PLEASE NOTE:
*
CCNet DIGEST, 16 February 1999
------------------------------
(1) CCNet SURVEY UP-DATE
Benny J Peiser
(2) COLLISION AT 30,000km/h
BBC Online Network
(3) IN ANCIENT ICE AGES, CLUES TO CLIMATE
The New York Times
(4) MONEY AWARDED FOR SPACE LASER TESTS
MSNBC Online
(5) TRAVEL ASSISTANCE GRANTS FOR THE MINOR PLANET WORKSHOP 1999
Richard A Kowalski <bitnik@bitnik.com>
(6) STEP ASIDE: IT'S THE NET GENERATION
http://www.bookshop.co.uk/top/toppge.asp?ListKey=Tapscott&shop=1002
=================
(1) CCNet SURVEY UP-DATE
From Benny J Peiser <b.j.peiser@livjm.ac.uk>
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==================
(2) COLLISION AT 30,000km/h
From the BBC Online Network
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_279000/279839.stm
Monday, February 15, 1999
By BBC News Online Science Editor Dr David Whitehouse
Geologists prospecting for oil in the Barents Sea have stumbled
across
the largest meteorite crater ever found in Europe. It is also one
of
the largest in the world.
It was formed 150 million years ago when an asteroid, possibly
500m
across and travelling at 30,000 km/h, plunged into the sea off
the
coast of Norway.
It would have caused worldwide devastation resulting in global
climate
change and the extinction of many species.
At the site of the impact there would have been a mushroom cloud
of
superheated steam. Temperatures of over 10,000 degrees centigrade
would
have melted many tonnes of rock. Gigantic tidal waves would then
have
raced around the world from Canada to Russia.
After the initial fury, dust and other particles thrown into the
atmosphere would have created a cloud that blocked out the
sunlight
starting a "nuclear winter".
Many species not wiped out by the initial impact would have died
out
during the prolonged cold and lack of sunlight in this extended
winter.
Accidental discovery
The discovery of the crater in the Barents Sea was accidental,
following a search for potential oil and gas reservoirs.
At first geologists thought it was an ordinary salt formation or
a
submarine volcano. But Steinar Gudlauggson, from the Department
of
Geology at the University of Oslo, had suspicions that it was an
impact
crater.
Geologists looked at the data more closely and concluded that it
could
be a parallel to the Chicxulub Crater in Mexico, the imprint left
by
the meteorite which caused the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Intense deformation
The proof came after the examination of rock samples drilled from
close
to the crater. They studied 400,000 quartz grains and found they
had
been deformed by an intense, sudden shock wave.
They also found traces of the rare element iridium which is far
more
common in objects from space than on the Earth's surface.
One of the drilled rock cores, 121 m long, has been described as
a
geological gem. It is one of the few cases where both the crater
and
the dust and rock blasted out by the impact have been found and
collected. The crater rock and the debris on top therefore carry
unique
information about the impact.
Although the Earth has suffered a steady bombardment from space
over
geological time, only 160 impact craters have been identified.
The
Mjoelnir crater is only the seventh marine meteor crater found.
Most craters on land have been eroded away. This makes a
well-preserved
undersea crater particularly valuable to scientists.
Copyright 1999, BBC
=============================
(3) IN ANCIENT ICE AGES, CLUES TO CLIMATE
From The New York Times, February 16, 1999
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/021699sci-iceages.html
By WILLIAM K. STEVENS
More often than not over the last million years, the earth has
been
locked in the deep cold of ice ages.
In the frigid depths of the most recent of these glaciations,
which
lasted about 100,000 years and ended about 10,000 years ago,
great
sheets of ice buried much of Europe and North America, including
New
York, Chicago and everything to the north. In its expansion
phase, the
ice sometimes advanced so fast that it bulldozed forests in its
path.
Most experts believe the ice will come again, as surely as the
earth
turns on its axis and revolves around the sun.
It will crush cities, freeze great stretches of northern lands
and suck
up so much of the world's water that global sea levels will drop
by
hundreds of feet. In some spots, the Northeast Coast will be as
much as
100 miles east of where it is now, as it was during the last
glaciation.
