PLEASE NOTE:
*
CCNet DIGEST, 29 April 1998
---------------------------
(1) THE YEAR IN WHICH BOTH THE LION AND THE DRAGON ROAR
Duncan Steel <dis@a011.aone.net.au>
(2) WAS THERE AN OCEANIC IMPACT IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE IN
1178?
From Peter Snow <psnow@esi.co.nz>
(3) THE TAURID COMPLEX AND THE METEOROID FLUX AROUND VENUS
M. Beech, UNIVERSITY OF REGINA
(4) NEW PAPER ON MANSON IMPACT CRATER, IOWA
G.A. Izett et al., William & Mary College
(5) SPECIAL PUBLICATION ON PUNCTUATED VERTEBRATE EVOLUTION
K.V. Kardong & G.A. Zweers, LEIDEN
UNIVERSITY
(6) THE STARDUST OFFER: SEND YOUR NAME TO A COMET
Ron Baalke <BAALKE@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov>
(7) STILL WONDERING: DID A METEOR BRING DOWN TWA800?
Timo Niroma <timo.niroma@tilmari.pp.fi>
=========================
(1) THE YEAR IN WHICH BOTH THE LION AND THE DRAGON ROAR
From Duncan Steel <dis@a011.aone.net.au>
Dear Benny,
Quite correctly, people have drawn attention to the anticipated
recurrence of the Leonid meteor storms in November 1998 and
1999.
However, the fact that the Giacobinids (October Draconids) should
return this year seems to have been missed. This shower/storm has
a 13
year cycle (twice the orbital period of the parent, comet
Giacobini-Zinner). Last time around was 1985. 1998 may be the
year in
which both the Lion and the Dragon roar.
Duncan
============================
(2) WAS THERE AN OCEANIC IMPACT IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE IN
1178?
From Peter Snow <psnow@esi.co.nz>
Dear Benny,
I too found the report of tsunamis on the east coast of Australia
interesting. What interests me is the date of the larger of the
two
Tsunamis, at 850 bp it links in with the Maori traditions that
Duncan
refered to, The Mystic Fires of Taamatea. I date this at the time
of
the Gervasse description of Kentish observation of the horns
splitting
1178. Maori rock art, songs and poems relate the loss of the Moa
Forests and the greater part of mankind to the splitting of the
horn of
the moon which fell to earth causing the catastrophe which I
argue is
the same event the Kents observed hence the 1178 date.
There is also historical evidence that a tidal wave occured which
flattened forests in the southern plains of the south island of
New
Zealand. Place names like Tairoa Long tide or long wave, Tainui,
big
wave paratai Cliff or wall wave or tide. South Island maori
tradition
tells of the plains of Southland being flooded at the time of the
Mystic
Fires.
I was also interested in the report of the loss of the Tiwanaka
culture
in the 12th century as per Lake bed studies of Titicaca this was
the
Harvard study, which postulated a massive climate change on their
evidence.
Emilio Spedicato of Bergamo has researched several southern
hemisphere
cultures and finds evidence of many social upheavals at this time
we
look forward to his publication.
I believe that the Sydney finding is of great interest and could
very
well be related to a multiple impact event that I argue occured
in the
Southern part of the South Island New Zealand.
Peter Snow
===================
(3) THE TAURID COMPLEX AND THE METEOROID FLUX AROUND VENUS
M. Beech: Venus-intercepting meteoroid streams. MONTHLY NOTICES
OF THE
ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, 1998, Vol.294, No.2, pp.259-264
UNIVERSITY OF REGINA, CAMP COLL, 3737 WASCANA PKWY, REGINA, SK
S4S
0A2, CANADA
This study is motivated by the possibility of determining the
large-body meteoroid flux at the orbit of Venus. Towards this
end, we
attempt to estimate the times at which enhanced meteoric activity
might
be observed in the planet's atmosphere. While a number of
meteoroid
streams are identified as satisfying common Earth and Venus
intercept
conditions, it is not clear from the Earth-observed data if these
streams contain large-body meteoroids. A subset of the Taurid
Complex
objects may produce fireball-rich meteor showers on Venus. A
total of
11 short-period, periodic comets and 46 near-Earth asteroids
approach
the orbit of Venus to within 0.1 au, and these objects may have
associated meteoroid streams. Comets 27P/Crommelin and
7P/Pons-Winnecke
are identified as candidate parents to possible periodic meteor
showers
at the orbit of Venus. Copyright 1998, Institute for Scientific
Information Inc.
