  There are many more useful sources of
course and I suggest adding one or two more.

I hope that these suggestions/comments are helpful.

With very best wishes for the New Year

Tim Eastman
Institute for Physical Science and Technology
University of Maryland
301-405-4829

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From: [email-masked] (Hans-Martin Adorf)
Date: Wed, 18 Jan 1995 09:46:04 +0100

Dear Tim Eastman,

thank you for your comments about AstroWeb, which I have forwarded to the
AstroWeb consortium for review.

>because this one includes space plasmas.

The easiest for us would be if you submitted new entries, since you are
knowledgeable in this area.

>Astrophysics, Planetary Physics, and Space Physics (no confusion there).

I think that the reasons for this terminology is mainly historical.
Astronomy is the oldest science apart from geometry, and initially was
mainly concerned with the positions of stars and the dynamics of the Sun,
Moon and planets. Initially, it was not understood that the same physical
laws are ruling the celestial objects that govern the processes on Earth.
The big intellectual achievement of Isaac Newton was to show that the
motions of planets are governed by gravitation. Our century added the
knowledge that it is nuclear fusion which generates the energy the Sun
radiates. So astrophysics was conceived as the branch of astronomy which
deals with the physical processes in stars. Physical phenomena in other
objects such as quasars were added later, without changing the term
astrophysics - the same way noone has made a move to change the name of
astronomy into celestology, say, despite the fact that only a fraction of
astronomers deal with stars. Some people claim "It's all physics out there"
and therefore astronomy is part of physics, which is not true since there
is also some chemistry involved.

I myself could also not claim to be an astrophysicist since I have never
used  physical laws in my research area, but I would still claim to be
called an astronomer, since I e.g. classify astronomical objects, or I
restore images of such objects.

>course and I suggest adding one or two more.

Again the easiest for us would be if you could fill the forms we provide
and enter those links that you have in mind, rather than let us find out.
Your cooperation is appreciated.

>I hope that these suggestions/comments are helpful.

Yes, Thanks.

Regards
Hans-Martin Adorf