March 2006 - Utah-Astronomy - mailman.xmission.com

Re: Science Fair
by Chuck Hards 09 Mar '06

09 Mar '06

Guy, it's not the kid's fault. Remember that firearms are not permitted on school district property, except when carried by a peace officer... > From: diveboss(a)xmission.com > Boring... > > > Quoting Chuck Hards <chuckhards(a)yahoo.com>: > > > It was more sling shots, trebuchet and ballista, > than > > anything using gunpowder. Sorry Guy! __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Re: Science Fair
by Michael Carnes 09 Mar '06

09 Mar '06

Wait a minute Guy. Let's not pick on the trebuchet. One of the best Nova programs ever was the show where they knocked down stone walls with one. >Boring... > > >Quoting Chuck Hards <chuckhards(a)yahoo.com>: > >> It was more sling shots, trebuchet and ballista, than >> anything using gunpowder. Sorry Guy! >

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Re: Science Fair
by Chuck Hards 09 Mar '06

09 Mar '06

It was more sling shots, trebuchet and ballista, than anything using gunpowder. Sorry Guy! > From: diveboss(a)xmission.com > Ballistics huh??? Were there any demonstrations? __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Science Fair
by Michael Carnes 09 Mar '06

09 Mar '06

One thing to keep in mind, Joe. The earth has been busy sequestering atmospheric carbon since at least the Permian era. That sequestering takes the form of coal, petroleum, natural gas and methane hydrate (in the deep oceans). Humanity has been busy releasing all of that carbon (by burning fossil fuels) and has undone the work of hundreds of millions of years in just a couple of centuries. How can that not have a significant effect? It is certainly true that the sun's luminosity fluctuates over time. Precession and changes in earth's magnetic field may cause climate change as do movements of the tectonic plates. But humanity's denial of its own part has more to do with discomfort at what lies ahead. A large and increasing number of scientists (especially those not being financed by the extraction industry) are convinced that we play a noticeable role in these changes. > My son >and I have been politely disagreeing about that for a while. I >maintain global warming is occurring and that probably we have >something to do with it -- but it's been warming since the end of the >Pleistocene and our contribution may be minor. He takes the position >we're to blame. Thanks, Joe >

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Science Fair/global warming
by Kim 09 Mar '06

09 Mar '06

Chuck, may I add my congratulations to your daughter and you? How well were your daughter's conclusions received by her teachers, fellow students, and other parents who took the time to see her presentation? I've long been concerned about global warming, but only from a lay person's perspective. I had one science teacher in junior high school (oh so long ago) who scared the heck out of me with what he knew at that time. I've read a lot in popular science journals such as Scientific American, National Geographic and S&T over the years that has, for me, only confirmed my worst fears. I've been baffled by how woefully inadequate has been the response by persons in responsible places (read: GOVERNMENT). And, almost I hate to bring it up again, but the George Bush administration has been downright hostile to science on this front, especially. One doesn't even need an average IQ to know why, but when will the world oil barons' interests stop driving our collective response to the problem? I've been watching for nearly 40 years and I've only become more discouraged. Sorry folks, I guess the gloomy weather has dampened my normally high spirits today. Kim

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Re: Science Fair
by Chuck Hards 09 Mar '06