====================
(4) NEW PAPER ON MANSON IMPACT CRATER, IOWA
G.A. Izett, W.A. Cobban, G.B. Dalrymple, J.D. Obradovich:
Ar-40/Ar-39
age of the Manson impact structure, Iowa, and correlative impact
ejecta in the Crow Creek member of the Pierre Shale (Upper
Cretaceous),
South Dakota and Nebraska. GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
BULLETIN,
1998, Vol.110, No.3, pp.361-376
*) COLLEGE WILLIAM & MARY, DEPARTMENT OF GEOLOGY, 3012 E
WHITTAKER
CLOSE, WILLIAMSBURG, VA, 23185
A set of 34 laser total-fusion Ar-40/Ar-39 analyses of sanidine
from a
melt layer in crater-ill deposits of the Manson impact structure
in
Iowa has a weighted-mean age of 74.1 +/- 0.1 Ma, This age is
about 9.0
m.y. older than Ar-40/Ar-39 ages of shocked microcline from the
Manson
impact structure reported previously by others. The 74.1 Ma age
of the
sanidine, which is a melt product of Precambrian microcline
clasts,
indicates that the Manson impact structure played no part in the
Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) mass extinction at 64.5 Ma. Moreover,
incremental-heating Ar-40/Ar-39 ages of the sanidine show that it
is
essentially free of excess Ar-40 and has not been influenced by
postcrystallization heating or alteration. An age spectrum of the
matrix of the melt layer shows effects of Ar-39 recoil, including
older
ages in the low-temperature increments and younger ages in the
high-temperature increments. At 17 places in eastern South Dakota
and
Nebraska, shocked quartz and feldspar grains are concentrated in
the
lower part of the Crow Creek Member of the Pierre Shale (Upper
Cretaceous). The grains are largest (3.2 mm) in southeastern
South
Dakota and decrease in size (0.45 mm) to the northwest,
consistent with
the idea that the Manson impact structure was their source. The
ubiquitous presence of shocked grains concentrated in a thin
calcarenite at the base of the Crow Creek Member suggests it is
an
event bed recording an instant of geologic time. Ammonites below
and
above the Crow Creek Member limit its age to the zone of
Didymoceras
nebrascense of earliest late Campanian age. Plagioclase from a
bentonite bed in this zone in Colorado has a Ar-40/Ar-39 age of
74.1
+/- 0.1 Ma commensurate with our sanidine age of 74.1 Ma for the
Manson
impact structure. Ar- 40/Ar-39 ages of bentonite beds below and
above
the Crow Creek are consistent with our 74.1 +/- 0.1 Ma age for
the
Manson impact structure and limit its age to the interval +/-74.5
0.1
to 73.8 +/- 0.1 Ma. Recently, two origins for the Crow Creek have
been
proposed-eastward transgression of the Late Cretaceous sea and a
Manson
impact-triggered tsunami. We conclude that most data are in
accord,vith
an impact origin for the Crow Creek Member and are at odds with
the
marine transgression hypothesis. Copyright 1998, Institute for
Scientific Information Inc.
========================
(5) SPECIAL PUBLICATION ON PUNCTUATED VERTEBRATE EVOLUTION
K.V. Kardong & G.A. Zweers: Vertebrate evolution at
geological
boundaries: introduction. ZOOLOGY-ANALYSIS OF COMPLEX SYSTEMS,
1997,
Vol.100, No.3, pp.121-127
LEIDEN UNIVERSITY, INSTITUTE OF EVOLUTIONARY & ECOLOGICAL
SCIENCES, POB
9516, NL-2300 RA LEIDEN, NETHERLANDS
Geological boundaries are often viewed as distinct time horizons
when
major changes affect vertebrate evolution, leading to extinction
events
or the beginnings of a significant radiation within a lineage.
This
symposium was held to examine the strength and generality of such
correlations between patterns of vertebrate evolution at
geological
boundaries. Participants were selected who could review
vertebrate
history and geological boundary in over looked groups. Further,
authors
were encouraged to critique and speculate on their findings. This
introduction, 1) describes the background to this symposium, 2)
lists
the reasons for its focus on geological boundaries and upon
morphological design, 3) provides a synopsis of each
participant's
contribution, and 4) suggests some overall conclusions to come
from
this symposium. Copyright 1998, Institute for Scientific
Information
Inc.
=================
(6) THE STARDUST OFFER: SEND YOUR NAME TO A COMET
From Ron Baalke <BAALKE@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov>
Hi,
Since this was so popular the first time, we've decided to create
a second
microchip that will be carried on the STARDUST spacecraft.
