PLEASE NOTE:
*
CCNet 135/2001 - 21 December 2001
=================================
Wishing CCNet members all the best for the festive season
and a Happy New Year.
May the new year see better times and happiness for you all.
--Benny J Peiser
(1) FUNDING FOR ARECIBO TELESCOPE CUT, RESTORED
Space.com, 20 December 2001
(2) NASA TRIMS ARECIBO BUDGET, SAYS OTHER ORGANISATIONS SHOULD
SUPPORT
ASTEROID WATCH
Space.com, 20 December 2001
(3) NASA TO TERMINATE ARECIBO RADAR ASTRONOMY
Simon Mansfield <simon@spacer.com>
(4) PLANETARY SOCIETY PROTESTS STOP OF NEO OBSERVATIONS
The Planetary Society <tps@planetary.org>
(5) ASTEROID 1998 WT24 IMAGES NOW AVAILABLE
Ron Baalke <baalke@jpl.nasa.gov>
(6) EXPERT: METEOR FROM ASTEROID BELT
Denver Post, 19 December 2001
(7) NASA SCIENTIST FINDS SOME METEORITES NOT SUGAR-FREE
NASANews@hq.nasa.gov
(8) A COMET'S BLACK HEART
Andrew Yee <ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca>
(9) NEW BRONZE AND IRON AGE CHRONOLOGY
Ron Baalke <baalke@ZAGAMI.JPL.NASA.GOV>
(10) MYTH OF ATLANTIS ALL TOOK PLACE IN PLARO'S MIND
Larry Klaes <ljk4@msn.com>
(11) ARECIBO
Yvan Dutil <yvan.r.dutil@ca.abb.com>
(12) THE FIRST ASTEROID
Wolfgang Kokott <W.Kokott@lrz.uni-muenchen.de>
(13) NASA COMET/ASTEROID PROTECTION SYSTEM
Joe H Frisbee <Joe.H.Frisbee@USAHQ.UnitedSpaceAlliance.com>
(14) THANKS & LITTLE MORE
Worth Crouch <doagain@jps.net>
(15) AND FINALLY: CHRISTMAS STAR COVER-UP
Andrew Yee <ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca>
===============
(1) FUNDING FOR ARECIBO TELESCOPE CUT, RESTORED
>From Space.com, 20 December 2001
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/astronomy/arecibo_nasa_011220.html
By Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer
Editor's Note: SPACE.com will update this breaking story this
afternoon.
A NASA decision yesterday to cut asteroid-research funding for
the
Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico, which helps track space
rocks
that might threaten Earth, surprised and frustrated many
astronomers who
see the telescope as an important element in protecting Earth
from a
potentially devastating collision.
This morning, NASA reconsidered the decision and said they would
continue to fund the research for 2002 while reviewing the
program,
SPACE.com has learned. The funding amounts to $550,000 out of a
total
annual budget of more than $10 million at Arecibo.
NASA's annual contribution to Arecibo was augmented in recent
years by
roughly $11 million investment for capital improvements, which
enhanced
the telescope's ability to study objects in the solar system.
Arecibo Observatory is primarily funded, however, by the National
Science Foundation and is used for other research, including the
SETI
Institute's search for signals from other intelligent
civilizations.
This and other deep-space astronomy programs would not be
affected by
any NASA decisions.
What would be affected is Arecibo's study of Near Earth Objects,
or
NEOs.These are asteroids (and some comets) discovered close
enough to
Earth to warrant reasonably quick scrutiny to make sure they are
not on
a course that would hit the planet.
Once these objects are discovered, the radio telescope examines
their
shape, composition and spin so that their trajectories can be
pinned
down.
Researchers estimate there are about 1,000 of these objects that
are
larger than 1 kilometer (a half-mile) -- the threshold for what
most
experts figure could cause global devastation.
NASA has a goal of finding 90 percent of these large NEOs by
2008. The
goal was conceived by the space agency itself and mandated by
Congress.
About 500 NEOs have been found; none threaten Earth. If one is
ever
found to be on a collision course with the planet, scientists
might then
try to intercept the object and deflect or destroy it. No plan
for such
an endeavor has been officially worked out.
Cut condemned
The Planetary Society, a space exploration advocacy and research
group,
issued a statement late Wednesday strongly condemning the funding
cut,
which would have taken effect Jan. 1.
"Arecibo radar observations are crucial for determining the
exact
location, speed and direction of objects that approach
Earth," said
Louis Friedman, executive director of the Planetary Society.
"We need
this information to know how significant the probability is of
any one
asteroid hitting the Earth. It is irresponsible for Congress to
mandate
that NASA undertake asteroid and comet detection, and then to not
provide sufficient funds for that program."
The American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary
Sciences
(DPS) also decried the action in a statement that said funding
for NASA
research programs has been level over the past decade while costs
have
increased and new research programs have been added.
Significant new funding has gone into astrobiology research in
recent
years, for example. Meanwhile, the space agency faces budget
cutbacks in
the current post-Sept. 11 political world.
In the face of these budget limits, NASA officials said that
asteroid
characterization -- the sort of work done at Arecibo -- "may
have to
take a back seat" to actually discovering new NEOs,
according to the DPS
statement, which was attributed to DPS chairman Wesley T.
Huntress and
vice-chairman Richard P. Binzel.
In interviews with SPACE.com, other prominent asteroid
researchers
inside and outside NASA expressed shock and dismay early Thursday
at the
decision.
Broader issue
Benny Peiser of Liverpool John Moores University in the UK
studies
asteroids and their risks. He is a strong advocate for increased
funding
for both sorts of asteroid research programs -- initial search
and
follow-up characterization.
Peiser saw a possible political motivation in the NASA decision.
"While the Arecibo shutdown is regrettable," Peiser
said via e-mail
early Friday, "this decision almost looks like a political
wake-up call
to Congress: Either increase the budget for NEO search and
follow-up, or
NASA will not be able to fulfill its 2008 target."
Peiser adds, however, that "it is already obvious to many
that this
target [of 90 percent NEO detection] won't be met given the
current
funding strategy and rate of detection." He also said
"there are other
radar telescopes that could be used in cases where newly
discovered and
potentially hazardous asteroids are in need of refined orbit
calculations."
In addition, optical telescopes around the world are used for
follow-up
studies. Much of this work is done by well-equipped amateur
astronomers
who are not part of any official program.
The global effort these amateurs contribute to is bursting at the
seams,
meanwhile. As SPACE.com first revealed in October, new
discoveries are
coming at such a rapidly increasing pace that experts worry they
won't
be able to handle the load.
And smaller asteroids, those below the 1-kilometer threshold, are
far
more prevalent and, some researcher say, cause for worry. Smaller
rocks,
still hundreds of yards in diameter, have the potential to
destroy a
city or cause even more widespread regional havoc. While many of
these
are discovered each month, NASA has no formal plan or goal to
find and
keep track of them.
