Palomar sky survey: Progress is not our most important product

Virginia Trimble

doi:10.1038/302020a0

Abstract

Palomar sky survey: Progress is not our most important product

Highlights

ALL of us who are old enough to remember will be quite sure that many things are not as good today as they were thirty years ago - tomatoes, the post office, operatic tenors . . . . The chief exceptions, are the products of industrial research and development, which are all much better
Pac. 94, 763; 1982) of the University of Pennsylvania report that recent prints of the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS) contain less information than the older prints and that the chief cause is graininess and specular reflection in the new photographic paper
The POSS consists of 1,870 plates taken on the 48-inch Schmidt telescope from 1949 to 1958, and covers the sky north of -30° declination to a limiting stellar magnitude of about 21 and 20

Summary

Introduction

ALL of us who are old enough to remember will be quite sure that many things are not as good today as they were thirty years ago - tomatoes, the post office, operatic tenors . . . . The chief exceptions, are the products of industrial research and development, which are all much better. Progress is not our most imoortant product from Virginia Trimble ALL of us who are old enough to remember will be quite sure that many things are not as good today as they were thirty years ago - tomatoes, the post office, operatic tenors .

Results

Conclusion