STARDUST
will launch in February 1999 to visit Comet Wild-2 and collect
particles
spewing out from the comet and return them to Earth for
analysis. The
microchip will be placed inside the sample return capsule and
will
also be returned back to Earth after the comet encounter.
To signup,
visit this home page:
http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/microchip/signup.html
Feel free to enter as many names as you like of your family,
friends
and coworkers.
Ron Baalke
STARDUST Outreach
========================
(7) STILL WONDERING: DID A METEOR BRING DOWN TWA800?
From Timo Niroma <timo.niroma@tilmari.pp.fi>
One thing has begun bothering me in the on-going discussion of
the
TWA800 accident in July 1996. It's so obvious and self-evident
that it
should not need any special "please attention" if it
were not used as a
proof of one still prevailing theory.
The thing that concerns me, is that many eye-wittnesses
(majority?) say
that the vehicle that hit the aeroplane was ascending. Nobody did
see
the launch or launchpad, but however these people insist that it
was a
missile. What else could they say? A vehicle that goes up with
great
speed and leaves a trail of fire and smoke, is almost by
definition a
missile (if not firework, which also is a kind of missile).
Now comes the evident thing, too evident to have warranted the
attention it deserves. If a vehicle is coming towards you
horizontally
or near-horizontally, it always look like it were ascending.
Think
about a bird (or an aeroplane or whatever) flying towards you.
Even if
it has a small descending angle, it looks ascending. Simple
geometrics,
it's the perspective that does the trick.
Calculated from the holes and the damage the vehicle that
penetrated
the TWA800 was descending at an angle of 17 degrees. It was fast
enough
to catch the plane and penetrate it within one or two hundred
milliseconds. From the holes we see that the vehicle was small,
centimeter-size about. Still it penetrated the right side of the
plane,
damaged ten rows long and three seats broad an area, penetrated
out
from the bottom and continued thru the famous Central Wing Tank.
Without a change in its course. The damage inside the cabin looks
much
like caused by a tremendous blast wave and heat rather than any
explosion at the first stage. Rather an implosion. The
measurement
instrument show a 144 degrees turn in 2 seconds. What turned and
(the
nose that was torn apart?) we do not know.
What kind of vehicle can do this kind of thing. The special
character
that is needed is high speed. A speed of ten(s) of kilometers per
second. The only vehicle that fulfills all the needed
requirements is a
meteor.
Now in the December hearing a ridicule - excuse my expression -
testimony was presented. Ridicule both in principle and in
mathematics.
I mean the probability of a meteor hitting an aeroplane. The
dinosaurs
waited their meteor for 200 million years, and one day it came.
"The
probability is too low for this kind of thing to happen". !!
Low
probability means low probability, not that a thing will not
happen. If
we calculate the last 30 years, count the combined area of cars
and
aeroplanes, take the four known hits on cars, calibrate all this
to
today's level and remember how much of the meteors that are alive
still
in 10,000 feet will vaporize before reaching the height where
cars
usually drive, I get as a conservative estimate one hit per 50
years.
And I have doubts that this was the second time. (The most
ridiculous
argument is that it can't happen, because it has never before
happened.
By this logic nothing would ever happen, because there never is
the
first time for any event.) A Japanese aeroplane lost its tail
mid-air
in August 1985 (at the peak of the Perseid meteor shower). The
explanation was that it was years before repaired carelessly.
Maybe so,
but the question still remains, why did it happen in mid-air, not
in a
turbulence, or during the rise or landing.
I don't claim anything else in the case of the July 1996 TWA
accident
than that I do not know any other incident that could explain
everything that happened to that unfortunate aeroplane than a
strike by
a meteor. This is based on simple logic and Occam's razor taking
account everything we know about the incident.
By the way during the next three nights on two nights there was
seen
over the Atlantic ocean two bolides, the other being the
brightest seen
in 1996, magnitude -10.
If this proves to be true, the designers of the space station
should
think anew about the safety measures.
We are still looking for the 90+ % of NEOs whose diameter exceeds
1 km
and are thus a threat to the whole mankind, but let's not forget
the
danger caused by these smaller debris whose speed makes even a
mini-size one very dangerous.
Timo Niroma
----------------------------------------
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*
30TH ANNIVERSARY OF 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
JOIN SIR ARTHUR AND OTHERS FOR A LIVE WEBCAST TOMORROW MORNING
From Sir Arthur C Clarke
Dear Benny,
A bit peeved that there's no mention of the fact that DEEP IMPACT
is
supposed to be partly based on THE HAMMER OF GOD...well, I'll
take the
money and run...
