PLEASE NOTE:
*
CCNet 47/2003 - 29 May 2003
"Maybe here's the real news: Despite all the recent
headlines about threats foreign and domestic - killer plagues,
global warming, invasive species, sagging economy, rogue
asteroids, the fight against fat - Americans seem surprisingly
chipper. The Harris Poll not long ago asked: "Are your
satisfied with the life you lead?" Fifty-seven percent of
Americans answered "very," which qualifies as
positively giddy when compared with, say, Greece, where only 11
percent said "very," or France (14 percent) or Finland
(26 percent). Still, we must be scared, right? Or have we been
bombarded with so many threats that none seems that serious or
that real?"
--Rick Montgomery, Knight Ridder, 26 May 2003
"[Brian] Marsden told Space.com that while ESA's SIMONE
concept is on the right track in terms of which targets to visit
- the five initial asteroids selected range in diameter from 390
meters to 1,100 meters - he doubts that visiting individual rocks
would lead to better impact estimates... But where SIMONE can
help is in the countermeasure department, Marsden said. The
information from each SIMONE probe should give astronomers a
plethora of data of the composition, mass and characteristics of
a spectrum of asteroids. With enough of that data in hand,
astronomers and world leaders could develop the tools and methods
necessary to prevent an impending impact."
--Tariq Malik, Space.com, 28 May 2003
(1) A BIG ROLE FOR SMALL SATELLITES IN ASTEROID STUDY
MSNBC.com, 28 May 2003
(2) NEW DESTINATION FOR ROSETTA, EUROPE'S COMET CHASER
ESA News, 28 May 2003
science.webmaster@esa.int
(3) MASSIVE TSUNAMI SWEEPS ATLANTIC COAST IN ASTEROID IMPACT
SCENARIO
Ron Baalke info@jpl.nasa.gov
(4) TWO COMETS GRAZE THE SUN
Paal Brekke pbrekke@esa.nascom.nasa.gov
(5) AUTOMATED TELESCOPE ARRAY DISCOVERIES MOUNT
Andrew Yee ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca
(6) ORDER OUT OF CHAOS: THE CATASTROPHIC ORIGIN OF THE SOLAR
SYSTEM
Duncan Steel D.I.Steel@salford.ac.uk
(7) WHY SARS IS NOT FROM MARS
John Michael Williamsj will@AstraGate.net
(8) ICE AGE IMPACT AND THE GREAT FLOOD
James A. Marusek tunga@custom.net
(9) NEO FORUM IN SYDNEY
Michael Paine mpaine@tpg.com.au
(10) AND FINALLY: SMILING IN THE FACE OF DANGERS AS AMERICANS
SUFFER FROM HYPE FATIGUE
Knight Ridder, 26 May 2003
=============
(1) A BIG ROLE FOR SMALL SATELLITES IN ASTEROID STUDY
MSNBC.com, 28 May 2003
http://www.msnbc.com/news/919210.asp
Europe's SIMONE project could help scientists learn how to dodge
a space rock
By Tariq Malik
SPACE.COM
May 28 - A handful of small, asteroid-bound satellites
could one day help protect our planet from space rocks careless
enough to cross paths with Earth as they wander through the Solar
System.
AT PRESENT, researchers with the European Space Agency are
evaluating plans to send a five-craft fleet to nearby asteroids
and other objects to learn more about their size, shape and
inevitable path through our planet's neighborhood. The hope is to
develop a better understanding of these rocky neighbors and
prepare for the off chance that one will end up heading straight
for us.
"Ultimately, this is all driving toward identifying any
future physical impacts," the project's science leader,
Simon Green, said during a telephone interview. Green is a
researcher at the Planetary and Space Sciences Research Institute
at Open University in the United Kingdom, which is partnering
with the technology group QinetiQ on SIMONE. "You need to
learn as much about [near-Earth objects] as you can in order to
identify one that might hit."
The project has been dubbed the Smallsat Intercept Missions to
Objects Near Earth, or SIMONE. It is one of six low-cost missions
considered by the ESA to study space rocks.
With SIMONE, scientists plan to launch five microsatellites into
space, each headed to a different asteroid. The cube-shaped
probes measure about 3 feet (1 meter) per side and weigh about
264 pounds (120 kilograms).
