AstroNews December 2000AstroNews from Kahl Consultants.Astronomy, space and ET news. http://www.kahl.net/astro
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Vol.2, No.12 |
AstroNews December 2000AstroNews from Kahl Consultants.Astronomy, space and ET news. http://www.kahl.net/astro
|
Vol.2, No.12 |
 DECEMBER
CONTENTS
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ LOOK UP! HAPPY MILLENIUM WINTER SOLSTICE LAST ECLIPSE OF THE MILLENIUM SETI@home STARMAP GAIA? LUNA? MODIS!! SPOT OUR NEIGHBORS SAVE THE MARS LANDER! WHAT IS A PLANET? INTERNATIONAL SPACE SNAFU? JUPITER GRAVITY ASSIST ===========
LOOK UP!Look up on one of those cold clear December nights and what do you see?
HAPPY MILLENIUMThe new CENTURY and MILLENIUM DID NOT begin on January 1, 2000. They start on the second AFTER 11:59:59 PM, December 31, 2000!Yes folks, according to the Christian Calendar, the 1st millennium comprised the years AD 1-1000. The 2nd millennium comprises the years AD 1001-2000. The 3rd millennium will begin with AD 2001 and continue through AD 3000. Got that? Centuries end with '00' and millennia end with '000.' That's END, not START. They all start with numero uno! Oh, and then there is Dennis the Short, who we can thank for this Calendar. But it turns out Dennis was a little off - his date for Jesus' birthday was four years too late (possibly even more). And his mistake was never rectified - even when church authorities realized it! So in religious terms, the third millennium HAS ALREADY STARTED by exact Christian reckoning. But hey, this is peripheral to the real issue: counting to 1,000 without losing or adding a number along the way. Anyways, HAPPY MILLENIUM to all our readers!! And don't worry, if you went to a Millenium party last year, you can CELEBRATE AGAIN THIS YEAR! MILLENIUM FACTS:
WINTER SOLSTICEOK, get out your calendars and note: Winter Solstice 200 occurs on December 21 at 13:37 UT (Universal Time, which used to be known as GMT or Greenwich Mean Time). All your West Coasters simply subtract 8 hours for PST to arrive at 5:37 AM PST."Solstice" is derived from two words: "sol" meaning sun, and "sistere," to cause to stand still. The day that the sun reaches its lowest elevation occurs around December 21 and is called the winter solstice -- this is the FIRST DAY OF WINTER, and the NIGHT TIME HOURS ARE MAXIMUM (at least in the Northern Hemisphere). The exact date varies from year to year and may occur between the 20th and 23rd of December. What causes solstice? The same thing that causes the seasons - our Earth leans slightly on its axis like a tilted spinning top frozen in time - the precise angle of the tilt is 23 degrees. Want to know a very empirical way to figure out the solstice date? Just observe the rising and setting Sun! When the Sun rises or sets furthest to the south, it is winter solstice. If it's furthest north, it's summer solstice. All you have to do is observe the motion of the Sun across the sky closely. So it's no surprise that this was known to humans thousands of years ago (remember Stonehenge?). My favorite part about Winter Solstice is that the hours of daylight
start to increase again - and continue to do so for another 6 months -
until Summer Solstice.
LAST ECLIPSE OF THE MILLENIUMNature's gift this Christmas day is a partial eclipse of the Sun visible from most of North America! The further north you are, the larger the chunk of Sun is that the Moon eclipses. Ask Santa to bring you clear skies for Christmas!New Yorkers will feast their eyes on 56% eclipse at lunchtime (maximum eclipse is at 12:47 p.m). In the San Francisco Bay Area the maximum eclipse of 18% occurs bright and early at 08:20 AM. The sun will be at an altitude of only 9°. The entire duration of the partial eclipse clocks in at 01h40m here on the Pacific Coast. Safety first! Do NOT look directly at the Sun without using a safe solar filter. AstroNews has ECPLIPSE details online at:
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SETI@home STARMAP
As you probably know by now, SETI@home is the scientific experiment using internet-connected computers in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). You can participate by running a free program that downloads and analyzes radio telescope data. SETI@home now has 2.5 million users who have used their computers to search for ET for a whopping total of 478 millennia of computing time! NEAT STARMAP VISUALS:
Get StarMap for Windows:
Get SETI@home version 3 NOW:
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CALLING GLOBALCOM!
