Mountain Views News          Saturday, January 28, 2012

18

THE WORLD AROUND US

Mountain Views-News Saturday, January 28, 2012 


Seeing a Comet Plunge into the Sun

On July 6, 2011, a comet was caught doing 
something never seen before: plunging into a 
scorching death as it flew too close to the Sun. 
That the comet met its fate this way was no 
surprise—but the chance to watch the event first-
hand amazed even the most seasoned comet-
watchers.

“Comets are usually too dim to be seen in the 
glare of the Sun’s light,” says Dean Pesnell at NASA’s 
Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., 
the project scientist for NASA’s Sun-orbiting Solar 
Dynamics Observatory (SDO)—which snapped 
images of the comet that were then combined to 
create a movie. “We’ve been telling people we’d 
never see one [a comet] in SDO data.”

But an ultrabright comet, from a group known 
as the Kreutz comets, overturned all preconceived 
notions. The comet can clearly be viewed moving 
in over the right side of the Sun, disappearing 
20 minutes later as it evaporates in the searing 
heat. The movie of this event is more than just 
a novelty. As detailed in a paper in Science 
magazine appearing January 20, 2012, watching 
the comet’s death provides a new way to estimate 
the comet’s size and mass. The comet turns out to 
be somewhere between 150 and 300 feet long and 
to have about as much mass as an aircraft carrier.

“Of course, it’s doing something very different 
than what aircraft carriers do,” says Karel 
Schrijver, a solar scientist at Lockheed Martin in 
Palo Alto, Calif., the first author on the Science 
paper and the principal investigator for the 
Atmospheric Imaging Assembly instrument on 
SDO, which recorded the movie. “It was moving 
along at almost 400 miles per second through the 
intense heat of the Sun—and was literally being 
evaporated away.”

Typically, comet-watchers see the Kreutz-
group comets only through images taken by a 
coronagraph, a specialized telescope that views 
the Sun’s fainter out atmosphere, or corona, by 
blocking the direct blinding sunlight with a solid 
occulting disk. On average, a new member of the 
Kreutz family is discovered every three days, with 
some of the larger members being observed for 
48 hours or more before disappearing behind the 
occulting disk, never to be seen again. Such “Sun-
grazer” comets obviously destruct when they get 
close to the Sun, but the event had never before 
been witnessed.

The journey to categorizing this comet began 
on July 6, 2011, after Schrijver spotted a bright 
comet in a coronagraphic image produced by the 
Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). He 
looked for it in the SDO images and much to his 
surprise he found it. 

The fact that one can see this comet against 
the background of the Sun means there is 
some physical process going on that is not yet 
understood. “Normally,” says Goddard’s Pesnell, 
“a comet passing in front of the Sun absorbs the 
light from the Sun. We would have expected a 
black spot against the Sun, not a bright one. And 
there’s not enough stuff in the corona to make 
it glow, the way a meteor does when it goes into 
Earth’s atmosphere. So one of the really big 
questions is why do we see it at all?”

You can contact Bob Eklund at: b.eklund@
MtnViewsNews.com.


BLACKOUT

The legislative pair of SOPA (the Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect Intellectual 
Property Act) are proving to be two of the most unpopular pieces of lawmaking to hit Congress 
in terms of near public unanimity in opposition to their passage. These two bills (PIPA, which is 
the Senate version and SOPA, which is the House version) are nearly identical in scope and they 
both seek to give greater control over Internet content to major media companies and studios. 

Were these new laws to pass they would in effect give 6 major media entities (GE, Disney, 
Viacom, Time Warner, Newscorp and CBS Corporation) the power to decide what can and 
cannot be seen on the Internet, from either foreign or domestic sources and would have the power 
of the State at their disposal to enforce the new state of the Internet. The above-listed companies 
currently produce nearly 90% of what is listened to, read and watched in this country and 
collectively have spent millions sponsoring this legislation through the halls of Congress. Due to 
the considerable influence and capital that these corporations collectively wield, it wouldn’t have 
been much of a stretch to think that these bills would pass into law, probably in the form of a rider 
attached to some vital must-pass legislation or budget, and that would be that. 

Not this time, buddy. Once the blogosphere caught wind of what was afoot, the organizing 
against these laws began in frenzy. One of the first concrete demonstrations against the legislation 
was directed at popular domain registrar GoDaddy.com. Protest organizers dubbed December 
29th, 2011 “Dump GoDaddy Day” and the day saw nearly 15,000 hosted domains transferred 
away from the registrar in retaliation for its support of the SOPA\PIPA bills. GoDaddy has since 
switched its public position on SOPA\PIPA support. 