Hope you tell everyone to watch me live c 3 am (!) Uk time 30th
on
http://www.afionline.org/2001
Preview already on the Web at http://www.afionline.org
All best, Sir Arthur 28 Apr
=======================
30TH ANNIVERSARY OF 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
From www.afionline.org
Join Sir Arthur and others for a live Webcast of The 1998
AFI-Sloan
Seminar celebrating the 30th anniversary of 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
Wednesday, April 29, 1998
6:30-9:00 pm PST [3am GMT]
www.afionline.org/2001
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Based on the short story "Sentinel of Eternity" by
Arthur C. Clarke
("The Sentinel"), in Ten Story Fantasy.
Summary:
At the dawn of mankind, a colony of peaceful vegetarian apes
awaken to
find a glowing black monolith standing in their midst. After
tentatively reaching out to touch the mysterious object, the apes
become carnivores, with enough intelligence to employ bones for
weapons
and tools. Four million years later, in the year 2001, Dr.
Heywood
Floyd, an American scientist, travels to the moon to investigate
a
monolith that has been discovered below the lunar surface..
Knowing only
that the slab emits a deafening sound directed toward the planet
Jupiter, the United States sends a huge spaceship, the Discovery,
on a
9-month, half billion-mile journey to the distant planet. Aboard
are
astronauts David Bowman and Frank Poole, plus three others in
frozen
hibernation, and a computer called Hal. During the voyage, Hal
predicts
the failure of a component on one of the spacecraft's antennae.
Bowman
leaves the ship in a one-man space pod to replace the crucial
part; the
prediction proves incorrect, however, and when Poole ventures out
to
replace the original part, Hal severs his lifeline. Bowman goes
to
rescue him, but Hal closes the pod entry doors and terminates the
life
functions of the three hibernating astronauts. Forced to abandon
Poole,
who is already dead, Bowman reenters the Discovery through the
emergency hatch and reduces Hal to manual control by performing a
mechanical lobotomy on the computer's logic and memory circuits.
Now
alone, Bowman continues his flight until he encounters a third
monolith
among Jupiter's moons. Suddenly hurtled into a new dimension of
time
and space, he is swept into a maelstrom of swirling colors,
erupting
landscapes, and exploding galaxies. At last coming to rest in a
pale
green bedroom, Bowman emerges from the nonfunctioning space
capsule. A
witness to the final stages of his life, the withered Bowman
looks up
from his deathbed at the giant black monolith standing in the
center of
the room. As he reaches toward it, he is perhaps reborn, perhaps
evolved, perhaps transcended, into a new "child of the
universe," a
fetus floating above the Earth.
Note: Opened in London in May 1968; running time: 141 min.
-------------------
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
AN APPRECIATION BY ISAAC ASIMOV
Science fiction, at least in the world of film, had ever since
the thirties,
established itself as youngster-oriented. It was cops and
robbers, good
guys and bad guys, white hats and black hats. It was stylized as
the
youngster-oriented Western. Change the keen-eyed, rangy cowboy on
his
cayuse, to the keen-eyed rangy astronaut at his controls; the
schoolmarm
into the scientist's daughter; the shifty-eyed rustler into the
shifty-eyed
Martian; and you've got it.
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (like Destination:Moon before it) was,
however, in the hands of a crackerjack scientist/science fiction
writer
Arthur C. Clarke. That meant 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY could be
relied on to have the elementary facts of science straight.
Spaceships would
look like spaceships, and the moon would resemble our satellite.
Stanley Kubrick spared no expense on special effects in 2001 and
for that
reason it made movie history as the first hit
adult-science-fiction film. 2001:
A SPACE ODYSSEY would not to be surpassed in sheer popularity
within the genre until the coming of STAR WARS. What is by all
odds
most remarkable about 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, however, are its
visual effects. These do not achieve their interest through the
display of
extraterrestrials, but through the depiction of those sights of
outer space
which are there and can be seen in reality.
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY shows a world that does not yet exist and
shows it not as it might be, but almost certainly as it will be,
and that is
unique. In fact, when we are at home enough in near space to take
the kind
of motion pictures in reality that 2001 took by means of
ingenious special
effects, I am quite certain the real will turn out to be just
like the fictional,
but inferior. People will turn to 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY to see
space
at ts most beautiful.
Isaac Asimov
From "The American Film Institute On Its Tenth Anniversary
Salutes
THE GREATEST AMERICAN FILMS"
©1977