Once in space, a pair of solar arrays should unfold like wings to
generate the electricity needed to run an ion engine, a
propulsion system that uses electrically charged particles to
push a craft through space. NASA used the propulsion method in
its Deep Space 1 mission.
Inside the ion drive
"It's a technology that has been around awhile,"
Andrés Gálvez, head of ESA's Advanced Concepts Team, said of
the ion drive. "But SIMONE would be the first time a
satellite this small has carried one."
Ion engines are a wonder when it comes to spacecraft fuel
efficiency because they require less fuel than conventional
engines, which is exactly why they are planned for the SIMONE
project, Gálvez told Space.com. Electricity from the SIMONE's
solar panels is expected to ionize xenon gas carried in a small
doughnut-shaped tank onboard each of the five probes, allowing
the craft enough power to reach, and stay with, near-Earth
asteroids.
"Each [SIMONE probe] is a standalone craft," Green
said. "So for the sort of budget you'd expect for one large
standalone machine, we get five."
ESA researchers estimate the cost of SIMONE at about $186 million
(160 million euros) for all five satellites. That includes each
SIMONE payload of a multispectral camera for imaging, an X-ray
spectrometer to determine an asteroid's composition, a radio
science experiment to measure mass, an infrared spectrometer to
seek out any minerals and surface details, and a laser altimeter
to take topographical measurements.
"There's quite a lot of clever instruments packed aboard
these things," Green said.
CROSSING PATHS WITH ASTEROIDS
Earth is no stranger to impacts by otherworldly objects.
Scientists believe an object the size of a small city slammed
into our planet 65 million years ago and led to the extinction of
dinosaurs and a crater we now call Chicxulub in the Yucatan
Peninsula.
While that impact was huge, even smaller space rocks can cause
devastating effects. In June 1908, a 200-foot-wide
(60-meter-wide) asteroid exploded near Russia's Tunguska River in
Siberia. The explosion released about 10 megatons of energy,
about 500 times that of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, and
flattened the forest for a diameter of 30 miles (50 kilometers).
"We really don't known much about them," Gálvez said
of the smaller asteroids that swing by Earth. "Not even how
many there are."
NASA researchers estimate that there are between 1,000 and 1,500
asteroids about a half-mile (1 kilometer) in diameter near Earth
to worry about. About 640 of them have been found and NASA hopes
to have cataloged the bulk of them by 2008.
But some researchers think that looking for large,
kilometer-sized space rocks, which impact the planet about once
every 100,000 years or so, may be too narrow a search.
"Statistically, we should be concentrating on rocks down
around 300 to 200 meters (984 to 656 feet)," said Brian
Marsden of the Minor Planet Center at the Harvard-Smithsonian
Center for Astrophysics. "We'd need to do it, of course,
with much more effort than we do today, and with larger
telescopes." Those smaller asteroids hit Earth every
millennium or so, with even small chunks impacting every century.
RESEARCH INTO COUNTERMEASURES
Marsden told Space.com that while ESA's SIMONE concept is on the
right track in terms of which targets to visit - the five initial
asteroids selected range in diameter from 390 meters to 1,100
meters - he doubts that visiting individual rocks would lead to
better impact estimates.
"You can find Earth-crossing asteroids from the ground, and
it takes time," he added. "It's more an orbital problem
which is not going to be done in a mission like this."
But where SIMONE can help is in the countermeasure department,
Marsden said. The information from each SIMONE probe should give
astronomers a plethora of data of the composition, mass and
characteristics of a spectrum of asteroids. With enough of that
data in hand, astronomers and world leaders could develop the
tools and methods necessary to prevent an impending impact.
"If something is really going to hit us, it isn't going to
just go away," Marsden said. "So what are you going to
do? Do you try to hit it or break it into pieces? That's where
this project becomes useful."
SIMONE RIDES SHOTGUN
ESA officials said the compact design of each SIMONE probe means
more than just a cheap spacecraft that fits in a box.
"The main point of using a microsatellite is not because we
want to do something small," said Gálvez. "It also
makes it much easier to find launch opportunities."
In theory, SIMONE should be small enough to be launched as a
secondary passenger on the European Ariane 5 rocket, meaning the
ESA wouldn't have to pay top dollar for using the launch vehicle.
That ability increases the flexibility of the SIMONE concept for
use in a variety of other missions as well.