On January 18, 2012 a protest in the form of a 24-hour Internet-wide “Blackout” was 
hosted by some of the largest sites on the Internet (by traffic) including Wikipedia, Craigslist, 
Wordpress, Internet Archive and nearly 115,000 other websites across the globe. Google showed 
its support by displaying a special “Blackout” graphic. Some observers have commented that these 
organized protests have marked a “political coming-of-age for the Internet” as it has collectively 
and effectively communicated its demands for its own growth and had those demands taken 
seriously. 

Both SOPA and PIPA have been shelved at this point. Chalk up a win for the “little” guy….
this time around.


KATIE Tse..........This and That


Shopping With My Mom, 

and Other Rare Occurrences

Happy Tails

by Chris Leclerc.

Canyon Canine Dog 

Walking & Pet Sitting Services

Walking Miss Daisy

I love my carpool buddy! Not only do we save on gas, but we get the 
pleasure of each other’s stimulating insights every morning and afternoon. 
We have many things in common, such as interest in veganism as well as 
an aversion to the trappings of vanity (e.g., cosmetics, designer handbags, 
etc. I’m sure I suffer from vanity in some aspects of my life, but fashion 
isn’t one of them). Recently, however, I discovered a major contrast in 
our life experiences. She was talking about her adult children when she commented, “One 
of the nice things about having a daughter...” she gave me a knowing smile, “is that she 
goes shopping with me!” I nodded and smiled as if in agreement, thinking of the ocean of 
difference between their shopping experiences and that of my own mom and me.

 My mom hates shopping. As a child she was forced to accompany her mom and older 
sister on shopping excursions. She’s related the excruciating details of these outings on 
several occasions. “They would find a dress they liked,” she began. “It fit perfectly. It was 
even reasonably priced. They’d spend an hour dithering over it, and then decide to come 
back later to get it. Of course, it would be gone. Then they’d say they should’ve bought it 
when they had the chance!” I don’t know if 
the love of shopping is inherent in girls, or if 
it has to be modeled. Anyway, I inherited my 
mom’s dread of searching for clothes.

 I’m usually able to postpone clothes 
shopping, but there are some instances 
when that is impossible --namely, wedding 
gown shopping. Being married two and a 
half years, the minute details of my whole 
wedding preparation are somewhat fuzzy, 
but I distinctly remember shopping for my 
dress. I allotted myself a small amount of 
time (two weeks) for deciding upon a gown, 
with the attitude of “Let’s get this over with!” 
I’ll spare you the long version and cut to the 
chase. After scouring Las Tunas Boulevard 
in Temple City, I narrowed it down to three choices. My mom spared no enthusiasm when 
she agreed to come and look at them with me. At the first shop, the manager remembered 
me from before, and was murderously intent upon my making a purchase at her store. I had 
the feeling that she had a Voodoo doll of me that she’d stab, burn, or decapitate if I didn’t 
buy that dress. She stared me down as I meekly explained that this was the first dress we 
were looking at, but that we’d definitely keep hers in mind. (Not as if my mom would’ve 
argued against buying it in order to go home!). 

 On the way to the next shop, my mom suggested that we delay the torture until a future 
date. I was able to convince her to come to one more shop (I should’ve known three stops 
would’ve put her over the edge). The next place we visited had a sales lady who could’ve 
sold fur coats to members of PETA. The gown was pretty and nearly fit me (designers don’t 
consider munchkin dimensions when creating wedding gowns). I started to explain that 
we’d think about it, when she slashed the price by a hundred dollars or so. I thanked her 
and was about to say we’d let her know in a week, when my mom interjected, “That one’s 
really pretty; I think you should go with it.” The lady practically embraced my mom, and 
went off on a string of fawning compliments about how it suited me perfectly. In the end, I 
did buy this dress, its price eventually reduced to a very economical sum. I showed the two 
other gowns to other people before purchasing it, but a single dress-hunting excursion was 
enough for my mom.

 I recently ran into a friend whose daughter is getting married soon. She talked about all 
the different stores she and her daughter explored over the period of a month or so. Using 
vivid details, she described her daughter’s gown down to its last sequin. In contrast, it 
amused me to recall my mom’s answer to anyone who asked about my dress: “It’s white. I 
think it’s sleeveless.” 