Some experts call NASA's overall strategy -- focusing mostly on
large
NEOs -- flawed. Peiser is among them. He also argues that NASA
has not
adequately lobbied Congress for additional funds to support NEO
research
in general.
"Consequently, this sad episode almost appears
self-inflicted," he said.
Just before noon Thursday, however, Arecibo's Donald B. Campbell
Professor of Astronomy, Cornell University, said NASA had
informed him
that the decision was being reconsidered.
"NASA has indicated that they will provide some funding for
the program
to allow it to carry on in the coming year," Campbell said
in a
telephone interview from Arecibo. At the same time, he said, the
space
agency would carry out a review of the program.
A NASA spokesperson confirmed the reversal.
Campbell said if NASA were to eliminate the $550,000 annual
spending,
other research into the solar system would be affected at
Arecibo.
"Arecibo would live on, but there would be a big hole in
solar system
study," he said
Copyright 2001, Space.com
===========
(2) NASA TRIMS ARECIBO BUDGET, SAYS OTHER ORGANISATIONS SHOULD
SUPPORT
ASTEROID WATCH
>From Space.com, 20 December 2001
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/astronomy/arecibo_cuts_011220.html
By Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer
In announcing a 27 percent cut in funding for asteroid research
at the
Arecibo Observatory, a top NASA official said today that the
National
Science Foundation should step up to the plate and share the
burden of
protecting Earth by paying for the whole program.
The program involves $550,000 that NASA has provided each year to
the
observatory in Puerto Rico to support personel and operation of
equipment
needed to study Near Earth Asteroids, or NEOs. These are objects
larger than
1 kilometer (.62 miles) that could threaten the planet with
global
devastation.
Some 500 NEOs have been discovered, but about 500 more are
thought to exist.
NASA has a congressional mandate to find them by 2008.
Arecibo's radio telescope does not find asteroids. Rather, it
helps to
characterize them -- to learn what they are made of, how dense
they are, how
they spin, and where they are going.
NASA officials said they were eager to shift money into programs
that find
asteroids.
But in a sign of the turmoil that comes with tough budgetary
times, NASA
informed Arecibo one week ago that they would eliminate the
funding, then
said today that they would instead reduce it to $400,000 for 2002
and then
subject it to peer review.
The temporary reprieve was first reported by SPACE.com earlier
today.
Next September, Arecibo would have to request this money and
compete with
other funding requests, said Colleen Hartman, director of NASA's
Solar
System Exploration Division, in a conference call with reporters
this
afternoon. She said Arecibo managers would have to submit a
proposal to NASA
that would be peer reviewed along with other requests for
research money.
"Based on our external review process" Arecibo may or
may not get funded,
she said.
Others should help
Meanwhile, Hartman said NASA would try to persuade the National
Science
Foundation (NSF), which provides the bulk of Arecibo's nearly $11
million
annual budget, to take on the cost of the asteroid program.
The NSF should "step up to the plate," said Ed Weiler,
associate
administrator for space science at NASA Headquarters.
"NASA has gotten the primary responsibility for protecting
Earth," Weiler
said. "Worrying about NEOs is not just a NASA job. It should
be shared by
the agencies."
A spokesman for the National Science Foundation said his agency
is not yet
prepared to evaluate the merits of such a plan.
"This all happened so fast that we don't really have a view,
a program or a
plan," said Richard Barvainis, the NSF's program director
for radio
astronomy at Arecibo. "We simply haven't had time to analyze
what the
impacts would be. It was news to us last Thursday."
Officials at Arecibo could apply to the NSF for the funding. The
proposal
would be subject to peer review like any other submission,
Barvainis said. A
decision would take three to six months and would be based on the
peer
review, the overall NSF astronomy budget, and the priority in
relation to
many other programs, he said.
Barvainis points out that by providing $9.5 million annually to
Arecibo, the
NSF provides the core support for the telescope's operations and
maintenance.
"Without such support the planetary radar program could not
exist, and so
NSF is indeed already contributing in a substantial way to this
effort," he
said.
Why we care
NASA spends $3.55 million overall each year searching for and
studying NEOs.
Much of that money involves space-based research like the photos
and data of
asteroid Eros collected earlier this year by the NEAR spacecraft.
Scientists want to characterize space rocks so that if one is
ever found to
be heading our way, an effort could be mounted to deflect or
destroy it.
"Before you send Bruce Willis with a bunch of nukes, you
better know what
these things are made out of," Weiler said. "Density is
kind of important
when you're trying to blow it up."
Weiler argued that the space-based efforts are more productive
than
ground-based for characterizing asteroids.
Still, several astronomers said Arecibo is a crucial element in
the effort
to learn what asteroids are made. The initial NASA decision to
kill the
funding was criticized by several astronomers when it was made
public late
Wednesday, Dec. 19.
"It was quite a shock to me," said Donald B. Campbell,
a Cornell University
professor and head of the Radar Astronomy Group at Arecibo. NASA
informed
Campbell of the cut via a letter that was mailed in early
December.
Louis Friedman, executive director of the Planetary Society,
called the
decision "very short-sighted," in a statement Wednesday
afternoon.
NASA's Hartman said today's reversal was not made because of the
criticism.
She said she spoke with Campbell each of the past three days
about options
and told him of the reversal Thursday morning.
Weiler said NASA's desire to be relieved from funding the Arecibo
program
did not mark a move away from ground-based astronomy in general.
He said it
was a mistake that NASA ever got involved in this particular
program without
subjecting it to formal peer review, an error that the agency was
now trying
to rectify.
Arecibo is a giant radio telescope -- the dish is 1,000 feet
across (305
meters). It is used to study everything from Earth's atmosphere
to asteroids
and distant galaxies. It is also employed by the SETI Institute
to search
for signals from other intelligent civilizations. None of these
other
programs would be affected by any NASA decisions.
NASA also provided about $11 million of capital funds in recent
years that
enhanced Arecibo's ability to study solar system objects. The
annual
$550,000 contribution also allowed for studies of other objects
in the solar
system besides asteroids
Copyright 2001, Space.com
============
(3) NASA TO TERMINATE ARECIBO RADAR ASTRONOMY
>From Simon Mansfield <simon@spacer.com>
THE FOLLOWING RELEASE WAS RECEIVED FROM THE DIVISION FOR
PLANETARY
SCIENCES OF THIS SOCIETY AND IS FORWARDED FOR YOUR INFORMATION.
(FORWARDING DOES NOT IMPLY ENDORSEMENT BY THE PARENT SOCIETY.)
Lynn Cominsky, American Astronomical Society
For Immediate Release:
Contact:
Dr. Wesley T. Huntress, Jr.