Researchers are already studying the possibility of SIMONE+, a
larger spacecraft similar in design to its smaller precursors
that could be used for missions to Mars and other planets.
Green said the SIMONE project has yet to progress past the
development and study stage, largely due to a lack of funding.
With the appropriate funds in hand, he added, SIMONE probes could
be launched by 2008 and make their first asteroid rendezvous
within a four-year period.
© 2003 Space.com. All rights reserved.
=========
(2) NEW DESTINATION FOR ROSETTA, EUROPE'S COMET CHASER
ESA News, 28 May 2003 < science.webmaster@esa.int
>
Comet-chasing mission Rosetta will now set its sights on Comet
Churyumov-Gerasimenko. During its meeting on 13-14th May 2003,
ESA's Science Programme Committee decided Rosetta's new mission
baseline. The spacecraft will be launched in February 2004 from
Kourou, French Guiana, using an Ariane-5 G+ launcher. The
rendezvous with the new target comet is expected in November
2014.
For more information, see:
http://sci.esa.int/content/news/index.cfm?aid=13&cid=36&oid=32381
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The choice of a new comet has required intensive efforts,
including observations by telescopes such as the Hubble Space
Telescope and the ESO Very Large Telescope to ensure we know as
much as we can about the new target. The cost of the Rosetta
launch delay is estimated at round 70 million Euros. The ESA
Ministerial Council has resolved the financial issue by approving
financial flexibility at Agency level.
Scientists will now investigate an alternative launch to this
comet, in February 2005, as a back-up plan. Rendezvous with the
comet is expected in November 2014.
Once again, Europe is set to try to do something no-one has ever
done before - to chase and catch a comet.
For more information, please contact:
ESA - Communication Department
Media Relations Office
Paris, France
Tel: +33 (0)1 5369 7155
Fax: +33 (0)1 5369 7690
============
(3) MASSIVE TSUNAMI SWEEPS ATLANTIC COAST IN ASTEROID IMPACT
SCENARIO
Ron Baalke < info@jpl.nasa.gov
>
http://www.ucsc.edu/news_events/press_releases/text.asp?pid=355
May 27, 2003
Contact: Tim Stephens (831) 459-2495; stephens@ucsc.edu
UC Santa Cruz Press Release
Massive tsunami sweeps Atlantic Coast in asteroid impact scenario
for March 16, 2880
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SANTA CRUZ, CA--If an asteroid crashes into the Earth, it is
likely to
splash down somewhere in the oceans that cover 70 percent of the
planet's
surface. Huge tsunami waves, spreading out from the impact site
like the
ripples from a rock tossed into a pond, would inundate heavily
populated
coastal areas. A computer simulation of an asteroid impact
tsunami developed
by scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz, shows
waves as
high as 400 feet sweeping onto the Atlantic Coast of the United
States.
The researchers based their simulation on a real asteroid known
to be on
course for a close encounter with Earth eight centuries from now.
Steven
Ward, a researcher at the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary
Physics at
UCSC, and Erik Asphaug, an associate professor of Earth sciences,
report
their findings in the June issue of the Geophysical Journal
International.
March 16, 2880, is the day the asteroid known as 1950 DA, a huge
rock
two-thirds of a mile in diameter, is due to swing so close to
Earth it could
slam into the Atlantic Ocean at 38,000 miles per hour. The
probability of a
direct hit is pretty small, but over the long timescales of
Earth's history,
asteroids this size and larger have periodically hammered the
planet,
sometimes with calamitous effects. The so-called K/T impact, for
example,
ended the age of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.
"From a geologic perspective, events like this have happened
many times in
the past. Asteroids the size of 1950 DA have probably struck the
Earth about
600 times since the age of the dinosaurs," Ward said.
Ward and Asphaug's study is part of a general effort to conduct a
rational
assessment of asteroid impact hazards. Asphaug, who organized a
NASA-sponsored scientific workshop on asteroids last year, noted
that
asteroid risks are interesting because the probabilities are so
small while
the potential consequences are enormous. Furthermore, the laws of
orbital
mechanics make it possible for scientists to predict an impact if
they are
able to detect the asteroid in advance.
"It's like knowing the exact time when Mount Shasta will
erupt," Asphaug
said. "The way to deal with any natural hazard is to improve
our knowledge
base, so we can turn the kind of human fear that gets played on
in the
movies into something that we have a handle on."
