PLEASE NOTE:
*
CCNet DIGEST, 22 January 1999
-----------------------------
(1) PLUTO WILL HAVE 'DUAL CITIZENSHIP'
BBC News Online
(2) POSSIBLE METEORITE IMPACT IN MINNESOTA
John Kalina <jkalina@uswest.net>
(3) NEAR EROTIC MOVIE
Ron Baalke <BAALKE@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov>
(4) 'SON OF STAR WARS' TARGETS ROGUE STATES' MISSILES
THE TIMES, January 22 1999
(5) LEONID MAC WORKSHOP
Peter Jenniskens <peter@max.arc.nasa.gov>
(6) REMOTE AGENT: TO BOLDLY GO WHERE NO AI SYSTEM HAS GONE BEFORE
N. Muscettola et al., NASA, AMES RES CTR
(7) RELOCATION OF CIVILIZATION CENTRES IN ANCIENT CHINA
C.Q. Duan et al., YUNNAN UNIVERSITY
===================
(1) PLUTO WILL HAVE 'DUAL CITIZENSHIP'
From The BBC News Online
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_259000/259767.stm
Pluto will have 'dual citizenship'
By BBC News Online Science Editor Dr David Whitehouse
Pluto's status as a planet seems safe following calls that it is
not a
true planet and should be downgraded.
The argument is that Pluto, discovered in 1930, is so small and
out of
place in its distant orbit around the Sun that it cannot be
classified
as a proper planet.
Instead, it should be viewed as the largest member of a recently
discovered swarm of objects orbiting the Sun in deep space.
But Gareth Williams at the Minor Planet Centre in Massachusetts,
which
has the responsibility for cataloguing the orbits of solar system
objects, says that the idea is not to demote Pluto but to give it
"dual
citizenship".
Pluto, he says, should be a planet and the leading member of this
new
group of objects.
New objects
Since the discovery of minor planet Ceres in 1801 astronomers
have
found thousands of minor planets orbiting the Sun, chiefly
between the
orbits of Mars and Jupiter but increasingly in other parts of the
solar
system.
Since 1992 small objects, made of rock and ice up to a few
hundred
kilometres in size, have been found orbiting at a great distance
from
the Sun. These are the so-called Trans Neptunian Objects (TNOs).
At the current rate of asteroid discovery, number 10,000 will
come any
day now. This being the case, some astronomers say there is an
obvious
breakpoint that would allow the TNOs to be numbered.
As I understand it, the plan is to make Pluto asteroid number
10,000
and the first TNO, previously designated 1992 QB1 could be called
Asteroid 10,001.
Reaching asteroid 10,000 does lend itself to ceremony,
particularly as
the Minor Planet Centre has traditionally arranged a celebration
every
1000 asteroids. According to Brian Marsden, director of the Minor
Planet Centre, this would be a wonderful ceremonial gesture.
Odd planet
This dual classification for Pluto underlies its remarkable
nature.
Many times in the past there have been calls for the
reclassification
of Pluto - now it seems more so than ever.
According to Johannes Andersen, president [general secretary,
BJP] of
the International Astronomical Union, the body that names
celestial
objects, we need a better definition of a planet than an object
that
the ancients saw moving in the sky.
Astronomer Nevile [Mark, BJP] Kidger says that for some time now
it has
become obvious that the outer solar system needs to be tidied up.
This
is partly because there are a whole sub-class of TNOs with
similar
orbits which are called - Plutinos - little Plutos - which, it
seems,
are similar to their big brother in all but their size.
But of the known TNOs, Pluto is still about a factor of 100
more
massive than any other, apart from its satellite Charon and
Charon is,
by far, the second largest known TNO.
Stay with me
It is likely that Pluto and Charon make up more than 50% of the
mass of
all the TNOs found to date.
Even so, Nevile [Mark] Kidger says the reasons for down-grading
Pluto
are fairly convincing. It is now known that the mass of Pluto is
only
about one fifth of the mass of the Moon and, as such, it is very
hard
to claim that Pluto really is a planet.