DPS Chair
202-478-8910
huntress@gl.ciw.edu
Dr. Richard P. Binzel
DPS Vice-Chair
617-253-6486 or
617-253-9317
rpb@mit.edu
NASA TO TERMINATE ALL RADAR ASTRONOMY AT ARECIBO
NASA has notified Don Campbell, Associate Director of the
National
Astronomy and Ionosphere Center at Arecibo and Head of the Radar
Astronomy Group, that all funding for Arecibo radar studies will
be
terminated on January 1. The large Arecibo dish is used to
characterize
the surface properties and shapes of asteroids having orbits that
bring
them close to Earth. It has recently discovered a satellite
around one
of them, which provides information about the asteroid's interior
structure. Arecibo radar measurements provide the most precise
orbits
for these objects, from which the best assessment of their hazard
to the
Earth can be made. The research is part of NASA's program to
identify,
by 2008, all objects larger than 1 km with near-Earth orbits and
to
characterize a portion of them. The U.S. Congress mandated this
program
several years ago.
NASA currently funds a number of search and follow-up programs to
find
these near-Earth objects and to determine their orbits. With no
additional funding to meet the Congressional mandate, NASA has
carved
$3.55M out of other portions of its planetary astronomy research
and
analysis program in FY2002. The Arecibo program is unique in the
precision of its measurements and its ability to characterize
these
targets, but pressure from increasing costs in the search and
recovery
programs required to meet the 2008 deadline, with no increase in
funding
for the program to do the job, has caused NASA to cannibalize
other
programs. Arecibo is the latest victim.
NASA has invested $11M in the Arecibo facility to upgrade it for
carrying out radar studies of solar system objects as distant as
the
moons of Saturn (in support of the Cassini mission), but now has
no
funding to make the observations. NASA research programs have
been
level-funded over the past decade while costs have increased and
new
research programs have been inserted. The agency has recently
committed
to increase funds for its research programs at the rate of
inflation and
provide some new funding for astrobiology. In such a constrained
fiscal
environment, NASA says that asteroid characterization "may
have to take
a back seat" to NEO search and recovery because it "can
no longer do
everything it is supposed to do". In the meantime, the rest
of NASA's
observational astronomy program and mission support suffer and a
substantial investment in a national facility is abandoned.
The Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical
Society believes that the Arecibo program should not be
terminated to
meet an arbitrary deadline. The Congressional language says that
these
goals should be achieved "to the extent practicable"
not at all costs.
The NASA NEO search program is already making excellent progress.
In the
long term we call on the Administration to work with the Congress
to
increase the resources for non-astrobiology research programs in
NASA
Space Science as they provide the knowledge base on which our
solar
system exploration efforts rely.
The DPS is the world's largest professional organization
dedicated to
the exploration of the solar system.
==============
(4) PLANETARY SOCIETY PROTESTS STOP OF NEO OBSERVATIONS
>From The Planetary Society <tps@planetary.org>
STATEMENT
The Planetary Society
65 N. Catalina Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91106-2301 (626) 793-5100 Fax
(626)
793-5528 E-mail: tps@planetary.org
Web: http://planetary.org
<http://planetary.org/>
For Immediate Release: December 19,
2001
Contact: Susan Lendroth
PLANETARY SOCIETY PROTESTS STOP TO
NEAR-EARTH OBJECT OBSERVATIONS
The Planetary Society strongly condemns NASA's decision,
announced
today, to terminate radar observations of Near Earth Objects
(NEOs) from
the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. Arecibo is the most
powerful
radio observatory on Earth and is the most accurate instrument we
have
for studying NEOs.
NASA made its decision because of being inadequately funded to
meet a
congressionally mandated goal of detecting all objects larger
than one
kilometer in near-Earth orbits by 2008.
"Arecibo radar observations are crucial for determining the
exact
location, speed and direction of objects that approach
Earth," said
Louis Friedman, Executive Director of The Planetary Society.
"We need
this information to know how significant the probability is of
any one
asteroid hitting the Earth. It is irresponsible for Congress to
mandate
that NASA undertake asteroid and comet detection, and then to not
provide sufficient funds for that program."
The Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico and the Goldstone Tracking
Station in Barstow California, which is part of the Deep Space
Network,
are the only two radar sites capable of asteroid observations.
Goldstone
is not as powerful as Arecibo and is very busy supporting
spacecraft
missions.
The funding problem arose when funds to provide facility support
at
Arecibo had to be taken out of the asteroid observation program
in NASA.
That program includes the high-priority optical telescope
searches for
Near-Earth Objects, a class of bodies that includes asteroids and
comets
whose orbits carry them close by our planet.
Radar observations provide the very accurate position and
velocity
information necessary to determining the orbits and predicting
the
future paths for the objects that come very close to Earth.
"The decision to eliminate these Arecibo observations, and
not obtain
precision data, is very short-sighted," commented Friedman.
"If an
object is discovered headed to Earth, we are certainly going to
wish we
had the ability to track it accurately."
In addition to providing detailed position and velocity
information, the
Arecibo observations also are often the only way to characterize
the
NEO's shape and rotation. This information is critical to the
science of
NEOs, and to understanding their origin and evolution, and the
important
role they have played in the evolution of terrestrial planets.
A NEO that struck the Earth 65 million years ago triggered the
extinction of the dinosaurs and most species then
flourishing. Another
such object could come our way at any time.
THE PLANETARY SOCIETY:
Carl Sagan, Bruce Murray and Louis Friedman founded The Planetary
Society in 1980 to advance the exploration of the solar system
and to
continue the search for extraterrestrial life. With members in
over 140
countries, the Society is the largest space interest group in the
world.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
For more information about The Planetary Society, contact Susan
Lendroth
at (626) 793-5100 ext 237 or by e-mail at susan.lendroth@planetary.org.
=============
(5) ASTEROID 1998 WT24 IMAGES NOW AVAILABLE
>From Ron Baalke <baalke@jpl.nasa.gov>
ASTEROID 1998 WT24 IMAGES
December 19, 2001
A 28-image mosaic of Asteroid 1998 WT24 taken during the
asteroid's recent flyby of Earth are now available here:
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/images/1998wt24.html
These radar images were taken using the Deep Space Network
antenna at Goldstone, California, and the radar telescope at
Arecibo, Puetro Rico. These images show one full rotation
of the
asteroid. The images are courtesy of Steve Ostro from the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Ron Baalke
===============
(6) EXPERT: METEOR FROM ASTEROID BELT
>From Denver Post, 19 December 2001
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,53%257E283979,00.html
Colorado sleuths track August fireball
By Ann Schrader
Denver Post Science Writer
Wednesday, December 19, 2001 - A blazing fireball that boomed and
burst over
Colorado on Aug. 17 most likely came from the asteroid belt
beyond Mars, a
finding that meteorite hunters believe will help in finding
remnants.
The estimated 1-ton, desk-size hunk of space debris was 40 times
brighter
than the moon when it exploded about 15 miles above Earth's
surface just
northwest of La Garita in Saguache County.
Witnesses said the fireball had a near-vertical entry before
breaking into
two main pieces and shedding several smaller ones.
Sound-monitoring stations
operated by the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico
clocked the
rock at more than 25,000 mph.
