Mountain Views News          Saturday, June 30, 2012

10

THE WORLD AROUND US

 Mountain Views News Saturday June 30, 2012 


PLANETRISE: ALIEN WORLD LOOMS LARGE IN ITS NEIGHBOR’S SKY

 Few nighttime sights offer more drama than the full 
Moon rising over the horizon. Now imagine that instead 
of the Moon, a gas giant planet spanning three times more 
sky loomed over the molten landscape of a lava world. This 
alien vista exists in the newly discovered two-planet system 
of Kepler-36.

 “These two worlds are having close encounters,” said Josh 
Carter, a Hubble Fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center 
for Astrophysics (CfA).

 “They are the closest to each other of any planetary system 
we’ve found,” added co-author Eric Agol of the University of 
Washington.

 Carter, Agol and their colleagues reported their discovery 
in the June 21 Science Express.

 They spotted the planets in data from NASA’s Kepler 
spacecraft, which can detect a planet when it passes in front 
of—and briefly reduces the light coming from—its parent 
star.

 The newfound system contains two planets circling a 
subgiant star much like the Sun, except several billion years 
older. The inner world, Kepler-36b, is a rocky planet 1.5 times 
the size of Earth and weighing 4.5 times as much. It orbits 
about every 14 days at an average distance of less than 11 
million miles.

 The outer world, Kepler-36c, is a gaseous planet 3.7 times 
the size of Earth and weighing 8 times as much. This “hot 
Neptune” orbits once each 16 days at a distance of 12 million 
miles.

 The two planets experience a conjunction every 97 days 
on average. At that time, they are separated by less than 5 
Earth-Moon distances. Since Kepler-36c is much larger than 
the Moon, it presents a spectacular view in its neighbor’s sky. 
Such close approaches stir up tremendous gravitational tides 
that squeeze and stretch both planets.

 Researchers are struggling to understand how these two 
very different worlds ended up in such close orbits. Within 
our solar system, rocky planets reside close to the Sun while 
the gas giants remain distant.

 Although Kepler-36 is the first planetary system found 
to experience such close encounters, it 
undoubtedly won’t be the last.

 “We’re wondering how many more like this 
are out there,” said Agol.

*******************

 I’VE BEEN REFLECTING ON LAST 
WEEK’S COLUMN, where we noted that 
NASA’s Voyagers are “the two most distant 
active representatives of humanity.” That may 
be true, in a strictly “material” sense, but in 
a more ethereal sense, humanity has been 
actively sending out information about itself 
for at least 100 years now. I’m referring, of 
course, to radio waves. 

 Since about the time that the sinking Titanic 
radioed its SOS in 1912, radio (and later, TV) 
has been powerful enough to leak its messages 
outward toward the stars. Everything from the 
Titanic’s call for help to “I Love Lucy” to last 
night’s news report has been traveling at the 
speed of light in all directions, reaching by now 
all the stars within a radius of 100 light-years 
from Earth. 

 Just to mention the most familiar stars (out 
of hundreds within that radius), the “news” 
of our existence got to the nearest star, Alpha 
Centauri, by 1916; passed the brightest star, 
Sirius, by 1921; and won’t reach the North 
Star, Polaris, until the year 2446. Radio-
frequency energy travels at the same speed as 
light—186,000 miles per second. I guess that’s 
pretty fast or pretty slow, depending on how 
you look at it.

 

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


Photo Courtesy David A. Aguilar, CfA


LUCKIEST MAN IN THE WORLD

JUST ONE OF THE GUYS NOW

 I have a few guilty pleasures. Ice cream is one, and “MailOnline.com” is 
another. I could digress on these, but that would double the length of this 
article. Regarding MailOnline.com, I’ll just say that it’s a large collection of 
tabloids from “Daily Mail,” of the U.K. It’s tacky to look at such things, I know. 
But it’s also highly addictive. Most articles focus on fashion or social faux 
pas committed by American celebrities. Occasionally there’ll be a creepy 
account of someone eating their spouse and freezing their dismembered 
children. But typically it’s fluffy stuff like “Snooki from ‘Jersey Shore,’ went on a Ferris wheel this 
weekend!” And, since it is produced in the U.K., the headline story nearly always features the 
Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

 The royal wedding last year was spectacular. Not quite as spectacular 
as that of Charles and Diana; nor could it compete with Matthew 
McConaughey’s recent shindig. But the global economy’s tanked, so if 
the new royals want to be a bit more green, more solar power to them! 
Despite their relatively tame nuptials, even a year later, the press still 
can’t get enough of the royal couple. Or, should I say, of Kate!

 Yes that’s right; if you haven’t noticed, Duchess Kate singularly 
continues to captivate the media. I’m by no means criticizing; I eat 
the stuff up, too! I’m sure many people have benefited from Kate’s 
rise to fame, (e.g., her family, hairdresser, and favorite charities). But 
I think no one is as personally relieved in the wake of Princess Kate’s 
popularity as Prince William.

 I’m roughly William’s age, and recall the many magazines that 
came out “pre-Kate” touting William’s good looks, etc. At the time I 
thought, “Poor bloke; he’s got no privacy being royalty. And he’s got to 
worry about his appearance on top of it!” 