On the other hand there is the view that Pluto's mass is ten or
more
times the mass of Ceres, the largest asteroid.
Simply put, Pluto's claim to be a proper planet can be summed up
by
saying that it is spherical, and if it were orbiting the Sun near
to
the Earth there would be no doubt that it was a planet.
Members of the IAU have been expressing their opinions on Pluto's
status. According to Johannes Andersen there have been several
votes
with no clear-cut result.
Whatever the outcome it seems clear that Pluto is a special type
of
object, which may well deserve a special status.
Copyright 1999, BBC
=======================
(2) POSSIBLE METEORITE IMPACT IN MINNESOTA
From John Kalina <jkalina@uswest.net>
[as posted on the meteorite-list]
I caught the tail end of a local TV news cast of a possible fall
in
west central Minnesota. Seems it landed on a lake, or lakes
smashing a
hole (2-4 ft.dia) through the ice in at least one area. It
happened on
atwater and foot lake near the town of Willmar. More information
can be
had at www.startribune.com
or www.pioneerplanet.com
Maybe another
false alarm.
------------------
From PIONEER PLANET, 21 January 1999
http://www.pioneerplanet.com/docs/0121mystery.htm
Roar, hole through ice leaves Atwater residents wondering about
meteorite
ATWATER, Minn. (AP) -- An unusual hole in the ice of a lake,
discovered after an early dawn roar in the sky, is leaving
authorities in this west-central Minnesota town wondering if it
was
caused by a meteorite.
A woman reported that after the roar rattled windows in her
senior
citizen apartment complex Sunday, she stumbled out of bed, peered
out
the window and noticed a dark hole in the ice of Tadd Lake.
Atwater Police Chief Reed Schmidt said the woman was reluctant to
report the incident and insisted on remaining anonymous lest her
friends found out and questioned her sensibilities (sic).
Schmidt thinks the 2- to 3-foot hole was caused by an object that
plummeted from the sky and has called a geologist for advice.
He said it doesn't appear the object was a piece from an
airplane. He
said the object must have been very hot when it landed because it
left
no crash impact on the ice but made an "unusual
imprint."
He said the level area of open water in the small lake has a
"beautiful
star-shaped pattern" around the edges.
Atwater Fire Chief Greg Tauer said he was not very curious about
the
mystery object until he saw the hole in the ice.
"Something from the sky made it," he said. "How
did it get there? What
caused it? We want to find out what it is."
Tauer said unless somebody objects, divers from the Atwater Fire
Department are scheduled to dive into the hole at 1 p.m.
Saturday.
"It's driving me crazy wondering what's there and not be
able to see
it," Schmidt said. "But if it's something that's
valuable for them
(geologists), I don't want to mess up their possibilities of
finding
it."
Copyright 1999, AP
=====================
(3) NEAR EROTIC MOVIE
From Ron Baalke <BAALKE@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov>
NEAR's Eros Flyby Movie
MPEG Movie (2.3 MB)
http://near.jhuapl.edu/iod/000/index.html
This movie shows the asteroid Eros as seen from the Near Earth
Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft on December 23, 1998, when
NEAR
flew within 2320 miles (3830 kilometers) of the asteroid. Eros, a
very elongated, cratered object about 18 by 8 miles (30 by 14
kilometers) across, is seen rotating with a period of just over 5
hours.
The movie shows about two-thirds of a rotation of Eros. The first
view, taken at 10:44 AM EST from a range of 7150 miles (11,890
km),
shows about half of the dayside of Eros (phase angle 87°). The
movie
ends at 2:05 PM EST, just after closest approach, when only a
tiny
portion of the dayside of Eros is seen (phase angle 119°).
During the
movie, the spacecraft's view of the asteroid changed
dramatically. As
is the case with most asteroids, Eros is rotating uniformly about
a
fixed axis, and is not tumbling randomly through space.
A firing of NEAR's main engine at 5 PM EST December 20, designed
to
match the spacecraft's velocity with Eros's for insertion into
orbit
around the asteroid, was aborted by the spacecraft. Contact with
ground controllers was temporarily lost, but was regained at 8
PM EST December 21 when autonomous spacecraft safety protocols
took
over and transmitted a signal to the ground. All spacecraft
systems
were determined to be healthy and operational. Within hours, a
flyby
observation sequence was developed and uploaded to the
spacecraft.