People will survive just as they did then, but the warm,
salubrious,
all-too-brief interval in which civilization flowered will be
over.
The question is: When?
FULL STORY:
http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/021699sci-iceages.html
Copyright 1999, New York Yimes Newspapers Ltd.
============================
(4) MONEY AWARDED FOR SPACE LASER TESTS
From MSNBC Online
http://www.msnbc.com/news/239947.asp#BODY
WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 — The Air Force and the Pentagon’s
ballistic
missile defense shop on Tuesday announced that they were awarding
the
first portion of a $3 billion contract to research whether
space-based
lasers can shoot down long-range enemy missiles. (c) ABC
FULL STORY: http://www.msnbc.com/news/239947.asp#BODY
============================
(5) TRAVEL ASSISTANCE GRANTS FOR THE MINOR PLANET WORKSHOP 1999
From Richard A Kowalski <bitnik@bitnik.com>
The Organizing Committee of the Minor Planet Amateur-Professional
Workshop 1999 is pleased to announce the availability of Travel
Assistance Grants. These grants are intended to aid those
amateurs
from the U.S. or other countries who would not be able to attend
the
workshop without some financial assistance. The grants are
not
expected to cover all of the awardees' travel costs.
To apply for a Travel Assistance Grant, e-mail a letter of
application,
describing your current and/or planned involvement in minor
planet
research, and the abstract of a proposed contribution to the
workshop,
to: Richard Kowalski <bitnik@bitnik.com>
The application should be received no later that March 10, 1999.
The
awardees will be notified by the Organizing Committee by March
16,
1999, and grants will be disbursed at the workshop in Flagstaff.
The Organizing Committee wishes to thank the Planetary Society
and its
executive director, Dr. Louis Friedman, for the generous donation
that
has made these travel grants possible.
The Planetary Society's home page is http://www.planetary.org
The workshop's home page is http://www.bitnik.com/mp/mpapw99.html
Richard Kowalski - Chairman
==============
(6) STEP ASIDE: IT'S THE NET GENERATION
http://www.bookshop.co.uk/top/toppge.asp?ListKey=Tapscott&shop=1002
There's a new generation that is going to change the world. The
under
18s, who have grown up in a digital culture, are forming a new
group in
society who work, play, learn, and interact in a completely new
way.
Don Tapscott, chairman of the Alliance for Converging
Technologies, is
an acknowledged expert on this subject and his new book, 'Growing
Up
Digital', explores the current state and the future impact of the
Net
Generation. This new culture is here to stay, and Tapscott's book
serves as an indispensable guide for parents and corporations
alike.
http://www.bookshop.co.uk/top/toppge.asp?ListKey=Tapscott&shop=1002
----------------------------------------
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*
CCNet LETTERS, 16 February 1999
-------------------------------
(1) MINOR BODIES, MAJOR PLANETS & THE PROBLEM OF
CLASSIFICATION
Richard A Kowalski <bitnik@bitnik.com>
(2) NEMESIS & IRISH INTERESTS?
Bill Napier <wmn@star.arm.ac.uk>
(3) IMPACT HAZARD & SPACE COLONIZATION
Michael Martin-Smith <martin@miff.demon.co.uk>
(4) THE CURSE: CHRONICLES OF CLIMATE & PEOPLES
Ken Hsu <ken@erdw.ethz.ch>
==============
(1) MINOR BODIES, MAJOR PLANETS & THE PROBLEM OF
CLASSIFICATION
From Richard A Kowalski <bitnik@bitnik.com>
Jens Kieffer-Olsen <dstdba@post4.tele.dk>
wrote:
> Judging from the current debate I gather it's time to agree
(to
> avoid real controversy ) that KBO's smaller than Pluto and
yet to be
> discovered will not be counted as planets. At the same time
I hope
> agreement can be reached to allow objects larger than Pluto
the
> honour of becoming our solar system's 10th, 11th, etc.
planets.
