----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Thanks very much Tim. That's just the kind of binary/bifurcating thing
          I was fishing for--something additive that would take the
          concept to a new limit (height?). I've seen the technique
          used in numerous astronomy books/mags in a way analogous
          to key maps, but never systematically as powers of 10. If we
          ever put the quick-time together, the astrometric views will
          be in it.
 
 
           You remind me of a real-world analogy to the earth
          view/space view: when the Hubble Telescope was launched
          there was a report of a similar (if not identical), secret,
          military earth-oriented telescope put in orbit (as part of
          the same Shuttle mission?).  Because of their mass, each
          telescope's orientation is essentially fixed as it orbits.
          When aimed at the earth, the Hubble is shut down so circuits
          don't blow due to high reflectance; reciprocally, the earth
          viewer would be shut down due to "blindness" when NOT
          looking at earth.  The inefficencies were so obvious--why
          not one, two-ended telescope doing something all the time,
          or two two-ended ones orbiting in opposition? The
          clandestine nature of the second, earth-viewing anti-Hubble
          might explain it. But, if launched, I have never seen
          further mention of it (or its equally flawed optics?).
 
          I've also heard from a resercher at UCSB who added
          simultanety of earth events to the concept. Conceptually,
          this would hve added greatly to the "Day in the Life" photo
          projects published recently. To which we are adding a
          varient of the time lapse, "Twice taken" idea, using an
          elderly lady visiting her childhood home, which is now a
          ghost town in the Sierra Nevada.
 
          LC
 
 
 
           LC
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
 
There is an excellent children's book on astronomy called
Exploring the Night Sky.
One section of the book shows paintings of the sky at increasing
distances from Earth, from (I think) one light-minute all the way
out to the largest known structures in the universe.
Whether or not this will help meet your needs, I can strongly
recommend the book for children and adults alike.
Tim.L
 
-----------------------------Original message----------------------------
You could use something as simple as pennies.  It would be easy to show 10**0
to 10**3  after that you could talk in terms of putting them in tubs, trucks
trains, etc.  You might want to mention pyramid schemes (usually powers of 6)
where the 11th generation would require more than the entire population of N.
America and the 13th generation requires greater than twice the world
population.  (That's a lot of soap distributors!).
Greg Durocher
 
------- End of Forwarded Message
 
Greg,
 
          maybe we could use a virtual penny generator and rn as a
          sidebar, paralleling the astronomical rise in "things" in
          each photo? I can picture a stack of pennies getting taller
          as earth recedes; or perhaps we should borrow some Scrooge
          McDuck stills from Disney? Might migrate into entropy
          and chaos concepts (with a diversion to fractals)? LC