 I, for one, hate dressing up. I suppose I should be ashamed to say 
it, but I’m not one of those girly girls who have to do their hair and 
makeup before going out. My ideal wardrobe is a tank top, shorts, and 
flip flops. My wedding day was doubtless the most made up I’ll ever be 
in this life. The most cosmetics you’ll see me wearing are eyeliner and 
powder, if you’re lucky. My dressing time on a work day is 10 minutes, 
max. I used to feel sorry for the royal boys, with all the primping and 
prepping they must do. However, I don’t pity William anymore.

 If ever there was someone who could get away with dressing like 
a total slob, it’s William. He’s not a slob, but no one cares either 
way, seeing as everyone’s captivated by the lady by his side. “Is Kate 
expecting? She seems to be concealing a pregnant bump behind her 
latest Gucci clutch.” “Kate’s worn the same nude pumps three times in as many months; is the 
crown really that hard up?”

 I used to think William’s growing bald spot would become a point of concern. It seemed to be 
a big, hairless white elephant in Buckingham. I wondered if he’d get hair plugs or undergo some 
transplant therapy. All that evaporated when he got engaged to Kate. Suddenly no one cared 
if William sprouted a third eye ball. With the amount of attention Kate garners, William could 
show up in an ape suit or Adam-naked, and no one would notice.

 And for that reason, I consider him the luckiest man in the world. Not only is he financially set 
for life and has a beautiful wife, but his lovely bride ensures that he’ll never have to worry about 
his public or private appearance again. To quote an old song, “Nice work if you can get it. And 
if you get it, won’t you tell me how!”

 It seems that a well-known computer manufacturer’s boast about their products immunity 
to the malware and virus woes suffered by Windows machines are coming to a close. Apple 
marketing watchers have noted a not-so-subtle change in messaging regarding their beloved 
company’s claims about the once legendary attribute of their favored machines being “virus-
free” in reference to a supposed technical superiority Macs held over their “Wintel” rivals. 

 The outright claim that Apple’s OS X software “doesn’t get PC viruses” has been 
replaced with the slightly humbler slogan “It’s built to be safe” and the boast that users 
could “Safeguard your data. By doing nothing” has also been replaced with the more modest 
“Safety. Built right in”. 

 These changes come several months after it was reported that upwards of 600,000 Macs 
were infected with a malicious Trojan named “Flashback”. The security breach served as a 
wakeup call for many Mac owners who previously believed that their systems were immune 
from such attacks. Industry analysts have posited that Apple has clearly decided that 
pointing out the size of the Wintel malware problem would prove to be a less-than-effective 
marketing strategy unless Apple was willing to be open to the fact that Mac malware also 
exists. 

 Apple’s next OS release, slated for July of this year, is said to include a software program 
named “GateKeeper” that will restrict the kinds of software users can download to their 
machines. While such new features seem eerily reminiscent of features available in many 
releases of Windows OS’s, the reality of today’s Internet makes this transition almost 
mandatory. Apple’s rising market share means that it’s also presenting a larger attack 
surface to the bad guys of the world. And while the Mac OS X software is, in fact, one of the 
more secure operating systems in the marketplace today, the weak spot in the armor may be 
third-party software running on the system. 

 In the case of the “Flashback” Trojan the attack vector wasn’t the OS itself but an 
unpatched version of the Java machine running on the affected machines. Macs also run 
versions of popular Microsoft software packages such as Microsoft Office, which may also 
contain unpatched vulnerabilities that can be exploited by malicious users. As the Mac 
market share continues to grow, the company will have to take the necessary steps to ensure 
that its products remain as safe as possible. This will more than likely be the creating of its 
own defense strategy as well as taking notes on the best of what’s out there now. 

 However it chooses to accomplish this task, it is quite clear that Apple users will no longer 
be in a class all of their own. You’re “just one of the guys now” 


The most memorable Fourth of July 
celebrations often involve water, sun, 
noise, food, and lots of family fun. While 
the family dog loves a party just like we 
do, our Fourth of July celebrations are rife 
with dangers for our four-legged friends. 
Abandoned alcoholic beverages, stray 
paper plates decorated with delicious bits of 
tasty treats, loose packs of matches, lighter 
fluid at eye level, and mysterious squishy 
tubes of sunscreen are all temptations for 
the curious canine. 

For a trouble-free time, a little planning 
ahead will hopefully stave off the worst kind 
of endings, such as chasing down Rover 
through your best friend’s neighborhood, 
screaming in panic, clutching a towel 
around last year’s bikini. Here are some 
suggestions for a safe and fun holiday 
with your four-pawed friends. 

• For parties at home, keep your dog 
away from items like glow sticks and citronella 
candles, and busy with some special or favorite 
toys. 
• Keep your pooch away from forgotten 
plates of food and drinks. Alcohol, grapes 
and raisins, macadamia nuts, chocolate, and 
onions are especially dangerous.
• For Fourth of July outings, plan ahead 
and bring a fresh supply of water and a doggie 
bowl. 
• 
• Never leave your dog in a hot car. 
• Unfortunately, due to open gates 
and doors and loud, startling noises from 
fireworks, intakes at animal shelters spike 
during the Fourth of July weekend. Whether 
you are at home or away, make sure your pet 
is microchipped and wears an ID tag with a 
current phone number at all times. 
• If your dog is fearful of fireworks, 
speak with your vet for a recommendation for 
a mild sedative. Trembling, pacing, and heavy 
panting are all signs your dog is stressed. 
• Keeping your dog inside with soothing 
music playing during fireworks can help him 
feel safe and secure. 


PETS & THE 4th of July Holiday


Sierra Madre resident, Charlee isn’t looking 
forward to July 4th! Under the bed she will be!