Plans for the New Year

[Tom Droege <tdroege@veriomail.com>]

First, Happy New Year to Everyone.

This year should bring real data from operating stations.

I am busy ordering parts to round out the production to 12 complete 
systems.  I am not sure where they will all go, but I am ordering parts 
anyway.  Possibly I will have to remake some side plates.

Here is where I am pretty sure systems are going:

TOM-1		Chicago, IL*
ARNE-1    	Flagstaff, AZ*
MICHAEL        	Rochester, NY*
MIKE		Cincinnati, OH
GLENN	Dayton, OH
NICK		Larel, MD
CHRIS		??
ARNE-2	Flagstaff, AZ
SAREL          	Pretoria, SA
TOM-2		Chicago, IL
TOM-3		Chicago, IL
  XXX		XXX

As one goes down the list the locations and commitment become more uncertain.

I hope to complete MIKE and GLENN before spring is officially over.  By 
June 21.  It is not really a problem to complete systems, it is more a 
question of whether I will want to make any more changes.

Mike Gutzwiller stopped by Thursday.  He just appeared on my doorstep.  I 
am always pleased to see any of you and you are welcome to stop by for a 
tour when you are in the area.  But you should call ahead if you want to 
make sure I am here.  (630) 879-7609

We talked again about looking for planets.  Mike almost has me convinced 
that it is something worth doing with the Mark IVs.  With all those 
stations above working, and with the right weather, we could track a piece 
of sky for 6 hours or so.   We might get hundreds of exposures during this 
time, and with that sort of statistics, a dip in brightness from a 
transiting planet might be dug out of the noise.   OK, a little dip would 
not be very exciting with one Mark IV, but if we saw the same dip on 
several systems in Chicago, and one in Cincinatti, Dayton, Rochester, and 
Laurel, it would be pretty convincing.    With a few thousand stars 
measured, one might find something interesting.  So while I have not been 
very enthusiastic about putting Mark IVs so close in Longitude, for planet 
hunting it might be a good idea.  I think almost no one else is set up to 
do this kind of measurement.

Tom Droege