The World Around Us | ||||||||||||||||||||
Mountain Views News, Pasadena Edition [Sierra Madre] Saturday, September 23, 2017 |
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THE WORLD AROUND US 11 Mountain Views-News Saturday, September 23, 2017 COMET OR ASTEROID? HUBBLE DISCOVERS THAT A UNIQUE OBJECT IS A BINARY NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope helped an international team of astronomers find that an unusual object in the asteroid belt is, in fact, two asteroids orbiting each other that have comet-like features. These include a bright halo of material, called a coma, and a long tail of dust. Hubble was used to image the asteroid, designated 300163 (2006 VW139), in September 2016 just before the asteroid made its closest approach to the Sun. Hubble’s crisp images revealed that it was actually not one, but two asteroids of almost the same mass and size, orbiting each other at a distance of 60 miles. Asteroid 300163 (2006 VW139) was discovered by Spacewatch in November 2006 and then the possible cometary activity was seen in November 2011 by Pan-STARRS. Both Spacewatch and Pan- STARRS are asteroid survey projects of NASA’s Near Earth Object Observations Program. After the Pan-STARRS observations it was also given a comet designation of 288P. This makes the object the first known binary asteroid that is also classified as a main-belt comet. The more recent Hubble observations revealed ongoing activity in the binary system. “We detected strong indications for the sublimation of water ice due to the increased solar heating — similar to how the tail of a comet is created,” explained team leader Jessica Agarwal of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Germany. The combined features of the binary asteroid— wide separation, near-equal component size, high eccentricity orbit, and comet-like activity—also make it unique among the few known binary asteroids that have a wide separation. Understanding its origin and evolution may provide new insights into the early days of the solar system. Main-belt comets may help to answer how water came to a bone-dry Earth billions of years ago. The team estimates that 2006 VW139/288P has existed as a binary system only for about 5,000 years. The most probable formation scenario is a breakup due to fast rotation. After that, the two fragments may have been moved further apart by the effects of ice sublimation, which would give a tiny push to an asteroid in one direction as water molecules are ejected in the other direction. The fact that 2006 VW139/288P is so different from all other known binary asteroids raises some questions about how common such systems are in the asteroid belt. “We need more theoretical and observational work, as well as more objects similar to this object, to find an answer to this question,” concluded Agarwal. The research is presented in a paper, to be published in the journal Nature this week. The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA (European Space Agency). NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, Maryland, conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., in Washington, D.C. You can contact Bob Eklund at: b.eklund@ MtnViewsNews.com. OUT TO PASTOR A Weekly Religion Column by Rev. James Snyder CHRISTOPHER Nyerges THINKING ABOUT HOUSTON AND FLORIDA Disaster Planning at Home THOSE ANNOYING SOUNDS OF SILENCE It was in the 60s when Simon and Garfunkel recorded their famous song, “The Sounds of Silence.” I must confess that I do enjoy what I know of as “The Sounds of Silence.” Nothing is more relaxing than sitting back with a cup of coffee and enjoying the silence as it whistled by. This has become a rather infrequent period for me. I love the silence and I enjoy the peace and quiet it brings. The problem is, silence can be taken too far. Recently, we were the target of a ferocious hurricane who tried to have her way with us. She snorted, huffed, puffed and stomped her way up through the state of Florida. As it turned out, although there was a tremendous amount of damage, it was not as bad as expected. That is something we can thank God for. For almost a week, we were privileged to have her presence in our state. She did not stay as long as we expected and we were quite happy to see her go. The further north she went the less strength she had. The state of Florida simply exhausted her. Here in Florida we are used to high winds and that sort of thing. Water, rain and flooding are a common occurrence here. We did have some record high flooding, but in the mainstream, we endured and got through it. Many people were out of electricity for days and some for weeks at a time. The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage and her faithful companion did not lose electricity. We did lose, however, our Internet, phone and TV. That covered pretty much everything in our house. My wife had her car filled with gas while I on the other hand, did not. I did not think it would last long, so I stuck it out because I really had no place to go. Where would I go? Almost everything was closed. Even the gas stations at one point closed. Restaurants were closed so I could not go out and have lunch. Therefore, even though I did not have gas, I really did not need gas. I really had nowhere to go. I did have a plan, though. I figured if we had to go somewhere, we could use my wife’s car. She always has plenty of gas, so I wasn’t worried. Many people around us lost their electricity and I figured we would lose ours too. We did not and so I was most grateful. At least I could set in the living room with the air conditioner on enjoying myself. As the days turned into more than I can remember, it started to get rather boring. We had no Internet or phone or TV so I did not know what was going on around us. It was quite exasperating to me. I like to know what’s going on and what’s happening and what to expect. “Just relax,” my wife said rather calmly, “everything is all right and we have nothing to fear.” It wasn’t anything I wanted to Fear, there were just things I wanted to Know. Fear and Know are two very different things. Then she said something, which she thought, would calm me down a little bit. “Remember,” she said most seriously, “that song by Simon