[meteorite-list] The Year of Saturn
From: MexicoDoug_at_aol.com <MexicoDoug_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:31:39 2004 Message-ID: <11d.29d19812.2d24fde9_at_aol.com> --part1_11d.29d19812.2d24fde9_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Happy New Year, what we can all call the year of Saturn. It gets kicked off tonight right about now, until after midnight in temperat= e=20 and tropical North America Saturn, tonight, Dec. 31 will be the closest to=20 Earth Saturn arrives - a real royal alignment whose magnitude is probably=20 unequalled for a couple of centuries, considering we still have practi=BFcal= ly maximum=20 ring opening, and you won't get such a nice view of the rings really for=20 about 30 years, so while contemplating your new years resolutions, add thirt= y to=20 you age to see if you'll be doddering out next time...no better yet, go outs= ide=20 and find Saturn now! That golden planet Saturn is midways between the Hup=E9 brothers, eh...I mea= n=20 Castor and Pollux, the Gemini Heads' stars and Orion the Hunter...it won't b= e=20 twinkling like a star...except, maybe in Los Angeles, Mexico City and Housto= n,=20 and it will be pointing directly at Betelgeuse, Orion's Armpit as the vertex= =20 of a beautiful long isoceles triangle with the twins' heads at the base. It= 'll=20 be about 45-60 degrees high - that's between half and two thirds to vertical= . It may be the closest you ever get to a Saturn rock in your life! And Satur= n=20 rings it in. Now, in 2004, Saturn senses that we are hot on his tail, and there won't be=20 an opposition (closest approach like today). That only happens once in 50=20 years or so! But ... Start the year out right ... NASA's Italian namesake Cassini will be getting= =20 there this coming year on July 1, 2004 (Ron can you tell the very respected=20 JPL staff to get it right, they are one year off on the calculator clock on=20= the=20 official Cassini website (546 day counting down jajaja=20 http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm), I hope this isn't the way the mission= will be run), it will go=20 into orbit, but not before checking a moon or two up close ... and then ...=20 then the ESA's hitchhiker...Dutch namesake Huygens' will take a sky dive rig= ht=20 to a soft landing on the surface of TITAN (one year from now in January)!! =20 Whooooaaaaaa! Huygen's ain't no bicycle wheel...its weighs 319 kg and it's=20= as=20 big as a giant earthmover wheel, and you can bet it's traveling light and=20 packed! Oops, time to go out before the stars appear inside. Truly this is= the=20 year of Saturn ... Before the spirits get to you... contemplate if Earth had= =20 rings like Saturn's ... why, oh why, aren't they a solid plate ... hmmm . pe= rhaps=20 below the critical radii they become falling stones ... and perhaps we can=20 watch some Saturnian meteors falling when Cassini gets there!! And then as=20= the=20 theory goes, the over 30 moons of Saturn steal orbital energy from the ring=20 material .. what more perhaps the Saturn nomads can be contacted..., they ha= ve=20 an ever replenishing source of stones ... probably not too differentiated (n= o=20 pallasites, irons, and stoney irons, nor HED, but just maybe the parent body= =20 squeaked by to have some action of different minerology ... See you next ye= ar,=20 The year of Saturn (Our European members are nice to keep a secret. The=20 message will arrive on their servers in 2004...what a concept... Feliz A=F1o Doug Dawn Mexico But theirs more ... we'll=20 --part1_11d.29d19812.2d24fde9_boundary Content-Type: text/html; charset="ISO-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <HTML><FONT FACE=3Darial,helvetica><HTML><FONT SIZE=3D2 PTSIZE=3D10 FAMILY= =3D"SANSSERIF" FACE=3D"Arial" LANG=3D"0">Happy New Year, what we can all cal= l the year of Saturn.<BR> <BR> It gets kicked off tonight right about now, until after midnight in temperat= e and tropical North America Saturn, tonight, Dec. 31 will be the closest to= Earth Saturn arrives - a real royal alignment whose magnitude is probably u= nequalled for a couple of centuries, considering we still have practi=BFcall= y maximum ring opening, and you won't get such a nice view of the rings real= ly for about 30 years, so while contemplating your new years resolutions, ad= d thirty to you age to see if you'll be doddering out next time...no better=20= yet, go outside and find Saturn now!<BR> <BR> That golden planet Saturn is midways between the Hup=E9 brothers, eh...I mea= n Castor and Pollux, the Gemini Heads' stars and Orion the Hunter...it won't= be twinkling like a star...except, maybe in Los Angeles, Mexico City and Ho= uston, and it will be pointing directly at Betelgeuse, Orion's Armpit as the= vertex of a beautiful long isoceles triangle with the twins' heads at the b= ase. It'll be about 45-60 degrees high - that's between half and two t= hirds to vertical.<BR> <BR> It may be the closest you ever get to a Saturn rock in your life! And=20= Saturn rings it in.<BR> <BR> Now, in 2004, Saturn senses that we are hot on his tail, and there won't be=20= an opposition (closest approach like today). That only happens once in= 50 years or so! But ...<BR> <BR> Start the year out right ... NASA's Italian namesake Cassini will be getting= there this coming year on July 1, 2004 (Ron can you tell the very respected= JPL staff to get it right, they are one year off on the calculator clock on= the official Cassini website (546 day counting down jajaja http://saturn.jp= l.nasa.gov/index.cfm), I hope this isn't the way the mission will be run), i= t will go into orbit, but not before checking a moon or two up close ... and= then ... then the ESA's hitchhiker...Dutch namesake Huygens' will take a sk= y dive right to a soft landing on the surface of TITAN (one year from now in= January)!! Whooooaaaaaa! Huygen's ain't no bicycle wheel...its=20= weighs 319 kg and it's as big as a giant earthmover wheel, and you can bet i= t's traveling light and packed! Oops, time to go out before the stars=20= appear inside. Truly this is the year of Saturn ... Before the spirits= get to you... contemplate if Earth had rings like Saturn's ... why, oh why,= aren't they a solid plate ... hmmm . perhaps below the critical radii they=20= become falling stones ... and perhaps we can watch some Saturnian meteors fa= lling when Cassini gets there!! And then as the theory goes, the over=20= 30 moons of Saturn steal orbital energy from the ring material .. what more=20= perhaps the Saturn nomads can be contacted..., they have an ever replenishin= g source of stones ... probably not too differentiated (no pallasites, irons= , and stoney irons, nor HED, but just maybe the parent body squeaked by to h= ave some action of different minerology ... See you next year, The yea= r of Saturn (Our European members are nice to keep a secret. The messa= ge will arrive on their servers in 2004...what a concept...<BR> Feliz A=F1o<BR> Doug Dawn<BR> Mexico<BR> <BR> But theirs more ... we'll </FONT></HTML> --part1_11d.29d19812.2d24fde9_boundary-- Received on Wed 31 Dec 2003 11:36:57 PM PST |
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