To continue to trivia, Martin and anyone else, Mars is very, very close to the moon at this time of year, too. Supposedly, if you look at the moon and put your hand up, just to the right of your hand is Mars. Apparently, last Friday, people could see it well because the moon was a waxing half-moon. My neighbors commented how it looked nifty with the fireworks from all over making the sky flicker like an old film projector.
Mel -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Martin G. McCormick Sent: Friday, July 04, 2014 7:14 AM To: Just Chat; Where Anything Goes ... Almost! Subject: Happy Aphelion Today is Independence day in the United States, but it is also an astronomically significant day for everybody. It is aphelion day. On July 4, the Earth is farthest from the Sun in it's yearly journey. For those of us in the Northern hemisphere, it is counterintuitive because it is summer and one would think we should be closest to the Sun but we are warm because we are getting the Sun's energy more directly. We have perihelion on or about January 3 when we are a few million miles or kilometers closer to the Sun in the dead of our Winter. The only people on Earth that get Summer when they are also closest to the Sun are folks in the Southern hemisphere. Actually, our orbit round the Sun is so close to perfectly round that it really doesn't matter much but I thought I'd throw out this bit of noise in hopes you might find it interesting. Parts of the United States are getting dreadful weather what with the hurricane hitting the East Coast and recording floods in the Midwest but Oklahoma which usually catches Hell from Mother Nature is getting off relatively light so far. We've had a record-low number of tornados and generally little terrifying weather compared to even last year. Happy Independence day to all US citizens and a happy aphelion to anyone who cares and, for that matter, a belated happy Canada day as Canada celebrates it's special day on July 1. I've heard that if you live around the US/Canada frontier, you celebrate for 4 days to cover all bases. Martin ======================================== The Just-chat E-Mail forum is guaranteed malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and worm-free To modify your subscription options, please visit for forum's dedicated web pages located at: <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/just-chat> You can find an archive of all messages posted to the just-chat group at either of the following: <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/just-chat/index.html> or: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> You may subscribe with your RSS reader at the following URL: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.xml> --------------------------------------- ======================================== The Just-chat E-Mail forum is guaranteed malware, spyware, Trojan, virus and worm-free To modify your subscription options, please visit for forum's dedicated web pages located at: <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/mailman/listinfo/just-chat> You can find an archive of all messages posted to the just-chat group at either of the following: <http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/just-chat/index.html> or: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> You may subscribe with your RSS reader at the following URL: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.xml> ---------------------------------------