>
Benny,
I raised the very question that Jens asks here recently in some
other
private communications with others.
Apparently, the IAU has decreed that a major planet can have a
very low
size and mass with it's firm affirmation that Pluto is a major
planet.
It apparently has thrown out the requirement that a major planet
occupies a discrete orbit. Since we now know of the other
"Plutinos" at
the 2:3 resonance with Neptune, Pluto is to be a member of a
"family".
In my opinion, it seems a "no-brainer" that as we
continue to look for
KBOs, the bulk of which will be found below 22nd magnitude, that
we will
find objects close to Pluto's size. Possibly some even larger..
Possibly
none will be found with anywhere near Pluto's size and mass.
I however, look forward to the 10th, 11th, 12th, etc. major
planet
discovered!
--
Richard Kowalski
Quail Hollow
Observatory Minor
Planet Mailing List
http://www.bitnik.com/QHO
http://www.bitnik.com/mp
761 Zephyrhills
"One thing I learned at home, on those nights at home, I
learned how to
use a telescope and how to find objects in the sky. You don't do
that
by going to a bar and drinking beer"
Clyde Tombaugh - Discoverer of Pluto
=========================
(2) NEMESIS & IRISH INTERESTS?
From Bill Napier <wmn@star.arm.ac.uk>
Dear Benny,
Sir Arthur's HAMMER OF GOD, which went "unreferenced"
by Spielberg,
doesn't seem to be having much luck. I learned today that a major
bookseller here has it filed in their religious section! (NEMESIS
appears under "Irish Interest".)
Best regards
Bill Napier
=======================
(3) IMPACT HAZARD & SPACE COLONIZATION
From Michael Martin-Smith <martin@miff.demon.co.uk>
Dear Benny,
Jens Kieffer-Olsen wrote: "For Spaceguard purposes the
discovery of
planet-sized bodies in rogue orbits would be bad news, since the
Armageddon scenario of an object the size of Texas hitting Earth
would
all of a sudden be science fiction no more. One thousand years of
preparation might not be enough to avert a direct doomsday
hit."
In this case there is one possible answer - to use the
intervening
centuries - if we are allowed as much - to build a
"Diaspora" of human
civilizations beyond the Earth, using the Moon, Mars, its moons,
and
nearby asteroids and comets as seeds for an O'Neill type space
colonization programme, which would, in due time, migrate to the
nearer
stars. Talk of the expense of space development would surely
become
irrelevant, if faced with an alternative of certain extinction on
Earth. Judaism provides an early example that dispersal combined
with
a sense of destiny can survive anything - even deliberate
genocide.
Since we truly do not know if and when such a potential impactor
might
be found - chaotic rogue orbits, by definition, being hard to
predict-
and since building a mature self sufficient extraterrestrial
civilization will be no easy or quick matter, the sooner we
start, the
better - there is much to be done!
The idea that Humanity, as the bearer of Mind, is a species
chosen by
Evolution or Providence to fulfil an Evolutionary Cosmic Destiny
is
thus an ideology whose widespread adoption is a matter of
survival
itself. It does not matter if it is "scientifically"
respectable - what
matters is that we must make it true. Destiny is no longer
something to
be read in the stars - it must, rather, be built there!
Yours sincerely,
Dr Michael Martin-Smith, President, Space Age Asscoiates
http://www.astronist.demon.co.uk/index.html
=====================
(4) THE CURSE: CHRONICLES OF CLIMATE & PEOPLES
From Ken Hsu <ken@erdw.ethz.ch>
Dear Benny
Re: NATURE'S ROLE IN THE RISE AND FALL OF HUMANITY
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/paleoclimate990127.html
I have been writing a book since 1994, entitled: The Curse:
Chronicles
of Climate and Peoples. I am submitting the manuscript to Orell
Füssli
in two installments,Spring and Autumn of 1999. The book will be
out, in
German first, to be presented at the Frankfort Book Exhibit of
year
2000. There are four little ice ages of about 1200-year
periodicity
during the last 5000 years. Interested person could contact me
for
details.
Ken Hsu.
-----------------
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