North American AstroPhysical Observatory (NAAPO) Cosmic Search: Issue 5 (Volume 2 Number 1; Winter (Jan., Feb., Mar.) 1980) [Letters in magazine started on page 11]

Letters* By: The Editors (*Letters are always welcome but owing to the volume it is not possible to acknowledge all of them. Also due to space limitations we reserve the right where necessary to condense or edit the contents. Letters may be addressed to: Editorial Dept., COSMIC SEARCH, P.O. Box 293, Delaware, Ohio 43015.) I would like to congratulate everyone at COSMIC SEARCH for a job well done. You have fulfilled a wish for many, including myself, to have a magazine devoted to space, the future and the search for intelligent life beyond the earth. Stephen Udvardy Edmonton, Alberta, Canada I picked up a copy of COSMIC SEARCH and started thumbing through it. Before I knew it, I had spent most of my lunch hour engrossed in its contents. COSMIC SEARCH is unique and I congratulate you on a great job. I am subscribing immediately. A. J. LaFazia Bristol, Rhode Island Keep up the excellent contribution that COSMIC SEARCH is making. I look forward to each issue. Professor Howard I. Thorsheim St. Olaf College Northfield, Minnesota I hope your magazine will have all the success it certainly deserves. Best wishes and a long life to COSMIC SEARCH. Rudolf Pesek Chairman, CETI Committee of the International Academy of Astronautics Prague, Czechoslovakia Congratulations on your excellent publication. May it prosper and prevail amid today's blizzard of far less worthy magazines. Trevor James Constable San Pedro, California Thanks for a fantastic magazine. Jerry T. Searcy Las Vegas, Nevada I would like to congratulate you on the publication of COSMIC SEARCH. I really enjoy reading your magazine and I am looking forward to receiving the next issues. Chriet Titulaer Houten, Netherlands I would like to comment on a section of one your articles in the Summer issue of COSMIC SEARCH, "Extraterrestrial Politics" by Michael Michaud. I was delighted to read, "Only if the intelligent species of the universe work together can they hope to reverse the running down of the cosmos, that we measure as entropy, or its collapse into a new primeval fireball." It is disconcerting to read time and time again by distinguished scientists as well as by other writers, the gloomy end of the universe predictions that can not be averted. In a short space of time, cosmically speaking, we have discovered a tremendous amount about the universe we live in. Yet, I think the most important thing we have (or should have) learned is the simple fact that we really know practically nothing. In science we have hardly begun to scratch the surface. What knowledge will be ours in even 10,000 years time? To answer Michaud's question, I do not think that we have evolved to consciousness only to face a hot or cold death. Either alone or in conjunction with other beings throughout the universe I believe it possible that we can, in the distant future, not only shape solar systems for our benefit, but ultimately the whole physical universe itself. Fergal MacAlister Dublin, Ireland We are very much impressed with the excellence of COSMIC SEARCH, the scope of content and the high quality of presentation. In particular, I applaud your success in making the articles readable and mind-stretching for the layman. COSMIC SEARCH could be an effective agent in regenerating respect for science by the general public. Marguerite Jansky Froscher Fernandina Beach, Florida Correction In Louis Berman's article "What It Was Like Before Ozma" in the Fall 1979 issue of COSMIC SEARCH, the statement is made that Marconi's experimental communications yacht, "Elettra", was named after his wife. Dr. George H. Brown, father of color television and formerly Vice President for Research and Engineering of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA), has informed us that this is not correct. Brown, a friend of the Marconi family and a Marconi Centenary Lecturer, writes as follows: "Marconi's first wife was Beatrice O'Brien and she helped in the naming of the yacht. The first choice was Scintilla, pronounced in Italian as Shintilla, meaning spark. But Marconi was afraid that English-speaking persons would say Sintilla. So Elettra was the choice. Elettro means amber, but since a ship is feminine, he modified the name to Elettra. The yacht was purchased and named in 1919. "Marconi's second wife was Countess Cristina Bezzi-Scali, who gave birth to Marconi's child, named Maria Elettra Elena Anna on July 30, 1930." COSMIC SEARCH is excellent. Keep up the good work on this first-rate and much needed magazine. Roger Ptak Director of Astronomy Bowling Green State University Bowling Green, Ohio Having just obtained my