[math-fun] East of the South Pole?
The New York Times has an Feb. 19 article at < http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/19/science/19scope.html > with a photo caption that reads: << IMAGING The Plato Observatory, on Dome Argus, 13,000 feet high and about 700 miles east of the South Pole.
Is this as nonsensical as I think, or is there a reasonable meaning to the phrase "east of the South Pole" ? --Dan _____________________________________________________________________ "It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that certain je ne sais quoi." --Peter Schickele
Dan Asimov wrote:
IMAGING The Plato Observatory, on Dome Argus, 13,000 feet high and about 700 miles east of the South Pole.
Is this as nonsensical as I think, or is there a reasonable meaning to the phrase "east of the South Pole" ?
I'm afraid it might mean something. In 2004, for example, the Geophysical Journal International published the paper "Structure and thermal regime beneath the South Pole region, East Antarctica, from magnetotelluric measurements." http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-246X.2004.02156.x It's entirely (or at least mostly) reasonable to talk about East and West Antarctica -- surely these are the halves of the continent lying in the perfectly well-defined Eastern and Western hemispheres. Once you've done that, though, it's got to be tempting to stand at the south pole with East Antarctica on your right and West Antarctica on your left, and proclaim that North Antarctica is in front of you. And in back is... er, well, let's not talk about it. --Michael Kleber -- It is very dark and after 2000. If you continue you are likely to be eaten by a bleen.
Dan Asimov wrote:
IMAGING The Plato Observatory, on Dome Argus, 13,000 feet high and about 700 miles east of the South Pole.
Is this as nonsensical as I think, or is there a reasonable meaning to the phrase "east of the South Pole" ?
I'm afraid it might mean something...
According to http://astro.uchicago.edu/cara/outreach/resources/other/movepole.html "Of course all directions at the South Pole are technically "north". For that reason we have to define another type of north, called "grid north," which points along the longitude line called the Prime Meridian. If you were to follow this line of longitude north eventually you would reach Greenwich, England. Other directions at the South Pole are then defined with respect to grid north and are expressed as angles of azimuth. Zero degrees azimuth is in the direction of grid north. Other azimuths angles are then described as west(turning to the left) or east(turning to the right) of grid north. For example, if you faced exactly grid north and then put your left hand straight out to your side it would be pointing to ninety degrees west azimuth." --Michael Kleber -- It is very dark and after 2000. If you continue you are likely to be eaten by a bleen.
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Dan Asimov -
Michael Kleber