The Bad Astronomy Newsletter

Bad Astronomy Newsletter #9a Contents:

1. Oops! Error in Issue #9!
2. Subscribe/Unsubscribe Information

1) I made an error in the last issue, in section 5 about interferometry. I said the two components of the double star in the image were separated by 0.05 arcseconds. They are actually 0.005 arcseconds apart! Sorry about the typo. Also, "Bad Reader" Doug McElroy, an astronomer at Caltech, pointed out to me that the Fine Guidance Sensors onboard Hubble (which are in fact interferometers, and used to lock onto stars used to guide Hubble) have a resolution of 0.007 arcseconds, very close to what the ground-based interferometer did.

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Phil Plait
The Bad Astronomer
badastro@badastronomy.com
http://www.badastronomy.com