From William SHEEHAN
@. . . . . . . Dear
Masatsugu,
Vergy good indeed
to get your message -- no need to apologize for the delay. It sounds as if you have been exceedingly
busy.
Understand the press of things with your impending retirement --
perhaps, and I hope, you will now have more time for the other things that
interest you. Sixty three is still
young.
Will you continue to maintain a presence in
Please present my
kind regards to Jeff Beish. You will
have much to talk about on Mars, and I only wish I could join you.
Tom Dobbins, Gary
Seronik, Leif Robinson and Ron Dantowitz, who gathered in
I have been busy
here with many things. My professional work as a psychiatrist takes time, but
even avocationally there have been a number of projects that have been
absorbing me -- John Westfall and I are pushing forward with the transit of
Venus book, which I hope to have in press by the end of the year. If we achieve
this deadline, we may be able to encourage observations not only of the Venus
transit but the May 2003 transit of Mercury as well. My colleague is going to
be treating the 19th century transit expeditions except Janssen, whose work I
am hoping to tackle, soon.
Part of my plan is
to introduce his attempt at photographing Venus through a primitive form of
cinematography, designed around the mechanism of the Colt revolver, as a way of
eluding the vexsome "personal equation." There have been some preliminary discussions that I might play a
role as an adviser to a multi-national production effort to do a TV documentary
on the transit -- and if this comes to pass, I am pressing to have a camera
crew to
Mars, and the
upcoming approach of 2003, are never far from my thoughts.
We have been tantalized by the preliminary Mars Odyssey
findings of significant amounts of water-ice over a large part of the planet.
This is especially interesting in regard to the Martian flare observations. Tom
Dobbins, Martin Gaskell and I are planning to write up a definitive history of
the Martian flare observations and would be extremely gratified if it were summarized
in the CMO Mars report. As soon as we have the latest revision, I shall send it
to you. The flare observations will undoubtedly be one theme of the 2003
opposition efforts.
I am looking
forward to observing Mars with you in 2003 -- at the moment,
With the highest esteem,
(
@. . . . . . . Dear
Masatsugu,
This is late
development: I've been invited to accompany the ASP as a guest lecturer for a
Mars opposition expedition to
Any interest? If so, let me
know, and I'll send more details.
(
@. . . . . . . Dear
Masatsugu,
Thank you, my good
friend, for all the information.
I am pleased that you obtained at least a glimpse of the Saturn
occultation. We shall await eagerly
news of the next events from
I don't know yet
the details of the
Next week I am
leaving for a brief astronomical interlude -- I am going to meet John Westfall,
ALPO transits recorder, to discuss the Venus transit book, also to spend a week
or a week and a half with Don Osterbrock, the former Lick Observatory director,
working on stellar evolution and galaxies.
Please, though,
let us hold on to our dream of observing Mars together at the opposition in a
little over a year from now -- it would give me the greatest pleasure to see it
either from Australia or Japan or both.
My best wishes to you for the holiday,
(
Bill
SHEEHAN (