It is 7:30 AM when my neighbor’s cell phone 
comes to life, breaking the serene silence of dawn 
and rudely awaking all who sleep. The custom, 
voice-recorded ring tone resounds loudly with a 
chime of “Chris, dog walker….Chris, dog walker…
Chris, dog walker”! Immediately, Daisy snaps to 
attention, plants herself at the foot of the bed, and 
places one paw on top bed sheet with her fluffy 
white ears and tail fully engaged. Next she begins 
her usual routine of pacing back and forth from 
the bedroom to the leash that hangs on the hook 
by the front door, whining softly as she paces, as if 
to say, “Hurry, get me ready, Chris will be here any 
minute”. Soon she is greeted on the front porch 
by her beloved walker (that’s me!) who gives her 
a hug and an affectionate verbal greeting, telling 
her how special she is and how happy I am to see 
her, and off we go. Daisy is absolutely elated to 
be leashed and lead out on yet another exploratory 
pilgrimage through the local neighborhood 
sidewalks and hillsides!

Within moments, we are well on our way, 
ascending briskly up the steep hill that takes us 
to the upper canyon and ultimate apex of our 
vigorous hour-long hike. The sun has just made 
it’s way over the eastern horizon, and has begun 
it’s typical daily task of steaming the pavement 
and warming the windows of the houses as we 
pass by.

Suddenly, Daisy stops in her tracks; her body 
stiffens and she stares ahead, fully focused on 
the hillside that runs adjacent to us. Her ears are 
perked to a point, her tail is bent forward and the 
hair on her back begins to rise up like a porcupine. 
I follow her gaze, hoping to see what may have 
caught her eye and caused such a sudden change 
in her countenance, but I see nothing out of the 
ordinary among the massive, meandering oak 
trees and low-growing fauna covering the open 
area between the houses on the hill. Seconds later, 
Daisy relaxes enough for us to resume our steep 
upward climb and I begin wondering to myself 
what could have caused her momentary change in 
behavior. It crosses my mind that she might have 
nervous tendencies due to a traumatic experience 
that occurred when she was a puppy, before she was 
rescued and adopted. As I ponder the possibilities, 
we make our way further up and around the curve 
toward the fire road, where the pavement ends 
abruptly at the trail head. It is then that I look 
up to see a small pack of coyotes standing in the 
middle of the trail just a few yards ahead, looking 
directly at us! I am a bit surprised to see so many 
of them standing so close, but having seen coyotes 
in the neighborhoods and canyons multiple 
times before, I know enough to slowly back away 
and leave them alone, to avoid confrontation.As 
we head back down the hill, it occurs to me that 
Daisy’s sudden change in demeanor on our way 
up the hill, had nothing to do with neurosis, nor 
was it prompted by something she saw far away 
in the distant woods. Daisy’s brief behavioral 
interlude had clearly been a natural response 
to her inherently keen sense of olfaction. I had 
recently read an article that mentioned a dog’s 
sense of smell is said to be 1,000 times stronger 
than that of a human being, mainly attributable 
to a vomeronasal organ that is housed in the dog’s 
olfactory chamber. This specialized anatomical 
feature, unique to the canine, was no doubt what 
allowed Daisy to sense the presence of the coyotes 
from so far away, and exhibit a physical response 
long before they came into her field of vision.

We finished our hike, and I delivered Daisy 
back to the safety of her home with lots of hugs 
and praise. Later that day, I was reflecting on our 
walk and I realized that my initial assumptions 
about what could have caused Daisy’s unexpected 
behavior had been a prime example of how the 
domestic dog is often misunderstood by the 
human being. Daisy’s response to the scent of the 
coyotes that morning, reinforced my appreciation 
for the dog’s sense of smell, but more importantly 
it taught me that, if acknowledged from the proper 
perspective, a dog’s sensual abilities and responsive 
behavior can act as a very important tell-tale for the 
human’s safety in the wilderness. Finally, it was a 
reminder to avoid trying to anthropomorphize the 
dog. To expect a dog to think and behave the way a 
human thinks and behaves is to foolishly discount 
the remarkable unique qualities of the dog that 
can be of great value and benefit to the human. 
In retrospect, my experience that morning taught 
me 2 very valuable lessons; to respect the dog and 
his inherent sensual abilities, and to allow myself 
a healthy helping of humility as a human being. 
Who knew a simple morning walk with a dog 
could offer lessons of such value and importance?