1026 images were acquired by the multispectral imager, to
determine
the size, shape, morphology, rotational state, and color
properties
of Eros, and to search for small moons. The infrared spectrometer
measured spectral properties of the asteroid to determine what
minerals are present, and the magnetometer searched for a natural
magnetic field. Analysis of the spacecraft radio signal during
the
flyby yields bounds on the asteroid's mass and density.
The main engine was fired successfully on January 3, 1999,
placing
NEAR on-course for a February 2000 rendezvous. Eros is NEAR's
second
asteroid encountered. On June 27, 1997, NEAR flew by the
main-belt
asteroid Mathilde at a range of 1212 kilometers (750 miles).
=====================
(4) 'SON OF STAR WARS' TARGETS ROGUE STATES' MISSILES
From THE TIMES, January 22 1999
http://www.sunday-times.co.uk:80/news/pages/Times/frontpage.html?1617548
'Son of Star Wars' targets rogue states' missiles
From Ian Brodie in Washington
IN A major shift of American policy, the Clinton Administration
has
decided to develop a "Son of Star Wars" defence against
missile attacks
by North Korea and other rogue nations.
President Clinton has written to President Yeltsin asking to
renegotiate the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, a bedrock of early
arms
control agreements, so that America can build a limited national
system
of missile defences.
Initial reaction from Moscow was discouraging. China also raised
objections. But in Washington, William Cohen, the Secretary of
Defence,
said that if Russia would not agree to changes, America had the
option
of simply withdrawing from the treaty on six months' notice.
The Administration will request $10.5 billion (£6.4 billion)
from
Congress over the next six years for the research, testing and
building of the new anti-missile defence system. "We cannot
afford to
fail," Mr Cohen said. Washington's concerns were aroused
initially by
a government commission that issued a warning of the rapid spread
of
missile technology to such countries as North Korea, Iraq and
Iran.
The caution was underlined dramatically last August when North
Korea
launched a three-stage rocket called Taepo-Dong I that
demonstrated a
potential for reaching the US mainland. "This is not an
abstract,
theoretical threat," said the Pentagon's top officer,
General Hugh
Shelton, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Rather, it was a
real
threat that would pose a danger not only to American troops
overseas,
but also to Americans at home.
In 1983, former President Reagan launched his Stars Wars
programme to
build a national shield against Soviet missile attack. The
project cost
$40 billion but never came close to reality. The concept of
dozens of
missiles in space that could instantly intercept Soviet ICBMs was
a
technical and software challenge that American scientists could
not
crack. The new plan is modest by comparison. It envisages
satellite
sensors to spot the exhaust of hostile missile launches
immediately
after lift-off, but the interceptor missiles will be based on
Earth,
not in space.
The network of early-warning radars - in Alaska, California and
Massachusetts - would track the flight path of any incoming
missile.
Interceptors travelling at 25,000mph would home in on the missile
and
destroy it by firing small rockets.
Copyright 1999, Times Newspapers Ltd.
=====================
(5) LEONID MAC WORKSHOP
From Peter Jenniskens <peter@max.arc.nasa.gov>
Please provide the information below to other interested parties.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT
1. LEONID MAC WORKSHOP
April 12-15, 1999
NASA/Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, California
INVITATION
You are cordially invited to participate in an international
workshop
at NASA/Ames Research Center to discuss the recent Leonid
observing
campaigns.
The Leonid meteor shower has offered unprecedented opportunity to
address outstanding issues in Planetary Astronomy, Astrobiology,
and
the dynamics of the upper atmosphere.
This workshop aims to bring that science in focus, make a
tally of
observational data from the recent November 1998 observing
campaign,
and make recommendations for the next campaign in November 1999.
In particular, the workshop will discuss the first results from
the
Leonid Multi-Instrument Aircraft Campaign and related
ground-based
efforts.
