NOTE: this has not been updated in a LONG while. If there are changes
to your URLs please let me know. or if you would like to see specific
sites added or new info.

take care, leefus

Welcome to NCTU.Club.Astronomy's Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Posting-Frequency: Bi-weekly
Last modified: 2000/6/8
NCTU.Club.Astronomy - Frequently Asked Questions. Ver. 2.0

This document can be found on the web at
http://www.angelfire.com/ma/bbstuff/NCTUFAQ.html

Please *DO NOT REPLY* to this FAQ post! All comments are welcome, but
please reply via a new thread at NCTU.Club.Astronomy


Section I - General Questions


What is NCTU.Club.Astronomy?
NCTU.Club.Astronomy is a very friendly group of people from around the
world who love to discuss all astronomy-related topics. We ask
questions, provide others with information, post observations, and
just have fun.


What does the acronym NCTU mean?
Short Answer: National Chiao Tung University.
Long Answer: This University has been kind enough to allow us server
space for this newsgroup. It should always be kept in mind that we are
guests on their board. The only drawback is that if your ISP does not
filter spam well, you may get some confusing email that appears to be
gibberish. (See Netiquette below).


What are the major purposes of NCTU.club.astronony?
In no particular order:
1. To create a friendly, respectful environment for amateur
astronomers to discuss their love of the skies and the many
accouterments of the "hobby".
2. To impart information about the latest astronomy and space news
(See Dennis Bishop's posts of the "Sky & Telescope" bulletins.)
3. To try to help each other on technical issues, purchase decisions,
etc. relative to amateur astronomy.
4. To have fun with astronomy.


What is the Object of the Month (OOTM)?
First a definition: "Object" - any *verifiable* astronomical
appearance. It has to be something predictable. Comets and planets and
deep sky objects such as globular clusters, open clusters, nebula,
etc. fall into this definition. UFOs and bolides do not. Though if you
see a bolide please do let us know!

This is a semi-democratic process of choosing one or several objects
for members of the group to try to find through their scopes or
binoculars. In the first days of each month someone typically posts
with the subject "OOTM?" Members of the group then follow with
suggestions for what object or objects we should all try to view.
After a while, one or more objects show up as the most popular and
this becomes the OOTM.

After the OOTM is chosen members try to get opportunities to spot the
OOTM and then give our reports in a thread typically titled "OOTM
report" started by whoever manages to post first. Ultimately it
becomes a friendly discussion of our viewing experiences including
unexpected sky objects along the way. Sort of a Virtual Star Party.


Who can post to NCTU.Club.Astronomy?
This newsgroup is an unmoderated, open Usenet newsgroup and there is
no restriction on who can or can not post. All that is asked is that
the basic rules of "netiquette" be followed.


Section II - Speaking of Netiquette


The following URLs give excellent descriptions/definitions of basic
"netiquette".
http://songweaver.com/netiquette.html
http://www.primenet.com/~vez/neti.html
http://members.aol.com/macabrus/faqs.html


Types of posting that are particularly undesired in NCTU:
1. Cross-posting:
This is submitting the exact same post to more than one group at one
time. For a better explanation of this see the above URLs. Meanwhile,
if you have a question that you just absolutely *must* ask more than
one astronomy group, than please, write it up and post it first to one
group, than change the group name and post it to the other group. This
may seem silly to those of you who haven't seen the damage that cross
posting can do but it actually works just fine. People interested in
the post in either group will respond without involving people that
might otherwise not care at all or who might want to bicker between
groups.

2. Spam:
The following is a nice definition of this unsightly creature of the
'net.
http://www.cybernothing.org/faqs/net-abuse-faq.html#2.1
Typically all forms of spam are unappreciated on any newsgroup.

3. OT = Off Topic:
This group doesn't have a problem with OT posts as long as they are
labeled as such. Sometimes posts digress from astronomy to music or
writing or screenplays... that's fine just be sure to label your post
as OT.

4. Flames:
Definition: Flame: nasty, rude, taunting often unwarranted remarks
designed to anger or hurt other people.
Simple - Don't flame! If you are flamed the best response is no
response. If you can, "killfile" or "filter" a person that offends you
(most newsreaders have this capability). Even such filters are not
infallible though and often someone quotes the person you are trying
to avoid. For such times when you have no filter available or it is
not working due to quoting - use the Manual Killfile - a.k.a. - the
delete key. NCTU considers itself to be a very friendly, open group
and we welcome anyone with questions, advice, interesting stories,
etc. Unfortunately, sometimes people come in with "agendas" and even
the best of us can get caught up in a "flame war" (big nasty
argument). The best thing to do is back off, shrug off the flames and
be the bigger person. It is strongly suggested that members simply
ignore flamers. Responding to them is their oxygen. Deprive a flame of
oxygen and it will eventually go out.

5. Binaries
Typically, binaries are image files such as .bmp, .pcx, etc. While
there is an appreciation for astrophotography, posting binaries to a
newsgroup is considered poor etiquette. They typically require long
download times and not everyone has a high speed connection or system.
However, do feel free to post URLs (web pages) that point to such
images.

Section III - Web Pages & Links


Members Pages
The following are links to member pages that are specifically about
astronomy or space or some aspect of the hobby.

Astral's (Andy Lee) Page http://www.astrals-net.co.uk/

Don "The Bug Bomber" Baker's Page http://home.flash.net/~bugbomb/

Dennis Bishop's Telescope Buyer's FAQ. This is a great page for the
new amateur astronomer trying to decide what scope is best for them.
Also posted regularly to the group by Mr. Bishop.
http://www.qnet.com/~starlord/TELSCOPE.FAQ

Niall Glynn's Page http://www.geocities.com/n_glynn/spacepage.html
and http://homepage.eircom.net/~niallglynn/home.htm

Scott Haas's (Tarkus) Page
http://home.globaleyes.net/tarkus/astropage.htm

Curt Hall's WebTV Page
http://www.angelfire.com/ky2/CurtsAstroPage/index.html
Mirror site: http://members.tripod.com/~hall.c/index.html

Curt's mirror site at Tripod http://members.tripod.com/~hall.c/

Marc Jones' Page http://go.to/ncstargazer

Michael Kipp's Astronomy pages http://madcrawdad.tripod.com

Charlie Wallace's WebTV Page
http://community-1.webtv.net/cvwallace/doc

Charlie's mirror site at Tripod
http://members.tripod.com/~c-wallace/index.html


Non-member links

These links are good sources of info. No commercial sites are included
here.

Two of the best sites on the net for all types of astronomy
information & product reviews.
Todd Gross' Weather & Astronomy Site http://www.weatherman.com/
Ed Ting's Telescope Review Site http://www.scopereviews.com/index.html

Two good sites for folks new to astronomy and wanting to learn more
about it and space science:
http://my.voyager.net/stargazer/starmap.html
http://www2.calweb.com/~dmurry

Educational:
http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/
http://www.perkins-observatory.org/FAQ.index.html

Real-time Weather Radar (important for sudden urges to stargaze
http://www.rap.ucar.edu/weather/satellite/

Plan to view satellites, HST, Mir, etc. Fun!
http://www.heavens-above.com

Astro picture of the day.
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html

Reference:
http://www.skypub.com/