Reports from observers in all directions, including more than
1,000 phone
calls and e-mails, gave the meteorite posse at the Denver Museum
of Nature &
Science the information needed to calculate the fireball's
trajectory.
They've pegged a 10-mile-square area in the Rio Grande National
Forest in
the La Garita Mountains as the likely landing zone. The terrain
is rocky,
rugged and remote, leading posse leader and museum geologist
curator Jack
Murphy to admit the odds of finding a chunk of the blackened
space rock
"aren't too good, to be honest."
But the information has been used to plot where in the universe
the debris
originated - the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
Gravitational forces exerted by the two planets probably popped
the
meteoroid loose, Murphy said. He's eager to recover pieces.
"They would undoubtedly be a stony or nickel iron meteorite
similar to
others traced to the asteroid belt," he said, and
"would tell us something
about the parent body, the composition of an asteroid. It could
be a new
classification of a meteorite."
Tracing the meteorite back to its space haunts was the work of
Frank
Sanders, a radio spectrum expert with the Institute of
Telecommunications in
Boulder.
"I've had a curiosity for some time about the feasibility of
computing the
orbits of big fireballs that plow into our atmosphere,"
Sanders said. So
last year, he worked out a computer program to do that.
Then Sanders waited. At 10:44 p.m. Aug. 17, the Colorado sky
flashed with
the brightest fireball that Murphy has heard of in 30 years of
meteorite-hunting work.
The date, time, angle, direction and suspected speed were fed
into Sanders'
program. Sanders found that the meteorite was born between the
inner edge
and the outer edge of the asteroid belt, a place where tons of
debris lurk.
Come spring, the meteorite posse hopes to end the saga by combing
the target
area after getting permission from the U.S. Forest Service and
neighboring
ranchers.
All contents Copyright 2001 The Denver Post
=============
(7) NASA SCIENTIST FINDS SOME METEORITES NOT SUGAR-FREE
>From NASANews@hq.nasa.gov
Donald Savage
Headquarters,
Washington
Dec. 19, 2001
(Phone: 202/358-1547)
Kathleen Burton
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
(Phone: 650/604-1731)
RELEASE: 01-253
NASA SCIENTIST FINDS SOME METEORITES NOT SUGAR-FREE
A discovery by a NASA scientist of sugar
and several
related organic compounds in two carbonaceous meteorites
provides the first evidence that another fundamental building
block of life on Earth may have come from outer space. A
carbonaceous meteorite contains carbon as one of its
important constituents.
Previously, researchers had found in meteorites other
organic, carbon-based compounds that play major roles in life
on Earth, such as amino acids and carboxylic acids, but no
sugars. The new research is reported in a paper,
"Carbonaceous Meteorites as a Source of Sugar-related
Organic
Compounds for the Early Earth," by Dr. George Cooper and co-
workers at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
The work is published in the Dec. 20 issue of Nature.
"Finding these compounds greatly adds to our understanding
of
what organic materials could have been present on Earth
before life began," Cooper said. "Sugar chemistry
appears to
be involved in life as far back as our records go." Recent
research using ratios of carbon isotopes have pushed the
origin of life on Earth to as far back as 3.8 billion years,
he said. An isotope is one of two or more atoms whose nuclei
have the same number of protons but different numbers of
neutrons.
Scientists have long believed meteorites and comets played a
role in the origin of life. Raining down on Earth during the
heavy bombardment period some 3.8 billion to 4.5 billion
years ago, they brought with them the materials that may have
been critical for life, such as oxygen, sulfur, hydrogen and
nitrogen. Sugars and the closely related compounds discovered
by Cooper, collectively called "polyols," are critical
to all
known life forms. They act as components of the nucleic acids
RNA and DNA, constituents of cell membranes and cellular
energy sources.
"This discovery shows that it's highly likely organic
synthesis critical to life has gone on throughout the
universe," said Kenneth A. Souza, acting director of
astrobiology and space research at Ames. "Then, on Earth,
since the other critical elements were in place, life could
blossom."
Cooper identified a small sugar called
"dihydroxyacetone" and
several sugar-like substances, known as sugar acids and sugar
alcohols, in his study of the Murchison and Murray
meteorites. All these are important for life today. He also
found one sugar alcohol, glycerol (also known as glycerin),
that is used by all contemporary cells to build cell walls.
In addition, Cooper discovered preliminary evidence of other
compounds that may contain larger sugars critical in cellular
metabolism, such as glucose.
There still are many unknowns though about the chemistry that
existed before the origin of life on Earth, according to
Cooper. "What we found could just be interesting space
chemistry, and polyols could be just relatives of the
compounds that actually gave rise to early life." More
research on the meteorites is essential to determine the
significance of these findings, he concluded.
The Murchison meteorite, found in Australia in 1969, is a
famous example of a carbonaceous meteorite that contains
numerous amino acids and a variety of other organic compounds
that are thought to have played a role in the origin of life.
The Murray meteorite, which fell to Earth in 1950, is similar
to Murchison in its organic content.
Related information about the Cooper paper in Nature can be
found at:
http://www.nature.com
Further information about the Murchison meteorite is
available at:
http://www.touchanotherworld.com/CurrentPhoto/CPcarbonaceous.htm
NASA's Exobiology Program provided funding for the research.
=============
(8) A COMET'S BLACK HEART
>From Andrew Yee <ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca>
[Extracted from inScight, Academic Press,
http://www.academicpress.com/inscight/12182001/grapha.htm]
Tuesday, 18 December 2001, 5 pm PST
A Comet's Black Heart
By ROBERT IRION
SAN FRANCISCO -- For all their flashy displays, comets are black
at
heart. The latest encounter with a comet's core has proven that
point
to a surprising degree. Images from the Deep Space 1 spacecraft
show
that Comet Borrelly is the darkest object yet observed in the
inner
solar system, and several spots on its surface are blacker than
anything planetary scientists have ever seen.
Deep Space 1 flew past Comet Borrelly on 22 September, spotting
jets
of gas and dust streaming from the thinnest part of the comet's
bowling-pin-shaped core. The initial images suggested that
Borrelly may
soon break up (ScienceNOW, 25 September). Subsequent images,
shown here
on 13 December at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union,
reveal
new details of the modest jets and the reflectivity of Borrelly's
8-kilometer-long nucleus, the asteroid-like body at the center of
the
comet.
On average, Borrelly's nucleus reflects a low 2.5% to 3% of the
light
that strikes it, says Deep Space 1 project scientist Robert
Nelson of
the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. That's
darker
than the 4% reflectance measured for Comet Halley by the European
Space Agency's Giotto spacecraft in 1986, and it rivals the dark
hemisphere of Saturn's odd moon Iapetus. Struggling to find a
substance
on Earth with shades as dark as Borrelly's, Nelson could come up
with
only one thing: photocopy toner.