ABSTRACT AND REGISTRATION DEADLINE
- Abstracts are due: March 1, 1999
- Registration: February 20
for foreign nationals
March 1 for US nationals
Automatic registration and submission of abstracts is available
at:
http://leonid.arc.nasa.gov/workshops/
More information: peter@max.arc.nasa.gov
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Preliminary program:
The meeting will be held in the ballroom of the NASA/ARC
Training Center at Moffett Field, California.
Monday April 12
09:00-12:00 Session on the role of meteors in creating the
conditions
for life s origin on Earth
Related issues: Astrobiology, atmospheric and surface
conditions on the
early Earth, formation of planetesimals.
14:00-17:00 Session on comet grain ejection and meteoroid
stream
dynamics
Related issues: the activity of the shower in 1998, Leonid
meteoroid
influx, size distributions, and the satellite impact hazard.
17:00-18:00 News conference
17:00-20:00 Poster session and wine/cheese and buffet
Tuesday April 13
09:00-12:00 Session on meteoroid composition and ablation
Related issues: morphology and wake of meteoroids, organic
matter in
IDPs, organic matter on planetary surfaces, composition of
comets,
evaporation of silicates in proto-planetary environments.
14:00-17:00 Session on meteor-induced atmospheric chemistry
Related issues: meteor physics, shock and impact chemistry,
flash
pyrolysis of organic matter, upper atmosphere composition and
chemistry.
18:00-21:00 Group dinner
Invited presentation: "meteors and sprites"
Wednesday April 14
09:00-12:00 Session on physics and chemistry of neutral atom
debris
and particles
Related issues: implications for the dynamics of the upper
atmosphere, sprites, meteoric signature of stratosphere aerosols,
the
ozone problem, and iron catalysis of precursor molecules for
life.
14:00-17:00 Plans and coordination for November 1999 Leonid
MAC and
ground-based campaigns in the form of presentation
reflecting past
campaign and future plans (including presentations of capacity
available airborne platforms) followed by working sessions along
themes above
Thursday April 15
05:0-13:00 Site seeing tour
- balloon tour over Napa valley to commemorate historic balloon
flight
in 1870 that viewed meteor shower above clouds
2. LEONID THREAT CONFERENCE
If you have not done so, do not forget to register for the Leonid
Meteor
Storm and Satellite Threat Conference in Manhattan Beach, CA,
which is held between May 11-13, 1999. The conference focusses on
aspects of meteoroids and their effects on spacecraft.
Further information:
http://www.aero.org/conferences/leonid/
Peter Jenniskens
The SETI
Institute
e-mail: peter@max.arc.nasa.gov
NASA Ames Research
Center
tel: (650) 604-3086
Mail Stop
239-4
fax: (650) 604-1088
Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000
http://www-space.arc.nasa.gov/~leonid/
e-mail (attachments): pjenniskens@mail.arc.nasa.gov
==============================
(6) REMOTE AGENT: TO BOLDLY GO WHERE NO AI SYSTEM HAS GONE BEFORE
N. Muscettola*), P.P. Nayak, B. Pell, B.C. Williams: Remote
Agent: to
boldly go where no AI system has gone before. ARTIFICIAL
INTELLIGENCE,
1998, Vol.103, No.1-2, pp.5-47
*) NASA,AMES RES CTR,MS 269-2,MOFFETT FIELD,CA,94035
Renewed motives for space exploration have inspired NASA to work
toward the goal of establishing a virtual presence in space,
through
heterogeneous fleets of robotic explorers. Information
technology,
and Artificial Intelligence in particular, will play a central
role
in this endeavor by endowing these explorers with a form of
computational intelligence that we call remote agents. In this
paper
we describe the Remote Agent, a specific autonomous agent
architecture based on the principles of model-based programming,
on-board deduction and search, and goal-directed closed-loop
commanding, that takes a significant step toward enabling this
future. This architecture addresses the unique characteristics of
the
spacecraft domain that require highly reliable autonomous
operations
over long periods of time with tight deadlines, resource
constraints,
and concurrent activity among tightly coupled subsystems. The
Remote
Agent integrates constraint-based temporal planning and
scheduling,
robust multi-threaded execution, and model-based mode
identification
and reconfiguration. The demonstration of the integrated system
as an
on-board controller for Deep Space One, NASA's first New
Millennium
mission, is scheduled for a period of a week in mid 1999. The
development of the Remote Agent also provided the opportunity to
reassess some of Al's conventional wisdom about the challenges of
implementing embedded systems, tractable reasoning, and knowledge
representation. We discuss these issues, and our often contrary
experiences, throughout the paper. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier
Science B.V.