Although the probability of an impact from 1950 DA is only about
0.3
percent, it is the only asteroid yet detected that scientists
cannot
entirely dismiss as a threat. A team of scientists led by
researchers at
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory reported on the probability of
1950 DA
crossing paths with the Earth in the April 5, 2002, issue of the
journal
Science.
"It's a low threat, actually a bit lower than the threat of
being hit by an
as-yet-undiscovered asteroid in the same size range over the same
period of
time, but it provided a good representative scenario for us to
analyze,"
Asphaug said.
For the simulation, the researchers chose an impact site
consistent with the
orientation of the Earth at the time of the predicted encounter:
in the
Atlantic Ocean about 360 miles from the U.S. coast. Ward
summarized the
results as follows:
The 60,000-megaton blast of the impact vaporizes the asteroid and
blows a
cavity in the ocean 11 miles across and all the way down to the
seafloor,
which is about 3 miles deep at that point. The blast even
excavates some of
the seafloor. Water then rushes back in to fill the cavity, and a
ring of
waves spreads out in all directions. The impact creates tsunami
waves of all
frequencies and wavelengths, with a peak wavelength about the
same as the
diameter of the cavity. Because lower-frequency waves travel
faster than
waves with higher frequencies, the initial impulse spreads out
into a series
of waves.
"In the movies they show one big wave, but you actually end
up with dozens
of waves. The first ones to arrive are pretty small, and they
gradually
increase in height, arriving at intervals of 3 or 4
minutes," Ward said.
The waves propagate all through the Atlantic Ocean and the
Caribbean. The
waves decay as they travel, so coastal areas closest to the
impact get hit
by the largest waves. Two hours after impact, 400-foot waves
reach beaches
from Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras, and by four hours after impact
the entire
East Coast has experienced waves at least 200 feet high, Ward
said. It takes
8 hours for the waves to reach Europe, where they come ashore at
heights of
about 30 to 50 feet.
Computer simulations not only give scientists a better handle on
the
potential hazards of asteroid impacts, they can also help
researchers
interpret the geologic evidence of past events, Ward said.
Geologists have
found evidence of past asteroid impact tsunamis in the form of
inland
sediment deposits and disturbed sediment layers in the seafloor
that
correlate with craters, meteorite fragments, and other impact
evidence. An
important feature of Ward's simulation is that it enabled him to
calculate
the speed of the water flows created by the tsunami at the bottom
of the
ocean--more than 3 feet per second out to distances of several
hundred miles
from the impact.
"That's like a raging river, so as these waves cross the
ocean they're going
to stir up the seafloor, eroding sediments on the slopes of
seamounts, and
we may be able to identify more places where this has
happened," Ward said.
He added that the waves may also destabilize undersea slopes,
causing
landslides that could trigger secondary tsunamis. Ward has also
done
computer simulations of tsunamis generated by submarine
landslides. He
showed, for example, that the collapse of an unstable volcanic
slope in the
Canary Islands could send a massive tsunami toward the U.S. East
Coast.
A tsunami warning system has been established for the Pacific
Ocean
involving an international effort to evaluate earthquakes for
their
potential to generate tsunamis. Ward said that asteroid impact
tsunamis
could also be incorporated into such a system.
"Tsunamis travel fast, but the ocean is very big, so even if
a small or
moderate-sized asteroid comes out of nowhere you could still have
several
hours of advance warning before the tsunami reaches land,"
he said. "We have
a pretty good handle on the size of the waves that would be
generated if we
can estimate the size of the asteroid."
Planetary scientists, meanwhile, are getting a better handle on
the risks of
asteroid impacts. A NASA-led campaign to detect large asteroids
in
near-Earth orbits is about half way toward its goal of detecting
90 percent
of those larger than 1 kilometer in diameter (the size of 1950
DA) by 2008.
"Until we detect all the big ones and can predict their
orbits, we could be
struck without warning," said Asphaug. "With the
ongoing search campaigns,
we'll probably be able to sound the 'all clear' by 2030 for 90
percent of
the impacts that could trigger a global catastrophe."
Rogue comets visiting the inner solar system for the first time,
however,
may never be detected very long in advance. Smaller asteroids
that can still
cause major tsunami damage may also go undetected.
"Those are risks we may just have to live with,"
Asphaug said.