The real surprise was a cluster of spots on the comet's nucleus
that
are three times darker than the rest of it, reflecting less than
1%
of light. Analysis shows that these spots are real, not just
shadows
or pits, says Deep Space 1 imaging scientist Larry Soderblom of
the
U.S. Geological Survey in Flagstaff, Arizona. The team suspects
that
something in the comet's texture explains its inky blackness, as
solid
materials don't normally reflect so little light.
A fluffy or honeycombed texture is the most likely explanation,
agrees
space physicist Tamas Gombosi of the University of Michigan, Ann
Arbor,
a veteran of the Giotto mission. That texture traps and absorbs
most
photons of light, Gombosi says. Planetary scientists expect that
mixtures of dust and ice turn black after billions of years of
irradiation by photons and high-energy particles from the sun,
but
they don't yet know the details of that composition. Answers may
come
from Deep Impact, a projectile that will slam into Comet Tempel 1
in
July 2005, when a flyby spacecraft will study material beneath
its
surface.
© 2001 The American Association for the Advancement of Science
*****
[http://www.nature.com/nsu/011220/011220-5.html]
Friday, 14 December 2001
Space probe shows comet sense
Deep Space 1 reveals Borrelly's dark secrets.
By TOM CLARKE
A state-of-the-art space probe has shed new light on what may be
the
darkest object in the Solar System.
The potato-shaped comet Borrelly, although less showy than its
better-
known cousin Halley, is turning out to be something of an enigma,
researchers told this week's meeting of the American Geophysical
Union
in San Francisco.
The Deep Space 1 (DS-1) spacecraft snuggled up to the
8-kilometre-long
comet on 22 September. A camera on-board peered into Borrelly's
profound gloominess, and discovered that the comet absorbs almost
98%
of the light that reaches it.
"There are few things in everyday life as absorbent as
that," says
Robert Nelson of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena,
California,
a member of the DS-1 team -- photocopier toner being about the
only
other thing.
Such very low reflectance, or albedo, is common in comets, which
contain large amounts of carbon. But Borrelly's blackness is
unrivalled in the Solar System, except perhaps by one of the
moons
of Saturn, Iapetus, which is almost too dark to see.
Bad behaviour
As if Borrelly's blackness wasn't enough, other DS-1 data suggest
that
it is also behaving very strangely for a comet.
The Sun's heat boils off ice, other chemicals and dust trapped in
comets. On bodies such as Halley, these emissions occur evenly.
But
jets of material spew out from patches in Borrelly's narrow
middle
section. "They look just like nozzles," says Laurence
Soderblom of
the US Geological Survey in Flagstaff, Arizona.
In fact, Borelly is losing about two tonnes of material into
space
every minute from its middle section. Within 10,000 years
"it will
burn itself in two", says Soderblom.
And the material is heading the wrong way. Emissions usually head
towards the Sun, parallel to a comet's plane of orbit. Borrelly's
ejections are offset by about 30 degrees.
Soderblom suspects either that surface features on the comet trap
sunlight, concentrating the evaporation, or that energy stored
deep
within Borrely expels material. He hopes that further analysis
will
help to explain the bizarre behaviour.
The missing link
Comet composition is of particular interest to planetary
scientists as
comets are composed of the same ancient material that clumped
together
to form the planets of the Solar System, including Earth.
"They are
the missing link in the dynamics of how solar systems form,"
says
Donald McCarthy, an astronomer at the University of Arizona in
Tucson.
Initial data suggest that Borrelly contains little if any water
ice,
unlike many other comets, but consists instead of large grains
and
organic molecules.
Getting close to a comet, says McCarthy, who watches them with
ground-
based telescopes, is important as you can see the core, which is
usually obscured by dust and gas. Close-ups also help to identify
chemical components before they become ionized in the vacuum of
space.
DS-1
DS-1 was launched in 1998 primarily to test new technologies for
Solar
System exploration, particularly a highly fuel-efficient
ion-propulsion
system. But when its star-tracking navigation device failed, DS-1
missed a rendezvous with asteroid Braille and the spacecraft's
handlers
regained control only just in time to send it off to meet
Borrelly on
its 7-year orbit of the Sun.
This successful encounter has proven its worth as far as ion
engines
are concerned, says Nelson. "Ion propulsion is now the
technology of
choice for propulsion in deep space," he says. The DS-1
mission ends
next week.
© Nature News Service / Macmillan Magazines Ltd 2001
==============
(9) NEW BRONZE AND IRON AGE CHRONOLOGY
>From Ron Baalke <baalke@ZAGAMI.JPL.NASA.GOV>
http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Dec01/Carbon-14.bpf.html
Archaeologists rewrite timeline of Bronze and Iron Ages,
including
early appearance of alphabet
FOR RELEASE: Dec. 19, 2001
Cornell University News Service
Contact: Blaine P. Friedlander Jr.
Office: 607-255-3290
E-mail: bpf2@cornell.edu
ITHACA, N.Y. -- Using information gleaned from the sun's solar
cycles
and tree rings, archaeologists are rewriting the timeline of the
Bronze and Iron Ages. The research dates certain artifacts
of the
ancient eastern Mediterranean decades earlier than previously
thought. And it places an early appearance of the alphabet
outside
Phoenicia at around 740 B.C.
Writing in two articles in the forthcoming issue of the journal
Science (Dec. 21), archaeologists from Cornell University and the
University of Reading (England) and a physicist from
Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg (Germany) have
given a new
kind of precision to the timeline of the Bronze and Iron Ages in
the
Aegean and the Near East.
"Establishing this chronology means that the objects --
metalwork,
furniture, woven textiles, and an alphabetic inscription found in
a
tomb in central Turkey -- were older than previously thought by
some
22 years," said Peter I. Kuniholm, Cornell professor of art
history
and archaeology.
Among the artifacts found in the Midas Mound Tumulus at Gordion,
the
capital of ancient Phrygia, a site west of Ankara, Turkey, is a
shallow, bronze bowl with a patch of beeswax on the rim carrying
an
alphabetical inscription. The inscription is a precursor to
-- or
contemporary with -- the earliest attested occurrences of the
Greek
alphabet. In addition to letter forms known from ancient
Greek,
there is a vertical arrow, known also from Etruscan inscriptions.
With the new chronology, the bowl now is independently dated
circa
740 B.C., making its inscription as old as the oldest known
artifacts
on which the Greek alphabet appears: an oinochoe (a wine pitcher)
from the Dipylon cemetery in Athens and a cup from Pithekoussai
(now
Ischia) in the Bay of Naples. The estimated dates of these
pots
previously had provided archaeologists with only an approximate
date
for these early alphabetic inscriptions. "The alphabet,
which
originated in Phoenicia at a time that is still disputed, was
moving
west at a rapid pace, traditionally thought to be by sea but now
clearly by land as well. That's what this chronology shows:
The
alphabet was really catching on," says Kuniholm. Scholars
believe
that the birthplace of all Western alphabets, including the Greek
and
Roman, was Phoenicia (present-day Lebanon, Israel and Palestine).
The
oldest known Phoenician inscription was found in the Ahiram
epitaph
at Byblos, Lebanon, dating from about the 11th century B.C.
