Hi Sterling, Jerry and Listees,
Entertaining treatise Sterling!
Though I think your idea of time won't fly because you are very
over-sexagesimal.
In a perfect future, we would have disposed of the inefficient measure of
time every applied to a decimal world. And hopefully trash all these
confusing angular measurements from the same obsolete 5000 year old Sumerian
system that we are stuck with which re-enfore the seconds, minutes and
hours(degrees) system! Just try using a GPS without getting CTS with all
these useless conversions.
How many people have been turned off from math, and absolutely gone wacky
with trig conversions and needlessly complex coordinate systems, not to
mention poor, poor, poor astronomers that have to deal with all of these
needlessly nasty formulas of time seconds minutes hours and all kinds of
years that always cause typos, incredibly clunky measuring systems and
mistakes in decimalization? 24 hours in a day? 7 days in a week? 12
months in a year but months vary in length? Better yet, 365.242...
something days in a year? 360 degrees in a circle? 60 arcminutes in a
degree? And the Sun measures how many arcseconds means what? The Cesium
133 atom at what location?
Hopefully, we, the forefathers can take an idea from ancient enlightened
France (no doubt Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson would have preferred it
too, but just assumed we'd clean up the mess for them by now).
The "new" unit is the decimal second and everything is base 10's.
For example, when someone says the Sun measures 0.15 chi (32 arcminutes),
you'll know it is 0.15% of a full circle which has 100 degrees all around.
And the telephone company can surcharge us for light-tick (600 microdays,
chis, etc.) if you want, when a call to Venus at three light-ticks (1800
microdays, or chis, etc.) will mean to you delay of 2.59 light minutes.
And all this will fit perfectly into the metric system, and make Poincaré
and Lagrange proud.
A good example of a "new" year"
http://www.angelfire.com/hi/funline/digitime.html
Of course, your light-minute spirit can still fly, as long as we fix the
time.
The future is "just a tick" away...by then we hopefully can figure out how
to get rid of that Cesium isotope, too.
Best wishes,
Doug
PS
Things that scientists mascarade about explaining suddenly will be so
obvious, everyone will know what is going on and scientists will have to
keep busy doing real science. As for distance, there is no problem with
giga and mega, just ask any kid. Not a good idea introducing yet another
arbitrary thing into the mix. The distance light travels in whatever time
period is useful when dealing with interplanetary communication and imaging,
but these distances are always changing above absolute zero, so I don't see
much a point except when making observations or explaining delays in
communicating. There won't be any linear scale for charging for distance
any more than cell phone providers currently surcharge us by our distance
from the nearest cell phone transmission tower. $$$ just depends on who's
network you go roaming to Titan on... some things will never change.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jerry" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Sterling K. Webb" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Meteorite List"
<[email protected]>
Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 3:57 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] comet holmes
Thank you Sterling. That's why I asked, honestly.
Skies are clearing overhead. I'll be interested in observing tonight.
Last night's moon was of little consequence in seeing the comet.
Time to set up tripods for the binocs and a scope as well. I'll get back
to you.
Jerry Flaherty
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sterling K. Webb" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Meteorite List" <[email protected]>
Cc: "Larry Lebofsky" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Jerry"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 3:15 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] comet holmes
Jerry,
In a century or two, the "lightminute" will become
a common measure of distance. Say you're working
on Titan, at the Hydrocarbon Pipeline Base at the foot
of the skyhook that pumps it up to static orbit, and you
realize that next month you'll have to budget for a long
phone call to your wife's parents because it's their 100th
wedding anniversary. It's not cheap to call The Old Folks
At Home (back on "The" Moon, as they still call it) and
your wife is going to blab endlessly, you know that.
The charge rate of the call will contain lightspeed
connection times, a surcharge per lightminute. You
recall vaguely that Saturn and Earth are both on the same
side of the Sun right now; that helps. You get online and
check the current surcharge on a call to "The" Moon.
At least it's nowhere as bad as the surcharge to Mars.
The lightminute is the most "comfortable" unit to use
inside the solar system, whether you're communicating or
not. Just as today anyone who moves around a lot knows
that a mile is 5280 feet (and a kilometer is 3280* feet; isn't
that handy?), in 200 years all traveled persons will know a
lightminute is 18,000,000 kilometers. Only pedants will
object that it's really 17,987,547.5 kilometers. Hey! Close
enough! For everything but the landing, anyway.
It's a lot more convenient to think of the Earth's distance
from the Sun as 8.5 lightminutes, or Mars' close approach
is just over 3 lightminutes (and Venus' closest just under
3 lightminutes or Jupiter at 39 lightminutes). AU's are too
big. Miles and kilometers are too small. The lightminute
is juuuuust right.
And if you're IN a spacecraft making a routine trip in
the solar system and covering 2,500,000+ kilometers a day
for days on end, you're covering a lightminute every week
and wishing you had the price of a high-boost ticket on a
hyperbolic orbit liner knocking off a lightminute or more
every day. Oh, yeah, those big numbers we use today look
very impressive in print (and that's why we use them), but
in constant everyday conversation? I don't think so.
The "lightminute" has a future! It's either that, or a new
common-use unit like the kilometer: the gigameter. So, a
lightminute is 18 gigameters. But because the gigameter
doesn't tie to time (and communication) like the lightminute,
I think the lightminute will be the winner.
Sterling K. Webb
---------------------------------------------------------------------
* 3280.8399 feet, you pedants.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Jerry" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, October 24, 2007 11:32 PM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] comet holmes
Hello Jerry:
Based on Starry Night, the Shuttle was about 360km away at closest and
ISS
about 390km away. At 300,000 km/sec (speed of light), we are talking
about
1/1000 of a second for light to get from there to here. Not sure how far
apart they were, but do not think that it was very much different than
that.
Larry
On Wed, October 24, 2007 8:50 pm, Jerry wrote:
What's the time interval for light transmission from this distance to
earth? Jerry Flaherty
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