_____
Notes for reporters (movies, images, additional information):
A movie of the tsunami simulation can be viewed at
http://es.ucsc.edu/~ward/1950-DA(5).mov
.
Images can be downloaded from the web at
http://www.ucsc.edu/news_events/download/
.
Reporters may contact Ward at (831) 459-2480 or ward@uplift.ucsc.edu , and
Asphaug at (831) 459-2260 or asphaug@es.ucsc.edu
.
Additional information about the asteroid 1950 DA is available
at:
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/1950da/
.
The article by Ward and Asphaug in the Geophysical Journal
International is
available online at:
http://es.ucsc.edu/~ward/papers/gji_final_35N.pdf
.
=============
(4) TWO COMETS GRAZE THE SUN
Paal Brekke < pbrekke@esa.nascom.nasa.gov
>
During a day-long period (mostly May 24, 2003), a pair of comets
arced in tandem towards the Sun, their path taking just outside
the Sun but clearly through the corona. These comets belong
to the Kreutz family of comets, a group of generally small
sun-grazing comets that SOHO has often seen diving towards the
Sun. (In June, 1998 SOHO also observed a pair of comets
taking generally the same path towards the Sun) However,
this is the first time that SOHO has observed the what looks like
a fainter tail of the comet after it reached its closest approach
to the Sun. The track record has shown that they have just
disappeared, evaporated by the Sun's intense heat and
pressure. Comets are balls of dust and ice that zoom around
space often in elongated orbits. Their tails, which trail
along behind them, are pushed away from the Sun by the solar
wind.
These two comest are assigned SOHO 614 and 615 and was first
reported by Rainer
Kracht, a German amateur. In 7 years, SOHO has discovered
over 600 comets. This makes the spacecraft the most prolific
comet finder in the history of astronomy.
Full story on:
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/pickoftheweek/
Image credit: SOHO (ESA/NASA)
The LASCO coronagraph on SOHO, designed for seeing outbursts from
the Sun, uses a mask to block the bright rays from the visible
surface. It monitors a large volume of surrounding space,
and as a result it became the most prolific discoverer of comets
in the history of astronomy. Most of them are small
sungrazer comets that burn up completely in the Sun's hot
atmosphere. More than 75% of the discoveries have come from
amateur comet hunters around the world watching the freely
available SOHO images on the web.
The biggest tallies have come from Mike Oates in England, Rainer
Kracht in Germany and Xavier Leprette in France.
More about SOHO and how to view real tome images of the Sun:
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime-images.html
Regards
Paal
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Paal Brekke,
SOHO Deputy Project Scientist (European Space Agency - ESA)
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center,
Email: pbrekke@esa.nascom.nasa.gov
Mail Code 682.3, Bld. 26, Room 001, Tel.:
1-301-286-6983 /301 996 9028
Greenbelt, Maryland 20771,
USA. Fax:
1-301-286-0264
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
SOHO WEB: http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/
PERSONAL WEB: http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/localinfo/brekke.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
==========
(5) AUTOMATED TELESCOPE ARRAY DISCOVERIES MOUNT
Andrew Yee < ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca
>
Global Network of Astronomical Telescopes (GNAT)
Tucson, Arizona
Contacts:
Dr. Eric R. Craine, 520-325-4505, craine@gnat.org
Embargoed until 27 May 2003, 12:30 p.m. CDT
AUTOMATED TELESCOPE ARRAY DISCOVERIES MOUNT
Astronomers are announcing today early results of a prototype,
three-telescope array of automated astronomical imagers. These
have been
used to discover new Solar System objects, as well as to discover
and
monitor the time variable brightness of stars, especially those
potentially harboring extrasolar planets. The report is being
presented
today by Dr. Eric R. Craine of the Global Network of Astronomical
Telescopes (GNAT), Tucson, Arizona to the American Astronomical
Society
meeting in Nashville, Tennessee. The system is of special
interest
because of its very low cost, extremely high data output and
application
to myriad astronomical observations.
This array is named the Moving Object and Transient Event Search
System
(MOTESS). It was designed by Roy A. Tucker of Goodricke-Pigott
Observatory (GPO), Tucson, Arizona. It was originally implemented
for
discovery and astrometric measurement of asteroids, but it is
also used
as a large-scale, cost-effective photometric monitoring
instrument with
large volume data handling techniques developed under direction
of Dr.