Scholars
think the alphabet was spread throughout the Mediterranean by
traders
who found the new shorthand an improvement over the syllabic
scripts
such as Linear B and cuneiform Hittite.
Kuniholm and his colleagues are using the science of both carbon
dating and dendrochronology, dating through tree rings, to
calibrate
history. Their latest research involved carbon-14 analysis
on
10-year slices -- that is rings covering 10 years of growth -- on
wood from pine trees from the Catacik Forest in Turkey and from
oak
trees in Germany. By currently accepted models, the
carbon-14
concentrations should have been identical in both the pine and
the
oak. And while the scientists discovered that this was true in
general, they were surprised to find that for certain key
periods,
the Turkish pine appeared to be older than the German oak by as
much
as 17 years. "Those pieces of wood are the same
tree-ring age, and
they should have the same radiocarbon age, but they don't,"
says
Kuniholm.
What happened, Kuniholm believes, is that the Turkish pine,
growing
in a warmer climate and at a lower latitude, absorbed less
carbon-14
during documented periods of so-called solar minima -- prolonged
cooling periods in the Northern Hemisphere, such as those in the
eighth and ninth centuries B.C. and in the 15th and 16th
centuries
A.D. The German oak, which starts its growing season later
in the
spring than does the Turkish pine, absorbed measurably more
amounts
of carbon-14 during such cooling periods. "The trees
are like a tape
recorder of the radioactivity of the cosmos," Kuniholm said,
"but
they record only when they are growing."
Carbon-14, an isotope of the element carbon, is produced in the
Earth's lower stratosphere by the collision of neutrons, produced
by
cosmic rays, with nitrogen. (An isotope is made up of atoms of
the
same element but with different numbers of neutrons.) During
periods
of high solar activity, the solar wind prevents charged particles
from entering the atmosphere -- thus producing little carbon-14.
However, carbon-14 production peaks during the solar minima, and
it
enters the Earth's troposphere as carbon dioxide-14 during the
late
spring in the Northern Hemisphere. By the following spring,
the
higher concentration of carbon in the troposphere is
diluted. Thus,
German oak, which grows late in the spring and summer, absorbs
less
carbon dioxide-14 than Turkish pine or juniper, which grows from
the
early spring to summer. "This is the first time
scientists have been
able to note a regional difference in tree rings of the same
dendrochronological age," says Kuniholm. "Sadly,
now, with all the
carbon in our atmosphere, with the pollution we have from our
cars
and factories and energy facilities, the trees have all but given
up
providing many of these valuable signals."
Kuniholm's co-authors on the Science papers were Sturt Manning of
the
University of Reading, Bernd Kromer of
Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, and Maryanne
Newton,
Cornell doctoral candidate. Research collaborators also include
Marco
Spurk, Universität Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany, and
Ingeborg
Levin, Universität Heidelberg, Germany. The
concurrent Science
articles are titled, "Regional Radioactive Carbon Dioxide
Offsets in
the Troposphere: Magnitude, Mechanisms and Consequences" and
"Anatolian Tree Rings and a New Chronology for the East
Mediterranean
Bronze-Iron Ages."
The research was funded by the Institute for Aegean Prehistory,
the
National Science Foundation, the Malcolm H. Wiener Foundation,
the
Heidelberg Academy of Sciences and Germany's Federal Ministry of
Educational Research.
Related World Wide Web sites: The following sites provide
additional
information on this news release. Some might not be part of
the
Cornell University community, and Cornell has no control over
their
content or availability.
o Aegean Dendrochronology Project: <http://www.arts.cornell.edu/dendro>
o A companion opinion piece in Science by Paula Reimer, Livermore
Laboratories: <http://www.calib.org/paula>
=============
(10) MYTH OF ATLANTIS ALL TOOK PLACE IN PLARO'S MIND
>From Larry Klaes <ljk4@msn.com>
The Observer, 16 December 2001
Amelia Hill
The story of the lost city of Atlantis has fascinated academics
and
romantics for thousands of years. But despite the legend one
leading
expert has finally admitted the truth: it never existed.
Ever since Plato insisted that his tale of a seafaring
civilisation
consigned to the deep by earthquakes and floods was true, the
search for
the lost empire has spanned the globe - in September two
explorers
claimed simultaneously to have found it at the top of a volcano
and at
the bottom of the Mediterranean.
But now Alan F. Alford, one of the world's authorities on ancient
mythology, claims to have uncovered the truth: the Greek
philosopher
invented Atlantis as a metaphor for the ancient version of our
'Big
Bang' theory.
'My findings allow us, for the first time ever, to get inside
Plato's
mind and reconsider the story of Atlantis from an ancient, rather
than a
modern, perspective,' said Alford, who has spent the last five
years
investigating the story.
'Behind the tale lies a single secret of stunning simplicity:
namely
that although Atlantis was a lost paradise, it was not a lost
city,
island or continent, but a lost planet of the former golden age,'
he
added. 'The loss of Atlantis was meant to signify a totally
profound
event - the cataclysm of all cataclysms that disrupted the
universe at
the beginning of all time.'
It has long been acknowledged that there is strong scientific
evidence
for the explosion of one or more planets in our solar system from
about
427 to 347BC (around the time Plato was writing), rationalised
then by
the creation of the 'exploded planet myth'.
'The myth held that the cosmos was born when a planet crashed on
to a
dead, dry Earth, spreading the seeds and water of life,' said
Alford. 'I
maintain that it is this myth that the tale of Atlantis was
created to
explain.'
According to Plato, Atlantis sank around 9600BC (by our
modern-day
system of dating). But extensive scientific investigations of the
ocean
floor have yielded no trace of the lost island.
The popular view is that Plato's story is historically accurate
and he
simply got his geographical facts wrong. The search, as a result,
has
spanned the globe, with the Caribbean, the Mediterranean and
Tyrrhenian
seas, as well as the English Channel and the Arctic coming under
suspicion. Crete, Cuba, the Americas and Antarctica have also
been
claimed as the lost continent.
Alford dismisses such theories: 'Plato is the sole authority on
the
story of Atlantis and to ignore what he said is to invent a new
myth of
one's own.'
To search for Atlantis in the physical world, or in the physical
universe, Alford believes, is contrary to Plato's most
fundamental
belief: that reality was not to be found in this world.
Copyright 2001, The Observer
For expanded information on Alford's new book on mythology see
his website
at:
http://www.eridu.co.uk/Author/atlantis/
============================
* LETTERS TO THE MODERATOR *
============================
(11) ARECIBO
>From Yvan Dutil <yvan.r.dutil@ca.abb.com>
Dear Benny,
I would like to comment on a statement you gave to Space.com
"Peiser adds, however, that "it is already obvious to
many that this target
[of 90 percent NEO detection] won't be met given the current
funding strategy
and rate of detection." He also said "there are other
radar telescopes that
could be used in cases where newly discovered and potentially
hazardous asteroids are in need of refined orbit
calculations."