GIVE THE GIFT OF GAB! Use the great long distance calling services offered by GlobalCom:
http://www.kahl.net/global |
ASTROTIPGAIA? LUNA? MODIS!!Say what?? Gaia is our planet Earth. Luna is our moon. And MODIS? It's the cool NASA instrument that takes amazing photos of Gaia and Luna.(attention techies: MODIS means Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer!) Do you want to see some REALLY CLEAR high quality images of Earth from space? The images are here - just click on IMAGES:
SPOT OUR NEIGHBORSDECEMBER is a good time to find the constellation Andromeda and its great galaxy, M31. We live in a galaxy we call the MILKY WAY because that is what it looks like up there in the night sky.And the nearest galaxy to ours is called Andromeda, which is directly overhead this month. Find it between the giant square of Pegasus and the "W" of Cassiopeia. Consult a sky map for the exact location. |
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DISTANT DISCOVERIES =================== SAVE THE MARS LANDER!After the NASA Mars Polar Lander disappeared, NASA canceled the nearly completed Mars Surveyor Program 2001 Mars Lander. YOU CAN HELP to send this valuable space science mission to Mars to do the Mars exploration it was designed, built and tested it for.Tell NASA you SUPPORT SPACE SCIENCE and the advanced technologies for Mars exploration demonstrated by this mission. TELL NASA TO FLY THIS MARS LANDER TO MARS! Sign the MARS LANDER PETITION - visit this site:
WHAT IS A PLANET?POP QUIZ: DEFINE THE WORD PLANET. The answer is that the International Astronomical Union (the IAU represents astronomers worldwide) will soon CHANGE THE DEFINITION that you probably learned in elementary school.Telescope research in the last five years revealed celestial bodies such as gas giants, brown dwarfs, and companion objects with puzzling similarities to the nine planets in our solar system. Classification criteria include genesis, orbit, and size. The IAU says that the current definition must change to reflect once unexpected discoveries and new realities. As some of you may recall, Pluto may not be a planet at all. ARTICLE: "What Is a Planet? Debate Forces New Definition":
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HOLIDAY GIFTS FROM AMAZONAmazon.com and Kahl Consultants have great deals on astronomy gifts waiting for you!Great prices on books, videos, and more - and no long lines!
Support ASTRONEWS by using this link: 
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FAR OUT FACTS ============= INTERNATIONAL SPACE SNAFU?As reported last month, the International Space Station (ISS) is now permanently occupied. Lets hope it stays that way. Getting this far meant solving a lot of problems that have cropped up during the deployment of the station.The list of glitches is headed by... you guessed it, SOFTWARE PROBLEMS (and they don't even use Windows 98!). Other issues include power shortages, shock hazards, degradation of fiber optic cables, and lack of training. READ ALL ABOUT IT:
JUPITER GRAVITY ASSISTA
huge scientific spacecraft named Cassini is on its way to a 2004 encounter
with distant Saturn. The probe is gearing up to fly by Jupiter to gain
a GRAVITY BOOST to speed it on its way. The spacecraft will make its closest
approach to Jupiter on December 30.
This nifty method of gathering speed via gravity assist is featured in "2010 ODYSSEY TWO" by Arthur C. Clarke (the sequel to 2001 A Space Odyssey). Read the description in the book or watch the video. And while Cassini passes the biggest planet in our solar system, it is busy taking some dramatic footage of jovian atmospheric features such as the GREAT RED SPOT (that's a giant storm - 3 times the diameter of our little planet Earth - which has been around at least since Galileo spotted it over 400 years ago). ARTICLE: Jupiter Movies Debut: Cassini Spacecraft Comes in for Close-Up:
LIFT OFF!
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