and Garfunkel?” I knew where she was going with this, but I had nothing else to do so I thought I would play along. “No, I don’t,” I said as seriously as possible. “I can’t remember that far back.” She scowled at me and then continued, “The Sounds of Silence.” “We have electricity, the air conditioning is running, the refrigerator is okay and the stove is working so I can cook. We don’t have anything to worry about.” “Just listen,” she continued, “to those wonderful sounds of silence.” It was about that time that the rain came down in torrential fury. I looked at her and smiled and she whirled back to the kitchen to cook supper. Silence is wonderful if you’re in control of it. Too much silence can get a little bit aggravating, at least to someone like me. I enjoy the silence when I can open a book and enjoy the literature before me. Then I like to get on the Internet or TV and find out what is happening in the world. Too much silence can be aggravating and then I got to thinking, what in the world did people do before we had electricity? This gave me a new appreciation for the things that I have. During those “Sounds of Silence,” I began to think about all the blessings I have in my life. Most of the time we do not appreciate what we have until we do not have them any longer. What is the one thing I could do without? That is a hard question to ask, but I thought about it during the silence. One of the things I want to learn from this experience is to every day appreciate what I have because tomorrow I may not have it any longer. I thought about what David wrote in the book of Psalms. “This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalms 118:24). I only have one chance to rejoice and be glad in today, and I’m going to take it as much as I can. Dr. James L. Snyder is pastor of the Family of God Fellowship, 1471 Pine Road, Ocala, FL 34472. He lives with his wife in Silver Springs Shores. Call him at 352-687-4240 or e-mail jamessnyder2@att.net. The church web site is www.whatafellowship.com. Last week, I gathered with a few friends and we watched on our television sets a magnitude of catastrophe that we’d not seen for a very long time. We saw Houston underwater, and tens of thousands of people displaced from their homes. Some died. We saw Florida with the largest evacuation of recent memory where maybe a million people fled from their homelands. Tens of thousands had homes destroyed. Many died. You could not help but be shaken to your core when you see whole families, whole neighborhoods, whole cities, uprooted, thrashed, flooded, destroyed. It’s easy to watch from afar and hope that things get better. After all, we were dry, were drinking some excellent coffee, and were sitting in our comfortable surroundings. The complete upheaval that folks in the South are experiencing is incomprehensible, vast, and sobering. It is what you always hope and wish and pray never happens to you. All normal people of means rush in to help victims when such disasters occur, and that is a good thing. Still, I could not help but bring our conversation around to home. Each of us present that day had a functioning toilet at home, a working refrigerator and electricity, the availability of a gas station, banks, and grocery stores. We had roads that were reasonably flat and not under water. It was nearly impossible for us to relate to someone who had pretty much lost everything, including their whole neighborhood. Yet, are we immune to such happening here? We’d probably never experience the hurricanes that the Gulf experiences, but our future could include severe drought, earthquakes, and pandemic diseases. With an ever-rising L.A. County population, with a local landscape that can provide up to a quarter of the needed water, we can never afford to forget about the potential of water shortages and drought. Even if the landscape is green, we have ever-more people who want and need ever-decreasing water supplies. It’s good that the individual cities of Southern California have put forth initiatives to reduce water use – I’ve shared many of those details in this column and will continue to do so. In the case of an earthquake, there are many ways to be prepared. Perhaps the best way to start getting prepared is to inform yourself about the facts of your area, and learn which areas, and buildings, are most vulnerable. Think through the scenario of a major quake, where certainly electricity would be gone for awhile, and even water and gas lines would likely be broken. In your own home and Neighborhood Watch meeting, you should look at the consequences of no electricity, and no water running from the faucet. What are the steps you can take to minimize the impact? You should store water, and you should have as many manual (or battery operated) devices for every electrical device as possible. If you have questions about the details of this, please write. You should store medical supplies that you and your family might need. You should consider an alternative to the flush toilet. You should also consider having a supply of cash on hand – as much as you can afford – since your plastic will not likely be useful in the immediate aftermath of a major quake. Do you have dogs and cats and other pets? Be sure that you consider their needs in your planning for emergencies. When I appeared on National Geographic’s “Doomsday Preppers” show a few years ago, I tried to summarize the best way to be prepared for any emergency. Yes, have supplies and know how to use them. But even more important, I believe, is to develop friendships and relationships with like- minded people, with a diverse array of skills, so you can all work together after an emergency. Also, rather than just collect stuff, you should take the time to continually learn new skills, especially those skills that would help you to survive and become self-reliant, such skills as gardening, canning, auto mechanics, electrical work, sewing, etc. I have tried to include a lot of this information in my “How to Survive Anywhere” book, which is available at Amazon, or from the Store at www. SchoolofSelf-Reliance.com. YOUR AD COULD BE HERE! Call Patricial @ 626-818-2698 Today! Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com | ||||||||||||||||||||