Eric R. Craine and Mark S. Giampapa of the National Solar
Observatory
(NSO), Tucson, Arizona. The prototype automated MOTESS
observatory,
located in Tucson, is a proof-of-principle system for a
48-telescope,
globally distributed network planned by GNAT. During its first
two years
of automatic operation, MOTESS has yielded valuable observations
of
asteroids as well as stellar variability.
The MOTESS system is both cost-effective and productive. Costs
for the
telescope hardware are minimized through "scan-mode"
operation, whereby
each telescope in the array is pointed at a specific position in
the sky
with respect to the Earth. The view of the sky seen by each
telescope
changes by virtue of the rotation of the Earth, thereby scanning
the sky
across the field of view of each instrument. With no moving parts
in the
hardware system, costs of the prototype system were held at under
$20,000, a fraction of the cost of more traditional, comparable
telescopes. The telescopes make their observations automatically
and
continuously throughout the night, and hence remain unattended by
human
operators during that time. Since the cameras make one long,
uninterrupted exposure throughout the night, there is no deadtime
for
moving the telescopes to new positions or inactivating camera
recording
while individual images are read out. Each image has a width
nearly
twice the full Moons diameter, and about 10-12 hours of time
long, thus
typically covering about 200 square degrees on the sky per night,
per
telescope in the array. During the course of a year, the system
typically makes several observations per night of approximately
1.5
million stars, as well as hundreds of asteroids and transient
events.
Asteroid searches with the MOTESS system involve acquisition of
triplets
of images of select regions of the sky, each telescope
contributing one
of the images of the triplet each night. These images are aligned
with
respect to one another and they are alternately displayed in
software
such that moving objects are visually distinguished from the
fixed
background stars. Detection of asteroids as faint as 20-21
magnitude is
possible with this system. During the first year of observation,
290
newly discovered asteroids were measured. Naming rights for over
180 new
asteroids have accrued to the program. Experience with this
system is
leading to data handling software which is expected to provide
automated
detection of such asteroids.
The MOTESS system is presently accumulating a catalog of three
brightness observations per night of the 1.5 million stars in its
current observing list. These observations are repeated nightly
throughout the year, enabling the creation of long-term light
curves for
each of these stars. In the region of the sky along the celestial
equator presently monitored, there are 179 known variable stars,
all of
which have been observed. In addition, examination of the light
curves
in this database indicate that there are approximately 55,000
newly
discovered variable star candidates. These include stars that
vary
periodically, either due to eclipses by companion stars or by
intrinsic
internal pulsations, as well as stars which vary irregularly over
long
periods of time.
The MOTESS system is a pioneering complement to other planned
major
survey instruments, and it is a valuable test-bed for developing
techniques of handling large volumes of specialized astronomical
images.
Combined discovery rates of asteroids as well as varyiable stars
of many
different types provides analysis opportunities which could
occupy
hundreds of students and researchers for many years to come. The
flow of
MOTESS data will triple by Spring of 2004 with the implementation
of six
more telescopes in the emerging network of scan-mode systems.
GNAT is
actively seeking collaborators interested in studying and
analyzing
these interesting new objects.
For more information, see:
http://www.gnat.org/~ida/gnat/index.html
IMAGE CAPTION:
[ http://www.gnat.org/~ida/gnat/pr/MOTESS-PR1.JPG
]
The MOTESS prototype system produces continuous images during the
course
of each night of observation which, when reproduced with a
30-inch
width, stretch for over 180 yards in length. The inset shows the
size of
the Full Moon in one of the images. These images are currently
produced
three times during each night of observation and contain images
of
nearly 1.5 million stars during the course of a year.
