What is the URL for the podcast feed? Sounds fascinating and I want to subscribe in iTunes.
Jane On Jun 3, 2012, at 9:53 AM, Martin McCormick wrote: > "The Science Show" is a weekly program and podcast from > Radio Australia narrated by Robbin Williams, no connection to > the American actor of the same name. > > On occasion, it is as dull as paint drying but other > times, it is utterly fascinating. This week is one of those > times. > > There is a segment on the huge dinosaurs of Western > Australia, a working demonstration model of Alan Turing's > computational machine based on a theoretical paper he wrote in > 1936, and the transit of Venus which is the main topic. > > Here is the link to this podcast. > > http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/rn/podcast/2012/06/ssw_20120602.mp3 > > > Those of you who call Australia home probably owe your > place of residence and language indirectly to the transit of > Venus. > > When the Moon crosses the Sun or the Earth comes between > the Sun and the Moon, we call this an eclipse. > > When a planet momentarily blocks the light from a star, > astronomers call this a "transit." > > On either the evening of 5 June 2012 in the Western part > of North America or morning of 6 June in Australia, one > will be able to see Venus pass between > the Earth and the Sun. > > This is not a spectacular eclipse-type event in which it > is black night in the middle of the day but rather a tiny black > dot which slowly moves across the disk of the Sun since Venus is > millions of miles or 1.6 times that in kilometers away from > Earth. > > Those who can see the Venusian eclipse or transit need > to do so with extreme caution just as one would when viewing a > Solar eclipse. This means to project the image of the Sun on to > a white screen of some kind like a piece of paper or cardboard > and look at that rather than cooking your retina trying to look > directly at the Sun, even with Sunglasses. > > Why should anybody care about the transit of Venus? If > you are asking that, it is a good question and here is why. The > sky at night doesn't change much from one moment to the next for > the average person looking up. Those tiny points of light which > are the stars and planets do move in relation to us, but they > move so slowly that it is like watching the hour hand on a > clock. The only time one can really get a good idea of what is > going on is when something like a planet momentarily blocks all > or part of the light from a star and casts a shadow. > > We can then see how long it took for the light to return > and even tell if the planet that was blocking the light has an > atmosphere. > > While Venus and Mercury have been transiting the Sun > since the dawn of time, we humans have only been aware that it > happens for around 400 years since Gala Leo developed > mathematics that allow us to predict where heavenly bodies will > be in relation to us indefinitely in to the future. > > The Sun, Venus and Earth form a straight line on a > schedule that is like a very slow musical beat. Transits come in > pairs which are 8 years apart but there isn't another transit > until either 115 or 121 years have passed at which time, there > is another 8-year pair of transits. > > This week's transit is the final one of a pair that > started in 2004 and there won't be another until 2117. > > Now for why this matters to Australia. James Cook sailed > to Tahiti in 1769 to watch the predicted Venusian transit. He > saw it, wrote down a small description of what he saw and then > headed back to England and accidentally stumbled across > Australia. > > Of course, Cook didn't sail all that way to see a little > black dot slide across the Sun, but was looking for something > much more important but the journey to Tahiti probably wouldn't > have happened had he not been advised about the transit. > > Listen to the podcast and enjoy. I get it automatically > each week just to catch the really good shows when they come > along. > > Martin > > ======================================= > > The Techno-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/techno-chat > > You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Techno-Chat group at > either of the following websites: > > http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/techno-chat/index.html > > Or: > <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> > you may also subscribe to this list via RSS. The feed is at: > <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.xml> > > --------------------------------------- ======================================= The Techno-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/techno-chat You can find an archive of all messages posted to the Techno-Chat group at either of the following websites: http://mail.tft-bbs.co.uk/pipermail/techno-chat/index.html Or: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]> you may also subscribe to this list via RSS. The feed is at: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.xml> ---------------------------------------