First, whenever the funding level we will not be able to meet the
2008
target. Even if suddenely money would fall from the sky to buy
the
largest NEO surveillance system thinkable, the developpement and
construction time will push us beyound 2008 anyway. This is one
major
reason why the construction of 6 2-3 meter class telescopes
dedicated
to NEO survey has not been surported in the past. Upgrading
existing
facilities was seen as a much efficient short term approch.
Second, there is not much radar system around to replace Arecibo.
I
did a survey of radar facilities available for active SETI a
couple of year
ago. Essentialy, the list ends to Arecibo, Goldstone, Evpatoria
(Ukraine).
Haystack may also do some job. The last one been much less
powerful
(and useful) than the two first. Of those institutions, only
Arecibo and
Goldstone are doing routine asteroid observation. Evpatoria, only
beam
an asteroid once, Toutatis in 1992. Haystack did it once two,
Icarus in
1968.
In such circonstances, it is really obvious that the loss
of Arecibo could
NOT have been easily compensated.
Yvan Dutil
MODERATOR'S NOTE: All I tried to point out was that the envisaged
cancelation of Arecibo's NEO funding - which I strongly oppose -
would not blindfold
us completely in such cases were only radar observations could
produce
refined orbital data. And if NASA officials now realise that
their
Spaceguard strategy cannot be fully achieved by 2008, would it
not be wiser
to revise the strategy accordingly and start lobbying for
additional NEO
projects and significantly enhanced funding? BJP
===============
(12) THE FIRST ASTEROID
>From Wolfgang Kokott <W.Kokott@lrz.uni-muenchen.de>
Lieber Herr Peiser,
I just read your review of Cunningham's "Ceres, and I cannot
resist
throwing in my own piece of rock:
Olbers definitely had no reason at all to expect a second planet
in
the vicinity of Ceres. While continuing his observations of
Ceres,
on March 28 he surveyed the stars in the vicinity, and he noticed
a
new object very close to the January position of Ceres -- which
definitely had not been there before. The determination of its
orbit
turned out to be difficult, neither a circle (for a planet) nor a
parabola (comet) seemed to fit. Of course, that was due to the
comparatively large values of excentricity and inclination
involved.
As late as June 1, the real situation (nearly-intersecting
orbits)
had become clear, and Olbers started to speculate about a
potantially catastrophic common origin of the two planets -- not
even daring to call this speculation a hypothesis.
The discovery of Juno, the third of the threesome, strenghtened
the
breakup hypothesis, and Olbers not only took note of this
situation
but even proceeded to estimate the secular changes of the orbits
in
order to define time and place of possible real intersections.
No indication at all of him abandoning the breakup hypothesis, in
late 1804, on the contrary!
It was the discovery of Vesta (1807) which spoiled the pattern.
Olbers found its orbit to be smaller and less excentric than
these
of the former three asteroids. This object did not readily
support
the breakup hypothesis, and so Olbers did decide to shelve the
matter, awaiting further empirical evidence as was always his
custom. (Subsequently, the smashed-planet hypothesis continued to
be
championed by a minority of astronomers; it was finally put to
rest
about in the middle of the 20th century by new developments of
solar
system cosmogony.)
As for Olbers, he did never shrink back from the notion that
"a
planet could be shattered". In fact, the idea that giant
comets
could cause global catastrophes had been on the agenda since the
times of Halley and Whiston, it had been reinforced, in
1770, by
the discovery by Lexell of a comet passing the Earth at a
distance
of 2 million kilometers. In 1810, Olbers took stock of the
related
scientific debate during the 18th century and published his
important treatise "Ueber die M"oglichkeit, dass ein
Komet mit der
Erde zusammenstossen k"onne". He also attempted to
calculate the
probability of a central catastrophic collision, which he set to
a
reassuring one event in 219,631,150 years -- subject to some
corrections if his data on number and distribution of comets
should
need to be amended. However, also passing strikes, close
encounters
etc. had to be taken into account, and Olbers explicitly voiced
the
opinion that major paleontological changes on our planet could
have
been the result of encounters with comets. The range of
possibliities includes even comparatively small shifts of the
Earth's axis, rotation, center of gravity. While refraining to
speculate from insufficient evidence, Olbers reassures his
readers
that the periods of time involved stand in no realistic
proportion
to a human lifetime.
No shrinking away from cosmic (or global) catastrophes, then.
As for the position of Bode, after some short period of
deliberation
he decided to accept Pallas as the ninth ''main planet''
(Hauptplanet) of the solar system, to be followed by the tenth
(Juno) and eleventh (Vesta). [Main planet was to be understood in
the sense of a real planetary body, as opposite to the planets'
satellites.]
Concerning the Titius-Bode "law" (I prefer
"rule"), Bode was the
first to put a *planet* into the Mars/Jupiter gap. Titius (as
quoted
in your review, too) was content with the notion of the two
hypothetical satellites of Mars. This piece of numerology really
dates back to the times of Kepler (Earth has 1 satellite. Jupiter
4, therefore Mars, in-between, rates 2, a.s.o.), and it throws
some
light on the astronomical prowess of the math teacher and nature
historian Titius.
As for religious beliefs, the individuals of the period in
question
ought to be treated individually. While Herschel, and even more
so
Bode, had some firm notions about the Founder of the Universe,
men
like Gauss and Olbers did restrict themselves to empirical facts,
leaving philosophical questions to the philosophers.
Anyhow, any a priori acceptance of philosophical tenets
interfering
with astronomical evidence went out of fashion after the German
philosopher Hegel did manage to publish his "proof"
that the
number of planetary bodies was limited to the magical figure
seven -
his tract appeared in print just in 1801, right after the
discovery
of Ceres. Scientists (e.g., Zach) did not hesitate to publish
their
opinion on that matter.
Mit den besten Gr"ussen
Ihr
Wolfgang Kokott
================
(13) NASA COMET/ASTEROID PROTECTION SYSTEM
>From Joe H Frisbee <Joe.H.Frisbee@USAHQ.UnitedSpaceAlliance.com>
Benny,
The enclosed link from NASA Watch (www.nasawatch.com) describes
a
proposal of interest to CCNET readers. Without regard to the
scope or
details contained in the presentation, its existence is an
additional
step toward serious consideration of the hazard presented by
NEOs.
http://www.spaceref.com/nasa/10.02.01.caps.concept.pdf
Joe Frisbee
United Space Alliance, USH-483L
Collision Probability Analysis
600 Gemini
Houston, TX 77058
WkPh 281.282.2816
WkFax 281.282.4826
email joe.h.frisbee@usahq.unitedspacealliance.com
Contents of this email are not intended in anyway to represent
the
opinion of United Space Alliance, its parent companies, its
subcontractors or the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration
(NASA).