============================
* LETTERS TO THE MODERATOR *
============================
(6) ORDER OUT OF CHAOS: THE CATASTROPHIC ORIGIN OF THE SOLAR
SYSTEM
Duncan Steel < D.I.Steel@salford.ac.uk
>
Dear Benny,
Readers who are not familiar with the background might want to
know that the idea of a supernova triggering the collapse of the
nebula from which the sun and the planetary system formed is not
a new one. The present report from G. Jeffrey Taylor is extremely
interesting, discussing new
isotopic evidence for the time-scale involved and the supernova
origin of those short-lived isotopes, but the underlying concept
has been around for at least a quarter-century. Taylor himself
wrote about the concept in a very readable earlier article:
http://www.psrd.hawaii.edu/Mar00/supernovaDebris.html
In the late 1970s several papers appeared on this subject,
stemming from the research group directed by Gerry
Wasserburg at Caltech and colloquially known as the 'Lunatic
Asylum'. For example:
T. Lee, D.A. Papanastassiou & G.J. Wasserburg,
"Aluminum-26 in the early solar system - Fossil or
fuel" Astrophysical Journal, vol. 211, pp.L107-L110 (1977)
T. Lee, D.A. Papanastassiou & G.J. Wasserburg, "Calcium
isotopic anomalies in the Allende meteorite" Astrophysical
Journal, vol. 220, pp.L21-L25 (1978)
G.J.Wasserburg,
"INVITED PAPER - Isotope Anomalies in Meteorites: Supernova
or Solar Origin?" Bulletin of the American Astronomical
Society, Vol. 10, p.670 (1978)
G.J. Wasserburg, D.A. Papanastassiou & T. Lee, "Isotopic
heterogeneities in the solar system - Special report" In:
The elements and their isotopes in the universe; 22nd
International Conference on Astrophysics, Universite de Liege,
Belgium, pp.203-253 (1979)
A considerable media furor surrounded the announcement in 1977/78
of the hypothesis of a supernova triggering the formation of the
solar system, and I recall a feature article in New Scientist
magazine. I also recall Wasserburg being listed as one of the
"Quotes of the Week" in the Observer (London)
newspaper, some time in 1979, saying that "Something went
off with one hell of a bang just before the solar system
formed."
Regards,
Duncan Steel
===========
(7) WHY SARS IS NOT FROM MARS
John Michael Williamsj <will@AstraGate.net>
Hi Benny.
> BBC News Online, 23 May 2003
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/2931246.stm
>
> ... Professor
> Chandra Wickramasinghe of Britain's Cardiff University, say
the
> Sars coronavirus is so unlike other viruses that an
> extra-terrestrial origin is logical.
>
> However, a number of Sars experts believe the theory itself
> seems to have come from another planet.
>
> The idea that Sars comes from the stars relates to a theory
> called panspermia. This says that life itself evolved
somewhere
> out in the cosmos, and is carried from one planet to another
on
> comets. ...
As I think these articles point out, this idea is not tenable.
First, the SARS virus has been identified, its DNA has been
mapped, and it is found to be a commonplace corona virus, the
same as the one causing the common cold. It originated on Earth
by a slight mutation.
Second, the "space" between the planets is so
inhospitable to life that no virus could survive the trip. It is
true that some worms survived reentry during the Columbia Space
Shuttle debacle, but they never were beyond Earth's gravity (the
"Space" Shuttle actually orbits in the upper
atmosphere, not in space). They apparently survived about one
minute of sudden heating. They were protected from cosmic and
Solar radiation by the Van Allen radiation belts, created by the
Earth's magnetic field.
SARS can't survive a week in air; it would be dried out and
killed immediately in a moderate
vacuum, even with no irradiation.
Third, As I have shown in previous CCNet postings, there is no
possibility that ANYTHING other than a hot gas or cloud of dust
could be ejected from a planet the size of Mars. So, no
planet capable of maintaining an atmosphere supportive of life
could eject anything for a comet to pick up. Ejection from
a planet the size of Venus or Earth is completely out of line.
A parsec is about 3 light-years. At an optimistic speed of 10
km/s, about 10^-4 the speed of light, it would take over 10^4
years -- over 10 thousand years -- to travel the average distance
of 1 parsec between two stars. This assumes perfect launch
velocity alignment. Cosmic irradiation would sterilize any
rock to a depth of meters during this time.
In my opinion, "Panspermia" at best is a poorly thought
through idea, and at worst is a hoax to sell meteorites before
NASA can get anything back from Mars. I have presented my own
derivation of this at http://publish.aps.org/eprint/gateway/eplist/aps1999jun25_002
, but others have raised the same question.
--
John
jwill@AstraGate.net
John Michael Williams
==============
(8) ICE AGE IMPACT AND THE GREAT FLOOD
James A. Marusek < tunga@custom.net
>
Hello Benny and CCNet
Just posted a theory on the cause of the Biblical Great Flood at:
http://personals.galaxyinternet.net/tunga/Flood.htm
The theory proposes that a large comet or asteroid impact
in a glacier ice sheet produced the Great Flood which brought the
last Ice Age to an abrupt and sudden end.
