AstroNews Summer 2000

ECLIPSE SPECIAL 

CONTENTS

LUNAR ECLIPSE

TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE MOON
COMING TO A SKY NEAR YOU
The second and final lunar eclipse of the year is also TOTAL and occurs on July 16, 2000. It will be visible (at least partially) in the Americas and Asia.

The total phase will last 1 hour 47 minutes - close to the maximum duration theoretically possible! In fact it is the longest total eclipse (1 hour 47 minutes) in 140 years!! The event seems especially fitting as the LAST lunar eclipse of the Second Millennium (remember, the Third Millenium doesn't start until January 1, 2001).

Totality begins at 13:02.1 UT and lasts until 14:49.1 UT. UT means Universal Time. It is the same as GMT and is equivalent to Pacific Daylight Time plus 7 hrs. The instant of mid-totality is at 13:55.6 UT, or 6:55 AM PDT.

Too bad the total phase occurs AFTER moonset for most of the Americas. For the West Coast of the USA the lunar eclipse starts in the early morning hours of July 16, 2000. Either stay up all night skywatching or set your alarm for this amazing event!!

Data for your location for ANY eclipse can be more found HERE:

U.S. Naval Observatory Lunar Eclipse Computer
http://aa.usno.navy.mil/AA/data/docs/LunarEclipse.html

Here's a graph showing the Moon's path through Earth's shadows as well as worldwide visibility:
http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/LEplot/LE2000Jul16T.gif

MORE ECLIPSE DETAILS are here!

NASA ASTROBIOLOGY INSTITUTE

Microbes are important for studies about the evolution of life on Earth, and the co-evolution of life AND Earth, or for the study of the possibility of life elsewhere. The NAI site offers many other features, such as the ever-present list of related links, or the possibility to ASK QUESTIONS to an ASTROBIOLOGIST, or to join the FORUM.

BE CAREFUL next time you brush your teeth; you might destroy fundamental proof of life outside Earth.

NASA ASTROBIOLOGY INSTITUTE
http://nai.arc.nasa.gov/index.cfm
 

If you've been reading AstroNews you know that WINDOWS and MAC users can download the SETI@home software for free. SETI@home is your best chance at contacting aliens: a SCREEN SAVER that analyzes signals from space and could change our entire civilization! Only 790 k in size and tested by over two million humans - making it the largest supercomputer on earth!

Get SETI@home version 2.04 NOW:
http://setiathome.berkeley.edu

STAY IN TOUCH! Try the long distance services offered by GlobalCom. ANY domestic US calls from ANY phone for only 6.9 cents/min! No more expensive calls! Check out this offer AND MANY MORE at:
http://www.kahl.net/global

STARDATE ONLINE

StarDate Online:
http://stardate.utexas.edu/

Please SUPPORT ASTRONEWS and use this link:

WATER ON MARS!

Folks, this is a landmark discovery in the history of Mars exploration. Imaging scientists using data from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft have recently observed features that suggest there may be current sources of liquid water at or near the surface of the red planet. And we all know what this means... simple life forms could have emerged on the red planet!

Looking at images snapped by the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft, researchers have detected evidence of springs on the surface. The discovery focuses on the Valles Marineris region, a colossal canyon that dominates the martian landscape.

Scientists think Mars' surface coursed with water billions of years ago, based on evidence of liquid erosion and signs of ancient channels and seas. But the water all but disappeared as the planet cooled and its atmosphere thinned.

Water is known to exist in the present as ice in the northern ice cap and as vapor in faint clouds. But vast quantities could remain trapped under the surface, according to planetary geologists.

Groundwater would likely turn into vapor or ice soon after it reached the surface. But the presence of hot springs could strengthen the theory that life exists, or once existed, on Mars.

Some unusual forms of microscopic life flourish near hot springs in the recesses of the Earth. Similar springs on Mars might harbor life as well, some scientists speculate.

