Just to let you all know, LISA and the Pulsar observations are not observing the same things. Sure they are fighting to detect the first gravitational waves but they are looking at different regimes. Its like comparing the GBT radio telescope to Hubble, they are fundamentally different even if they are looking for the same type of objects. http://www.physik.hu-berlin.de/qom/research/freqref/lisa explains what frequencies LISA will be sensitive to. The Pulsar array is most sensitive to 10^-4 where as LISA is higher frequencies. LIGO is even higher in frequency. You learn about different objects and new phenomena by studying ALL frequencies available to you. Many astronomy projects are expensive as hell but they develop new technologies that benefit our daily lives. Who knows what laser interferometry in space will generate for the public funding the project.

This is why people need to know fractions!!!! If only i could convince my college class that this was important. :(

While I am not 100% sure of the receiver technology, 3G only gives you triangulation information where as GPS is a completely different system. They may use the same antenna and thus the iPad wont have GPS but they are fundamentally different. GPS is from satellites and can be stand alone and 3G triangulation while not the same quality as actual GPS works pretty much as well as anyone would need it to to figure out where you are on google maps. Wifi info is always available so unless the ISP only relays the information about where its headquartered (my parent's does this) it should give you a good locator.

Its perfect to embed into a table at an internet cafe.

While I do agree with you, even small amounts of weight when carried for a long time will cause fatigue. Either way its probably not good for you to wander the hall typing for hours on end.

My question to this whole deal is why does the iPad not run true OSX? I would have bought one the first day if it was a real tablet that ran all of the software i need. I am a graduate student so being able to code and work over X11 is imperative. I also do a lot of data management hence the need for a finder and Desktop etc. I would have wet myself if we had received a tablet that was capable of everything the standard mac was able to do AND had an i-pad mode where it had supreme battery life and access to a few lightweight apps. Yes I am asking for the best of both worlds but Apple is more than capable of providing both and making it work. Take a leap on the development of something new not just give the iPhone some growth hormones. When the iPad becomes useful to more than the casual user I still want to be on board but until then **fist shaking**.

I am a graduate student in astronomy and I am very active in astronomy education and outreach. There are a lot of things you can do with students with a very small set of tools. In addition to your telescope I would either bring or encourage students to bring: 1. Binoculars 2. Flashlight (red led OR take a regular flashlight and cover in several layers of red cellophane) 3. an open mind If you then bring the Astronomical Almanac and a planisphere (star chart) you can find many of the great objects in the sky. Looking at bright stars that have different colors is a great way to start talking about what's in the sky. Betelgeuse and Rigel are great for this and they are up at the right time of night in the spring. Another great binary star is Alberio in Cygnus. It is a double star that is a K spectral type and a B spectral type (orange and blue in color). You can see them through binoculars so it should not be hard to point the telescope at it. Almost all of the Messier catalog objects should be visible with a 4-inch telescope even if they are not magnificent. This may be a way of talking to students about how a telescope works and why astronomers want better cameras and bigger mirrors. If you have students learning some of the objects in the night sky and able to point to them with and without a telescope I think you will be doing well. http://www.heavens-above.com/ is a great website that will tell you about all fly overs of the space station, Hubble, and any iridium flashes. Some of these flashes are quite spectacular. While you cannot see these in the telescope they are fun. As for planets, no matter what telescope you use none of them are truly spectacular. As the aperture grows the amount of detail you "can" see will go up because you are collecting more light but the atmosphere will blur the images more as well. So it is a toss up at some level. I love looking at solar system objects just to see what I can see. The moon is fascinating and you can make good use of the night/day boundary to teach about mountains, shadows, and how Galileo proved the moon is a flawed object. But really my advice is to try it and look up with your students. Best of luck!

It will be more accurate than the Hubble mirror and is tested holographically routinely to measure every detail of the surface of the mirror. When it leaves the Lab it will be one of the best surfaces in the world.