first copy of COSMIC SEARCH, I am very excited to find it and read about the research being done. David L. Dunlap Salt Lake City, Utah Congratulations! COSMIC SEARCH is the SETI buffs dream: fun to read and not too technical yet responsible and scientific. It's volunteers like you who are already disseminating messages to their fellow beings that give me so much hope for eventual contact. Randall B. Black New York, New York COSMIC SEARCH is long overdue. It outdoes everything else on SETI. I can hardly wait for the next issue to arrive. Shelby W. Haukos Fergus Falls, Minnesota COSMIC SEARCH is the most exciting new publication in many a moon. It should make people do some thinking. Dennis G. Brewer Careysburg, Liberia I am much impressed with your magazine which should be of interest to many readers. I like the factual presentation, the diversity and excellent make-up of the contents. Thank you for your efforts. Jurgen Lehmann Bautzen, East Germany I have just received your fourth issue and I read it completely before I walked out of the building. I wish to congratulate all of you at COSMIC SEARCH for striking that delicate balance between informing a technical readership and educating a general public. I am a member of an observatory that is currently doing serious SETI work (see letter from the Director on page 10 of the fall 1979 COSMIC SEARCH). As far as we know, we are the only amateurs doing this work at present. Barry Perlman Fort Lauderdale, Florida I enjoyed the last issue of COSMIC SEARCH and in particular the article by Roy Basler. I would like to suggest that it may be possible to combine the cost effectiveness of an orbiting antenna search system with the shielding advantages of a far-side-of-the-moon-based search system. This could be done by placing the orbiting search system into lunar orbit. The cost of this system would surely be much less than a far-side-of-the-moon-based system. Set-up time for listening could be done while in view of the earth; actual listening would be done during the out-of-view-of-earth portion of the orbit. A variation of this concept would be to place the orbiting antenna at one of the LaGrange points; a synchronous lunar orbit continuously out-of-view of the earth. If the shielding problems of an earth orbital system proved more bothersome than originally anticipated, then perhaps the already existing system could be boosted into a lunar orbit using continuous, low-thrust booster systems. Thank you again for this most interesting issue. Richard A. Moss New York, New York Roy Basler comments that the idea of using the moon as an interference shield is a good one and that some of the possibilities for this arrangement are discussed on pages 28 to 32 of the NASA contract report (NAS2-8938, 1976) referred to at the end of his article. Eds. I read COSMIC SEARCH from cover to cover as soon as I receive each issue. Keep up the good work. Enclosed are two gift subscritions. James L. Voight Alaska Highway via Dawson Creek British Columbia, Canada Although COSMIC SEARCH has not yet proved to me the existence of extraterrestrial intelligence, I must gratefully admit that in every issue it amply proves the existence of terrestrial intelligence. Arthur J. Morgan New York, New York Thank you for such an interesting and informative magazine. Attached is my check to cover a two year renewal to COSMIC SEARCH plus a humble $32 contribution towards your work. Keep up the excellent work you are doing. I was especially pleased to read the article by C.M. Jansky, Jr., about his brother Karl in the Fall 1979 issue, as I knew Mr. Jansky years ago. A.V. Shaver Winchester, Virginia I can't begin to tell you how excited I am to have discovered COSMIC SEARCH. I only regret my discovery didn't occur until the Fall 1979 issue! I enclose a two-years subscription and would be infinitely grateful if you could include those issues which I missed. Thank you so much for your excellent creation. Michael Sullivan Natick, Massachusetts Referring to the interview with Dr. Wheeler in the Fall 1979 issue of COSMIC SEARCH, I believe he is right when he says, "So, why is the universe as big as it is? Because we're here!" However, if I were a pessimist I could easily say we're here because the universe is as big as it is. But being an optimist I believe we're here for a definite purpose and when our universe calls upon us in the future I hope we will have taken the necessary steps to acquire the wisdom and capability to justify our existence in our own universe. G. M. Wannamaker McChord Air Force Base, Washington I love COSMIC SEARCH so much I am renewing my subscription for another two years and also want to purchase a gift subscription for my sister. John H. Fadum Deerfield Beach, Florida