James A. Marusek
============
(9) NEO FORUM IN SYDNEY
Michael Paine < mpaine@tpg.com.au
>
Dear Benny,
Below are details of a NEO forum to be held in Sydney in July.
regards
Michael Paine
-----------
http://www.mso.anu.edu.au/~iauxxv/events.shtml
IAU Symposium, Sydney, 2003: Thursday July 17 - 7.00 pm - Public
forum with Dr Alan Harris from the Space Science Institute
Colorado, Dr Andrea Milani from the University of Pisa and Dr
David Morrison from the NASA Ames Research Center on "The
Danger from Space: Are Near Earth Objects a
Catastrophe Waiting to Happen?" at the Darling Harbour
Convention Centre. Talk moderated by Karl Kruszelnicki.
http://www.nelsonbay.com/~gc/AMPW.htm
Australian Minor Planet Workshop, Nelson Bay 25-27 July.
===========
(10) AND FINALLY: SMILING IN THE FACE OF DANGERS AS AMERICANS
SUFFER FROM HYPE FATIGUE
Knight Ridder, 26 May 2003
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0526hypefatigue26.html
'Whatever' is now the attitude of Americans
Smiling the norm in face of dangers
Rick Montgomery
Knight Ridder
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Got hype fatigue?
SARS. Orange alerts. Mad cow in Canada. West Nile mosquitoes
hatching in your gutters.
Now this, according to Britain's Astronomer Royal:
"I think the odds are no better than 50-50 that our present
civilization on Earth will survive to the end of the present
century," Martin Rees writes in a new book merrily titled
Our Final Hour.
"Whatever," you say.
Hype fatigue.
"They serve up the scare of the week, take your pick, and
people wonder, 'What are they going to throw at us next?'"
said Benjamin Radford, author of a forthcoming book about
myth-making in the media.
It's the 21st century, and Chicken Little is big. War in Iraq and
tornadoes in Kansas City are not terrifying enough; beware the
multitude of invisible menaces.
Real news
Maybe here's the real news: Despite all the recent headlines
about threats foreign and domestic - killer plagues, global
warming, invasive species, sagging economy, rogue asteroids, the
fight against fat - Americans seem surprisingly chipper.
Only 8 percent are "very worried" that they or their
families will become victims of terrorism, according to a recent
Gallup Poll. Go figure that in 1996, a year after the Oklahoma
City bombing, worry rates on terrorism were much higher.
The Harris Poll not long ago asked: "Are your satisfied with
the life you lead?" Fifty-seven percent of Americans
answered "very," which qualifies as positively giddy
when compared with, say, Greece, where only 11 percent said
"very," or France (14 percent) or Finland (26 percent).
Still, we must be scared, right? Or have we been bombarded with
so many threats that none seems that serious or that real?
Becoming immune
"Have we somehow become immune?" asked Carroll Doherty
of the Pew Center for the People and the Press, a polling
organization. "Even with these terrorist attacks on
Westerners overseas, there's only so many times the public can
raise its own concerns.
"I think there may be a fatigue factor."
Think duct tape.
In a culture of hype, horror stories and self-help, it was bound
to happen. The federal government in February suddenly raised the
terror-alert level from yellow to orange. The news media clanged
the alarm.
The public asked, "Now what should we do?"
Pause. Duct tape and sheets of plastic.
And in an instant, Americans realized there really was not much
they could do.
"It's all well and good to raise alarms, but what do you
want us to do about it?" said Radford, who edits Skeptical
Inquirer magazine, a periodical that questions the less than
likely. "With the vast majority of these crises, there is no
good answer.
"Sometimes things just happen. Sometimes not everything can
be controlled."
Now that's scary, for we are a people who covet control. We list
objectives and set goals. We read books on how to parent. We take
pills to fix our moods.
And things just happen?
Some people feel helpless when dark clouds approach; others just
shrug. Both reactions trouble Nancy Snow, a professor and author.
"Our culture is a lot more fragmented today; we're not as
closely aligned with our neighbors," said Snow, who teaches
communications at California State University. "There's no
Civil Defense network in which regular people can channel their
anxieties, as they did in World War II," she said. "We
just stay in our homes, watch TV and cross our fingers."
Copyright 2003, Knight Ridder
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