09 Mar '06

Thanks for the congrats, Joe. The data clearly shows an abrubt increase in temperature starting about 70 or 80 years ago, and is increasing at an alarming rate- the curve is approaching a very steep slope when plotted. This data is easily obtainable on-line from a number of sources. Undoubtedly there are natural, long-term temperature variations, but greenhouse gas production due to man-made sources is increasing out of all proportion to natural sources and appears to be swamping any natural cycles. We're not talking about gradual increases over geologic time-scales, but rapid increases over a single lifetime. Her conclusion was that even though an increasingly smaller segment of the scientific community feels that it is not proven that global temperature increases are due to man-made causes, current data strongly indicates it, and prudence dictates that we should endeavor to eliminate, as much as possible, any man-made contributions to greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, while continuing to study the effect. The effects are just too catastrophic to not make the effort. Melting of glacial and polar ice means loss of coastal habitat for large human populations, increased severity and frequency of hurricanes and other storms, large-scale desertification due to alteration of rainfall patterns-food production will be affected for increasingly more vast areas. I was on the fence myself, but after seeing her data I'm convinced that industrialization has had a major effect on global temperatures. The other thing to realize is that a small difference in average temperatures can apparently have a disproportionate effect on environment, in terms of precipitation, cloud cover (bad for astronomy), etc. The greenhouse effect can be self-reinforcing from only a small "nudge"- and what you can end up with is a planet like Venus- 700-degree F temperatures. Looking at the data was the real eye-opener for me. I now think your son's position is closer to the truth than yours. Our contribution has swamped the natural trend within the last century. > From: Joe Bauman <bau(a)desnews.com> > Congrats, Chuck. What did she conclude about global > warming? My son > and I have been politely disagreeing about that for > a while. I > maintain global warming is occurring and that > probably we have > something to do with it -- but it's been warming > since the end of the > Pleistocene and our contribution may be minor. He > takes the position > we're to blame. Thanks, Joe __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Re: Re: Photograph of North Pole Sunrise-Moonset
by Chuck Hards 07 Mar '06

07 Mar '06

Kurt, what's Roche's limit for a lunar-sized mass in earth orbit? Could it even get that close in one piece? Or would it be "ring time"? > From: Canopus56 <canopus56(a)yahoo.com> > Clearly not authentic - unless the Moon suddenly > rushed up to about 50,000km anyway - and then rushed > back to usual orbital position at around 384,000km > distant - without anybody noticing. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Re: Photograph of North Pole Sunrise-Moonset
by Chuck Hards 07 Mar '06

07 Mar '06

-not to mention catastrophicaly extreme tides! There goes New Orleans, this time for good. Maybe even Kansas City! Actually, isn't this a shot of Jupiter, from Europa? ;) > From: Joe Bauman <bau(a)desnews.com> > Wow, looks like we're in for a really LOOOONG > eclipse! -- Joe __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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[Utah-astronomy] Reminder, tomorrow night (8 March), 7:30 pm, U of U, Frontiers of Science Lecture
by Richard Tenney 07 Mar '06

07 Mar '06

--- James DeGooyer <jdegooyer(a)biology.utah.edu> wrote: > Date: Mon, 6 Mar 2006 09:13:06 -0700 > To: office(a)science.utah.edu > From: James DeGooyer <jdegooyer(a)biology.utah.edu> > Subject: Frontiers of Science March 8 > CC: mortensen(a)science.utah.edu > > Dear Frontiers of Science patron: > > You are cordially invited to attend the upcoming > Frontiers of Science > lecture on Weds, March 8, 7:30 PM, featuring John W. > Valley, > professor of geology at Wisconsin-Madison. > See the official U. of U. press release at > http://www.utah.edu/unews/releases/06/feb/hades_earth.html > > Professor Valley will give a live radio interview on > KCPW 88.3 and > 105.3 FM on Weds, March 8, at 9:10 A.M. Tune-in! > > Frontiers of Science lectures are always free and > open to the public! > Mark your calendar and we'll see you there! > > -- > James R. DeGooyer > Public Relations Specialist > College of Science > 1430 E. Presidents Cir. Rm. 220 > Salt Lake City, UT 84112 > Ph. (801) 581-3124 > Fax (801) 585-3169 __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com

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Auto guider practice
by Patrick Wiggins 06 Mar '06

06 Mar '06

Astroimagers: If your hand/eye coordination is good enough to stay with this for more than a few seconds you do not need an autoguider. http://members.iinet.net.au/~pontipak/redsquare.html Good luck :-) Patrick

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