================
(7) RELOCATION OF CIVILIZATION CENTRES IN ANCIENT CHINA
C.Q. Duan*), X.C. Gan, J. Wang, P.K. Chien: Relocation of
civilization
centers in ancient China: Environmental factors. AMBIO, 1998,
Vol.27,
No.7, pp.572-575
*) YUNNAN UNIVERSITY,DEPT BIOL,KUNMING 650091,YUNNAN,PEOPLES R
CHINA
China is a country with a long history of civilization. Its
civilization centers re-located from the plains of the lower
and middle reaches of the Yellow River to the basin of the lower
watershed of the Yangtze River. This paper analyzes the
ecological
environmental background of the changes of the civilization
centers
established in the main dynasties and regimes in ancient China,
in
which the dynamics of population, farmland, forest, and natural
disasters for each period are emphasized. The relationship
between
environmental degradation, wars, and social development cycles,
are
also discussed. The results show that anthropogenic environmental
impact was one of the decisive contributing factors leading to
the
relocation of the centers of civilization in ancient China. It is
suggested that the rise and fall of ancient civilizations in
China and
other countries provide modern societies with important lessons
for environmental protection.
----------------------------------------
THE CAMBRIDGE-CONFERENCE NETWORK (CCNet)
----------------------------------------
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contact the moderator Benny J Peiser at <b.j.peiser@livjm.ac.uk>.
Information circulated on this network is for scholarly and
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*
LETTERS TO THE MODERATOR
------------------------
(1) WHAT DEFINES A PLANET?
David Hughes <d.hughes@Sheffield.ac.uk>
(2) NOT EVERY STAR THAT WANDERS IS A PLANET
Duncan Steel <dis@a011.aone.net.au>
(3) SYDNEY TSUNAMI IN 1867?
Michael Paine <mpaine@tpgi.com.au>
(4) A QUESTION ON COSMIC IMPACTS & THE PERUVIAN NAZCA LINES
Steve Zoraster <szz@zycor.lgc.com>
(5) HITTITE MYTHOLOGY & CHRISTIAN BELIEF
Gene Milone <milone@ucalgary.ca>
(6) SCOPE OF THE PEISERGRAMS
Jeremy B. Tatum <UNIVERSE@UVVM.UVic.CA>
======================
(1) WHAT DEFINES A PLANET?
From David Hughes <d.hughes@Sheffield.ac.uk>
Dear Benny,
What defines a planet ?
This is a typical question that I ask my first-year astronomy
students,
and I hope that they are going to think physics/ chemistry before
answering. So at the back of their mind they have ideas like
position,
mass, composition, luminosity, age, and so on. Most of these
qualities
are unimportant but, in very strict order we have
(1) position: a planet is on an independent orbit around a
star.
I think the words 'independent' and 'star' are very important. So
Ceres
was quickly demoted, in the early 19th century, to the status of
'minor
planet' not only because it was a mere 930 km across, but also
because
it was found to be just one of a huge family of objects on
similar
orbits.
Pluto is not only small but is also just one of a large
collection of
objects that are caught in a 2:3 resonance with Neptune. So Pluto
started down the slippery slope from planethood in 1978 when
Charon was
discover and accelerated on its way as more and more
Kuiper-Edgeworth
objects joined the catalogues. It goes without saying that
Ganymede,
Titan and Triton are not planets, simply because they are not
orbiting
the Sun.
(2) mass:
(a) A planet is less massive than a star.
