Hmmm, I wonder what the leading candidate for a "prime meridian" on
Mars will be? (I know, I know, it's already been established). One
could argue that this, the first 'observatory' on Mars, would be a
good candidate. It was the locations of observatories (Paris,
Washington, Greenwich, others?) on earth that competed for the honor
on earth. Of course Swatch wants to muscle their way in with internet
time. I say, let them build a state-of-the-art observatory first,
then we'll consider (and reject :-) it. Of course they could argue
that since the observatory at Greenwich has shut down they have a
case...
Jim_Cobb
------------------- ---------------------- --------------------
| Jim Cobb | 540 Arapeen Dr. #100 | [EMAIL PROTECTED] |
| Parametric | Salt Lake City, UT | (801)-588-4632 |
| Technology Corp. | 84108-1202 | Fax (801)-588-4650 |
------------------- ---------------------- --------------------
If a man's wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics.
-- Francis Bacon
> Here's another press release on the Martian sundial, from the University of
> Washington's point of view. Go to the cited URL at the end for the 2
> illustrations. It's been a fun project to work on (and it's still got a
> long ways to go!)
>
> - Woody Sullivan
>
> *************************************************************
>
> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>
> DATE: April 21, 1999
>
> ---- Sundial will mark passage of days, seasons on Mars -----
>
>
> You could call it Martian Standard Time. The new "time zone" takes
> effect in January 2002 when a sundial designed and assembled at the
> University of Washington lands on the red planet aboard NASA's 2001
> Mars Surveyor. The sundial project was announced today during a news
> conference at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., which is creating
> the experiment that will contain the sundial. Once the sundial is in
> place, the public will be able to monitor the passage of Martian days
> and seasons via the Internet.
[...]
>
> ******************************************************************
> Prof. Woodruff T. Sullivan, III [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Dept. of Astronomy, Box 351580 tel. 206-543-7773
> Univ. of Washington fax 206-685-0403
> Seattle, WA 98195 USA
>