"This is incredibly exciting. What this means is that we have a chance to find ... extant life," Mars Society president Robert Zubrin said.

Michael Carr, an expert on martian hydrology, co-authored the report with fellow U.S. Geological Survey scientist Baerbel Lucchita, who has researched Antarctic ice flows and mapped the Valles Marineris, said NASA Watch, quoting unnamed NASA sources.

Liquid water on Mars would make colonization of the planet much easier. Colonists could convert water into hydrogen and oxygen, using both as rocket fuel and the second for breathing gas.
[Source: CNN, others]
 
 

GEAR UP FOR THE WILD WILD WEST

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FAR OUT FACT
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[Thanks Bo!]

EUREKA! SCIENTISTS BREAK SPEED OF LIGHT!

In research carried out in the United States, particle physicists have shown that light pulses can be accelerated to up to 300 times their normal velocity of 186,000 miles per second.

The implications, like the speed, are mind-boggling. On one interpretation it means that light will arrive at its destination almost before it has started its journey. In effect, it is leaping forward in time.

 Exact details of the findings remain confidential because they have been submitted to Nature, the international scientific journal, for review prior to possible publication.

 The work was carried out by Dr Lijun Wang, of the NEC research institute in Princeton, who transmitted a pulse of light towards a chamber filled with specially treated caesium gas.

 Before the pulse had fully entered the chamber it had gone right through it and travelled a further 60ft across the laboratory. In effect it existed in two places at once, a phenomenon that Wang explains by saying it travelled 300 times faster than light.

 The research is already causing controversy among physicists. What bothers them is that if light could travel forward in time it could carry information. This would breach one of the basic principles in physics - causality, which says that a cause must come before an effect. It would also shatter Einstein's theory of relativity since it depends in part on the speed of light being unbreachable.

 This weekend Wang said he could not give details but confirmed: "Our light pulses did indeed travel faster than the accepted speed of light. I hope it will give us a much better understanding of the nature of light and how it behaves."

 Dr Raymond Chiao, professor of physics at the University of California at Berkeley, who is familiar with Wang's work, said he was impressedby the findings. "This is a fascinating experiment," he said.

 In Italy, another group of physicists has also succeeded in breaking the light speed barrier. In a newly published paper, physicists at the Italian National Research Council described how they propagated microwaves at 25% above normal light speed. The group speculates that it could be possible to transmit information faster than light.

 Dr Guenter Nimtz, of Cologne University, an expert in the field, agrees. He believes that information can be sent faster than light and last week gave a paper describing how it could be done to a conference in Edinburgh. He believes, however, that this will not breach the principle of causality because the time taken to interpret the signal would fritter away all the savings.

 "The most likely application for this is not in time travel but in speeding up the way signals move through computer circuits," he said.

 Wang's experiment is the latest and possibly the most important evidence that the physical world may not operate according to any of the accepted conventions.

 In the new world that modern science is beginning to perceive, sub-atomic particles can apparently exist in two places at the same time - making no distinction between space and time.

 Separate experiments carried out by Chiao illustrate this. He showed that in certain circumstances photons - the particles of which light is made - could apparently jump between two points separated by a barrier in what appears to be zero time. The
 process, known as tunnelling, has been used to make some of the most sensitive electron microscopes.

 The implications of Wang's experiments will arouse fierce debate. Many will question whether his work can be interpreted as proving that light can exceed its normal speed - suggesting that another mechanism may be at work.

 Neil Turok, professor of mathematical physics at Cambridge University, said he awaited the details with interest, but added: "I doubt this will change our view of the fundamental laws of physics."

 Wang emphasises that his experiments are relevant only to light and may not apply to other physical entities. But scientists are beginning to accept that man may eventually exploit some of these characteristics for inter-stellar space travel.

Read all about it:
http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2000/06/04/stifgnusa01007.html

[Source: Jonathan Leake, Science Editor, London Times]
 

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What's the difference between a typical man and E.T.?
E.T. phoned home.
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