Here we start our first argument because I usually choose a limit
of about 1/50 the mass of the sun as the upper dividing line. So
planets are objects that have never had any hint of nuclear
fusion in
their central regions, and are less massive than brown dwarf
stars.
(b) a planet is more massive than a minor planet.
Here again one tends to be somewhat arbitrary but I think a
dividing
line at about 1/25 the mass of Earth is about right. So Mercury,
at
1/18 the mass of Earth has few problems.
Getting back to Pluto, my money is on 'escaped satellite'. I put
it in
the same group as the large rocky-icy bodies such as Ganymede,
Titan,
Triton etc. But please don't ask me how it got away from Neptune,
or
when the primary body tor itself apart to form the Pluto-Charon
binary. I just do not know.
Jeremy Tatum is being somewhat disingenuous in asking the term
'planet'
to be defined without reference to objects that have been called
'planet' in the past. We all know that Earth, Jupiter, Saturn etc
are
planets, because that is the term we have always applied to them.
The
word is Greek for wandering star, and this is just what out
ancesters
thought they were. As far as I am concerned Pluto is not a
planet,
simply because it is not similar enough to the objects like
Earth,
Jupiter, Saturn etc.
All the best,
Dr David W. Hughes.
===================
(2) NOT EVERY STAR THAT WANDERS IS A PLANET
From Duncan Steel <dis@a011.aone.net.au>
Dear Benny,
Jeremy Tatum quite correctly writes, in connection with the
furore over
the status of Pluto, that "the word 'planet' has to be
defined".
The word is derived from an ancient Greek term meanings
'wanderer'. To
those people (and, more significantly, to the Middle Eastern
civilizations) the 'wanderers' were the seven visible PLANETS (by
this definition): Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, MOON and
SUN.
It was through reinforcement between the Jewish seven-day sabbath
cycle
and the astrological planetary week (those SEVEN planets) that
our
present seven-day week came about, through an evolutionary
process
occurring between about 600-100 BC. The ascendancy of the
seven-day
over the Roman eight-day week (the nundinae) came later, starting
from
the onset of the Roman era in Egypt and culminating in
Constantine the
Great's edit of AD 312 that it was appropriate that one day in
seven
be set aside for rest and worship.
I will not advertize my book again here (but it's all in there!)
Leaving that aside, it is clear that the meaning of the word
'planet'
has changed. We have excluded the Sun and the Moon from that
group.
Thus there is a precedent for altering the implicit meaning of
the term
AND the composition of the group of objects so encompassed. Do
not
interpret that, though, as necessarily implying that I support
the
notion of 'downgrading' Pluto.
Duncan Steel
==========================
(3) SYDNEY TSUNAMI IN 1867?
From Michael Paine <mpaine@tpgi.com.au>
Dear Benny,
Re: A Tunguska-type event in 1867? (CC Digest 19 Jan 1999)
I share Rob McNaught's skepticism about the 1867 Nepean River
flood
being caused by an impact-generated tsunami. The Nepean River has
a
large catchment which includes the Blue Mountains to the west of
Sydney.
It then meadanders across the low plains around Penrith (some
40km
inland) before passing through the Hawesbury River gorges and
reaching
the ocean north of Sydney. The topography is therefore conducive
to
severe flooding around Penrith - and it happens every few
decades. I
would think rainfall records around 1867 would settle the issue
by
showing there was exceptionally high rainfall in the Nepean
catchment at
the time of the flood.
Some points of interest are:
*For a tsunami to reach that far inland it would need to be at
least
100m high at the coast - as Rob has pointed out, such a tsunami
would
have certainly been noticed by Sydneysiders!
*Even a 10m tsunami at the coast is highly unlikely. I estimate
that a
Tunguska-size event (around 10 to 20 Mt TNT) would need to impact
within 100km of the coast in order to cause a 10m tsunami
(assuming a
tsunami run-up factor between 10 and 20) - an atmospheric
explosion so
close to Sydney would certainly have been noticed.
* The work of Ted Bryant and colleagues at the University of
Wollongong
suggests that the south coast of New South Wales was hit by a
large
tsunami in the early 1700s, just before white settlement. The
cause of
this tsunami is unknown but does not seem to be impact-related
(it is
however, a clear reminder that the east coast of Australia is
vulnerable to tsunami and therefore is at greater risk from
impacts
than inland locations).
