ORV'S "Bits & Pieces"

DARK SKY GUY

ORV'S "Bits & Pieces"

By Orv "Orion" Hunter

It’s Time

One thing astronomers have to study is time – and plenty of it. It is said, "the purpose of time is to prevent everything from happening all at once". If this was a perfect universe, in human terms, time would be the same everywhere all at once. Observations over millennia show that time is almost elastic in its properties.

Strong gravity fields can slow the tick tock of granddad’s well oiled clock down without missing a beat.

When astronomers talk about a time period it could mean volumes of explaining. Here are just a few examples.

A Day: Mean sidereal (equinox to equinox) = 86,164.092 seconds

Mean Rotational (fixed star to fixed star) = 86,164.100 seconds

Day (d) = 86,400 seconds

Mean Solar = 86,400.001 seconds

A Month: Draconian (Node to Node) = 27.212212 days

Tropical (equinox to equinox) = 27.321582 days

Sidereal (fixed star to fixed star) = 27.321662 days

Anomalistic (perigee to Perigee) = 27.554550 days

Synodic (New Moon to New Moon) = 29.530589 days

A Year: Eclipse (lunar node to lunar node) = 364.620075 days

Tropical (equinox to equinox) = 365.242190 days

Average Gregorian = 365.2425 days

Average Julian = 365.25 days

Sidereal (fixed star to fixed star) = 365.256363 days

Anomalistic (perihelion to perihelion) = 365.295635 days

Enough is enough! Chances are you’ll use only one or two values from each category as a star gazer. However Earth atomic clocks are so accurate they are only off by one second in thousands of years! Well, I am going outside and check out my sundial . . .

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MORE ABOUT THE OLD MASTERS

By Orv "Orion" Hunter

Just because we reside in the Twenty-First Century does not mean we have achieved superiority over all our predecessors. Believe it, some of the past genius of astronomy is still used to measure modern day phenomenon. For instance, the enigma of black holes. Modern astronomers still can use Newtonian and Keplerian mathematics to measure the mass of black holes.

Since Albert Einstein shows us that mass and energy are equivalent we can reason this a truth that holds even today. If you are interested in just straight forward arithmetic here is an example . . .We know that Mass is proportional to P X V³(A combination of Kepler & Newton laws) Where P = period of the a rotating companion star around a black hole. And V = Km/Sec.

Here is a real example:

Observed – B.H. A0620 has a period .32 days (7.68 Hrs) and a velocity of 450 Km/Sec. We can compare it to our Sun the period is 365 days and a velocity of 30 Km/Sec. The comparison is a simple ratio of the two massive bodies.

M(A0620) = P X V³ When you do the pencil work you will get an M(Sun) = P X V³ of approximately 3. That means the BH A0620 is 3 Sun Masses.

That’s it - now go out and observe some black holes and companion stars and do your own math. It is that easy.

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WHY IS OUR MOON MOVING AWAY?

By Orv Hunter

Recently, I read we are losing our Moon; that event would be disastrous to our Earth as we know it. Well, even though the Moon is departing from us at the rate of 3.8 cm/year.(a bit over a 1 ½ inches) there is a reason. The idea of the Moon retreating was proposed by Charles Darwin’s son, Sir George Darwin, back a century or so ago.

All this has been proven recently by laser beams, automobile type reflectors and simple natural mechanics. We know our planet rotates in an eastward direction – therefore the lagging land masses and oceans are out of sync with the speed of rotation – maybe by ten degrees. The eastern Asian oceans are therefore higher than US western oceans. The Moon’s tug on the oceans and land masses attempt to equalize or remain opposite. (Are you still with me?)

This discrepancy causes a boost to the Moon’s orbital speed, hence the distance between the two orbs increases. However, not to worry, we’ll lose the Sun, Earth, Moon and some inner planets within the next five billion years. Just make sure you pay your insurance premiums.

THE OLD MASTERS

WERE NOT AMATEURS

By Orv "Orion" Hunter

Often, we think of the old masters as geniuses of crude methods. For instance, some of the worlds most famous portraits done by old painting masters of the renaissance period were done with clever optical tricks and the painter would fill in the color and texture at a later time after a model’s poised setting. This was a well kept secret for generations.

In astronomy, old masters like Tycho Brahe had his secrets of observation too. Some never revealed, even by his assistant and more widely know master, Johannes Kepler who did reveal Tycho’s observations in mathematical form.

A contemporary observationist, of Kepler, Galileo Galilei more outspoken and famous in his various fields of engineering, mathematics, mechanics and astronomy used one of the most primitive devices of all, part of his own body to take measurements. At least one great observer of the pre Dark Age era, Eratosthenes of Cyrene measured the circumference of the earth with just a couple of sticks, shadows and a known distance.

Galileo went one step further when he devised the laws of the motion of pendulums. He would attend the obligatory church services in Pisa beneath a long lamp suspended from the ceiling by a long chain. Knowing the motion of the earth had something to do with its movement. Galileo precisely measure its time period and developed his laws of pendulum motions. Unfortunately, he had no wrist watch, clock, nor sand hour glass. Then how could he time his experiment so precisely? He simply used his own pulse for time intervals!

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Sometimes surprises are better than firm commitments. In May 2000 I planned a trip to Arizona to visit the Kitt Peak Observatory, near Tucson. In fact all my Andromeda Society associates were expecting information from me about that site. As yet, I haven't been there.

Upon arriving at a friend’s home in Green Valley, Arizona, my wife and I were told that a reservation had been made for us at the Fred L. Whipple Observatory on nearby Mount Hopkins. Though not having visited many observatories around the country, I was familiar with some of the astronomy work at this site.

Our friends directed us to read the headlines of the local newspapers for the past week to get the full impact of what was going on at Mt. Hopkins. A series of articles ran for five days in the local paper.

One of the newest and best telescopes in the world was being put into place within a few miles of Green Valley as a joint project of the Smithsonian Institute, University of Arizona and MIT. The project was the installation of a new 6.5-meter (21-ft) MMT (Multi Mirror Telescope). In addition to the new primary mirror there were the six multiple mirrors in the existing framework, hence the acronym MMT. It is like having a racing engine put into a Model "T" chassis.

The newest primary mirror made several "firsts." It was the first mirror of its size to be spun cast, the first to be coated in place and first to be re-coated while still in place. The precision of the surface of the mirror is so exact that if the mirror were the size of the United States the worst error would be about an inch off the surface. When the telescope is fully operational, which will be very soon, astronomers will be able to peer billions of light years into the universe. Already some preliminary test and results show amazing results. The quality of the telescope will surpass the HST (Hubble Space Telescope) and at a fraction of the cost due to being earth based.

Putting the 6.5-Meter instrument into operation saves more than twenty million dollars, rather than starting from scratch. Furthermore, the cost of construction was far less than HST. The costs are paid by the U S Government, Universities and private donations. If you would like more information on the telescope and its operation I will supply an address for you upon request.

Cheers & Clear Skies