===============
(14) THANKS & LITTLE MORE
>From Worth Crouch <doagain@jps.net>
Dear Dr. Peiser:
I want to thank CCNet, SpaceDaily, MarsBugs, Space.com, and other
open
minded internet publications for pioneering the message that
there is an
established threat of comet/asteroid impacts with the Earth. I
also want
to genuinely express my appreciation to all of the publications
mentioned or alluded to for printing my thesis, which defines
mankind's
role in the cosmic catastrophe equation. To show my appreciation
I want
to invite those interested to my newly completed Web page
<http://
<http://www.cosmiccatastrophe.com/>
www.cosmiccatastrophe.com
> where my
thesis is illustrated and published. Also speaking arrangements
can be
made with me, on that page, so that I can continue to inform and
update
the public about the cosmic threat to our planet in person.
When I wrote - A STILL HIGHER DESTINY IN THE DISTANT FUTURE - THE
COSMIC
CASTROPHE SURVIVAL STRATEGY - I had not seen any of the
space-collision-event motion pictures; furthermore I had no idea
I would
reach the conclusions I came to. On July 20, 1998 when I
completed and
copyrighted my astrobiological thesis I didn't know if anyone
would take
it or me seriously. I was trained to believe the scientific dogma
that
the Earth and its' inhabitants faced an ultimate fiery death when
the
sun becomes a red giant and that was the way the end would be. In
fact I
had only intended to complete Charles Darwin's DESCENT OF MAN
because I
believed the space age had opened the door for its' completion
and I
knew something about that because I had helped open the door.
Having
been trained in history, biology, psychology, engineering, and
geology I
was pretty conservative, and I didn't even know I had interred
the field
of astrobiology until my research found the NASA Astrobiology
Institute
and my paper was accepted for presentation to their annual 2001
Washington DC meeting.
However, if my thesis is closely examined it can be deduced that
the
paper gives mankind a reason for existence and scientifically
verifies
the Native American belief that we are the caretakers of the
earth and
its' creatures. I hope my Choctaw (Native American) heritage
didn't
color the conclusions of my paper. My thesis in part deduces that
Homo
sapiens occupy the biological niche humankind has evolved to fit
into
and fulfill, which is to be the caretakers of the Earth and its'
living
things. I honestly believe it is probably coincidental that most
native
people agreed with what I wrote about our place on this Earth, or
maybe
it's because they have good common sense. Anyway, my thesis
presents
mankind's niche as being one step beyond most native beliefs when
I
conclude that our role is ultimately to save the life from this
planet
from cosmic destruction.
My Choctaw colleagues and I have recently placed my thesis
online. - A
STILL HIGHER DESTINY IN THE DISTANT FUTURE - THE COSMIC CASTROPHE
SURVIVAL STRATEGY - and it can now be found illustrated on the
internet
by utilizing the address <http:// <http://www.cosmiccatastrophe.com/>
www.cosmiccatastrophe.com
>. Moreover, my Web page advertises my intent
to speak to interested groups to promote the goal of planetary
defense
and human continuance.
I also believe that as we venture into space, colonize, and
terraform
marginal habitats our species will rapidly adapt to new
environments.
Adaptation will be by artificial, manipulative, and natural
selection
and the change in our species, because of swift artificial and
manipulative selection might bring about the greatest
evolutionary
transmogrification in mankind's history. Or of course we still
might all
perish is a cosmic catastrophe because too few are capable of
understanding so much.
Sincerely,
Worth F. Crouch (Talako)
Choctaw Society of Astrobiologists
===================
(15) AND FINALLY: CHRISTMAS STAR COVER-UP
>From Andrew Yee <ayee@nova.astro.utoronto.ca>
New Scientist
http://www.newscientist.com
CONTACT:
Claire Bowles, New Scientist Press Office, London
Tel: +44(0)20 7331 2751 or email claire.bowles@rbi.co.uk
EMBARGOED UNTIL WEDNESDAY 19 DECEMBER 2001 19:00 GMT
Christmas star cover-up
AN AMERICAN astronomer claims he has found the first mention of
the
star of Bethlehem outside the Bible. The reference is in a
4th-century
manuscript written by a Roman astrologer and Christian convert
called
Firmicus Maternus.
Michael Molnar, formerly of Rutgers University in New Jersey, is
the
originator of the idea that the star of Bethlehem was not a
spectacular
astronomical event such as a supernova or a comet but an obscure
astrological one. The event would nevertheless have been of great
significance to ancient Roman astrologers. After studying the
symbolism
on Roman coins, he concluded that the "star" was in
fact a double
eclipse of Jupiter in a rare astrological conjunction that
occurred in
Aries on 20 March, 6 BC, and again on 17 April, 6 BC (New
Scientist,
23/30 December 1995, p 34).
Molnar believed that Roman astrologers would have interpreted
such an
event as signifying the birth of a divine king in Judea. But he
lacked
proof. Now he says he has found it, in the Mathesis, a book
written by
Maternus in AD 334. Maternus described an astrological event
involving
an eclipse of Jupiter by the Moon in Aries, and said that it
signified
the birth of a divine king.
"Maternus did not mention Jesus's name," says Molnar.
"But Roman
astrology was a popular craze at the time and everyone reading
the book would have known the reference was to Jesus and that the
astrological event was the star of Bethlehem."
So why did Maternus not mention Jesus by name? According to
Molnar,
early Christians hated pagan beliefs and did not want to justify
the
Biblical story with astrological mumbo-jumbo. The idea that the
stars
govern our fate flew in the face of belief in a Christian God as
the
controlling force in the Universe. "Being a pagan who had
converted
to Christianity during his lifetime, Firmicus was torn,"
says Molnar.
"Hence his use of astrology to support the Christian story,
but in a
veiled way."
According to Molnar, it was essential to early Christians that
the
true nature of the star be hidden, otherwise theologians would be
mired in debate about celestial influences that were not part of
Christianity. So they buried the knowledge of the star's
astrological
roots and in time it was forgotten.
"I take Molnar's work quite seriously," says Owen
Gingerich, a
historian of astronomy at Harvard University. "Anything he
comes up
with along these lines has to be considered as being very likely
correct."
###
Author: Marcus Chown
New Scientist issue: 22/29 December 2001
PLEASE MENTION NEW SCIENTIST AS THE SOURCE OF THIS STORY AND, IF
PUBLISHING ONLINE, PLEASE CARRY A HYPERLINK TO:
http://www.newscientist.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------
THE CAMBRIDGE-CONFERENCE NETWORK (CCNet)
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The CCNet is a scholarly electronic network. To
subscribe/unsubscribe,
please contact the moderator Benny J Peiser <b.j.peiser@livjm.ac.uk>.
Information circulated on this network is for scholarly and
educational
use only. The attached information may not be copied or
reproduced for
any other purposes without prior permission of the copyright
holders.
The fully indexed archive of the CCNet, from February 1997 on,
can be
found at http://abob.libs.uga.edu/bobk/cccmenu.html.
DISCLAIMER: The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed in the
articles and texts and in other CCNet contributions do not
necessarily
reflect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of the moderator of
this
network.