* If an exceptionally high rainfall is found to be the cause of
the
1867 flood (coincidentally, torrential rain is falling in Sydney
as I
type this email!) then consideration should be given to the
possibility
that this was impact related. Even though a Tunguska-style event
over
an ocean now seems unlikely to be the cause of significant
tsunami it
still might cause regional or even global weather perturbations.
Evidence of recent impacts will need to be gleaned from many
sources
and Timo Niroma is doing a great job in this respect. He quite
clearly
put the Australian tsunami hypothesis forward as speculation only
and
the outcome does not affect the main issue - the possibility of
an
impact event in 1867 deserves greater study.
(see http://www1.tpgi.com.au/users/tps-seti/spacegd7.html
for tsunami
information and calculations).
Michael Paine
New South Wales Coordinator
The Planetary Society Australian Volunteer Coordinators
===================
(4) A QUESTION ON COSMIC IMPACTS & THE PERUVIAN NAZCA LINES
From Steve Zoraster <szz@zycor.lgc.com>
Dr. Peiser:
One question. Has anyone thougth about a possible relationship
between
those very large figures marked off on the ground in the Andes,
which
can only be viewed in full from an airplane, and cosmic impacts?
I
suddenly started thinking that those figures might be roughly
equivalent to people in the 20th century putting a red cross on a
hospital ship; what they are trying to say is, "Hey,
there are people
down here. Whoever is up there bombarding us, please stop!"
Steven Zoraster
====================
(5) HITTITE MYTHOLOGY & CHRISTIAN BELIEF
From Gene Milone <milone@ucalgary.ca>
All well and good, but (considering one of your minor asides),
Christians do not consider 'heaven' a myth, unless you are
including an
Anglican bishop or two. If you mean to be pejorative here, that
is your
privilege, but it scarcely helps make your case.
Cheers,
- gene milone
-------
MODERATOR'S NOTE: It's difficult enough for astronomers to define
what
a 'planet' is. Can I kindly ask list members to refrain from
debating
the meaning of 'heaven'. Let's stick to observable things, shall
we?
==================
(6) SCOPE OF THE PEISERGRAMS
From Jeremy B. Tatum <UNIVERSE@UVVM.UVic.CA>
All of us, I think, must be very grateful to Benny Peiser and
appreciative of the huge efforts he must put in to provide us
with the
fascinating daily peisergrams.
However...
When they first began to appear they were mostly of rather more
specialized interest to those who were engaged in research on
asteroids, meteors or impacts. Gradually the scope has
expanded
to take in more and more topics, many not remotely related to the
the original field or not even related to astronomy. We
have politics,
science fiction, alien space-travellers being zapped by gamma-ray
bursters, and a whole bunch of stuff like that. I find more and
more
these days that I am pressing the ERASE key on my computer the
moment
the peisergrams arrive; there is simply too much material,
much of it
only marginally scientific or even pseudoscientific, and there
simply
is not time to wade through it all.
I wonder if other of Benny's loyal customers feel that way and
would
welcome a return to a more focussed topic.
Jeremy B. Tatum
-------
MODERATOR'S NOTE: I plan to conduct an e-mail survey in early
February
in order to find out what list members think about the current
CCNet
and possible changes to its format. In the meantime may I point
out
that the areas of research interest and scientific topics
discussed on
the CCNet are still the same as those listed some two years ago:
* The British School of Coherent Catastrophism
* Punctuated Evolution and the Mass Extinctions Debate
* Historical Catastrophism & Civilisation Collapse
* Cosmic Impacts and the Origins of Life
* Assessing the Impact Hazard
* Towards Planetary Defense & a Planetary Civilisation
* The social and cultural Implications of Neo-Catastrophism on
Science, Philosophy & Religion
That's quite a long list, I agree, but I haven't even mentioned
football which crops up from time to time - and that despite the
looming Manchester United vs. Liverpool match on Sunday.....